AI could help us predict the weather more accurately
LaniMiro Lotufo Neto/Alamy
Google researchers have developed an artificial intelligence that they say can predict weather and climate patterns as accurately as current physical models, but with less computing power.
Existing forecasts are based on mathematical models run by extremely powerful supercomputers that deterministically predict what will happen in the future. Since they were first used in the 1950s, these models have become increasingly detailed and require more and more computer power.
Several projects aim to replace these computationally intensive tasks with much less demanding AI, including a DeepMind tool that forecasts localized rainfall over short periods of time. But like most AI models, the problem is that they are “black boxes” whose inner workings are mysterious and whose methods can’t be explained or replicated. And meteorologists say that if these models are trained on historical data, they will have a hard time predicting unprecedented events now being caused by climate change.
now, Dmitry Kochkov The researchers, from Google Research in California, and his colleagues created a model called NeuralGCM that balances the two approaches.
Typical climate models divide the Earth's surface into a grid of cells up to 100 kilometers in size. Due to limitations in computing power, simulating at high resolution is impractical. Phenomena such as clouds, turbulence, and convection within these cells are only approximated by computer codes that are continually adjusted to more closely match observed data. This approach, called parameterization, aims to at least partially capture small-scale phenomena that are not captured by broader physical models.
NeuralGCM has been trained to take over this small-scale approximation, making it less computationally intensive and more accurate. In the paper, the researchers say their model can process 70,000 days of simulations in 24 hours using a single chip called a Tensor Processing Unit (TPU). By comparison, competing models, called X-Shield A supercomputer with thousands of processing units is used to process the simulation, which lasts just 19 days.
The paper also claims that NeuralGCM performs predictions at a rate comparable to or better than best-in-class models. Google did not respond to a request for an interview. New Scientist.
Tim Palmer The Oxford researcher says the work is an interesting attempt to find a third way between pure physics and opaque AI approximations: “I'm uncomfortable with the idea of completely abandoning the equations of motion and moving to AI systems that even experts say they don't fully understand,” he says.
This hybrid approach is likely to spur further discussion and research in the modeling community, but time will tell whether it will be adopted by modeling engineers around the world, he says. “It's a good step in the right direction and the type of research we should be doing. It's great to see different alternatives being explored.”
According to a team of astronomers from the University of Hull, spotting a deepfake is as simple as looking for stars in the eyes. They propose that AI-generated fakes can be identified by examining human eyes in a similar manner to studying photos of galaxies. This means that if the reflections in a person’s eye match, then the image is likely of a real human. If not, it is likely a deepfake.
In this image, the person on the left (Scarlett Johansson) is real and the one on the right is generated by AI. Below their faces are painted eyeballs. The reflections in the eyeballs match in the real person but are inaccurate (from a physical standpoint) in the fake one. Image credit: Adejumoke Owolabi / CC BY 4.0.
“The eye reflections match up for real people but are incorrect (from a physics standpoint) for fake people,” said Prof Kevin Pimblett, from the University of Hull.
Professor Pimblett and his colleagues analysed the light reflections of the human eye in real and AI-generated images.
They then quantified the reflections using a method commonly used in astronomy to check for consistency between the reflections in the left and right eyes.
In fake images, the reflections in both eyes are often inconsistent, while in real images the reflections in both eyes are usually the same.
“To measure the shape of a galaxy we analyse whether it has a compact centre, whether it has symmetry and how smooth it is – we analyse the distribution of light,” Professor Pimblett said.
“We automatically detect the reflections and run their morphological features through CAS (density, asymmetry, smoothness) Gini Coefficient. This is to compare the similarities between the left and right eyeballs.”
“Our findings suggest that there are some differences between the two types of deepfakes.”
The Gini coefficient is typically used to measure how light in an image of a galaxy is distributed from pixel to pixel.
This measurement is done by ordering the pixels that make up an image of a galaxy in order of increasing flux, and comparing the result with what would be expected from a perfectly uniform flux distribution.
A Gini value of 0 is a galaxy whose light is evenly distributed across all pixels in the image, and a Gini value of 1 is a galaxy whose light is all concentrated in one pixel.
The astronomers also tested the CAS parameter, a tool originally developed by astronomers to measure the distribution of a galaxy’s light to determine its morphology, but found it to be useless for predicting false eyes.
“It’s important to note that this is not a silver bullet for detecting fake images,” Professor Pimblett said.
“There are false positives and false negatives, and it doesn’t detect everything.”
“But this method provides a foundation, a plan of attack, in the arms race to detect deepfakes.”
In this new image, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope focuses its lens on the center of spiral galaxy NGC 3430.
This Hubble image shows NGC 3430, a spiral galaxy about 100 million light-years away in the constellation Cygnus Minor. The color image was created from separate exposures taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in the visible and near-infrared spectral regions. The image is based on data acquired through two filters. Color is produced by assigning a different hue to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image courtesy of NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick.
NGC 3430 It is located about 100 million light years away in the constellation Cygnus Minor.
Also known as IC 2613, LEDA 32614 and UGC 5982, the galaxy has a diameter of about 85,000 light-years.
NGC 3430 First discovered It was discovered on December 7, 1785 by German-born British astronomer William Herschel.
“Several other galaxies lie relatively close to this one, just outside the frame,” the Hubble astronomers said.
“One of them is close enough that gravitational interactions could drive star formation in NGC 3430.”
“NGC 3430 is such an excellent example of a galactic spiral that it may be the reason it became part of the sample Edwin Hubble used to define the classification of galaxies.”
“The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope was named after him in 1926. Wrote the paper The project classifies about 400 galaxies according to their appearance: spiral, barred spiral, lenticular, elliptical, and irregular.”
“This easy-to-understand typology was highly influential, and the modern, more detailed systems used by astronomers today are still based on it.”
“NGC 3430 itself is a SAc galaxy, i.e. a spiral galaxy with no central bar and open, well-defined arms,” the researchers added.
“At the time Hubble’s paper was published, the study of galaxies themselves was still in its infancy.”
“Thanks to Henrietta Levitt’s work on Cepheid variables, Hubble had only two years earlier settled the debate over whether these ‘nebulae’, as they were then called, were located within our galaxy or whether they were distant, separate stars.”
“He himself refers to an ‘extragalactic nebula’ in his paper, suggesting that it is outside the Milky Way galaxy.”
“Once it became clear that these distant objects were very different from real nebulae, the highly poetic term ‘island universe’ became popular for a time.”
“NGC 3430 may still seem worthy of this moniker, but today we refer to it and objects like it simply as a galaxy.”
‘T“There’s a giant rock that fell from the sky on an island in Scotland. They call it Dragonstone,” Tears of Metal director Raphael Toulouse explains, “and the British send their general out to [a look]”
“But then the general finds the rock and goes a little rogue, a little bit like Apocalypse Now. He breaks ties with the English, takes control of the island, and the English start mining this giant rock to make weapons and armor, but it also affects their minds. So the Scots organize to take the island back. And that’s where you come in.”
In Tears of Metal, you play as the leader of a Scottish battalion, and your job is to get closer and closer to Dragonstone while cutting down breakaway English troops. But as you get closer to the supernatural meteorite, the beautiful green backdrop of the Scottish Highlands gradually transforms into a hellish world. “It gets weirder and weirder, and by the end it looks almost post-apocalyptic,” Toulouse says.
You start with around 10 soldiers, but you can recruit more, and they’ll get stronger over time. Tears of Metal is a roguelike, so if you’re defeated you’ll be sent back to the start of the game, but you’ll keep any troops you’ve gathered for your next playthrough. However, just like in the alien-fighting XCOM series, if one of your soldiers dies in battle, he’s lost forever. The stakes are high, and you may have to rush to rescue your favorite characters before they’re wiped out for good.
Sensitivity warning: imitation blood.
The game is reminiscent of Dynasty Warriors, a series in which powerful warriors mow down hundreds of enemies in fantastical re-enactments of historical battles. Toulouse acknowledges that the series was a “huge influence,” but says the game relies less on button mashing. Up to four players can play together, each with their own army.
Toulouse is CEO of Paper Cult, an indie studio he co-founded in Montreal, Canada, nearly a decade ago. Which begs the question: why a French-Canadian indie studio is making a game set in Scotland? “That’s a good question,” Toulouse says, adding that the game originally had a completely different setting. Settling on medieval Scotland was a marketing decision; they wanted something instantly recognizable. But there’s also the fact that Toulouse is partial to the movies of Mel Gibson.
“I was a huge Braveheart fan,” he says. “I would always watch the movie with my friends after school. I would watch it over and over again. I loved the action scenes, and the Braveheart soundtrack is amazing.”
Toulouse has no personal connection to Scotland, but says Paper Cult has “a lot of connections with Scottish people” and works with writers who visit friends in Scotland every year. “We’re really trying to involve Scottish people in the project,” he adds, noting that the dialogue, in particular, will be of interest to Scots who still remember the terrible tragedy. Narration of William Wallace’s election campaign Age of Empires II users will be relieved to hear this.
Paper Cult has been working on Tears of Metal for around four years, but the release date is still a long way off, slated for next year. But since the game was revealed at Summer Game Fest in early June, Toulouse has been amazed by the audience’s response. He says it has been added to wishlists on Steam more than 100,000 times. “Within the first few days, we had over 100,000 people added to wishlists,” he says. [after the announcement]we surpassed [our previous game] “This is my lifetime wish list for Bloodroots,” Toulouse says with a hint of excitement. “I’m super excited.”
Yellow crystals Elemental Sulfur According to the Curiosity team, the discoveries were made when NASA's Curiosity rover accidentally drove over a rock on May 30, 2024, breaking it apart.
Yellow crystals of elemental sulfur on Mars. Image courtesy of NASA.
Although sulfur may remind you of the smell of rotten eggs, elemental sulfur is odorless.
It forms only under a narrow range of conditions that scientists have not linked to the history of the place.
Curiosity then discovered lots of bright chunks of rock that looked similar to the rock the rover had crushed.
“Finding a rock block made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert,” said Dr. Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity project scientist and a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“It can't be there, so now we have to explain it. Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting.”
It was one of several Curiosity discovered while driving off-road through a channel in Gediz Canyon, a 5-kilometer (3-mile) groove that runs gently down part of Mount Sharp, where Curiosity has been climbing the base of the mountain since 2014.
The channel was discovered from space years before the rover launched and is one of the main reasons the science team wanted to visit this part of Mars.
Researchers believe the channel was carved out by flows of liquid water and debris, leaving a ridge of rock and sediment stretching for 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) on the mountainside below the channel.
The goal is to better understand how this landscape changed billions of years ago, and while recent clues are helping, there is still much to learn from this dramatic formation.
Since Curiosity arrived in the strait earlier this year, scientists have been studying whether a large pile of rubble that rose from the bottom of the strait was formed by an ancient flood or landslide.
The latest clues from the spacecraft suggest that both played a role: some mountains appear to have been left by powerful flows of water and debris, while others appear to be the result of more localized landslides.
These conclusions are based on the rocks found in the debris middens: while stones carried by water are rounded like river stones, some of the debris middens are littered with more angular rocks that appear to have been deposited by dry avalanches.
Eventually, water seeped into all the material that had settled here.
Chemical reactions caused by water have caused white “halo” shapes to appear on some of the rocks.
Erosion by wind and sand has revealed the shapes of these halos over the years.
“This has not been a quiet period for Mars,” said Dr. Becky Williams, a scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, and deputy principal investigator for Curiosity's Mast Camera.
“There has been a lot of activity here. We're seeing multiple flows through the channel, including heavy flooding and rocky flows.”
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This article is a version of a press release provided by NASA.
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You can track your calories, steps, and even the number of streams on your favorite songs. Now, you can also quantify your awesomeness with Aura Points, which determine your level of attractiveness. (It’s basically charisma, and if you didn’t know that, you just lost 100 Aura points.)
Asking someone out and getting a “yes” results in losing 100 aura points. Using Snapchat after the age of 19 is frowned upon and leads to a deduction of 1,000 aura points. Answering a question confidently in class, even if it’s wrong, puts you in the negative.
According to a TikTok explanation, this trend has caused a 378% spike in posts with the hashtag #aurapoints between May and June. It’s all about exuding a positive, carefree, and confident attitude to earn points and gain entry into the cool-kids club.
The concept of Aura Points is a modern twist on the elusive “it” factor, popularized by stars like Clara Bow and Evelyn Nesbitt, now reimagined for the younger generation. Gain your Aura Points to join the cool club, or risk losing them and facing consequences.
Stories on TikTok illustrate how people earn and lose points. Acting breezy and confident in tough situations earns you points, while staying with a cheating partner results in a deduction that no aura person would accept. Some scenarios are absurd but entertaining.
While Aura Points are mostly light-hearted, some creators use them to symbolize personal growth moments. It can be a way to reflect on important life choices and behaviors that define one’s character positively.
Young TikTok users share anecdotes of their point-earning and losing experiences. The trend aligns with Gen Z’s interest in cosmic belief systems like astrology. It offers a playful yet insightful approach to evaluating personal growth and character development.
Aura Points may seem like a modern TikTok fad, but they draw parallels to ancient virtue ethics from Greek and Roman philosophy. It’s more than just a superficial trend; it encourages self-reflection and moral alignment with personal values.
The concept of Aura Points also relates to moral credit, where positive actions counterbalance potential negative ones. It serves as a gamified system to assess behavior and invite constructive criticism.
Just like Alain de Botton’s notion of “status anxiety,” Aura Points reflect the ongoing concern for how others perceive us and our quest for self-worth. It’s a way for individuals to navigate social evaluation and engage in status transactions.
Understanding the philosophy behind this TikTok trend? Congratulations, you’ve earned 1,000 Aura points!
An extensive number of the 8.5 million devices affected by the recent global IT outage have been restored online, as reported by the cybersecurity company involved in the incident.
CrowdStrike mentioned that they are currently experimenting with technology to expedite the rebooting process of systems, while experts caution that recovering fully from the IT outage last Friday might take several weeks.
During the incident, numerous flights were canceled, broadcasters went off-air, medical appointments were disrupted, and countless PCs failed to boot after a CrowdStrike software update unintentionally caused devices using the Microsoft Windows OS to malfunction.
CrowdStrike posted updates on social media outlining the progress in resolving the glitch. According to an expert, this incident caused “the biggest IT outage in history.”
The US company stated, “A substantial number of the roughly 8.5 million Windows devices affected are now operational and back online.”
CrowdStrike remains focused on restoring all systems as quickly as possible, and of the approximately 8.5 million affected Windows devices, a significant number are back online and operational.
Working with our customers, we tested new techniques to accelerate the affected areas…
CrowdStrike mentioned ongoing tests for new methods to speed up the repair process of impacted systems, aiming to make this technology accessible to businesses and organizations.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister confirmed that CrowdStrike plans to implement an automated fix similar to Microsoft’s to address this issue in an upcoming update.
Experts cautioned that affected computers might require manual repairs and could face prolonged restoration times since the outage.
Over 1,500 flights were canceled in the US for a third consecutive day, with Delta Airlines in Atlanta particularly struggling, while 45 flights were canceled in the UK on Saturday.
Ed Bastian, the CEO of Delta Air Lines, stated that critical applications within the airline’s IT systems were impacted by the issue. He mentioned that crew tracking-related tools were affected, causing difficulty in managing the high number of changes due to the outage.
Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline, canceled 400 flights over the weekend primarily due to an IT issue.
NHS England in the UK issued warnings about potential delays as they work on restoring the health service from the outage. They advised patients with appointments to attend unless instructed otherwise.
The British Medical Association mentioned that regular GP services might not resume immediately due to significant IT-related delays.
An NHS spokesperson stated, “The system is back online now, and with the dedicated efforts of NHS staff, we hope to minimize any further disruptions. However, please expect some delays as services are being restored, especially with GPs needing to reschedule appointments.”
Pharmacy services in the UK are anticipated to be slower than usual as the recovery process continues.
Nick Kaye, president of the National Pharmacists Association, urged customers to be patient as local pharmacies work through the backlog of prescriptions caused by the IT outage last week.
circleWhen you enter this unique boutique video game festival, you’ll be greeted by bullet hell shooters with a painterly twist. ZOE Go away! As you dodge and fire attacks at breakneck speed, the game immerses you in an intoxicating shower of pointillist color, dazzling your eyes and challenging your thumbs. Leave after reading Initially resembling dark fantasy Quake clones, these games present a peculiar challenge of checking text messages on your phone while battling through dungeons. They are subversive games that cleverly twist common design tropes.
Violating the norm, the Glasgow Independent Games Festival was previously known as the Southside Game Festival. The recent event was held at Civic House, nestled in the shadow of the M8, a concrete eyesore cutting through Glasgow. The showcased games, created by developers residing in or near Glasgow, boast quirkiness and lower budgets compared to mainstream titles. Co-founder Joe Bain aims to place these works within games’ broader cultural context, steering away from the profit-driven atmosphere of trade shows like Gamescom.
Breaking the rules with wit and fun…Glasgow Independent Games Festival Photo: Mhairi Teresa
During a panel on “Unconventional Games,” game maker Stephen Gill-Murphy from Glasgow (aka Katamites) offered a sharp critique of what he termed the media’s “cult of depth.” He argued that games often lead players deeper into virtual worlds only to reveal the lack of coherence at the end. Gill-Murphy transformed this idea into a chilling horror game with intentional flatness called Murderer’s Anthology, available for play at the event.
At the festival, participants engage in activities like making amends with deceased virtual pets through Tamagotchi Seance, where they interact with virtual animals through spoken dialogue. Another intriguing game on display is Apartment Story, a simulator showcasing the chaotic everyday life in a single room with elements of a gangster thriller and The Sims.
An unconventional convention…the Glasgow Independent Games Festival. Photo: Mhairi Teresa
Spontaneous interactions are vital at these events. Participants come together to engage in a language decoding game like Kevin (1997-2077), deciphering cryptic images and text without clear instructions. This collaborative puzzle-solving process transforms the game into a participatory artwork, offering a collective experience with no definitive answers.
While Scottish video games were once synonymous with Edinburgh’s Rockstar North, the co-founder Ryan Caulfield emphasizes the abundance of “weird and wonderful” options available today. Amidst the prevalence of profit-driven live-service looter-shooters, playing games that defy conventions with irreverence at this festival is truly exciting.
The recent focus in news has been on the progress of artificial intelligence (AI) in the past couple of years. ChatGPT and DALL·E are examples of AI models that many people associate with AI. AI tools are utilized by astronomers to analyze vast data sets, which would be impractical to manually go through. Machine Learning Algorithms (ML) are crucial for categorizing data based on predetermined parameters derived from previous studies. An example of ML usage is in the identification of elusive patterns in sky surveys by astronomers, though the limitations of this method in classifying objects in space are not thoroughly understood.
To address these limitations, a group of scientists led by Pamela Marchand-Cortes at the University of La Serena in Chile tested the capabilities of ML. They used ML models like Rotation forest, Random forest, and Logit Boost to categorize objects beyond the Milky Way galaxy based on their properties. The team aimed to see if ML could accurately categorize objects already manually classified. The challenge was in the dense region of sky obscured by dust in the Milky Way, known as the “Avoidance Zone.” The team’s experiment showed that ML had difficulty in categorizing objects in this challenging area.
The team gathered and analyzed data from X-ray images to manually identify objects and compare ML’s performance. ML correctly identified large objects like galaxies in only a few instances, showcasing its limitations. Despite the potential for ML to assist in studying obscured regions of the universe, the team recommended training AI models with diverse samples to enhance accuracy in future research.
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Climbers cling to dizzying rock faces, toes digging in, knuckles white, limbs trembling with extreme tension. In this perilous moment, they have a few options: move quickly to regain their balance, rest for a few seconds, or simply let go and hope the belay can support their weight as they succumb to the massif.
Cairn, the new “survival climbing game” from French studio The Game Bakers, is full of dangerous, panic-inducing moments like this. There’s no visible stamina bar, meaning players must derive all their information from the state of their controllable climber, Aava. When under extreme stress, Aava’s breathing becomes intense and rapid and shallow, and her body begins to tremble. “We want you to focus on her posture and the railing in front of her,” says creative director Emeric Thoa.
Beneath this naturalistic presentation lies a huge amount of mathematical calculation. Using only the left analog stick, you control all of Aava’s body and limbs, and lock in handholds and footholds with the press of a button. The system calculates the stress on Aava’s limbs and core in real time, which determines the most physically realistic next movement for Aava. “Limbs are chosen automatically by the system; it predicts which arms and legs will move smoothly and easily,” Thoa explains. “The challenge for the player is to keep Aava balanced.”
This kind of dynamic scrambling is a far cry from Assassin’s Creed’s automated parkour, which has you clinging to stone walls with the pull of a trigger, or the navigation puzzles of recent climbing hit Jusant, which have you clinging to mineral outcrops on a predetermined path up a mountain. Cairn makes even the most dizzying activities even more complex by combining a freeform control system with a meticulously designed mountain, whose intersecting routes even Thoa and his colleagues don’t fully understand.
“It’s 2024, and there are words like ‘procedural’ and ‘AI,’ but we designed this mountain and built it completely by hand, placing every rock and crevice and handhold,” Thoa says. “It’s really hard work, and very iterative. I’m really grateful to our level design team.”
What sights and emotions await the player and Arva on their journey? Tore remains tight-lipped, saying only that he and the studio consulted with renowned mountaineer Elizabeth Revol, who spoke of “the intense freedom you feel when you push yourself past your limits at the top of the Earth.” Another detail that stayed in the game’s creator’s mind was that upon reaching the highest, thinnest mountain air, Revol experienced an almost delirious euphoria, “crying, screaming, going into a kind of strange trance.”
Cairn arrives with multiple game modes: the story sees Aava take on a gruelling, multi-day climb of a single mountain, and there’s an Expedition mode with additional mountains and challenges. Those willing to forgo the safety of the rope can also climb “free solo.” “This is where the real fun begins,” declares Toa, with a devilish glower, who, unlike Joussant, “will definitely die” in Cairn.
So what’s the Dark Souls of climbing games? Probably. But as Thoa stresses, “this isn’t a rage game.” Rather, he says, Cairn aims to convey “what climbing and alpinism is really about.” “You try, you fall, you try again, you fall, and then when you manage to get up, it’s very satisfying.”
Child safety experts have claimed that Apple lacks effective monitoring and scanning protocols for child sexual abuse materials on its platforms, posing concerns about addressing the increasing amount of such content associated with artificial intelligence.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in the UK has criticized Apple for underestimating the prevalence of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its products. Data obtained by the NSPCC from the police shows that perpetrators in England and Wales use Apple’s iCloud, iMessage, and FaceTime for storing and sharing more CSAM than in all other reported countries combined.
Based on information collected through a Freedom of Information request and shared exclusively with The Guardian, child protection organizations discovered that Apple was linked to 337 cases of child abuse imagery offenses recorded in England and Wales between April 2022 and March 2023. In 2023, Apple reported only 267 suspected instances of child abuse imagery globally to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), contrasting with much higher numbers reported by other leading tech companies, with Google submitting over 1.47 million and Meta reporting more than 30.6 million, as per NCMEC reports mentioned in the Annual Report.
All US-based technology companies are mandated to report any detected cases of CSAM on their platforms to the NCMEC. Apple’s iMessage service is encrypted, preventing Apple from viewing user messages, similar to Meta’s WhatsApp, which reported about 1.4 million suspected CSAM cases to the NCMEC in 2023.
Richard Collard, head of child safety online policy at NSPCC, expressed concern over Apple’s discrepancy in handling child abuse images and urged the company to prioritize safety and comply with online safety legislation in the UK.
Apple declined to comment but referenced a statement from August where it decided against implementing a program to scan iCloud photos for CSAM, citing user privacy and security as top priorities.
In late 2022, Apple abandoned plans for an iCloud photo scanning tool called Neural Match, which would have compared uploaded images to a database of known child abuse images. This decision faced opposition from digital rights groups and child safety advocates.
Experts are worried about Apple’s AI system, Apple Intelligence, introduced in June, especially as AI-generated child abuse content poses risks to children and law enforcement’s ability to protect them.
Child safety advocates are concerned about the increase in AI-generated CSAM reports and the potential harm caused by such images to survivors and victims of child abuse.
Sarah Gardner, CEO of Heat Initiative, criticized Apple’s insufficient efforts in detecting CSAM and urged the company to enhance its safety measures.
Child safety experts worry about the implications of Apple’s AI technology on the safety of children and the prevalence of CSAM online.
It’s clear that people are not prepared for the “digital worker” yet.
CEO Sarah Franklin learned this lesson. Lattice is a platform for HR and performance management that offers services like performance coaching, talent reviews, onboarding automation, compensation management, and many other HR tools to over 5,000 organizations globally.
So, what exactly is a Digital Employee? According to Franklin, avatars like engineer Devin, lawyer Harvey, service agent Einstein, and sales agent Piper have “entered the workplace and become colleagues.” However, these are not real employees but AI-powered bots like Cognitive.ai and Eligible performing tasks on behalf of humans.
Salesforce Einstein, for example, helps sales and marketing agents forecast revenue, complete tasks, and connect with prospects. These digital workers like Devin and Piper don’t require health insurance, paid vacation, or retirement plans.
Despite backlash, Franklin announced on July 9th that the company will support digital employees as part of its platform and treat them like human workers.
However, this decision faced criticism on platforms like LinkedIn for treating AI agents as employees. Disagreements arose on how this approach disrespects actual human employees and reduces them to mere “resources” to be measured against machines.
The objections eventually led Franklin to reconsider the company’s plans. The controversy raised legitimate concerns about the inevitability of the “digital employee.”
AI is still in its early stages, evident from the failures of Google and Microsoft’s AI models. While the future may hold potential for digital employees to outperform humans someday, that time is not now.
Utilizing artificial intelligence to analyze GP records for hidden patterns has significantly improved cancer detection rates for doctors.
The “C the Signs” AI tool used by general practitioner practices has increased cancer detection rates from 58.7% to 66.0%. This tool examines patients’ medical records, compiling past medical history, test results, prescriptions, treatments, and personal characteristics like age, postcode, and family history to indicate potential cancer risks.
Additionally, the tool prompts doctors to inquire about new symptoms and recommends tests or referrals for patients if it detects patterns suggesting a heightened risk of certain cancer types.
Currently in use in about 1,400 practices in England, “C the Signs” was tested in 35 practices in the East of England in May 2021, covering 420,000 patients.
Published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, a study revealed that cancer detection rates rose from 58.7% to 66.0% by March 31, 2022, in clinics using the system, while remaining similar in those that did not utilize it.
Dr. Bea Bakshi, who developed “C the Signs” with colleague Miles Paling, emphasized the importance of early and quick cancer diagnosis through their system detecting over 50 types of cancer.
The tool was validated in a previous study analyzing 118,677 patients, where 7,295 were diagnosed with cancer and 7,056 were accurately identified by the algorithm.
Notably, the system’s ability to predict if a patient was unlikely to have cancer resulted in only 2.8% of these cases being confirmed with cancer diagnosis within six months.
Concerned by delays in cancer diagnosis, Bakshi developed the tool after witnessing a patient’s late pancreatic cancer diagnosis three weeks before their death, highlighting the importance of early detection.
“With two-thirds of deaths from untestable cancers, early diagnosis is crucial,” Bakshi emphasized.
In the UK, GPs follow National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines to decide when to refer patients for cancer diagnosis, guided by tools like “C the Signs.”
The NHS’s long-term cancer plan aims to diagnose 75% of cancers at stage 1 or 2 by 2028, utilizing innovative technologies like the Garelli blood test for early cancer detection.
Decision support systems like “C the Signs,” improving patient awareness of cancer symptoms, and enhancing access to diagnostic technologies are essential for effective cancer detection, according to healthcare professionals.
NHS England’s national clinical director for cancer, Professor Peter Johnson, highlighted the progress in increasing early cancer diagnoses and access to timely treatments, emphasizing the importance of leveraging technology for improved cancer care.
Individual exercise needs can vary based on a variety of factors, including:
Genetic mutations
Our genes play a significant role in how we respond to exercise. Genetic variations impact things like muscle fiber organization, metabolism, cardiovascular fitness, and more. Some individuals may be naturally inclined towards endurance activities, while others may have a genetic predisposition for strength training.
Metabolic rates can differ among individuals due to genetic and physiological factors. Some people have a higher basal metabolic rate, burning more calories at rest. This affects energy expenditure during exercise and determines the type and intensity of exercise necessary for weight management and overall fitness.
Body composition
Changes in body composition can impact how we respond to exercise: individuals with a higher percentage of lean muscle mass may have different strength and endurance levels compared to those with a higher percentage of body fat.
Age
Exercise requirements change throughout life. The growth and development needs of children and adolescents may differ from those of adults and older adults, who may focus more on bone density and functional capacity.
Personal goals
Everyone has their own fitness goals, which should guide their exercise routine. Personal preferences also play a role, with some individuals enjoying group workouts while others prefer solo training.
Activity Levels
What you do between workouts affects your exercise needs and dietary requirements. For instance, those with physically demanding jobs may not need as much exercise as sedentary individuals. Recovery is crucial for muscle growth, with everyone experiencing different recovery times even after the same workout.
Psychological factors
Motivation, stress levels, and mental health can impact exercise preferences and adherence.
Recognizing and embracing these differences is key to creating a tailored exercise program that is effective and sustainable for each individual.
This article addresses the question: “Why do people have such varied exercise needs?”
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HTo find out how Facebook and Instagram's algorithms influence what appears in your news feed, Guardian Australia tested them on a completely blank smartphone linked to an unused email address.
Three months later, without any input, it was full of sexist and misogynistic content.
The Guardian Australia's explore page for dummy Instagram accounts set up in April. Photo: Instagram
The John Doe profile was created in April as a typical 24-year-old male. Facebook was able to collect other information about us, such as our phone type and Melbourne location, but because we had opted out of ad tracking, Facebook couldn't know what we did outside the app.
Facebook left me with little to fall back on, with no likes, comments or accounts added as friends, while Instagram requires users to first follow at least five accounts, so I chose popular suggested accounts, such as the Prime Minister and Bec Judd.
Meta says its algorithm ranks content according to people's interests, but we wanted to see what happens in the absence of such input. We scrolled through our feed every two weeks to see what was on offer.
What did we see?
Initially, Facebook showed jokes about The Office and other sitcom-related memes alongside posts from 7 News, the Daily Mail and Ladbible. The next day, it also started showing Star Wars memes and gym and “dudebro” style content.
By the third day, “traditional Catholic” type memes started appearing and the feed veered towards more sexist content.
Three months later, memes from The Office, Star Wars, and The Boys are still appearing in the feed, now interspersed with extremely sexist and misogynistic imagery that appears in the feed with no input from the user.
On Instagram, the explore page is filled with women in skimpy outfits, but the feed is largely innocuous, mostly Melbourne-related content and foodie influencer recommendations.
An example of a misogynistic meme shoved into the feed of a blank Facebook account. Photo: Facebook
TThe business casual revolution of the 1990s and the rise of the tech billionaires in the early 2000s are said to have ushered in a new era of liberating employees from the shackles of dress codes. Mark Zuckerberg transformed the hoodie and jeans into a symbol of the new economy meritocracy, the uniform of genius hackers that would shake up the traditional industrial coat-and-tie aesthetic of the East. In the digital economy, many imagined, the most successful companies would allow their talented employees to wear whatever they wanted while splashing around in colorful ball pools.
But as Facebook engineer Carlos Bueno wrote in a 2014 blog post: Inside the MiratocracyIn the 1960s, we simply replaced the rigid dress code with a slightly less rigid one. The new world is actually not so free. The cognitive dissonance is clear in the faces of recruiters who pretend that clothing is no big deal, yet are clearly disappointed when they show up to an interview in a dark worsted business suit. “You are expected to conform to the rules of your culture before you can demonstrate your true worth,” Bueno writes. “What wearing a suit actually signals, and I don't mean this as a myth, is non-conformism, one of the most serious sins.”
As the rich get fabulously rich, they seem to become even more determined to look as plain as possible.
This reality was on full display earlier this month at the Sun Valley Conference, better known as “summer camp for billionaires.” Since the tradition began in 1984, organizers have been gathering the wealthiest and most influential people for the multi-day conference. A treasure trove of top CEOs, tech entrepreneurs, billionaire investors, media moguls, and more convene at the invitation-only meeting to privately decide the future of the world.
This year's attendees included Jeff Bezos, who continues his incredible transformation from nerd to muscle man. Looking like a successful SoulCycle instructor, he strolled around the resort grounds layered with pearl grey jeans, a skin-tight black T-shirt, and a multitude of colorful bracelets (possibly from the American luxury brand David Yurman).
Jeff Bezos at Amazon's Seattle offices on May 2, 2001, and with his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez at a meeting in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 11, 2024. Composition: AP, Reuters
Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav tried to at least bring some style to the event, donning a brown corduroy trucker jacket, slim-legged blue jeans, smart white sneakers, and a white bandana around his neck. But most of the men in attendance were dressed in scruffy polos, T-shirts, and simple button-down shirts. Billionaire OpenAI CEO Sam Altman looked like he was at freshman orientation in a plain gray T-shirt, blue jeans, and a black backpack slung over each shoulder.
This is not necessarily a bad outfit – many of them are – but one wonders if something has been lost in the move away from coats and ties. A few generations ago, men of this social class would have worn something more visually interesting. In the 1930s, Apparel Arts, a leading men's fashion trade magazine that advises men on how to dress for different environments, recommended the following for resort wear: a navy double-breasted sport coat with a polka-dot scarf and high-waisted trousers in Cannes; a mocha linen beach shirt and wide-cut slacks with self-strap fastenings on the Côte d'Azur; and a white shawl-collar dinner jacket with midnight blue tropical worsted trousers and a white silk dinner shirt for semi-formal evening wear.
The advantage of these clothes is not so much about appearances or elegance, but rather the way they create a unique silhouette. The tailored jacket is particularly useful in this regard. Made from layers of haircloth, canvas, and padding, pad-stitched together and shaped with darts and expert pressing, the tailored jacket creates a flattering V-shape without having one. That silhouette is why Stacey Bendet, founder of fashion company Alice & Olivia, is always the most stylish person at these conferences (this year, she wore flared pants, a long leather coat, giant sunglasses, and a Western-wear hat, each element creating a unique shape). In contrast, Tim Cook's basic polo shirts and slim jeans did little to replicate his physical build.
To me, dressing like this, surrounded by guys in t-shirts and sloppy polo shirts, is pretty funny, and honestly, thank god people like this exist. pic.com/Jaraz4d8XB
In his book Distinction, Pierre Bourdieu correctly recognizes that the notion of “good taste” is merely a habit or taste of the ruling class. He is, of course, not the first to make this observation. In the early 20th century, German sociologist Georg Simmel noted that people often use fashion as a form of class differentiation. According to Simmel, style spreads downward as the working class imitates those deemed socially superior, at which point members of the ruling class move on to another class. But the publication of Distinction in 1979, based on Bourdieu's empirical research from 1963 to 1968, stands out, especially for its understanding of men's style. At the time, the coat and tie was in decline. By the time the book was translated into English in 1984, the suit was drawing its last breath before the rise of casual Fridays, tech entrepreneurs, and remote work would change men's dress forever.
Today's ruling class is hardly inspiring in terms of taste. The preponderance of tech vests replacing navy blazers shows that socioeconomic class still dictates dress habits, even if the style is less appealing. Ironically, while the elite are increasingly dressing like the middle class who go shopping at Whole Foods Market, wealth inequality in the United States has worsened roughly every decade since the 1980s, the last time men were still expected to wear tailored jackets.
To be honest, Jensen Huang was shining: he discovered the power of the jacket, he discovered the uniform (black leather jacket), and also, his tailoring seems pretty good. pic.com/ryjCqD1uaI
If there's a silver lining to all this, it's that the history of clothing in the 20th century is about how influences changed. As the century progressed, men began to receive dress dictates from different social classes, not just those with economic or political power: artists, musicians, and workers. Many of the more provocative fashion moments of this period were about rebellious youth taking a stance of rebellion against the establishment. These included swing kids and hip-hop, bikers, rockers, outlaws, beats and beatniks, modernists and mods, drag and dandies, hippies and bohemians. In recent years, Zuckerberg and Bezos have made an effort to move away from the fleece uniform, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang looks pretty stylish in a head-to-toe black uniform that includes a variety of leather jackets. But for the most part, today it's better to look elsewhere for dress dictates. The ruling class may shape our world, but don't let them shape your outfit.
Two days after Hurricane Beryl struck Texas, Janet and Pamela Jarrett’s Houston home was still without power and a heat watch was in effect.
They spent the evening playing Pamela’s favorite game, Connect 4. All seemed well.
But early the next morning, Janet found Pamela, 64, who is disabled and in a wheelchair, struggling to breathe.
“I could hear her gasping for air and breathing heavily,” Janet said. “It’s something you never forget. It never goes away. I can hear it even when I’m lying down to sleep. It feels like I’m going through it all over again.”
Pamela Jarrett died on July 11 from hyperthermia due to environmental heat exposure. Courtesy of Janet Jarrett
Pamela died on the way to the hospital on July 11. The official cause of death was: Environmental Heat Exposure.
Of the 21 confirmed deaths in Texas from Hurricane Beryl, one-third died the same way: not from typical storm threats like flooding or downed trees, but as a result of extreme heat caused by widespread power outages during and after the storm. Heat indexes, or “feels like” temperatures, rose into triple digits in the days following the storm.
These tragedies highlight how ill-prepared Texas (and much of the rest of the country) is for the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events caused by climate change, especially when multiple hazards overlap. The death toll also shows how easily the line can become blurred between one type of deadly environmental hazard and another.
The death toll from Beryl in Texas is expected to continue to rise, and the increase in deaths from heatstroke has led to increased scrutiny of local power company CenterPoint Energy and the state government.
“She didn’t have to die like that,” Janet said of her sister. “I’m angry that I didn’t get a response. I couldn’t call anyone. I’m angry that CenterPoint didn’t do a better job. I’m just angry about the whole thing.”
More than 2 million homes and businesses were affected by power outages caused by Category 1 Hurricane Beryl. CenterPoint said in a statement to NBC News that it would be conducting a “thorough review” of its response to the storm.
“Our condolences go out to the families and friends of those who lost their lives as a result of Hurricane Beryl,” the power company said.
CenterPoint officials insist the company mobilized crews as quickly as possible and did everything in its power to resolve the outage.
Janet Jarrett was forced to go without electricity for a total of nine days, during which indoor temperatures soared to nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit at night. She spent a week in that heat after her sister died.
Pamela Jarrett sits with her family. Courtesy of Janet Jarrett
Janet said she did her best to keep Pamela cool, using cold rags and taking her outside in her wheelchair when it was windy, but as with most patients with heatstroke, by the time the symptoms became apparent it was too late.
“I didn’t know there was anything really wrong with her,” Jarrett said. “She was talking, she was reacting to everything, she was just normal, so I didn’t realize anything was wrong.”
Jesus Rodriguez, 52, of Houston, also had no idea that anything was wrong with his 78-year-old father, Oscar. On July 10, the third day of the blackout, Jesus went to check on Oscar in the morning, grabbing some water and a cold diet coke from the cooler.
When Jess got home that afternoon, her dad “was lying on his back, almost like he was asleep, but he was breathing heavily,” Jess said. “I didn’t think anything of it, but I tried to wake him up, but he wouldn’t wake up. That’s when I called 911.”
Oscar died that day at Memorial Hermann Greater Heights Hospital in Houston. Jess described her father as a healthy man for his age and a devoted family man.
There have been power outages during previous storms, but never for more than two days.
“This was definitely the worst,” Jesus said. “It took almost a week and a half to get the electricity restored.”
He blamed CentrePoint for being slow to respond and for not communicating well enough.
“If they had said, ‘We can’t get to your house in a week and a half,’ I might have been able to send my father somewhere else,” Jesus said.
Three Houston-area hospitals reported a significant increase in emergency room visits due to the post-storm heat.
Dr. Ben Saldana, associate medical director at Houston Methodist Hospital, said the hospital has seen its highest number of emergency room visits since the 2021 Texas cold snap.
“On the day of the storm, our emergency department saw almost double the normal volume of patients,” Saldana said, adding, “We’re not back to normal yet.”
Doctors at the hospital said they have linked health issues in 525 patients to the effects of heat since the Fourth of July.
Even those whose lives were not in danger from the heat described the harsh conditions caused by the power outages.
Deja McClendon of Humble, Texas, was without power for six days and had been shuttling between her apartment, her boyfriend’s mother’s apartment, and a hotel to escape the heat. She said the chaos had forced her to take time off work.
“Texas is something else when it comes to the heat,” McClendon said, adding, “It was very stressful having to move around so much.”
Talulah Christie, who is five months pregnant, was without power for five days in Conroe, Texas, which is served by Entergy Texas. She said the outages after Beryl were the worst she could remember.
“I tried to endure [the heat] “After the first two days, and then the second night, I knew this was becoming a medical issue. I couldn’t stay here,” she said. But she and her husband couldn’t find an affordable hotel room nearby, so they stayed.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has called for an investigation into CenterPoint’s response after the hurricane, but he has himself faced criticism for being on an economic development trip to Asia when the storm made landfall.
The utility has also been blamed by Democratic Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Texas, whose district saw several heatstroke deaths after Hurricane Beryl.
“The extreme heat exacerbated the public health crisis because CenterPoint failed to quickly restore power,” she said in a statement to NBC News.
Janet Jarrett said she hopes preventative measures are taken to prevent others from suffering preventable losses.
“This should never have happened. We had so many plans and they took it all away from her,” Jarrett said. “And now I’m burying her.”
circleJD Vance was a student at Yale Law School in 2011 when he attended a talk by conservative tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Vance didn’t know Thiel at the time, but over the next decade he became Thiel’s employee, friend, and recipient of his generosity. Thiel’s millions of dollars paved the way for Vance to become a senator.
Vance wrote that Thiel’s speech “was the defining moment of my time at Yale Law School.” Essays for 2020 Vance said Thiel’s talk about the failure of elite institutions and his Christian faith made him rethink his own faith and quickly planned a career outside of law, perhaps tinkering with technology and venture capital before entering politics.
Vance is best known for the hardscrabble upbringing he described in his autobiography, “Hillbilly Elegy,” but in the years after graduating from Yale he developed extensive ties to Silicon Valley investors and elites. His experience as a venture capitalist combined with his status as a rags-to-riches media fixture forged the core connections that powered his political climb and helped him assemble an influential following that pushed him to become Trump’s running mate.
After graduating from Yale and briefly working in corporate law, Vance moved to San Francisco and joined Thiel’s venture firm, Mithril Capital, in 2015. After his best-selling book “Hillbilly Elegy” gained him national fame in 2016, he joined Revolution, a venture capital firm founded by former AOL CEO Steve Case.
Vance returned to Ohio and stayed in the tech venture capital world. Leaving the Revolution Vance received funding from Thiel in early 2020 to co-found a venture firm, Naria Capital, which, like Thiel’s, was named after the elven ring of power in “The Lord of the Rings.” Naria’s other notable investors include former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist who endorsed Trump last week. The avowed goal of Vance’s firm was to invest in early-stage startups in cities that Silicon Valley often overlooks.
In 2021, Naria Capital led a group of conservative investors, including Thiel, to invest in Rumble, a video streaming platform positioning itself as a less moderated, right-leaning version of YouTube. Naria co-founder Colin Greenspon touted the investment as a challenge to Big Tech companies’ control over online services, a topic conservatives have frequently discussed amid the backlash against content moderation surrounding the pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. It was also around this time that Thiel, a major financial backer of Trump during the 2016 campaign, invited Vance to meet with Trump for the first time, in a secret meeting at Mar-a-Lago in February 2021. According to the New York Times:.
Vance and Thiel’s longtime relationship also paid dividends in the 2022 Senate race, with Thiel pouring a massive $15 million into Vance’s campaign. According to the Washington Posthelped garner support for President Trump and led Vance to win the fiercely contested Republican primary and Senate elections.
While Thiel has vowed in recent years to stay away from donating to the 2024 election, Vance has since tried to ingratiate himself with Trump through other Silicon Valley connections. The Ohio senator introduced prominent venture capitalist David Sachs to Donald Trump Jr. in March. The New York Times reported.Vance attended a pro-Trump fundraiser for Sachs in June, which he co-hosted with Chamath Palihapitiya, Sachs’ co-host on the popular podcast “All In.” The event, which cost $300,000 to attend, was held at Sachs’ San Francisco mansion, where investors thanked Vance for helping make the fundraiser happen. During an informal conversation at the dinner, Sachs and Palihapitiya said Trump said: Vance as his running mate.
Sachs spoke at the Republican National Convention on Monday, days after calling Trump to endorse Vance as his running mate, along with Elon Musk and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. According to AxiosThiel also voiced his support for Vance during a private phone call with Trump, according to The New York Times. After Trump confirmed Vance would be his running mate, Sachs and Musk tweeted their congratulations, with Musk saying the victory was “ringing off.”
Many of Vance’s wealthy tech elite and venture capitalist backers now appear ready to offer even more concrete support. Investors including Musk, Andreessen, and Thiel’s Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale have ReportedlyPlanning a donation Huge sums of money supporting the Trump and Vance campaigns.
Struggling with my ancient Nokia 3210, I tried to finish my text after 10 minutes of furious tapping. This “detox” phone, part of a new trend for those seeking relief from tech stress, was really testing my patience.
Sending a message while on a school trip to the Museum of London Docklands, I tried to avoid looking at my phone. The kids with me were puzzled by my texting struggles and the outdated phone.
Despite feeling embarrassed, I pressed on with a semi-urgent message to a friend, as more people opt for simpler phones due to concerns about mental health and technology overload.
As I prepare to start boarding school without my smartphone, I reflect on the ban on new students bringing them. This shift towards low-tech devices raises questions about our dependence on technology.
Cut off from my work email and limited internet access, I grapple with significant news events offline, highlighting the challenges of disconnecting in a hyper-connected world.
Unable to use predictive text and facing the drawbacks of a basic phone, I grapple with the loss of convenience brought on by smartphones. Stepping away from technology reveals both freedom and discomfort.
The reintroduction of Nokia 3210 and similar devices underscores the nostalgia for a simpler time when conversations mattered more than social media likes. These “detox” phones offer a reprieve from the digital noise of modern smartphones.
Zoe Wood with a Nokia 3210: “Perfect for people who don’t want to be in touch or who are on holiday.” Photo: Linda Nylind/The Guardian
Disconnecting from my smartphone lifestyle forces me to rely on traditional methods for daily tasks. This shift highlights the convenience of smartphones but also the unique benefits of simpler technology.
While low-end phones offer relief from the constant demands of smartphones, their limitations and price point present challenges for those accustomed to the conveniences of modern devices.
The Tanimbar Islands are one of the main island groups of Wallacea (a group of mainly Indonesian islands separated from the Asian and Australian continental shelves by deep-sea straits) that was on the early human migration route from Sunda to Sahul (Australia and New Guinea). Despite their geographic importance, the group has not been thoroughly archaeologically explored. Now, archaeologists from the Australian National University have found the first evidence of Pleistocene human occupation in the Tanimbar Islands, dating back about 42,000 years ago.
Map of Walesia showing Birdsel's north and south migration route. The map also highlights the oldest Pleistocene sites on each island. On the north route, the following sites are highlighted: 1) Reang Karampuang, Reang Tedonggae, Reang Bulu Sipong 4, 2) Goa Topogaro, 3) Reang Saru, 4) Deo 2, 5) Goro, 6) Kero 6. On the south route, the following sites are highlighted: 7) Liang Bua, 8) Rua Meko, 9) Makupan, 10) Laili, 11) Ashitau Kuru, Rene Hara, Macha Kuru 2, 12) Hia Soloto Entapa, 13) Erivavan. The last two sites represent a connection to Sahul. 14) Reang Lemdub is now in the Aru Islands but was once connected to the mainland during the Pleistocene. 15) Majedbebe is the oldest known site in Sahul. Image credit: Kaharuddin others., doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108834.
The Tanimbar Islands are located at the easternmost tip of Southern Wallacea.
About 250 km east of Tanimbar lie the Aru Islands, which were part of the Sahul mainland during the Pleistocene low sea level period.
Although geographically close to the Sahul continental shelf, the Tanimbar Islands have remained permanently isolated by an ocean barrier since the first human settlement on Wallacea and even before that.
Compared to neighbouring islands closer to the Sahul Shelf, such as Halmahera, Seram and Gebe in the north, and Timor, Rote and Kisar in the south, the Tanimbar Islands have received relatively limited archaeological attention.
“This is particularly significant as it was found in Erivavan in the Tanimbar Islands of Indonesia,” said Hendri Kaharuddin, a doctoral student at the Australian National University.
“Taninbar lies just offshore from the Sahul Shelf, which includes present-day Australia and New Guinea.”
“The question of how our early ancestors got there from Southeast Asia is one of the most intriguing of prehistoric migrations, mainly because of the long distances involved and the need for advanced navigation techniques.”
“There have been two main routes that have been explored as possibilities since the mid-20th century: a northern route through islands such as Sulawesi, and a southern route passing near Timor and the Tanimbar islands.”
“This discovery represents one of the oldest sites on the southern route and is an important piece of the puzzle.”
Although much remains unknown about Erivavan's first inhabitants, the perilous nature of the sea crossing suggests that the colonists had developed advanced maritime technology by about 42,000 years ago.
“They would have had to cross a body of water over a distance of more than 100 kilometres, regardless of the direction of their travel,” Kaharuddin said.
“Along with small fragments of pottery, evidence of bones, shells and sea urchins was also found, indicating that the island was a centre of early maritime activity.”
“As research continues in less-explored regions like the Tanimbar Islands, we hope to learn more about early human life and migration patterns.”
“It is also clear that the colonization of Sahul was not a single event, but a gradual process involving successive waves of seagoing populations.”
“Coastal communities likely navigated the coastline, exploited marine resources, and built resilient settlements along the way.”
“This island-hopping strategy fostered cultural exchange and adaptation, leading to the formation of diverse societies across the landmass.”
Hendri AF Kaharuddin others2024. Islands on the Brink: 42,000 Year Old Occupation of the Tanimbar Islands and Implications for the Sunda-Sahul Early Human Migration Theory. Quaternary Science Review 338: 108834; doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.108834
Snake bites affect approximately 1.8 million people annually. The current standard of care is antibody-based antivenom, but it can be difficult to obtain and is generally ineffective against local tissue damage. New research suggests that heparin, a commonly used blood-clotting inhibitor, could be repurposed as an inexpensive antidote for cobra venom.
Zebra snake (Naja Nigrichinta) in Namibia. Image credit: Wolfgang Wüster.
“Our findings have the potential to significantly reduce the horrific necrotic injury caused by cobra bites, and may also slow the release of venom and improve survival rates,” Professor Greg Neely, from the University of Sydney, said.
The authors identified a way to block cobra venom using CRISPR gene editing technology and showed that heparin and related drugs could be repurposed to prevent necrosis caused by cobra bites.
“Heparin is cheap, ubiquitous and listed as an essential medicine by the World Health Organisation,” says Tian Du, a PhD student at the University of Sydney.
“If the human trials are successful, it could be used relatively quickly as a cheap, safe and effective drug to treat cobra bites.”
Using CRISPR, researchers have discovered the human gene required for cobra venom to kill flesh at the bite site.
One of the desired venom targets is an enzyme needed to make heparan and heparin, related molecules produced by many human and animal cells.
Heparan is present on cell surfaces and heparin is released during immune responses, and because of their similar structure, toxins can bind to either.
Scientists have used this knowledge to create an antidote that can stop necrosis in human cells and mice.
Unlike current cobra bite antivenoms, which are 19th century technology, heparinoids act as a “decoy” antidote.
The antidote works by injecting large amounts of “decoy” heparin sulfate or related heparinoid molecules into the bite site, which are able to bind to and neutralize the toxins in the venom that cause tissue damage.
“Our findings are intriguing because current antivenoms are largely ineffective at treating severe, localised poisoning which causes painful, progressive swelling, blistering and tissue necrosis around the bite,” said Professor Nicholas Casewell, from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
of study Published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
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Tian Y. Du others2024. Molecular dissection of cobra venom highlights heparinoids as potential antidotes to spitting cobra venom. Science Translational Medicine 16 (756); doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adk4802
In March 2020, a night-time curfew was imposed in New Delhi, India, as a preventive measure against COVID-19.
Yawar Nazir/Getty Images
The COVID-19 pandemic may have affected India more severely than previously estimated, with women, certain social groups and younger people experiencing the most severe declines in life expectancy.
Mortality estimates in India during the coronavirus pandemic have been based on official death records. But the lockdown disrupted this system, and already Under-reporting of women and children’s deaths Even before the pandemic, certain information such as caste and ethnicity was not collected. Sangeeta Vyas At Hunter College in New York
So Vyas and his colleagues collected information on mortality in India from the National Family Health Survey, a nation-wide survey that asks participants whether anyone in their household has died in the past four years and, if so, to provide data such as date of death, age, and sex (with only male and female options).
The researchers analyzed data from more than 765,000 participants who completed the survey in 2021. They found that deaths in 2020 were about 17% higher than in 2019. If a similar increase occurred across India, it would amount to about 1.2 million excess deaths in 2020. This is eight times the official number of COVID-19 deaths in India in 2020 and 1.5 times the World Health Organization estimate. QuoteAccording to research.
From 2019 to 2020, life expectancy across the entire sample fell by more than 2.5 years. 1.5 Years of Decline During the same period in the United States, changes in life expectancy also varied by sex, age, and social group.
For example, mortality rates fell by about three years for women and just over two years for men. This contrasts with global trends that show that men have experienced a larger increase in mortality than women during the COVID-19 pandemic. “These peculiar patterns in India are likely to be explained, at least in part, by gender inequality,” Vyas says.
preliminary survey In Indian households, women spend less on healthcare compared to men, and the pandemic may have exacerbated these existing disparities, it said. Riddhi Kashyap Oxford University researchers who co-authored the study say strict lockdowns could hinder access to obstetric care and increase obstetric mortality.
Unlike other countries, the decline in life expectancy observed in the study was mainly due to premature deaths: rising mortality rates among women and girls under 20 contributed about one year to the decline in life expectancy in 2020, roughly the same as the number of deaths among women aged 60 to 79.
“We believe the rise in mortality is stemming from indirect effects of the lockdown in India,” Vyas said, which could include disruptions to access to childhood vaccines and treatment for tuberculosis, a leading cause of death in the country.
There were also large differences between social groups: high-caste Hindus saw their life expectancy fall by 1.3 years, while Muslims and people belonging to lower castes saw their life expectancy fall by 5.4 and 2.7 years, respectively.
Public health experts have long been aware of health disparities in India, but the findings highlight the magnitude of those disparities, Vyas said. “Knowing how different populations are affected differently is important for crafting policy responses,” she said.
But the study had limitations. Due to disruptions during the lockdown, survey respondents came from only 14 of India’s 36 states and union territories, making the sample demographically representative of only about a quarter of India’s population. The study also didn’t look at causes of death. “We can only speculate as to why there are these patterns,” Kashyap says. “But we can’t say for sure what’s causing them.”
While the number of fires so far is typical for this time of summer, the extreme heat of early summer has dried out the land, increasing the risk of wildfires and casting a major doubt over what had seemed a relatively bright season.
“Wildfire conditions across the West continue to worsen and unfortunately will get worse,” Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said at a briefing on Thursday. “The past 30 days have been the warmest on record across a significant portion of California and the West.”
Flames from the Thompson Fire in Oroville, California, on July 2. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images file A vehicle is engulfed in flames during the Thompson Fire in Oroville, California on July 2nd. Ethan Swope/AP Files
After California experienced two consecutive wet winters, the National Association of Fire Agencies had predicted moderate fire activity in the state this summer and fall. This month's seasonal forecast has been revised upwards.He said the grass that had grown tall during the rainy weather had bounced back quickly with the heat.
“You know, we've had two really great winters where the atmospheric river came in and saved California from drought, but the tradeoff is that now we have a ton of grass and shrubs that are dead and ready to burn,” said Caitlin Trudeau, a senior scientist at nonprofit research organization Climate Central.
Debris of buildings and vehicles are left behind as the Apache Fire burns in Palermo, California, on June 25. Ethan Swope/AP Files Firefighters work to put out the growing Post Fire in Gorman, California on June 16. Eric Thayer/AP File
Swain said recent outbreaks of “dry lightning” – thunderstorms that don't produce rain – were of particular concern because long-range forecasts showed another heat wave hitting the region in late July, which could exacerbate existing fires.
A recent analysis from satellite monitoring company Maxar suggests that soil moisture levels in California dropped sharply from early June through July 15, while temperatures over the same period were about 5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than in 2020.
That year, it was June in California. Drought outlook and wildfire risk profile similar to this year. after that, More than 10,000 lightning strikes hit California Dozens of fires broke out over a three-day period in mid-August. Fueled by a heat wave, many of these fires grew rapidly and eventually evolved into three complex fires. One of these, the August Complex Fire, primarily affected the Mendocino National Forest and burned more than one million acres.
A total of 33 people have died in California's 2020 wildfires and scorched 4.5 million acres.
“It's really concerning to see these statistics because we're only halfway through July, and the last major thunderstorms of 2020 were in August,” Trudeau said of the data early this year. “We're already starting to see dry thunderstorms. We still have a long way to go to close out the year.”
Across the U.S., more than 1 million acres have burned so far this year, with 54 major fires currently under containment, according to the National Joint Fire Center.
Wildfire season is off to an early and active start in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in Oregon, with several large blazes burning in remote areas.
Smoke rises from a wildfire near La Pine, Oregon on June 25. Kyle Kalambach/Deschutes County Sheriff's Office via AP File
Being a neuroscientist comes with a unique occupational hazard of existential anxiety. The more we uncover about perception, cognition, decision-making, and behavioral selection, the more we are faced with the realization that it’s all mechanical. Everything we think of as heart-driven decisions may simply be the result of a machine’s workings.
How can we claim to choose when the process is just a collection of mechanical cogs turning? Who truly bears responsibility?
Modern technology allows us to witness these metaphorical gears in motion. By tracking neural activity in different circuits and brain regions through neuroimaging tools, we can understand the cognitive operations behind decision-making and behavior.
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Patterns of neural activity can correspond with evidence accumulation, certainty levels, confidence, goal adoption, rewards, learning, emotional signals, habit formation, and real-time behavioral adjustments. It’s like witnessing thought in action.
In some cases, we can even predict behavior onset before an individual acts. Research setups using rodents or monkeys reveal brain activity patterns anticipating behavior thresholds and even predicting future actions.
Experiments with humans, like those by Benjamin Libet in the 1980s, have shown brain activity leading movement occurring before conscious awareness of the decision. These findings challenge the notion that our conscious mind controls behavior, suggesting a more complex underlying mechanism.
External intervention in neural mechanisms can influence behavior patterns. Studies with patients undergoing brain surgery by Wilder Penfield showed how stimulating different brain areas can evoke sensations, emotions, memories, and movements, highlighting the intricate control system within us.
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Optogenetics in animals enables researchers to activate specific neurons and study real-time behavior effects. Understanding the cognitive mechanisms behind actions, memories, decision-making, and options weighing provides a deeper insight into behavior control.
This shift towards understanding the brain as an essential part of the decision-making process challenges our perception of choice and control. As we delve deeper into the neural mechanics, we question the concept of free will and autonomy.
Huge in scale and ambition, ITER is a €20 billion energy project being built in the south of France that will pave the way for nuclear fusion power similar to the sun’s energy source.
The world’s largest nuclear fusion experiment was launched in 2006 by an international effort involving the European Union, the United States, China, and Russia. The reactor’s first operation, which will create an extremely hot substance called plasma (the conditions needed for nuclear fusion), is scheduled for 2020. The plan was initially postponed to 2025, and new delays have now pushed it to 2035.
on the other hand, Enrico Sacchetti It offers a glimpse into ITER’s construction and potential.
The main image shows the 30-metre deep dimensions of the tokamak’s assembly pit, a device that uses magnetic fields to confine swirling plasma inside a doughnut-shaped torus: Above is a shot of one of the toroidal coils that generate these magnetic fields.
The image below shows some of the nine sectors that make up the ITER vacuum vessel, which weighs 5,200 tonnes and acts as an extremely durable “cage” for the experiments, keeping the continuously swirling plasma from touching its walls.
The top image shows part of the vacuum vessel being transported for repair, while the bottom photo shows the supports that line the back of the blanket module’s wall, which protects the structure and magnets from the heat and high-energy neutrons of the reaction.
A large number of Microsoft Windows computers around the world today were found to be unable to boot, instead displaying the so-called “Blue Screen of Death” (BSOD), among the computers reportedly affected, with the UK’s Sky News ceasing live broadcasts just before 6am local time, as well as causing outages for a number of airline and banking services.
What’s happening on my Windows computer?
Some users have reported that their Windows devices are refusing to boot up, while others have witnessed their computers suddenly display a BSOD while in use.
Eddie Major of the University of Adelaide in Australia…
THsinchu Science Park on Taiwan’s west coast is so lush, with well-planned and clearly signed roads and modern, well-maintained buildings that from the outside, most visitors would not even realise they were visiting one of the world’s most important factories.
Once known for its fish ball street food, Hsinchu is now known as Taiwan’s Silicon Valley, a tech-centric microcosm that channels workers from schools to universities and into the world’s leading semiconductor industry that’s crucial to global supply chains.
Chips, or semiconductors, are the tiny technological components that power almost everything: your computers, your mobile phones, your cars, etc. A single chip contains tens of billions of transistors needed to make electronic devices work, and the most advanced chips (mainly made in Taiwan) contain even more.
Taiwanese semiconductors were thrust into the spotlight this week after Donald Trump rehashed old accusations that Taiwan has stolen U.S. business, using the allegation to question whether the U.S. would continue its longstanding support for Taiwan if he is re-elected president in November.
“They took over almost 100% of our semiconductor industry,” he argued in an interview with Bloomberg. “We should never have allowed that to happen.”
In some parts of Taiwan, Trump’s comments were like a gangster asking for protection money, given that the United States is Taiwan’s most important security partner in countering the threat of Chinese annexation.
There is little evidence to support Trump’s claim that Taiwan has stolen U.S. property, but there is no denying that Taiwan controls nearly 100% of the cutting edge of the global semiconductor industry.
Taiwan produces about 90% of the world’s most advanced semiconductors, most of which are produced through Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest producer and a major supplier to Apple and Nvidia.
“Taiwan was simply more competitive than other countries,” said Raymond Kuo, a political scientist at the RAND Corporation.
People walk in front of the TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) logo at the Taiwanese semiconductor contract manufacturing and design company’s building in Hsinchu. Photo: SOPA Images Limited/Alamy
Manufacturers like TSMC rose to prominence by focusing on research and development and relentless efficiency, allowing them to pack more transistors onto a smaller chip than their competitors. Taiwanese workers are highly educated, and in a society where salaries are low compared to the cost of living, semiconductor jobs are well-paying but highly demanding. Taiwan’s labor protection laws are much weaker than those in the United States and other countries. For Taiwanese people, working for TSMC or a similar company is seen as a prestigious job with a bright future.
“[Companies] Masters or PhD holders can run the factory in three shifts. [fabrication plants] “Every day, new chipmakers are coming in,” Kuo said. “There’s also a whole secondary industry ecosystem built to support them.”
Taiwan’s vice minister for science and technology said on Thursday that Taiwan has spent 30 to 40 years developing its industries so “it is impossible to simply replace and difficult to imitate.”
While other countries are trying to catch up, some reports suggest the gap is widening. Taiwan’s monopoly on the components that literally power the world raises concerns about the vulnerability of global supply chains, especially if China’s leaders were to one day order an invasion or attack.
“It’s not hard to imagine Beijing using its control of these production facilities to coerce other countries into submitting to its subjugation,” Kuo said. “Semiconductors will become another tool Beijing can use to coerce other countries economically and politically.”
During the pandemic, the world got a firsthand look at how a supply chain crisis and chip shortage can affect global trade, as factory closures snowballed into a global chip shortage, delaying manufacturing and sending prices of autos and other products soaring.
In response to the crisis, other countries have tried to diversify their supply sources, mainly through Taiwanese companies setting up new manufacturing plants overseas, but with limited success.
Thanks to U.S. incentives, some of Taiwan’s production has shifted to the U.S., and TSMC is spending billions to build new factories overseas, including a $65 billion investment in three factories in Arizona. In Arizona The facility revealed challenges in replicating the Taiwanese model for a variety of reasons, including differences in approaches to labor rights and worker demands.
TSMC founder and former chairman Morris Chang previously said the cost of the U.S. project would be much higher, describing it as a “wasteful, expensive and wasteful endeavor.”
For Taiwan, this advantage is a good thing from a national security perspective: Geopolitical observers call Taiwan’s semiconductor industry a “silicon shield,” serving as an incentive for the international community to keep Taiwan away from Beijing’s control.
In response to Trump’s remarks, Taiwanese officials emphasized the strength of U.S.-Taiwan relations and extensive international cooperation in the semiconductor sector (Taiwan is home to several foreign semiconductor companies), but also indicated their intention to keep Taiwan’s research and development domestic and maintain its industrial dominance.
“Diversification means countries have less reason to defend Taiwan,” Kuo said. “Why should they defend it when they can easily switch to another supplier?”
It is widely known that excessive alcohol consumption is detrimental to health, a fact that has been established by scientific research over many years.
Despite this, there is still much to learn about the effects of alcohol on the body and whether consuming small amounts of certain types of alcohol may have potential benefits.
New research is shedding light on how alcohol impacts the body and accelerates the aging process, particularly at a cellular level that determines biological age.
Unlike chronological age, which simply counts the number of years someone has lived, biological age assesses cellular function and disease risk. Two key indicators of biological age, telomere length, and epigenetic age, provide evidence of the harmful effects of alcohol consumption on the body.
Drinking alcohol increases the risk of DNA damage
Telomeres are essential components of our genetic structure, protecting chromosomes from damage during cell replication. Over time, telomeres naturally shorten as cells divide. Shortened telomeres are associated with age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, and heart disease.
Research conducted by Anya Topiwala and her team at Oxford University in 2022 found that excessive alcohol consumption leads to a reduction in telomere length, accelerating the biological aging process.
Observational studies have shown that consuming 29 or more units of alcohol per week can result in a 1-2 year change in telomere length compared to drinking less than six units per week. Individuals with alcohol use disorders were found to have even shorter telomeres.
The exact mechanism by which alcohol shortens telomeres is not fully understood, but it is believed to be related to oxidative stress caused by alcohol consumption.
Certain types of alcohol are bad for you
Epigenetic age, which assesses DNA methylation linked to aging using multiple biomarkers, indicates the impact of lifestyle choices on biological age. Studies have shown that cumulative alcohol exposure increases biological age, with liquor drinkers being at a higher risk of premature aging compared to beer or wine drinkers.
Further research is being conducted to better understand the connection between alcohol consumption and biological aging, as the specific reasons behind these effects are not fully clear.
Can biological age be reversed?
While biological aging is theoretically reversible, the practical methods to achieve this reversal are not yet established. Scientists believe that by addressing environmental factors and lifestyle choices that impact DNA function, it may be possible to slow down the aging process.
Quitting or reducing alcohol consumption has been shown to slow down biological aging. Both studies emphasize that moderate drinking does not have any protective effects and that increased alcohol consumption accelerates the aging process.
About our experts
Anya Topiwala: A psychiatrist at Oxford University, Topiwala’s research focuses on the impact of alcohol consumption on brain health using large datasets and advanced imaging techniques.
Hou Li-Fan: A Professor of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University, Dr. Hou’s research integrates epidemiological methods with molecular technologies to identify molecular markers and understand their role in disease prevention.
Have you heard of the carnivore diet? It’s a new trend that takes low-carb dieting to the extreme by eliminating all plant foods and only consuming animal-derived foods like meat, fish, animal fats, and dairy products. Proponents claim that plant toxins and agricultural practices used in plant-based foods can harm our health, and suggest that eliminating sugar by cutting out plant foods can promote weight management and metabolic health.
While there is no scientific evidence on the health effects of the carnivore diet, anecdotal reports suggest benefits like improved weight management, cardiac and metabolic health, cognitive function, reduced inflammation, improved digestion, and even resolution of autoimmune diseases. However, side effects such as bad breath, constipation, and headaches may occur initially.
Nutritionally, animal-based foods provide high-quality proteins, essential vitamins like B12, iron, zinc, selenium, and other nutrients. However, the lack of fiber from fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains in a carnivore diet may raise concerns for long-term gut and heart health. Scientific studies have shown the benefits of plant foods in reducing the risk of diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer, while high intake of red and processed meats can increase risks.
Proponents of the carnivore diet argue that it aligns with early human diets, but biological evidence suggests that humans evolved as omnivores who consumed both animals and plants. Transitioning to more sustainable and healthy food systems that consider the health of the planet is crucial, and excessive meat consumption may not support this goal. Ultimately, the choice to follow a carnivore diet may have long-term health implications and ethical considerations.
This article was first published on December 5, 2022.
Using data from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and other telescopes, astronomers have found evidence of an intermediate-mass black hole. IRS 13a dusty group of stars within the nuclear cluster of our Milky Way galaxy.
Intermediate-mass black holes can form in dense star clusters, either through the merger of stellar-mass black holes or the collapse of very massive stars. Image credit: Sci.News/Zdeněk Bardon/ESO.
Black holes are found in a wide range of masses, from stellar-mass objects with masses of 10 to 100 times that of the Sun, to objects at the centers of galaxies with masses over 100,000 times that of the Sun.
However, there are only a few intermediate-mass black hole candidates between 100 and 100,000 times the mass of the Sun.
“The IRS 13 cluster is located 0.1 light-years away from the centre of our galaxy,” said Dr Florian Peisker from the University of Cologne and his colleagues.
“I noticed that the stars in IRS 13 were moving in an unexpectedly orderly pattern.”
“They actually expected the stars to be randomly positioned.”
“Two conclusions can be drawn from this regular pattern,” they added.
“Meanwhile, IRS 13 appears to be interacting with Sagittarius A*, a black hole at the centre of the Milky Way that is four million times more massive than the Sun, which leads to the orderly motion of stars.”
“However, something else needs to be present inside the cluster to maintain the observed compact shape.”
Using data from the VLT, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), and NASA's Chandra X-ray Telescope, astronomers have found strong evidence that IRS 13 has a disk-like structure.
“Multi-wavelength observations suggest that the reason for IRS 13's compact shape could be an intermediate-mass black hole located at the center of the cluster,” the researchers said.
“We were able to observe characteristic x-rays and ionized gas rotating at hundreds of kilometers per second in the disk surrounding the suspected intermediate-mass black hole.”
“Another indication of the presence of an intermediate-mass black hole is the unusually high density of this cluster, which is higher than the density of any other cluster in our Milky Way galaxy.”
“IRS 13 appears to be an essential component in the growth of the central black hole, Sagittarius A*,” Dr Peisker said.
“This fascinating star cluster has continued to astonish the scientific community since its discovery almost 20 years ago. It was initially thought to be an unusually massive group of stars, but high-resolution data have now allowed us to confirm its component parts, with an intermediate-mass black hole at its center.”
Europa and Enceladus are important targets for the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life in the solar system. However, the surfaces and shallow subsurfaces of these airless icy moons are constantly exposed to ionizing radiation that can degrade chemical biosignatures. Therefore, sampling the icy surfaces in future life-searching missions to Europa and Enceladus requires a clear understanding of the required ice depths where intact organic biomolecules may exist. A team of scientists from NASA and Pennsylvania State University conducted experiments exposing individual biological and abiotic amino acids in the ice to gamma radiation to simulate conditions on these icy worlds.
Europa's surface stands out in this newly reprocessed color image. The image scale is 1.6 km per pixel. Europa's north side is on the right. Image courtesy of NASA / JPL-Caltech / SETI Institute.
“Based on our experiments, a 'safe' sampling depth for amino acids on Europa is about 20 centimetres (8 inches) at high latitudes in the trailing hemisphere (the hemisphere opposite the direction Europa moves around Jupiter), in an area where the surface has not been significantly disturbed by meteorite impacts,” said Dr. Alexander Pavlov, a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
“Detecting amino acids on Enceladus does not require subsurface sampling; these molecules survive radiolysis (breakdown by radiation) anywhere on Enceladus' surface, within a few millimeters (tenths of an inch) of the surface.”
Dr. Pavlov and his colleagues used amino acids in their radiolysis experiments as representative examples of biomolecules on icy moons.
Amino acids are produced by both living organisms and non-living processes.
But if certain types of amino acids were found on Europa or Enceladus, they could be a sign of life, as they may be used by life on Earth as building blocks of proteins.
Proteins are essential for life because they are used to create structures and to produce enzymes that speed up or control chemical reactions.
Amino acids and other compounds found underground in the ocean could be transported to the surface by geyser activity or the slow churning motion of the ice shell.
To assess the survival of amino acids on these planets, the researchers mixed amino acid samples with ice cooled to minus 196 degrees Celsius (minus 321 degrees Fahrenheit) in sealed, airless vials and exposed them to various doses of gamma rays (a type of high-energy light).
Because the ocean may harbor microorganisms, the researchers also tested the viability of amino acids contained in dead bacteria in the ice.
Finally, the researchers tested samples of amino acids in the ice mixed with silicate dust to see if meteorites or interior materials could be mixing with the surface ice.
This experiment provided vital data for determining the rate at which amino acids break down (called the radiolysis constant).
Using these, the scientists used the age and radiation environment of the icy surfaces of Europa and Enceladus to calculate drilling depths and where 10% of amino acids would survive radiolysis.
While experiments have been done before to test for the survival of amino acids in ice, this is the first to use low doses of radiation that don't completely break down the amino acids – changing or breaking them down would be insufficient to determine whether they were a sign of life.
This is also the first experiment to use Europa/Enceladus conditions to assess the survival of these compounds in microbes, and the first to test the survival of amino acids mixed with dust.
Scientists have found that amino acids break down faster when mixed with dust, but more slowly when they come from microorganisms.
“The slow rate of breakdown of amino acids in biological samples under surface conditions like those on Europa and Enceladus strengthens the case for future life detection measurements from lander missions to Europa and Enceladus,” Dr Pavlov said.
“Our results indicate that the decomposition rates of potential organic biomolecules are higher in the silica-rich regions of both Europa and Enceladus than in pure ice. Future missions to Europa and Enceladus should therefore be careful when sampling the silica-rich regions of these icy moons.”
“A possible explanation for why amino acids survive longer in bacteria is the way that ionizing radiation alters molecules, either directly by breaking chemical bonds or indirectly by creating nearby reactive compounds that alter or break down the target molecule.”
“It's possible that the bacterial cellular material protected the amino acids from reactive compounds produced by the radiation.”
Alexander A. Pavlov others2024. Effects of radiolysis on biological and abiotic amino acids in shallow subsurface ice on Europa and Enceladus. Astrobiology 24(7); doi: 10.1089/ast.2023.0120
This article has been edited based on the original NASA release.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta announced that it would not release an advanced version of its artificial intelligence model in the EU, citing “unpredictable” behavior of regulators.
The owners of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are preparing to make the Llama model available in a multimodal format, meaning it can work with text, video, images and audio, not just one format. Llama is an open-source model, meaning users can freely download and adapt it.
But a Meta spokesperson confirmed that the model would not be available in the EU, a decision that highlights tensions between big tech companies and Brussels amid an increasingly tough regulatory environment.
“We plan to release a multi-modal Llama model in the coming months, but it will not be released in the EU due to the unpredictable regulatory environment there,” the spokesperson said.
Brussels is introducing an EU AI law which comes into force next month, while new regulatory requirements for big tech companies are being introduced in the form of the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
However, Meta’s decision regarding its multimodal Llama model has implications on its compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): Meta was ordered to stop training its AI models on posts from Facebook and Instagram users in the EU for potential violations of privacy regulations.
The Irish Data Protection Commission, which oversees Meta’s compliance with GDPR, said it was in discussions with the company about training its models.
However, Meta is concerned that other EU data watchdogs could step in to the regulatory process and halt its approval. Although a text-based version of Llama is available in the EU, and a new text-only version is due to be released in the EU soon, these models have not been trained on EU Meta user data.
The move comes after Apple announced last month that it would not roll out some new AI features in the EU due to concerns about compliance with the DMA.
Meta had planned to use the multimodal Llama model in products such as Ray-Ban smart glasses and smartphones. Llama’s decision was first reported by Axios.
Meta also announced on Wednesday that it had suspended use of its Generative AI tool in Brazil after the Brazilian government raised privacy concerns about the use of user data to train models. The company said it decided to suspend use of the tool while it consults with Brazil’s data authorities.
Are you facing an existential crisis from scrolling through your phone? A recent study conducted by an international team of experts aimed to explore this issue. Read the full report in the Journal of Computers in Human Behavior.
The study surveyed 800 college students in the US and Iran and discovered a connection between doomscrolling – excessive consumption of negative news – and feelings of existential anxiety, distrust of others, and despair.
Researcher Reza Shabahan from Flinders University highlighted that constant exposure to negative news can indirectly cause trauma, affecting even those who have not experienced direct trauma.
The study revealed that continuous exposure to negative news led individuals to believe that life is fragile and limited, humans are inherently lonely, and people have little control over their lives.
In the case of Iranian students, doomscrolling was also linked to misanthropy, a deep disdain and mistrust of humanity.
The researchers suggested that constant exposure to negative news reinforces the idea that humanity is flawed and the world lacks justice, challenging individuals’ beliefs about the fairness and goodness of the world.
However, they acknowledged limitations in their sample selection and size, cautioning against drawing definitive conclusions about the association observed.
Professor Helen Christensen from the University of New South Wales expressed interest in the study but cautioned that biases could exist due to the sample size.
Digital behavior expert Dr. Joan Orlando emphasized the potential long-term impact of doomscrolling on mental health, likening it to being constantly berated.
Orlando recommended being mindful of how social media and news consumption affect mental well-being, suggesting a delay in checking such platforms upon waking up.
She further emphasized the importance of understanding the impact of media consumption on one’s worldview.
For more insights, check out a Joint submission by mental health organizations ReachOut, Beyond Blue, and Black Dog Institute on the impact of social media on young Australians.
George Herman, CEO of Beyond Blue, highlighted the dual nature of social media in affecting young people’s mental health and called for social media platforms to take responsibility for their impact.
He stressed that individuals should have a say in the content they are exposed to and questioned social media platforms on their strategies to address the issue of doomscrolling.
A team of Chinese scientists has assembled a reference genome from telomere to telomere. Korean ginseng (Korean ginseng)A representative of traditional Chinese medicine.
Overview of morphological characteristics of Korean ginseng (Korean ginseng). Image credit: Song others., doi: 10.1093/hr/uhae107.
Ginseng is one of the most important medicinal plants and is cultivated in Northeast Asia, including China, Korea, Siberia, and Japan, and in smaller quantities in North America.
As recorded in the ancient Chinese text Shennong Benmatao Jing, the perennial root of ginseng has been used for thousands of years in traditional medicine and as a functional food and beverage with bodily and immune-boosting properties.
Ginseng has a very long history of being collected from the wild in fields, and cultivation began about 500 years ago. Since then, selective breeding has begun and cultivated varieties have become common.
“Like other herbs, medicinal ginseng has complex metabolites that are believed to be active compounds, of which triterpene saponins (ginsenosides) are the most important class,” said Wei Li, PhD, of the Shenzhen Institute of Agricultural Genomics, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and colleagues.
“Ginseng probably contains more than 100 types of ginsenosides, but the synthesis pathways of most of the ginsenosides remain unknown.”
In the new study, Dr. Lee and his co-authors assembled a ginseng reference genome from telomere to telomere.
“We used this intertelomeric reference genome to study the phylogeny and evolution of ginseng and to explore the asymmetric loss and biased expression of genes among its subgenomes,” they explained.
The authors identified 77,266 protein-coding genes in the 3.45 Gb ginseng genome.
The team also identified asymmetric gene loss and biased gene expression across the subgenomes, tracing the divergence back approximately 6.07 million years.
Their analysis revealed extensive expansion of gene families related to saponin biosynthesis and highlighted the importance of specific gene duplications in enriching these pathways.
Comparative genomic analysis with related species will provide further insight into the evolutionary strategies employed by ginseng to maximize its medicinal properties.
“The complete sequencing of the ginseng genome is a monumental achievement in plant research,” Dr Lee said.
“Not only will it broaden our understanding of the genetic complexity of medicinal plants, but it will also introduce sophisticated methods for cultivating ginseng varieties with superior health properties.”
“Comprehensive sequencing of the ginseng genome has laid the foundation for precision breeding techniques aimed at enhancing its medicinal properties.”
“This research not only has immediate applications in the intensification of ginseng cultivation, but also serves as a model for studying other medicinal plants, potentially revolutionizing pharmacology and crop intensification strategies with natural products.”
of result Published in the journal Horticultural Research.
_____
Song Yi-ting others2024. Telomere-to-telomere reference genome Korean ginseng Our focus is on the evolution of saponin biosynthesis. Horticultural Research 11 (6): uhae107; doi: 10.1093/hr/uhae107
The current definition, established by the International Astronomical Union in 2006, states that to be considered a planet, an object must be in the solar system and orbit the Sun. However, this definition is problematic in that it is not quantitative and excludes exoplanets. A proposed new definition states that an object can orbit one or more stars, brown dwarfs, or stellar remnants, and sets a mass limit that should apply to any planet.
Artist's impression of an exoplanet and its host star. Image courtesy of Sci.News.
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopted Resolution B5, which defines a planet as a celestial body that (a) orbits the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass so that its own gravity overcomes the forces of a rigid body, has a shape in hydrostatic equilibrium (approximately circular), and (c) is swept around its orbit.
“The current definition specifically mentions orbiting the sun,” said Professor Jean-Luc Margot of the University of California, Los Angeles.
“Thousands of planets are currently known to exist, but the IAU definition only applies to planets in our solar system.”
“We propose a new definition that can be applied to objects orbiting any star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf.”
Prof Margot and his colleagues argue that the requirement to orbit the Sun is too specific, while other criteria in the IAU definition are too vague.
For example, it says that the planet has “gone out of orbit,” but doesn't say what that means.
The proposed new definition includes quantifiable criteria that can be applied to define planets inside and outside the solar system.
Under the new definition, a planet is (a) an object that orbits one or more stars, brown dwarfs, or stellar remnants; (b) a mass greater than or equal to 10twenty three kg, (c) is 13 times the mass of Jupiter (2.5 × 1028 kg).
The authors ran mathematical algorithms on the properties of objects in the solar system to determine which ones are densely populated.
This analysis reveals groups of distinct properties common to planets in our solar system, which can be used as a starting point for creating a general classification of planets.
For example, if an object's gravitational force is sufficient to accumulate or eject smaller objects nearby to clear a path, the object is said to be dynamically dominant.
“All planets in the solar system are dynamically dominated, but other objects, including dwarf planets like Pluto and asteroids, are not, so this property can be included in the definition of a planet,” Prof Margot said.
Dynamic dominance requirements dictate a lower mass limit.
But it's also possible that the potential planet is too large to fit the new definition.
For example, some gas giants can grow so large that thermonuclear fusion of deuterium occurs, and the object becomes a star known as a brown dwarf, no longer a planet. This limit has been determined to be more than 13 Jupiter masses.
On the other hand, the current requirement that it be spherical is more problematic.
Distant planets are rarely observed in enough detail to determine their shapes with certainty.
The researchers argue that even though planets are generally round, the shape requirements would be so difficult to implement that they are virtually useless for definitional purposes.
“Fixing the definition to mass, the quantity that is most easily measured, eliminates debate about whether a particular object meets the criteria – this is a weakness of the current definition,” said Dr Brett Gladman, a researcher at the University of British Columbia.
“The good news is that in the solar system,twenty one kg looks round.”
“Thus, any object that meets the proposed lower mass limit of 10twenty three kg is expected to be spherical.”
Team paper Published in Planetary Science Journal.
People demonstrate outside the UK COVID-19 Inquiry site in London in October 2023.
Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images
“The UK prepared for the wrong pandemic” This is the key conclusion from the first part of a government inquiry looking at the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular its preparedness and resilience.
“In 2019, it was widely believed, both in the UK and abroad, that the UK was not only well prepared to deal with a pandemic, but one of the best-prepared countries in the world. This belief proved dangerously wrong.” Heather HallettThe former judge leading the UK's coronavirus inquiry Video Statement Released at the same time Reports“The reality is that the UK was ill-prepared.”
“I have no hesitation in saying that the processes, plans and policies of the UK-wide civil emergency response arrangements have let down the people of all four countries,” Mr Hallett said. “There were serious errors on the part of the government and serious failings in the civil emergency system. This cannot be allowed to happen again.”
The main reason the UK was unprepared was because it planned on the assumption that the pandemic would be caused by a dangerous influenza strain or something similar, the report concluded, “which resulted in risk assessments being narrowly limited, excluding other types of pandemics.”
The next biggest mistake was assuming that because influenza spreads easily from person to person, there would be no way to stop the spread of a pandemic pathogen. “Plans were focused on dealing with the effects of the disease rather than preventing the spread of the disease,” the report said.
As a result, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no plans to implement measures such as border controls, lockdowns, testing people or contact tracing to identify people who may have the coronavirus and stop them from infecting others.
“There was no preparation whatsoever for the fact that hygiene measures at the border might be necessary to protect the population,” the former health minister said. Matt Hancock Part of the problem, the inquiry said, is that because responsibility for health measures has been devolved between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, it is not clear who can implement such measures.
The UK government also did not consider the possibility of a lockdown being necessary: ”There was no plan to introduce a lockdown.” Mark Woolhouse “Lockdowns were an ad-hoc public health intervention devised in real time in the face of a rapidly evolving public health emergency,” researchers from the University of Edinburgh in the UK said in a study.
Testing and tracing was envisioned as part of any response to new pathogens, but the capacity to do so was limited because it was assumed that any new infectious diseases would only have a small number of cases.
“One of the first lines of defence against a pandemic is containment, and this requires a test, trace and isolate system that can be rapidly expanded to meet the demands of a large outbreak,” Mr Hallett said. “This did not exist in the UK when the COVID-19 pandemic began.”
“The UK government's only pandemic plan, developed in 2011, was outdated and inadequate,” she said. “The UK government never applied or adapted it, and the principles on which it was based were ultimately abandoned, along with the 2011 strategy itself.”
The report does not explore the consequences of those failures, but a summary released with the report states that “further preparations could have avoided some of the enormous financial, economic and human costs of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The inquiry will also look into decision-making and political governance in Westminster, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the impact on health systems across the UK, vaccines, medicines, anti-viral treatments, government procurement and PPE. [personal protective equipment]; the care sector, test and trace, the impact on children and young people, and the Government's business and finance response.
The latest report quoted a civil servant as saying: Chris Wormald “There's been a lot of discussion, of course, about countries like South Korea, who handled COVID very well. In fact, they had much higher standards of containment than we did, and that was a key difference.”
One of the aims of the review is to help the UK better prepare for the future. “The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that another, more infectious and deadly pandemic is likely in the near to medium term,” Hallett said. “This means that the UK will face another pandemic – one that, unless we prepare better, will cause untold suffering and huge economic loss, with the most vulnerable in society suffering the most.”
“This is a most urgent report because we are still not fully prepared for the next pandemic.” Duncan Robertson Loughborough University, UK Post to X.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
NASA has announced that a completed rover scheduled for launch to the moon next year will be dismantled due to budgetary issues, leading researchers to question whether the space agency is really committed to landing a crewed spacecraft on the moon in 2026 as it currently claims.
The Volatile Investigation Polar Rover (VIPER) would be sent to the moon’s south pole in September 2025 to search for water ice. The rover, equipped with a drill, would search for subsurface ice in several locations on the moon, including in craters that are permanently in shadow.
But on July 17, NASA announced it was canceling the mission. “Decisions like these are never easy,” Nicola Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement. “But in this case, VIPER’s remaining projected costs would have forced us to cancel or terminate many other missions, so we have made the decision to abandon this particular mission.”
NASA has already spent $450 million on the rover, and canceling it is expected to save only $84 million. NASA says it welcomes “expressions of interest from U.S. industry and international partners” to purchase VIPER, but if this does not occur by August 1, VIPER will be dismantled with the aim of reusing its parts for future missions.
Phil Metzger Metzger of the University of Central Florida said canceling the mission would be a “huge mistake” for NASA, especially since the space agency has ambitious goals of landing humans on the moon’s south pole in 2026 as part of its Artemis program. It could also jeopardize plans to use lunar ice as a source of rocket fuel. “The rover with the drill is an absolutely essential part of the mission,” Metzger said. “It would definitely have some impact on plans for a human mission.”
The cancellation of VIPER could also give China an advantage in lunar resource exploration: The unmanned probes Chang’e-7 and Chang’e-8, scheduled for 2026 and 2028, respectively, are set to head to the lunar south pole to search for water ice.
Grant Tremblay Researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said the cancellations highlight the budgetary challenges facing NASA and other U.S. government agencies, which have Funding is down 8.5% this year The funding came in just under $25 billion, less than the requested amount. “This is a perfect example of how tight the budget is across the board at NASA,” Tremblay said. “NASA can’t print money.”
Other NASA missions, including the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Mars Sample Return mission, which would bring rocks from Mars, are also facing cuts or cancellations due to shrinking budgets. “More bad news is sure to follow,” Tremblay said.
“Academics are often accused of ‘obsessing over the details,'” David Taylor told Feedback magazine. “This year my team and I have managed to do just that. We have built a machine that can literally split a single hair from end to end. This is the first time that anyone has been able to split a hair in a lab in a controlled environment and quantify the phenomenon. Were you planning any exciting beauty treatments like coloring or curling your hair? You’ll have to wait and see if this will cause split ends.”
This is based on research done in the 1980s by Y. K. Kamath and H.-D. Weigman, who sought to take a closer look at what happens when a hair splits.
in Journal of Applied Polymer Science “Fractographic analysis of human hairKamath and Weigman calmed their excitement and stated, “Electron microscopic evidence suggests that fracture propagation occurs via secondary cracks generated as a result of stress concentrations that build up around the primary crack.”
Water from the wreckage
Brazilian researchers have been searching outside the cemetery for the remains of people buried there. Their main question is whether the decaying bodies are sending a foul stench into the area’s deep groundwater. Elias Saba and his colleagues have summed it all up in a book with a macabre, geeky title: “The Deadly Sinisters: The Secrets of the Dead.”Assessing the impact of cemeteries on groundwater using multivariate analysis” “.
The team collected data from three “monitoring wells” dug at the cemetery and compared it with data from the local sewer company about water in nearby household cisterns. Multivariate analysis provided both good and not-so-good news.
The researchers explain that the soil, both inside and outside the cemetery, absorbs most of the problematic waste from the bodies, “preventing surface contaminants from reaching the aquifer.” That’s a good thing. But the problem is that water samples taken in areas outside the cemetery do not meet Brazil’s drinking water standards.
Grandma drinking alcohol
Ancestral water resources are not a new issue. Perhaps the most attention on this issue came in 2008. Journal of Environmental Health.
Reader Russ Hodge responded to the feedback with:Drinking Grandma: The Problem with Embalming” ,” by attorney Jeremiah Chiapelli and Ted Chiapelli, a health sciences professor at Western Carolina University in North Carolina.
The Chiappellis explain: “Modern embalming involves replacing organic blood with a variety of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals, particularly formaldehyde. The embalmed body is then buried underground, but even when placed in a coffin, bodily fluids inevitably leak into groundwater. The reasons embalming was first undertaken, and the rationale for the continued practice, do not justify the potential public health and environmental risks posed by embalming.”
The Chiappellis also talk about research done by others about why so many people in the U.S. choose embalming: “In states that require funeral directors to be embalming technicians or have embalming facilities, cremation rates have decreased due to funeral director solicitation.”
settlement
Nothing livens up the social atmosphere at a strange pub like axe throwing, but the sport can pose dangers for some of those who approach it in a obliging, professional manner.
According to researchers Kusha Dabar, Arthur Jeng, and Suzanne Donovan, one such risk factor is blastomycosis, a fungal disease that “manifests as a pulmonary disease” but can also affect the skin, bones, and genitourinary tract.
The patient “worked at an axe-throwing factory after moving to Los Angeles,” and “his work involved cutting wood for customers.”
Dabber, Jenn and Donovan claim that the disease is “not routinely diagnosed” in Southern California. They say: Blastomyces The fungus was present in the wood before entering the patient’s body.
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Marc Abrahams is the founder of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founder of the journal Annals of Improbable Research. He previously worked on unusual uses of computers. His website is Impossible.
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The TUC is determined to continue the fight for union recognition at Amazon despite workers at the US retailer’s Coventry warehouse being denied collective bargaining rights by a narrow margin of 29 votes.
In a significant vote that could have compelled Amazon to allow trade unions in the UK for the first time, 50.5% of the voting workers chose to reject GMB union representation, a result that could have been overturned if just 15 people had switched sides.
General secretary of the TUC, Paul Nowak, stated, “Amazon is actively working to prevent workers from having an independent voice at their workplace. This is not the end – our movement remains united to expose bad employers.”
According to union sources, Amazon had instilled a culture of fear and used intimidation tactics to suppress support among the 3,000 workers at the West Midlands site during the over a year-long battle for recognition.
GMB activists were permitted to present their case to workers in a timed meeting before the vote, while managers conducted separate information sessions to argue against approval.
GMB senior organizer Stuart Richards mentioned that the union would explore legal avenues. He added, “Amazon has been relentless in its attacks on its own employees. Workers have been subjected to pressure to attend lengthy anti-union seminars.”
Workers were granted the right to a binding vote by an independent Central Arbitration Committee in April after a GMB campaign, as Amazon had initially refused voluntary recognition. The voting process had oversight from independent advisers appointed by the CAC.
Had employees voted in favor of recognition, GMB would have had the authority to negotiate pay and working conditions on their behalf, marking the first time Amazon would have recognized a trade union in the UK.
Additionally, it would have been the first instance of employees of an internet retailer receiving recognition rights outside the US.
Mr. Richards expressed concerns about Amazon’s conduct and reiterated the ongoing determination of workers to seek justice.
“Although Amazon’s anti-union stance prevailed in this instance, the underlying issues around work intensity and pay that sparked this dispute remain unresolved,” noted Callum Kant, a senior lecturer at the University of Essex who studies the gig economy.
Under current regulations, a union cannot reapply for recognition for the same group of workers for three years after losing a vote. The government has indicated plans to ease the process of securing recognition as part of its new worker-friendly policies, though the impact on cases like Amazon’s remains uncertain.
Amazon responded, stating, “We appreciate all those who participated in this vote. At Amazon, we prioritize direct engagement and regular conversations with our employees. We value these relationships and strive to offer career growth opportunities in a safe environment with competitive pay and benefits.”
Four poultry workers in Colorado recently fell ill with avian flu, bringing the total number of cases in the United States to nine.
Almost all of the infections have been reported since April, giving experts a preliminary idea of what symptoms the virus causes in people.
Cases have been fairly mild, with some typical flu symptoms and some reports of conjunctivitis.
Four poultry workers in Colorado recently fell ill with avian flu, bringing the total number of cases in the United States to at least nine.
Though the numbers are small, researchers say the commonalities between the cases — all but one of which were reported in the past four months — are enough to get a sense of how the virus affects people.
Cases in the US have been relatively mild and limited to farm workers who have handled infected animals, suggesting that the virus in its current form does not pose a significant threat to humans.
Some patients have reported typical flu symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, sore throat, and runny nose, while a few have also developed conjunctivitis and measles.
“One thing we can say is that the current strain of the virus is not adapted to infect humans and may not be adapted to infect the lower respiratory tract,” said Matthew Binnicker, director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic.
The cases have been attributed to the global outbreak of H5N1, a specific strain of avian influenza that swept through America’s poultry and dairy farms in 2020.
The first case in the country was reported in April 2022 in an inmate working on a farm in Colorado who was culling birds and whose only symptom was fatigue. Texas reported a second case in April, followed by two in Michigan and five in Colorado, the latest four of which were confirmed over the weekend.
This H5N1 strain is considered highly pathogenic, which, when the term is used in the context of avian flu, means it has a high chance of killing chickens.
“It’s really scary to hear about such viruses, but the term is actually the USDA term for what happens to poultry,” said John Lednicky, professor of environmental and global health studies at the University of Florida. “Just because it’s highly pathogenic for birds doesn’t mean it’s highly pathogenic for mammals or for humans.”
Lednicky added that some H5N1 strains are deadly to humans, but others are not.
Since 1997, more than 900 total cases of H5N1 have been reported worldwide, about half of which were fatal. But the global mortality rate has fallen to about 27% over the past two years. Still, that figure largely reflects only those whose illness was severe enough to cause them to seek medical treatment.
Dr. Peter Parese, a professor of microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said the figures include patients “who were hospitalized and, in retrospect, came into contact with a lot of the virus.”
Palese’s 2012 StudyBlood samples from 12,500 people with no recorded history of avian flu infection were examined and found that 1% to 2% of them may have had a previous infection with H5N1.
But experts worry the virus could one day mutate and cause more severe illness or become more capable of spreading from person to person (all transmission so far has been from animals to people).
“The concern is that as it infects more animals and then infects more humans, the virus will change,” Binnicker said.
Why is conjunctivitis associated with bird flu?
At least four of nine people with avian flu in the United States reported having conjunctivitis.
This was the case in at least one recent case in Colorado, linked to an outbreak at a commercial farm in Weld County where workers were slaughtering poultry.
The state announced earlier this month that another patient Dairy workers People who came into contact with the infected cows also developed conjunctivitis.
A dairy farm worker in Texas was infected with avian influenza and developed conjunctivitis. New England Journal of Medicine
Texas 1 The patient had conjunctivitis and no other symptoms. The patient worked with dairy cows and developed redness and discomfort in her right eye in March. New England Journal of Medicine Case StudyThe individual reported wearing gloves while working but no eye protection.
Scientists say there could be a few factors that explain the recent spread of the condition. One is that farm workers don’t always cover their eyes when handling sick animals, which could result in dairy farmers ingesting raw milk, which can lead to infection. Carrying the virus — That’s how it seemed to them.
Perhaps it is Michigan Dairy Workers He developed mild conjunctivitis in May and was confirmed to have been infected with avian influenza.
The virus can also get into a person’s eye through respiratory droplets or aerosols (tiny droplets in the air), or by workers who touch the eye after handling infected animals or contaminated raw milk.
“The receptors on cells that the virus needs to bind to are quite abundant on cells in the eye, which may be one reason why people with avian flu have conjunctivitis,” Binnicker said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends treating people infected with avian flu with antiviral drugs, and some U.S. patients have been given Tamiflu, a drug also used to treat seasonal flu.
“Studies conducted to date have shown that Tamiflu is effective in treating currently circulating strains of avian flu,” Binnicker said, “and to be most effective, it usually needs to be administered within 48 hours after symptoms begin.”
Infection spreads, tests increase, number of infected people increases
Scientists say the reason why all but one of the U.S. cases have been reported since April could come down to two factors: First, the virus is spreading quickly among birds; Sporadically infect other animalsPeople who have been in contact with infected animals, such as pet cats, are more likely to become infected. Second, health officials have begun monitoring and testing people who have been in contact with infected animals if they develop symptoms.
“There’s probably a much higher amount of virus out there now than there was a year ago, but we’re also seeing more cases because we’re doing more testing,” Binnicker said.
Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Michigan’s chief medical officer, said local health departments are conducting tests for people with even the most minor symptoms.
“I think that’s why we’re seeing milder cases,” she said, “because of the aggressive symptom surveillance that we’re doing.”
For example, a Michigan worker who had conjunctivitis did not even see a doctor before being tested for avian flu. Other cases Farm workers who cared for the infected cows reported sore throats, coughs, and stuffy noses to local health authorities.
Baghdasarian said the fact that Michigan has tested about 60 people but has only found two cases shows it takes a lot of contact for a person to get sick, and that the workers who tested positive were not wearing full personal protective equipment and were working on tasks like milking and hydrating cows, he said.
“We’re not talking about people who have had momentary contact with these animals, who pass by a barn or a pen,” Bagdasarian said. “We’re not talking about people who only touch a cow once.”
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