Julia Louis-Dreyfus is back with additional insights and words of wisdom from inspiring women | Podcast

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

This week’s picks

football dial F
Widely available every week starting Wednesday
Total Sport FM listeners are used to their hosts being white and ungainly, so what happens when the management brings in a young YouTuber? Rory Adefope (below), with Des (Fergus Craig) She plays Lisa, a new employee who pairs up to compete for airtime. The fast-talking, tongue-in-cheek satire of sports radio is spot-on, and every character is a bit ignorant and awful. As the producer says, “Hate equals clicks, views, and ad dollars.” Hannah Verdier

miss me?
BBC Sounds, 2 episodes every week
Lifelong friends Lily Allen and Mikita Oliver have a wealth of chemicals and materials for their twice-weekly updates. Funny stories, memories from her ’90s involving A-listers, discussion of hot topics, musings on the Princess of Wales are all here, and an insider’s look at how the celebrity world works It also includes a perspective. HV

Rory Adefope. Photo: Julia Kennedy/Observer

smarter than me
Wide range of weekly episodes available
Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ best podcast with older (and smarter) women is back for season two. Billie Jean King, Patti Smith, and Sally Field are among the sensational subjects who offer pure inspiration this time around. Louis-Dreyfus says it has “brainwashed” her about her own ideas about aging and made her look forward to it. I can see why. HV

unreliable witness
Wide range of weekly episodes available
Who is Ellie Williams? The 22-year-old was jailed on false rape charges in 2022, but this nuanced podcast proves there’s a lot the public doesn’t know. Sky News home editor Jason Farrell and producer Liz Lane have spoken to her family and friends, who portray her as an intelligent and sociable woman who had shown signs of abuse. HV

strike
BBC Sounds, weekly episodes
There are many reflections on the miners’ strike, which marks its 40th anniversary, but it is the personal memories that are truly moving. Merthyr Tydfil-born filmmaker Jonny Owen, then 13, explores the divide between miners who went on strike and those who didn’t, and how it divided friendships and communities. talked about. HV

There’s a podcast for that

Danny Robbins, host of the Battersea Poltergeist Podcast. Photo: David Levin/The Guardian

this week, Rachel Aroesti choose the best five paranormal phenomenon Podcasts from a guide to American spiritualism to a BBC investigation finding the truth about 1950s London poltergeists.

ghost story
This wonderful podcast by journalist Tristan Redman begins as a vague anecdote about a potentially haunted attic in south-west London and turns into a fascinating, deep, and rather beautiful meditation on memory and the past. We will continue to expand. This series was started by a strange coincidence. As a child, Redman experienced strange occurrences in her bedroom. Years later, he found his wife’s great-grandmother murdered next to her. What follows is an interesting investigation into a very strange murder and a spine-chilling investigation into the possibility of ghosts. Could it be that Redman has lived under the influence of supernatural forces all his adult life? Although his conclusions were by no means definitive, they were revelatory and moving.

battersea poltergeist
Danny Robbins is the king of paranormal podcasting in the UK, as host of the BBC’s excellent audio series-turned-TV show Uncanny. But it was actually the 2021 series Battersea Poltergeist that first ignited the comedy writer’s late career. switch. An incredibly thorough investigation into the ghostly events that took place on Wycliffe Road in the 1950s, Robbins pulls out all the stops to uncover the noises and flights that haunted the Hitchings family and made headlines for more than a decade. Provided a reasonable explanation for the object. But no matter how hard he tries, the host can’t completely dismiss the idea that something happened there that can’t be explained scientifically. And by the end of the series, you will too.

ghost church
Podcaster and comedian Jamie Loftus (known as co-host of the long-running show “The Bechdel Cast”) is an American spiritualist (a religion adjacent to Christianity defined by the belief that the dead never actually die). ) is a reliable and often hilarious guide to. This charming, funny and heartfelt series. To delve into the shaky underpinnings of spiritualism and its less comical modern aspects, Loftus ventures into Cassadaga, a small, highly insular community in Florida that has dedicated its life to communicating with spirits. I would like to interview mediums. Although she arrived with an open mind, she quickly realized that it would take a preternatural level of seriousness to keep from laughing at all the mind-bogglingly bizarre details. Ta.

Skip past newsletter promotions

radio rental
Podcaster Payne Lindsay, who made a name for himself by investigating a series of cold cases, goes on to create a series of gruesome films that revolve around something that isn’t exactly a true crime, but is still incredibly sinister. I turned my attention to the story. After scouring forums for suitably chilling stories, from stories of her girlfriend’s doppelgänger to an evil babysitter that clearly never existed, Lindsay tracks down the posters and reveals the gruesome details of their experiences. I recorded everything. The paranormal is just one possibility in these explanations, but human evil is a far more terrifying possibility, so for once it’s often the preferable option. Oh, and if that gets a little too much, Rainn Wilson (aka Dwight from The Office US) is on hand to break the ice, serving as MC for the whole thing in the guise of video store owner Terry Carnation .

ghost in the suburbs
Wellesley, Massachusetts is a real place, but it’s not the poltergeist-filled community this podcast would have you believe. Ghosts in the Burbs does not initially appear to be a work of fiction. Our host is a seemingly real person named Liz Sower, a community member who decided to compile local ghost stories from her neighbors into a (real) blog. However, it soon becomes clear that Sour is actually narrating a sophisticated melodrama about a town plagued by paranormal activity. The tone is pleasant, and Sour and his acquaintances give off a delicious mummy vibe, but it’s also very unsettling. After a while, the host will be able to see ghosts, spirits, and demons. It’s not a skill set that will help you sleep at night.

Why not try it…

After Broad and Market Examines the 2003 murder of Sakia Gunn, a young, black, gay 15-year-old student in downtown Newark. Her murder galvanized LGBTQ+ activism in New Jersey.
in Y is importantnutritionist Alina Kuzmina and expert guests discuss a wide range of health topics, including overeating, work-life balance, and the relationship between mind and body.
Serpentine Podcast: Intimacy We ask how we can expand and evolve our connections with ourselves, others, and the world around us.

If you want to read the full newsletter, subscribe to receive Listen Here in your inbox every Thursday.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Psychologists advise against causing alarm and pessimism for better mental health

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Imagine waiting for your school exam results or having a dental appointment on the horizon. Many believe that preparing for uncertain outcomes by expecting the worst is a good strategy.

This way, you won’t be as shocked if the test results are disappointing or the dentist visit is unpleasant. Hence the phrase “hope for the best and plan for the worst.” But is this approach truly beneficial?

According to psychological research, the answer is no.

One downside of preparing for the worst is that it can lead to feeling sad and anxious before an event. By convincing yourself that something bad will happen, you are setting yourself up for negative emotions.

Thinking positively and expecting things to go well can actually make you feel better before your exam results or dental appointment. But what about when things don’t go as planned?

Unfortunately, research shows that people feel just as bad about disappointing outcomes whether they anticipated them or not. This applies immediately and even after the results are known.

Similar research has found that having negative expectations about a task like public speaking can make you feel worse, not better, right after performing it. The idea of emotional defensiveness doesn’t seem to work well.

These findings are relevant to the debate around trigger warnings, which aim to prepare individuals for emotionally challenging content. However, studies indicate that trigger warnings are not effective in emotional protection.

Concerns about over-optimism and complacency are valid, but optimism can boost motivation. Optimistic individuals tend to put more effort into their studies and typically achieve better grades as a result.

The key is to combine optimism with effort. Simply hoping for the best without taking action is not a sound strategy. Are you thinking positively and putting in the work needed to succeed?

If you have any questions, please email us at: questions@sciencefocus.com or send us a message on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Remember to include your name and location.

Check out our ultimate Interesting Information and more amazing science pages.

Read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Exploring the mysteries of black holes using a ‘Quantum tornado’

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

If you think a regular tornado is scary, fasten your seatbelts. Scientists have created a tornado so powerful that it resembles a black hole. why? This giant vortex closely mimics a black hole, so it could offer great potential for black hole research.

It was published in the magazine Nature experimental study We created something never seen before: a quantum tornado. Basically, while a normal tornado circulates by tearing apart trees and houses, a quantum tornado circulates atoms and particles.

To make the tornado mimic a black hole, the researchers needed to use helium in a “superfluid” state, meaning it has a low viscosity and can flow without resistance. These properties allow scientists to closely observe how helium interacts with its surroundings.

This led to the discovery that small waves on the liquid surface simulate the gravitational conditions around a rotating black hole.

So how did they do it? First, the team led by the University of Nottingham needed to achieve the right properties for the liquid. This involved cooling several liters of superfluid helium to the lowest possible temperature, below -271°C.

Normally, tiny objects called “quantum vortices” in liquid helium spread apart from each other. But at this new, ultra-low temperature, liquid helium takes on quantum properties and stabilizes.

Helium “quantum tornado” experimental equipment at the black hole laboratory. – Photo credit: Leonardo Solidoro

Using a new cryogenic device, researchers were able to trap tens of thousands of these tiny objects, creating a “vortex” similar to a tornado.

The success of this experiment will allow researchers to compare the interactions inside a simulated black hole with their own theoretical projections, giving scientists a new way to simulate theories of curved spacetime and gravity. Possibilities will be unlocked.

“When we first observed clear signs of black hole physics in our first analog experiments in 2017, it was a discovery of some strange phenomena that are often difficult, if not impossible, to study in other ways.” It was a breakthrough moment for understanding the phenomenon.” Professor Silke Weinfurtneris leading the research at the Black Hole Institute, where this experiment was developed.

“Now, with more sophisticated experiments, we have taken this research to the next level. This may lead to predictions of what will happen.”

read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

New findings suggest that smoking may lead to an increase in unseen belly fat

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

When picturing a smoker, the image of a slender and stylish individual like Audrey Hepburn may come to mind. However, recent research indicates that even slim smokers could be harboring unhealthy fat hidden deep within their abdomens.

Despite the common belief that smoking can suppress appetite and the fear of weight gain upon quitting, a new study reveals that smokers are more likely to be underweight. Not only that but smokers also tend to accumulate more harmful deep abdominal fat, known as “visceral fat,” which is linked to increased risks of heart attack, diabetes, and dementia. This type of fat can be challenging to detect, leading to a false sense of fullness even with a flat stomach.

To investigate the relationship between lifelong smoking and belly fat, researchers at the University of Copenhagen utilized a statistical analysis tool called Mendelian randomization. This tool categorizes individuals based on their genetic information to identify causal connections between exposures like smoking and outcomes such as abdominal fat distribution.

The study involved analyzing genetic data from numerous studies on smoking habits and body fat distribution among individuals of European ancestry. By identifying specific genes associated with smoking behaviors and body fat distribution, the researchers were able to determine the impact of smoking on belly fat independent of other influencing factors like alcohol consumption and socio-economic background.

The lead author, Dr. Germán D. Carrasquilla, emphasized the importance of large-scale efforts to prevent and reduce smoking in light of their findings published in the journal Dependence. He believes that reducing smoking prevalence can indirectly decrease the prevalence of abdominal fat and ultimately improve public health outcomes.

Read More:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Nuclear Physicist Investigates Tantalum Decay in 180m Isotope

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Tantalum-180m (^180mTa) is a rare isotope of tantalum whose decay has never been observed, and whose lifetime is expected to be about a million times longer than the age of the universe.

Modified Majorana module in assembly glovebox with germanium detector crystal and tantalum sample installed. Image credit: Majorana Collaboration.

Tantalum, a chemical element with symbol Ta and atomic number 73, is a rare, hard, blue-gray, shiny transition metal with excellent corrosion resistance.

It has multiple stable isotopes: 2 stable radioisotopes and 35 artificial radioisotopes.

Tantalum-180, the least abundant isotope, occurs naturally in a long-lived excited state.

In an excited state, the protons or neutrons in the nucleus have a higher energy level than normal.

Although energetically possible, radioactive decay of this excited state in tantalum-180m has never been observed before.

Nuclear physicists from the Majorana collaboration are currently conducting experiments aimed at measuring this decay, which is expected to have a lifetime about a million times longer than the age of the universe.

For the experiment, they Majorana Demonstrator At Sanford Underground Research Facility.

Additionally, a significantly larger amount of tantalum samples were introduced compared to tantalum samples previously used in similar studies.

Over the course of a year, they collected data using a series of high-purity germanium detectors with exceptional energy resolution.

They also developed analytical methods specifically tailored to detect multiple expected decay signatures.

As a result of these combined efforts, we were able to establish unprecedented limits that fall within the range of 10.¹⁸ up to 10¹⁹ Year.

This level of sensitivity represents the first example in which half-life values predicted from nuclear theory have become achievable.

Although the collapse process has not yet been observed, these advances have significantly enhanced existing limits by one to two orders of magnitude.

Additionally, this advance allowed the Majorana team to ignore certain parameter ranges associated with various potential dark matter particles.

“With a new limit of up to 1.5*10¹⁹ “This is the most sensitive search for a single β and electron capture decay achieved to date,” the authors said.

“Across all channels, you can exclude attenuation with T1/2<0.29*10.”¹⁸For years. ”

of result appear in the diary physical review letter.

_____

IJ Arnquist other. (Majorana collaboration).Constraints on collapse ^180mTa. Physics.pastor rhett 131 (15): 152501; doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.152501

Source: www.sci.news

5,000 years ago, Cacao likely spread from the Amazon to other regions in Central and South America

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Humans have a long history of transporting and trading plants, contributing to the evolution of cultivated plants. The cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), whose beans are used to make products such as chocolate, liqueurs, and cocoa butter, is native to the Neotropics of South America. However, little is known about its cultivation and use in these regions. In a new study, archaeologists analyzed ceramic residues from a large sample of pre-Columbian cultures in Central and South America. Their findings reveal that cacao was widely used in South America outside of its Amazonian region, going back 5,000 years.

Recent discoveries have recorded the domestication of cacao trees (Theobroma cacao) inhabited its native Amazon region of Ecuador by at least 5,300 years ago. Lanau other. This study shows that a large-scale landscape of domestication of cacao outside of its native region along the Pacific coast of South America occurred simultaneously during this same early period and later periods. Image credit: Fernando Granier.

The modern cacao tree (its scientific name means “food of the gods”) is one of the world’s most important crops.

Eleven genetic groups are known, including the widely used Criollo and Nacional strains.

Although it is well established that the cacao tree was originally domesticated in the upper Amazon basin, it has not been clear how the use of cacao by other cultures spread throughout Central and South America.

In a new study, AGAP Institute researcher Claire Lanau and colleagues found 352 ceramic remains from 19 pre-Columbian cultures dating back approximately 5,900 to 400 years, spanning Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Belize, and Panama. was analyzed.

Researchers tested ancient cacao’s DNA and the presence of three methylxanthine (mild stimulant) compounds (theobromine, theophylline, and caffeine) present in modern cacao tree lineages to determine the ancient cacao’s DNA. Identified the residue.

The authors also used genetic information from 76 modern cocoa samples to establish the ancient cocoa ancestry present in ceramic products. This could reveal how ancient cocoa strains diversified and spread.

The study results show that cacao was domesticated in the Amazon at least 5,000 years ago, and was soon cultivated extensively along the Pacific coast, with high diversity among ancient lineages likely due to genetic This shows that different populations were bred together.

The presence of cacao genotypes originating from the Peruvian Amazon in the Valdivia coastal region of Ecuador suggests that these cultures have been in contact for many years.

The Peruvian strain was also detected in artifacts from Colombia’s Caribbean coast.

“Taken together, these indicate that cocoa varieties spread widely across countries and were interbred to adapt to new environments as different cultures adopted the use of cocoa,” the researchers said.

“A better understanding of cocoa’s genetic history and diversity may help combat the threats facing modern cocoa varieties, such as disease and climate change.”

a paper The survey results were published in a magazine scientific report.

_____

C. Lanau other. 2024. Revisiting the history of pre-Columbian cacao cultivation revealed through an archaeogenomic approach. science officer 14, 2972; doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-53010-6

Source: www.sci.news

New Study Suggests That Venus’ Clouds Could Potentially Support Life

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Planetary scientists have long speculated that Venus' potential habitability lies not in its hot surface but in a cloud layer at an altitude of 48 to 60 kilometers, where temperatures match those of Earth's surface. However, it is commonly believed that Venusian clouds cannot support life because their chemical composition is concentrated sulfuric acid, a highly aggressive solvent. In the new study, chemists studied 20 biogenic amino acids across a range of sulfuric acid concentrations and temperatures in the Venus cloud. After four weeks, the researchers found that 19 of the biogenic amino acids tested were either unreactive or chemically modified only in their side chains. Their main discovery is that the amino acid backbone remains intact in concentrated sulfuric acid.

This composite image taken by JAXA's Akatsuki spacecraft shows Venus. Image credit: JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic.

“What is quite surprising is that concentrated sulfuric acid is not a universally hostile solvent for organic chemistry,” said MIT researcher Dr. Janusz Petkowski.

“We found that the building blocks of life on Earth are stable in sulfuric acid, which is very interesting as we consider the possibility of life on Venus,” said Sarah Seager of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. the professor added.

“That doesn't mean life there will be the same as it is here. In fact, we know it's unlikely. But this study suggests that Venus' clouds support the complex chemicals necessary for life. We advance the idea that there is a possibility that

The search for life in Venus' clouds has gained momentum in recent years, spurred by the detection of the controversial molecule phosphine, a molecule thought to be a signature of life, in the planet's atmosphere. There is.

Although the discovery remains debated, the news reignited old questions about whether life could actually exist on Earth's sister planet.

In search of answers, scientists are planning several missions to Venus. That includes the first largely privately-funded mission to Venus, backed by California-based launch company Rocket Lab.

The mission, for which Professor Seeger is the principal scientist, aims to send a spacecraft into the planet's clouds and analyze their chemistry for signs of organic molecules.

Ahead of the mission's launch in January 2025, Professor Seager and his colleagues will test various materials in concentrated sulfuric acid to find out whether debris from life on Earth might be stable in Venus' clouds. I've been testing molecules. The most acidic place on earth.

“People have a perception that concentrated sulfuric acid is a very aggressive solvent that will tear everything apart, but we are finding that this is not necessarily true,” Dr. Petkowski said.

In fact, the authors have previously shown that complex organic molecules, such as some fatty acids and nucleic acids, are surprisingly stable in sulfuric acid.

They are careful to emphasize, as they do in the current paper, that complex organic chemistry is of course not life, but without organic chemistry there is no life.

In other words, if certain molecules can survive in sulfuric acid, Venus' highly acidic clouds are probably habitable, if not necessarily habitable.

In the new study, researchers focused on 20 biogenic amino acids, amino acids that are essential for all life on Earth.

They dissolved each type of amino acid in a vial of sulfuric acid mixed with water at concentrations of 81% and 98%, representing the range found in Venus' clouds.

They then used a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer to analyze the structure of the amino acids in sulfuric acid.

After analyzing each vial several times over a four-week period, they found that the basic molecular structure, or “skeleton,” of 19 of the 20 amino acids was stable and unaltered, even under highly acidic conditions.

“Just because this skeleton was shown to be stable in sulfuric acid does not mean there is life on Venus,” said Dr. Maxwell Seager, a researcher at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

“But if we had shown that this spine was compromised, there would have been no possibility of life as we know it.”

of study Published in this week's magazine astrobiology.

_____

Maxwell D. Seeger other. Stability of 20 biogenic amino acids in concentrated sulfuric acid: Implications for the habitability of Venusian clouds. astrobiology, published online March 18, 2024. doi: 10.1089/ast.2023.0082

Source: www.sci.news

Ancient Canoe Uncovers Early Advances in Navigation Technology

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

More than 7,000 years ago, Neolithic people used technologically sophisticated boats to navigate the Mediterranean Sea, according to a new study.

The 7,300-year-old canoe Marmotta 1 is on display at the Museum of Civilization in Rome. It is a huge dugout canoe made from an oak trunk, approximately 10.43 meters long, 1.15 meters wide at the stern, and 0.85 meters wide at the bow. Depending on the part of the canoe, the height is 65 to 44 cm. Image credit: Gibaja other., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299765.

Many of Europe's most important civilizations were born along the Mediterranean coast.

The Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, and Carthaginians took advantage of the virtually enclosed sea to move quickly between islands along the coast.

At various times in history, the Mediterranean Sea has been a space of travel and a means of communication.

However, one of the major migration phenomena in history occurred during the Neolithic period, when rural societies began to spread around Europe and North Africa.

The beginning of the Neolithic period is recorded in the Near East around 10,000 BC, but communities from that region gradually occupied the entire Mediterranean Sea around 7500-7000 BC, reaching the coast of Portugal around 5400 BC.

In a new study, Dr. Juan Guibaja and colleagues from Spain's National Research Council dug out a tree from La Marmotta, a Neolithic lakeside village near Rome, Italy, between 5700 and 5100 BC. Five dugout canoes that were built were investigated.

Analysis revealed that the canoe was constructed from four types of wood, which is unusual for similar sites, and incorporated advanced construction techniques such as lateral reinforcement.

Three T-shaped wooden objects are also associated with one canoe, each with a series of holes that may have been used to secure ropes tied to sails or other nautical elements. there is.

These features, together with previous reconstruction experiments, indicate that these are seaworthy vessels, a conclusion supported by the presence of stone tools associated with nearby islands.

“These canoes are exceptional examples of prehistoric vessels, and their construction required a well-organized and specialized workforce, as well as a detailed understanding of structural design and wood properties,” the researchers said. said.

“The similarities between these canoes and modern navigation technology support the idea that many major advances in sailing took place during the early Neolithic period.”

“Direct dating of a Neolithic canoe discovered at La Marmotta reveals it to be the oldest in the Mediterranean and provides valuable insight into Neolithic navigation,” the study said. they added.

“Our research reveals the remarkable technological sophistication of early agricultural and pastoral communities, highlighting their woodworking skills and complex shipbuilding.”

of study Published in an online journal PLoS ONE.

_____

JF Gibaha other. 2024. The first Neolithic ship in the Mediterranean: the settlement of La Marmotta (Anguillara Sabazia, Lazio, Italy). PLoS ONE 19 (3): e0299765; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299765

Source: www.sci.news

Understanding the Most Disturbing Theory of Reality: A Guide

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Are there so many people in so many parallel worlds, almost duplicates of you, reading almost duplicate articles of this article? Is consciousness a fundamental property of all matter? The reality is Is it a computer simulation? Dear reader, I can hear you groaning from right here in California.

We tend to reject ideas like this because they sound ridiculous. But some of the world's leading scientists and philosophers support them. why? And assuming you are not an expert, how should you react to this kind of hypothesis?

Things quickly go awry when faced with fundamental questions about the nature of reality. As a philosopher specializing in metaphysics, I argue that strange things are inevitable and that fundamentally strange things will turn out to be true.

That doesn't mean all weird hypotheses are created equal. On the contrary, some strange possibilities are worth taking more seriously than others. The idea of Zorg the Destroyer hidden at the center of the galaxy, pulling protons by invisible threads, would of course be laughed off as some sort of explanation. But even in the absence of direct empirical tests, we can carefully evaluate various seemingly absurd ideas that are worth serious consideration.

The key is to become comfortable weighing competing unreality. Anyone can try this, as long as they don't expect everyone to come to the same conclusion.

First, let me start by clarifying that we are talking here about a tremendously big and scary problem: the foundations of reality and the foundations of our understanding of those foundations. Sho. What is the underlying structure?

Source: www.newscientist.com

Discovering how humans survived the super-eruption of the Toba volcano through an ancient campsite

Posted on March 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Ruins in the Ethiopian lowlands where ancient humans lived 74,000 years ago

John Kappelman

A campsite in what is now Ethiopia may have been used in the years before, during, and after a massive volcanic eruption 74,000 years ago that changed the Earth’s climate.

The eruption of supervolcano Toba on the Indonesian island of Sumatra was the largest eruption on Earth in the past 2 million years. Some researchers believe it may have caused a volcanic winter that lasted several years and wiped out most humans alive at the time, but the magnitude of that effect is debated .

Bones found at Ethiopian ruins suggest people living there had to adapt their diet to survive the dry year or two after the eruption, but the effects were mild It seems like it was.

“It was a pretty lucky discovery,” he says. John Kappelman A team from the University of Texas at Austin discovered the site in 2002. “There’s no question about that.”

Most of the remains of early humans are caves that were inhabited for tens of thousands of years, he says. However, this camp is an outdoor location near the Simfa River, a tributary of the Blue Nile. “Our intuition is that this place has probably been occupied for about five to 10 years,” Kappelman said.

The researchers found thousands of stone fragments from the tool’s manufacture, along with several stone tips believed to be among the oldest arrowheads ever discovered. “We have evidence of archery in the form of these small stone points,” Kappelman says.

Researchers also found ostrich eggshells and numerous animal bones, some with cuts and signs of cooking. Therefore, it is believed that people brought animals back to the site for slaughter and cooking.

The researchers also found volcanic ash in the form of tiny glass shards, known as cryptephra, in the middle of layers of sediment containing stone chips and bones. “They’re just tiny little glass shards,” Kappelman says – and their composition matches other debris from the Toba supereruption.

Isotopic analysis of ostrich shells suggests that the climate became drier after the eruption. This is consistent with a four-fold increase in the amount of fish carcasses identified and a decrease in other types of animal carcasses.

The research team explains that the Shinfa River is seasonal, and during the dry season it dries up to create a water hole. Immediately after the Toba eruption, the dry season was long, making it easier to catch fish in the narrowed water holes. The researchers suggest that this compensated for the decline in terrestrial predators.

Over the next few years, food debris returned to pre-eruption levels and there were no signs of mass mortality, Kappelman said.

Other researchers argue that early humans moved to wetter areas as conditions dried, he says. For this reason, it is also believed that the migration of people from Africa took place during times when the climate was wetter, allowing them to survive in the usually arid region between Africa and Eurasia.

“Our remains show that humans adapted to seasonally dry conditions,” Kappelmann says. He thinks this means that the migration of modern humans from Africa, which may have occurred as recently as 65,000 or 60,000 years ago, may have occurred during a dry period.

However, Kappelman agrees that early migration from Africa by less sophisticated peoples may have been limited to wet periods.

“This is an interesting paper for many reasons: the likely precise link to the Toba supereruption, environmental evidence, survival behaviors including fishing, the possible use of bows and arrows, and the possibility that it facilitated dispersal from Africa. “A certain behavioral adaptation,” says chris stringer At the Natural History Museum in London.

“While each of these proposals will certainly stimulate debate, I think the authors have presented a plausible, if not conclusive, case for each scenario they propose,” he says.

The study also adds to the evidence that the global effects of the Toba supereruption were relatively small and short-lived, Stringer said.

but stanley ambrose One researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign believes that Toba wiped out most humans, but he disagrees. He said the site may represent a much longer period of time than Kappelman’s team thinks, meaning the impact on people could have been much greater. There is.

“Material deposited by humans long before and long after the eruption, perhaps centuries to more than a thousand years ago, was deposited by well-known disturbance processes such as rodent burrowing and cracks forming during desiccation. It could have been juxtaposed with a volcanic ash layer, season,” Ambrose says.

Source: www.newscientist.com

Planets consumed by billions of stars

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Artist's impression of a planet grazing the surface of a star

K. Miller/R. Hart (California Institute of Technology/IPAC)

It appears that at least one in every 12 stars devours a planet. This is because the star system can easily be destabilized when external objects such as rogueworlds or other stars fly nearby, and the disturbance can shake up the planet's orbit and throw the planet into the star. It is thought that it is.

Huang Liu Researchers from Australia's Monash University investigated how often this happens by observing 91 pairs of stars using some of the world's most powerful telescopes. They selected stars that were most likely to have formed together in a binary. This is because these couples should be formed with the same chemical composition. In doing so, researchers were able to determine whether one of them had swallowed a planet in the past. Doing so would change the planet's composition compared to its binary partner.

They found that about 8 percent of pairs contain one star that has eaten a planet, and show signs of being richer in heavy elements than its twin. Each of these stars appears to have ingested between 1.7 and 8.4 Earth masses of material. This is consistent with previous predictions.

“Our estimates are conservative,” Liu says. “I think the actual percentage may be higher, but it's still probably less than 20% or around 20%.” This can vary depending on where in the galaxy a particular star is born.

Understanding how many stars are eclipsed by planets is a potentially important part of understanding the abundance of life in the universe and our chances of finding it.

“The question is: how many stars and planets behave in ways that are conducive to the development of life?” meridith joyce Member of the research team at the Konkoli Observatory in Hungary. “Knowing how many stars there are and how many host planet stars there are are two parts of the calculation, but we also need to know how many stars are eating those planets.”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Clues from ancient canoes suggest thriving trade in the Mediterranean region 7,000 years ago

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Canoes are up to 10 meters long and are made by hollowing out trees.

Gibaja et al., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0

More than 7,000 years ago, skilled craftsmen built wooden canoes to probably transport people, animals, and goods across the Mediterranean.

Scientists identified five boats with evidence of advanced navigation techniques, such as lateral bracing and towing attachments. The canoe, found in a freshwater lake and inadvertently kept secret for decades, likely enabled trade and transportation between Mediterranean farming communities during the Neolithic period. Niccolo Mazzucco At the University of Pisa, Italy.

Along with the well-preserved village where they were discovered, the canoes “opened a window into the past,” he says.

In 1989, Italian researchers discovered a site buried beneath a lake slightly northwest of Rome, 38 kilometers upstream from the west coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and named it La Marmotta. In addition to several wooden buildings, a dugout canoe made by burning and hollowing out wood was also found.

Despite these discoveries, the language barrier prevented it from becoming internationally famous, and almost all relevant information was only published in Italian, it said. Mario Mineo At the Museum of Roman Civilization in Rome, which took part in the discovery.

Now, Mazzucco, Mineo, and their colleagues have made new observations of these canoes using modern methods and shared their findings in English.

Lasse Sorensen David, from the National Museum of Denmark, who was not involved in the study, said he was unaware of these boats, despite having done extensive research on dugout canoes in Scandinavia.

He is particularly intrigued by a wooden T-shaped device attached to the canoe. Holes drilled in them suggest that they were probably used for ropes, implying that the boat was being towed. That way, Sorensen said, he would have been able to transport “more people, more animals, more goods.” “So these details are very important because they provide evidence of how they were actually able to transport large quantities of goods.”

Using the latest carbon dating techniques, the research team dated each ship to 6,000 BC. The two oldest ships were built in 5620 BC, and the newest in 5045 BC. Carbon dating of one of the T-shaped accessories revealed that it was made around 5470 BC.

The length of the boat is up to 10 meters. Its size suggests it was used at sea, Mazzucco said. Recent tests of replicas of these canoes confirmed that The original would have been seaworthy. Foreign grains, livestock remains, and stones found in the village indicate that the villagers were trading across the Mediterranean region.

To identify the wood used to build the boats, the team cut nine thin wood samples from each canoe. After analyzing them under a microscope, the researchers determined that two of the boats, including the oldest, were made from alder wood, which is lightweight and resistant to splintering and cracking. The newest boats were made of durable and rot-resistant oak, while the other two were made of poplar and beech.

“They probably had a good knowledge of wood types and their properties, so they selected them and used them based on those properties,” Mazzucco says. “They worked with wood with the same knowledge as today's carpenters, just with different tools.”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

The Amazon’s Biggest Freshwater Dolphin Species Now Extinct

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Artistic restoration of Pebanista Yacuruna in the murky waters of the Peruvian Amazon

Jaime Blanc

The Amazon basin was once home to freshwater dolphins that grew up to 3.5 meters long, making them the largest river dolphin known to science.

Researchers say they made this surprising discovery during a 2018 expedition to Peru Aldo Benitez Palomino at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. When the research team saw the animal's fossilized skull sticking out of the river bank, they immediately knew it was a dolphin. Closer analysis confirms that this giant skull is unlike anything previously discovered.

Researchers named this new species Pebanista Yacluna. The name pays homage to the mythical aquatic people, Yacuruna, who are believed to live in underwater cities in the Amazon basin.

The 16 million-year-old fossils were unearthed in an area that was once covered by a “very large lake, almost like a small ocean in the middle of a jungle,” Benitez Palomino said. He says, based on the small eye sockets and large teeth of ancient dolphins. P. Yacluna It was probably a predator with poor eyesight. They relied heavily on echolocation to find fish. “We realized that it was really living in muddy water because its eyes started to get smaller,” Benitez-Palomino said.

Because the fossil was found in the Amazon basin, researchers expected the fossil's closest living relative to be the modern Amazon river dolphin.Instead, they found P. Yacluna It was more closely related to the river dolphin of South Asia. Like them, this ancient species also has a raised crest on its skull that enhances its echolocation abilities.

P. Yacluna Benitez-Palomino said it may have been driven to extinction amid broader ecological changes. “About 11 to 12 million years ago, this huge wetland system began to drain, making way for what is now the Amazon. At that moment, many species became extinct, which is why this giant dolphin Maybe it was fate.”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Researchers unravel the genetic code of the Etruscan shrew

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Scientists sequenced and analyzed the genome. Etruscan shrew (Suncus etruscus), with an average weight of about 2 grams, it is one of the world’s smallest mammals. This reference-quality genome is an important resource for studies of mammalian development, metabolism, and body size control.

Etruscan shrew (Suncus etruscus). Image credit: Trebol-a / CC BY-SA 3.0 Certificate.

The Etruscan shrew, also known as the white-toothed pygmy shrew, is recognized as one of the smallest living mammals.

This species weighs 1.2 to 2.7 grams and has a body length of 3.6 to 5.3 cm (1.4 to 2.1 inches), with a very large surface area to volume ratio.

As a result, shrews have very high metabolic rates and must consume approximately 1.5 to 2 times their body weight in food each day.

These unique physiological characteristics make the Etruscan shrew a valuable species to the scientific community, contributing significantly to various research fields such as behavioral science and neuroscience.

“High-quality genome assemblies are essential references to enable accurate high-throughput data analysis,” said computational biologist Dr. Yuri Bukman of the Morgridge Institute.

“This will provide valuable insight into the mechanisms of body size control and metabolic rate and will facilitate comparative biological studies.”

In their research, Dr. Buchmann and his colleagues sequenced and assembled the genome of a male Etruscan shrew using protocols developed by the Vertebrate Genome Project.

“Our new Etruscan shrew genome is the first chromosome-level genome assembly for the order Shrews. lilypotyphra,” they said.

The authors manually inspected the primary assembly and identified 22 chromosomes, including the X and Y sex chromosomes.

They also identified 39,091 genes, 19,819 of which were protein-coding genes.

“We found that the shrew genome has relatively little duplication,” Dr. Buchmann said.

“This result does not necessarily correlate with the smallness of the shrew itself.”

“Although shrews belong to a different mammalian family, some similarly small rodents have a lot of overlapping body segments, and Mus musculus is like the champion in the sense that it has the most overlapping segments. So it’s not a question of size.”

of result It was published in the magazine scientific data.

_____

YV Buchman other. 2024. Chromosome-level genome assembly of the Etruscan shrew Suncus etruscus. scientific data 11, 176; doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-03011-x

Source: www.sci.news

EPA introduces new regulations to decrease carbon emissions and encourage the use of electric vehicles and hybrids

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The Biden administration revealed updated vehicle emissions standards on Wednesday, described as the most ambitious effort yet to reduce global warming emissions from passenger vehicles.

While the new regulations relax the original tailpipe limits proposed last year, they will ultimately align more closely with the stringent standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency.

These standards will be enforced in conjunction with the sale of electric vehicles, which must meet the requirements. The auto industry had opposed the EPA’s initial standards, announced in April last year, citing a slowdown in sales growth. The administration, however, remains committed to its ambitious plans to decrease emissions from passenger cars contributing to global warming.

Under the finalized rule, the EPA will mandate that by 2032, 56% of new vehicle sales should be electric vehicles, with at least 13% being plug-in hybrids or partially electric vehicles, along with more fuel-efficient gasoline-powered cars that get higher mileage.

The EPA estimates that these new standards will result in annual savings of $100 billion, over 7 billion tons of avoided global warming carbon emissions over the next three decades, reduced healthcare costs, fewer deaths, and more than $60 billion in healthcare savings, ultimately leading to overall cost savings in fuel, maintenance, and repairs.

On January 2, 2008, exhaust gas blows out of a car’s tailpipe in San Francisco.
David Paul Morris/Getty Images File

The EPA rule pertains to model years between 2027 and 2032, covering new emissions from new passenger cars, light trucks, pickup trucks, as well as greenhouse gas emissions like nitrogen oxides and particulate matter that contribute to global warming. It will also significantly reduce other forms of air pollution. The EPA asserts that the rule will help combat the climate crisis by substantially decreasing air pollution while promoting the adoption of cleaner vehicle technologies. The finalization of the rules follows a record increase in sales of clean vehicles, including plug-in hybrids and fully electric vehicles, last year.

The revised rules will push back the strict pollution standards’ implementation from 2027 to 2029 after the auto industry argued against the feasibility of the proposed benchmarks. By 2032, the rules will be bolstered to nearly meet the EPA’s recommended thresholds.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan affirmed to reporters that the final rule will yield pollution reductions equal to or greater than those outlined in the proposal. In addition to addressing carbon pollution, Regan emphasized that the ultimate standard will also lessen other severe air pollutants contributing to heart attacks, respiratory issues, exacerbating asthma, and diminishing lung function.

Regan stressed the critical nature of these new standards for public health, American jobs, the economy, and the planet. The standard is designed to be technology-neutral and performance-based, granting auto and truck manufacturers the flexibility to choose pollution control technology that aligns with their customer needs while meeting environmental and public health objectives.

The adjustments in the regulations seem aimed at addressing the strong industry resistance to the accelerated adoption of electric vehicles and the public’s hesitation to fully embrace new technology. Legal challenges in conservative courts also pose a legitimate threat.

With a conservative majority, the Supreme Court has increasingly restricted the power of federal agencies, including the EPA, in recent years. The court has limited the EPA’s ability to combat air and water pollution, further hindering their capability to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming.

President Joe Biden has made fighting climate change a central feature of his presidency, with a focus on reducing carbon dioxide emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

To achieve these goals, a Democratic president needs cooperation from the auto industry and political backing from auto workers, a crucial voting bloc. The United Auto Workers union, supporting Biden, endorses the transition to electric vehicles but aims to safeguard jobs and ensure that industry pays competitive wages to workers involved in producing EVs and batteries.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre expressed confidence in the EPA’s final rule, stating that the administration understands that achieving such goals takes time and remains committed to climate action.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Michel Taragran awarded 2024 Abel Prize for breakthroughs in understanding randomness in mathematics

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Michel Taragrand: “Life is horribly random.”

Peter Budge/Typos1/Abel Prize 2024

Michel Taragran won the 2024 Abel Prize, also known as the Nobel Prize of mathematics, for his work on probability theory and the description of randomness. The news came as a surprise to Taragrand. He learned what he thought was his Zoom call within the department. He said: “My brain completely shut down for five seconds. It was an amazing experience. I never expected anything like this.”

Tara GrandBased at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), he has spent much of his 40-year career on extreme characterization of random or stochastic systems. These problems are common in the real world. For example, a bridge builder may need to know the maximum wind strength expected from the local weather.

Such random systems are often very complex and may contain many random variables, but Talagrand’s method of converting these systems into geometric problems allows us to extract useful values. can. “He is a master at getting accurate estimates, and he knows exactly what to add or subtract to get an accurate estimate,” he says. Helge HoldenChairman of the Abel Prize Committee.

Taragrand also developed mathematical tools and equations for systems that are random but exhibit some degree of predictability within that randomness, a statistical principle called concentration of measurements. His equation, known as the Taragrand inequality, can be used for many systems that exhibit concentration of measurements. Asaf Naor At Princeton University, he developed famous algorithmic puzzles such as the Traveling Salesman Problem. “Not only is he a great discoverer in his own right, but he is also an influence. He has provided the world with an amazing collection of insights and tools,” Naor says.

Perhaps inspired by his own work, Taragrand says he views his career as a random process. “It’s really scary when you look at your life and the important things that happened. They were determined by small random influences and there was no plan at all,” he says.

Although many of his works were general, he also had a particular interest in the mathematical basis of spin glasses. Spin glass is an unusual magnetic arrangement in which the atoms of a material can act like tiny magnets, pointing in random directions and exhibiting no apparent order. Repeating crystal structure in ordinary glass.

“This award is definitely well-deserved,” he says Giorgio Parisi from Sapienza University in Rome, Italy, won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on spin glasses. Parisi and his colleagues first proposed a formula to describe these materials, named after Parisi, but it was not proven mathematically until the work of Taragrand and Italian physicist Francesco Guerra. . “It’s one thing to believe that a guess is correct, but it’s another to prove it. I believed it was a very difficult problem to prove,” Parisi says.

It also helped draw the field to the attention of other mathematicians, Parisi said. “This was a great proof and completely changed the game, because it was the starting point for a deeper understanding of the theory.”

For Taragrand, one of the keys to success was persistence. “You can’t learn mathematics easily. You have to work. It takes a lot of time and you have bad memories. You forget things. So despite these handicaps, I have to work. My way of working has always been to try to understand simple things really well.”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Review of Dragon’s Dogma 2: A thrilling and unpredictable fantasy adventure | Games

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

LLet’s talk about my piece, Bowie. As his name suggests, he is a beautiful, fair-skinned, slender magician with heavy makeup and big red hair. He is an extradimensional being, and his job is to support my adventures as Arisen, the fate-chosen ruler of this kingdom. That’s when I unknowingly landed the role.

Bowie wasn’t very good at his job. He often forgets to heal me when a harpy or goblin or ogre knocks my lumps off in the field and forces me to say, “Help!” Press the button while being held down by the Minotaur. When he travels to other worlds, he always returns with sour stories of how often he has fallen in battle, and how badly he has suffered at the hands of other Ariens. Anyway, I love Bowie. my pawn. Despite his failures, we have had incredible adventures together.

You might look at the screenshots and videos of this game and think I must be high, but Dragon’s Dogma 2 is the best adventure I’ve had in years. Yes, it’s a bit of a shock. Yes, the information on the screen is confusing and the controls take some getting used to. That’s right, you will always die because you will be caught outside after dark and will encounter a lot of ghosts that will instantly vaporize you. Yes, whoever designed the map needs to talk hard about the concept of color contrast. But give yourself a few hours to play Dragon’s Dogma 2, at least until you reach the capital city of Fermund. Then you will be released immediately. You’ll get carried away, and soon you’ll be on your way to a faraway land, zapping ghosts with a team of fellow pawns to bring them back to the next life.

If I had to describe this game in one word, it would be “more fun than functionality.” What you have to understand is that, in contrast to most of the other very serious fantasy novels out there, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is very silly. It’s a beautiful mess of ideas colliding and connecting, creating some really funny moments. For example, pushing a Cyclops so hard that it tumbles off a cliff, levitating around a haunted castle with skeletons chasing you, or accidentally killing your lover. An errant sword swipe forced her to sneak into the morgue later to revive them with a magic stone (which she didn’t care about). Unless you played the first Dragon’s Dogma 12 years ago, you’ve probably never played anything quite like it.

I can honestly say that I had no idea what was going to happen next. I also don’t know if some of my random daring feats were meant to happen or were just interesting bugs. One time I was sorting out my armory in the town square of Fermundo when I turned around to see a troll standing there, and the townspeople looked at me with obvious surprise. In a tense battle, I defeated it and destroyed half of the market stalls, but then everyone carried on with their work as if nothing had happened. Was that demon supposed to be there? I don’t know, but it was a great story.

Speaking of the story, it’s not the plot that got me here with this game. Hundreds and hundreds of medieval-flavored fantasies! – About the characters, and most importantly, my goal to oust the Queen Regent and her puppet puppets and take back my rightful place on the throne of the kingdom as the chosen Arisen. Everyone speaks in a mesmerizingly stiff, unspecific Middle English syntax (“What must we do, Arisen?”). The word “o” is used interchangeably to mean something, anything, or nothing. I’ve spent very little time following the plot so far. many I grabbed my sword and left the city, following the road forever, picking up random quests along the way.

The world is cruel. You can’t go near water. If you don’t, you’ll be swallowed up by an evil scarlet tentacle called Brine. When it gets dark, you can only see about 1 meter in front of your face, and fear looms over you from the night. Griffins, dragons, and other unconquerable giant beasts roam free, and taking them on won’t hurt most animals, so it’s best to know when to run away. If you don’t remember lantern oil, medicine, and a camping pack, you’ll be totally ruined by night.

Combat is what really drives the game. Whether you’re a warrior, a spearmage, a thief, an archer, or a wizard, work together with your team of hired pawns to engage in truly exciting and dangerous battles like monsters. Hunter or Bloodborne. All of these professions can be switched freely, so if you get tired of close combat, you can try archery or spell casting. Mastering each profession unlocks a huge tree of abilities to keep you fighting, always, and always having fun.

Skip past newsletter promotions

Continue to have fun fighting…Dragon’s Dogma 2. Photo: Capcom

Dragon’s Dogma’s world and enemies are unpredictable, and combat styles vary widely, which can make them inconsistent and unfair at times. A team of pawns makes up for this by essentially making combat much easier and allowing the player to offset any weaknesses his character has. In fact, I love Pawn. They combine the roles of narcotics, heroes, clowns and saviors, and the game is always told by their laments, curses and abuse. It’s a miracle they don’t get too annoyed when they hear one of them say, “That ladder looks sturdy enough to climb on!” I might kick them off of it again.

If this review feels chaotic, that’s because it’s a true reflection of the game. It’s crazy, fun, fantastical chaos, and I honestly love it. Before I started writing this, I had left Arisen and her lovably incompetent pawns on an ancient battlefield patrolled by dragons. We used a few ballista bolts to blow it up, then it flew out and smashed the ballista with its claws. At that point, I realized that I was somewhat outnumbered here and fled to some castle ruins to hide from the creatures. This seemed like a good idea until skeletal warriors rose from the ground, and I realized that this castle was very haunted. I don’t know how to get out of this situation. But I know it will be an adventure.

Source: www.theguardian.com

France imposes a 250 million euro fine on Google for breaching intellectual property agreements

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

French regulators have fined Google €250m (£213m) for breaching agreements with media companies regarding online content reproduction.

The competition watchdog in France announced the fine on Wednesday, citing violations related to intellectual property rules concerning news media publishers. Regulators also raised concerns about Google’s AI services.

According to authorities, Google’s AI-powered chatbot Bird (now called Gemini) trained on content from publishers and news agencies without their knowledge. This action led to the fine.

The watchdog stated that the fine was for failing to fulfill commitments made to Google in 2022, accusing Google of not negotiating in good faith with news publishers for compensation for using their content.

As part of the settlement process, Google has agreed not to dispute the facts and is proposing corrective measures to address the shortcomings highlighted by the authorities.

The EU created “neighboring rights” copyright to enable print media to claim compensation for their content usage. France has been at the forefront of this issue, enacting laws to protect publishing rights against tech giants that monetize news content without sharing revenue.

The recent fine is a result of a copyright dispute in France over online content, initiated by complaints from leading news organizations and the news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) in 2019.

Google’s AI chatbot Bird was criticized for using content from media outlets without permission, impacting fair negotiations between publishers and Google.

Amid efforts to protect content scraping by AI services without consent, Google has faced fines for not adhering to commitments and fair negotiation practices with publishers.

Google responded by highlighting its agreements with over 280 French news publishers under the European Copyright Directive. The company stated its commitment to constructive cooperation with publishers to connect people with quality content sustainably.

The statement emphasized the need for collaborative efforts with publishers but also expressed challenges in navigating regulatory changes. Despite the fine, Google aims to move forward positively in the content ecosystem.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Is Reddit Joining Facebook and Twitter in Becoming Trash?

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

L
Like many individuals who were laid off and confined to their homes during the coronavirus lockdown, I found myself devoting endless hours to learning obscure skills that wouldn’t necessarily enhance my resume. Bookbinding, a hobby that surprised many of my acquaintances, became a newfound passion. I’ve never been particularly skilled with my hands, and my life had predominantly revolved around technology and the internet up until that point.

I delved into mastering intricate sewing techniques, learning about adhesive compositions, and discerning the origins of paper by touch. All of this learning took place on the Reddit webpage at a subreddit specifically dedicated to bookbinding. The supportive community of bookbinders generously shared tips and advice on my projects, all at no cost. In my view, it was akin to attending an expensive art school, providing a nurturing environment where I could learn at my own pace without breaking the bank.

Reddit, with over 70 million daily users, hosts a multitude of subreddits catering to diverse interests. From the commonplace discussions on r/politics to the eccentric communities like r/muglife showcasing favorite cups or r/sweetjeans with bizarre denim images, Reddit stands out as an online platform where unique content thrives.

Reddit remains one of the few internet spaces where exploration is unrestricted, allowing users to stumble upon new and intriguing content. However, with impending commercialization looming, Reddit faces challenges in monetizing its platform while maintaining the goodwill of its diverse user base and volunteer moderators.

The impending IPO of Reddit underscores broader implications for the future of the internet, as corporate interests increasingly shape online interactions. While algorithms dominate major platforms, hindering user experience, Reddit’s IPO signifies a shift towards commercialization that may compromise the unique user-generated content that sets it apart.

As Reddit navigates its commercial future, striking a balance between profitability and community interests poses a significant challenge. The platform must address user demands for financial compensation, potential restrictions on NSFW content, and the impact of investor influence on niche subreddits.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Minneapolis drivers successfully protest for wage increase, leading Lyft and Uber to exit city rather than pay fees.

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Uber and Lyft have announced the suspension of their operations in the Minneapolis area in protest of a newly passed minimum wage ordinance by the City Council.

The ordinance, set to take effect on May 1, establishes a minimum wage of $1.40 per mile and 0.51 cents per minute for rideshare drivers, with a minimum wage of $5 per ride. Despite the mayor’s veto being overridden by the City Council, Uber and Lyft have threatened to leave the area in response.

If the companies proceed with their plans to halt operations on May 1, Minneapolis will stand as the only city in the U.S. without Uber or Lyft services.

Advocates for the bill highlight the low wages and high costs faced by rideshare drivers. They assert that wages have decreased, leading to support for the ordinance.

Eid Ali, a veteran rideshare driver and president of the Minnesota Uber Lyft Drivers Association, has been terminated. Uber and Lyft argue that the minimum wage is unsustainable for maintaining affordable fares for riders.

Ali expressed his disbelief in the actions of the multi-billion-dollar companies, emphasizing the need for fair compensation and a living wage for all workers.

Should Uber and Lyft exit the market, Ali believes that other entities are prepared to step in. He believes their fight is not solely about the minimum wage but also about its implications on the broader market.

Farhan Bader, another rideshare driver, highlighted the undervaluation of drivers’ roles in society and argued for fair compensation amid declining pay and increased working hours.

Skip past newsletter promotions

Efforts are underway by Minnesota lawmakers to introduce a bill preempting Minneapolis regulations to retain Uber and Lyft in the area.

Uber’s senior director of communications, Josh Gold, expressed disappointment in the City Council’s decision and emphasized the need for collaboration to ensure drivers receive fair wages while keeping rideshare affordable.

A Lyft spokesperson also voiced support for state-level preemption and raised concerns about the impact of the minimum wage ordinance on drivers’ income and the accessibility of ridesharing services.

Uber and Lyft’s clash with regulators over wages and working conditions reflects a broader trend seen in the industry both in the U.S. and globally.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Microsoft Appoints DeepMind Co-founder to Lead Newly Formed AI Division

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Microsoft has named the co-founder of the British artificial intelligence research institute DeepMind as the head of its new AI division. Mustafa Suleiman, now 39 years old, co-founded DeepMind with Demis Hassabis and Shane Legg back in 2010. The company was later acquired by Google in 2014 for £400m and has since become the core of Google’s AI efforts. Suleiman left DeepMind in 2019 and will now lead Microsoft AI, a new organization focusing on the US company’s consumer products and research. Several members from Suleiman’s Inflection AI startup will also join the division.

Microsoft has made a multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, the developer of the ChatGPT chatbot, to develop generative AI technology. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, praised Suleiman as a visionary product maker and a team leader with a bold mission. The new division will integrate Microsoft’s consumer AI efforts, such as the Copilot chatbot and the Bing browser, which utilizes ChatGPT technology. Copilot is a key element in Microsoft’s AI monetization efforts, enabling users to easily compose emails, summarize documents, create presentations, and more.

Suleiman’s colleague Karen Simonyan, also a co-founder of Inflection AI, will join the new division as a principal investigator. Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reported that Apple is in talks to incorporate Google’s Gemini AI product into the iPhone. Inflection AI, backed by Microsoft and Nvidia, has become one of the leading companies in the generative AI race.

Suleiman, who has roots in both Syria and the UK, recently published a book on AI titled “The Coming Wave.” In it, he discusses both the potential benefits and risks of AI technology, calling for an increase in research on AI safety. In an interview last year, he described the book as a “provocation,” noting the importance of predicting future trends and taking action to mitigate potential risks.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Incredible Rise: Swedish Composer Goes From Relative Obscurity to Spotify Sensation

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Sweden’s most listened to artist on Spotify is a “secret” composer who has released music under hundreds of different names, surpassing Britney Spears and Abba in plays.

Stockholm-based musician Johan Rohr has been identified as the mastermind behind over 650 artists, accumulating 15 billion plays on the streaming platform, making him the most played artist in Sweden.

Under aliases like “Maya Åström”, “Minik Knudsen”, “Mingmei Hsueh”, and “Csizmazia”, Lehr has released more than 2,700 songs on Spotify, including a song titled “Ether”.

His success has placed him in the top 100 most streamed artists globally on Spotify, ahead of music legends like Michael Jackson, Metallica, and Mariah Carey.

Rohr owes much of his success to being featured on over 100 official instrumental playlists curated by Spotify, such as “Peaceful Piano” and “Stress Relief”, which are popular among users for background music.

Spotify celebrated paying a record SEK 90 billion (£6.7 billion) to the music industry last year, supporting new artists to make a living from their music.

Swedish group Abba has strong competition with Rohr, supporting over 650 artists on Spotify. Photo: Ole Lindeborg/TT News Agency/AFP/Getty Images

Critics argue that the success of anonymous artists like Rohr goes against Spotify’s promise to support small, independent musicians, record companies, and composers.

Rohr, who has worked as a conductor for pop stars, has kept quiet about his earnings from Spotify, but his private company reportedly earned a record 32.7 million kronor (about 240 million yen) in 2022.

Overtone Studios, the record company behind Rohr’s music, acknowledged his use of multiple names and described him as a “pioneer of the mood music genre”.

Niklas Brantberg of Overtone Studios emphasized the importance of artists being able to publish music under different names to reach their full creative potential.

Spotify allows artists to use pseudonyms, catering to the growing demand for functional music like relaxation and concentration playlists.

The platform licenses music from rights holders and pays royalties as per agreements with distributors, without restrictions on artist names or pseudonyms.

Source: www.theguardian.com

The top four discoveries from a significant new UN climate study

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has recently published a detailed report titled Current status of global climate in 2023, which synthesizes the latest scientific knowledge on climate change from the past year.

This report contains significant findings that shed light on the impact of human-induced climate change on the Earth. If you’re overwhelmed by the idea of reading through lengthy UN reports, fear not! We have highlighted some of the most fascinating and surprising discoveries for you.

1. Switzerland has lost 10 percent of its glaciers in the past two years

Glaciers are vital ecosystems formed when snow solidifies into ice in cold mountain regions. They flow slowly downhill, shaping the landscape as they move. Glaciers play a crucial role in the ecosystem by melting in the summer and nourishing rivers, providing essential water resources globally.

According to the WMO report, the unprecedented glacier loss in 2022-2023, primarily in North America and Europe, marks a record decline. Switzerland, in particular, has witnessed a distressing scenario with a 10 percent reduction in glacier volume over the past two years.

“The planet is warming, and the ice is melting, but seeing parts of the Alps lose 10 percent of their glacier volume in just two years is astonishing,” stated Professor Jonathan Bamber, Director of the Bristol Glaciology Center.

2. On any given day in 2023, a third of the oceans experienced a heatwave.

The record-breaking sea surface temperatures in Florida are just one example of ocean warming trends. The report highlights that a significant portion of the Earth’s stored energy since 1971 resides in the oceans, leading to increased heat content.

In 2023, ocean warming reached its highest level on record, with ocean heat content at a depth of 2,000 meters peaking. This trend is expected to persist for centuries, if not millennia.

As ocean temperatures rise, water expands and contributes to sea level rise. Ocean heatwaves are becoming more frequent, with marine heatwave coverage averaging 32 percent in 2023, compared to 23 percent in 2016.

3. The cost of inaction on climate change could be staggering.

Addressing climate change and adapting to its costs will require substantial investments. The WMO estimates that annual climate finance investments need to increase more than sixfold to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C, amounting to nearly $9 trillion by 2030 and an additional $10 trillion by 2050.

However, the report emphasizes that the cost of inaction would far exceed these figures. Failing to take action between 2025 and 2100 could incur a massive cost of $1,266 trillion.

The cost of inaction on climate change will exceed $1,000 trillion by 2100. – Image courtesy of Getty

Dr. David Lippin stressed the urgency of taking action, citing the report’s warning that inaction on climate change is more costly than proactive measures.

“The time to act is now, and the need for action is urgent,” emphasized Dr. Lippin, a professor at the School of Environmental Geography at York University.

4. Antarctic winter sea ice was 1 million km² below the previous record

The vulnerable polar regions experienced unprecedented changes in Antarctica this year. The report revealed that Antarctic sea ice extent hit a record low in February.

While Antarctic sea ice typically peaks around September, it reached a record low this year, falling up to 1 million km² below any previous level recorded – equivalent to the combined area of France and Spain.

Senior Researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Science, Dr. Till Kuhlbrodt, described the findings as alarming, reflecting extreme climate and weather conditions unprecedented in modern records.

Despite these challenges, Professor Tina van de Flierdt, Head of Geosciences and Engineering at Imperial College London, emphasized the importance of immediate action to mitigate the loss of the West Antarctic ice sheet and reduce global emissions.

About our experts

Jonathan Bamber: A physicist specializing in Earth Observation data, particularly on the cryosphere. With over 200 peer-reviewed publications, he is recognized as a leading researcher in his field.

David Lippin: Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography at the University of York, focusing on glacier dynamics and ice sheet research using advanced techniques.

Till Kuhlbrodt: Senior Research Fellow at the University of Reading, leading models to support climate change mitigation efforts. His recent work on sea temperature extremes was published in the American Weather Society Bulletin.

Tina van de Flierdt: Dean of the School of Geosciences and Engineering at Imperial College London, with research interests in paleoceanography, paleoclimate, and Antarctic ice sheet dynamics.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Lab experiment suggests CRISPR can disable and treat HIV

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Electron micrograph of HIV, which currently requires lifelong medication

Scott Kamazin/Alamy Stock Photo

A new way to eradicate HIV from the body could one day become a cure for infection with the virus, but it has not yet been proven effective in humans.

The strategy uses a relatively new genetic technology called CRISPR, which can make cuts in DNA and introduce errors into the viral genetic material within immune cells. “These findings represent a vital advance toward the design of therapeutic strategies,” the researchers said. Elena Herrera Carrillo Researchers from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands said in a statement.

HIV infection used to be almost always fatal, but now people with the virus can take drugs that stop the virus from replicating. Therefore, as long as you diligently take your medication every day, you can maintain a nearly normal lifespan.

But when a person is first infected, some of the virus inserts its DNA into immune cells, where it becomes dormant. When you stop taking your HIV medication, this DNA “reawakens” and the virus begins to spread again through your immune system.

For treatment, we need some way to kill the latent virus in the body. Several strategies have been tried, but so far none have been found to work.

The latest approach uses a gene editing system called CRISPR. Originally discovered in bacteria, it targets specific DNA sequences and makes cuts there. By changing the targeted DNA sequence, the system could be applied as a form of gene therapy for many conditions, and such treatments were launched in the US and UK last year as a treatment for sickle cell anemia. first approved.

Several groups are working with CRISPR to target HIV genes as a way to disable the dormant virus. Now, Carrillo and her team have shown that when tested on immune cells in a dish, the CRISPR system can neutralize all viruses and remove them from these cells. The work will be presented at European Conference on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Next month in Barcelona, Spain.

Jonathan Stoy Researchers at London’s Francis Crick Institute say the results are encouraging, but the next step is testing in animals and eventually humans to ensure the treatment is available to all people with dormant HIV. The aim is to show that it can reach immune cells, he said. Some of these cells are thought to reside in the bone marrow, but other parts of the body may also be involved, he says. “There is still considerable uncertainty about whether there are other stores in other parts of the body,” he says.

A California company called Excision BioTherapeutics has previously shown that a CRISPR-based approach can: Reduce the amount of latent virus in monkeys infected with a virus similar to HIV.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Pompeii in England: Remarkably Preserved Bronze Age Village Offers Glimpse into Ancient Life

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

An intact ax with an intact handle was found under one of the burnt structures on the grounds of Mast Farm.

cambridge archaeological unit

The ruins of a Bronze Age settlement in eastern England have been beautifully preserved after being destroyed by fire 3000 years ago. Exploring the ruins provides an incredible snapshot of how the British lived at the time, from what people ate for breakfast to the tools they used to build their homes.

Archaeologists first discovered the ancient wooden pillars in 1999 at the Mast Farm quarry near the small town of Whittlesea. A subsequent small-scale study tried to figure out if there was anything interesting there, he said. chris wakefield at the University of York, UK. But it wasn’t until his 2015 that Wakefield and his colleagues conducted serious excavations at the site.

The research team discovered the structural remains of four large circular dwellings (usually wooden circular dwellings with conical thatched roofs) dating from 3,000 to 2,800 years ago. Tree stumps suggest that it was built on raised platforms connected by wooden walkways over a small river that flows through the area. Judging by the size of the waterway, there may have been about 10 roundhouses in the settlement, Wakefield said.

Tree-ring analysis of wood taken from the structure suggests that the settlement was destroyed a year after its construction, with the houses falling into the muddy waters below. Wakefield said the waterlogged, oxygen-depleted environment prevented the settlement from deteriorating, resulting in its unprecedented level of preservation. The charring of objects by fire also served as a protective layer against environmental decay. “Almost everything that was in these people’s homes at the time of the fire has been preserved and is still being discovered nearly 3,000 years later,” Wakefield said.

The way items fell into the mud provided clues as to the layout of each house. Stepping through the door, the kitchen area tended to be on the east side of the house, with the sleeping area to the northwest and the livestock pens to the southeast.

Chemical analysis of kitchen utensils such as pots, bowls, cups and jars suggests that the settlement’s prehistoric inhabitants probably ate porridge, cereals, honey and stews made from beef, mutton and fish. .

“This is the best evidence we have for understanding prehistoric diets and cooking methods,” he says. Rachel Pope At the University of Liverpool, UK. “This is the closest you will ever get to walking through the doorways of a 3,000-year-old roundhouse and finding out what life was like inside.”

Illustration depicting daily life at one of the mast farm structures

Judith Dobie/Historic England

A toolbox filled with axes, sickles, and razors was a staple in every household. “One of the most beautiful things one of my colleagues found was an amazing two-part axe,” Wakefield says. “What’s amazing about this particular design is that the ax head itself is inserted into an additional piece of wood that can be replaced.”

The clothes recovered at the scene had a lush, velvety feel and were made from the finest fibers produced in Europe at the time, Wakefield said. Decorative beads, which may have been used in necklaces, have also been found throughout the site, and likely came from elsewhere in Europe or the Middle East.

The settlement has been likened to the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, which was buried in ash after a volcanic eruption in 79 AD. “Archaeologists sometimes talk about Pompeii-like discoveries, moments where time stood still, and this is one of them. Burnt-out settlements offer evidence of the time just before and after the fire some 2,900 years ago. It gives us a detailed look into people’s lives in the months leading up to it.” michael parker pearson At University College London.

“Mast Farm is not a once-in-a-generation site. It is very likely that there will never be another site that tells more about Bronze Age Britain.” Richard Maggwick At Cardiff University, UK.

topic:

archeology/
ancient humans

Source: www.newscientist.com

The human brain remains mysteriously intact after thousands of years

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A 1,000-year-old human brain unearthed from a churchyard in Ypres, Belgium.The tissue folds, which are still soft and wet, are stained orange with iron oxide.

Alexandra L. Morton Hayward

Studies of human brains that have been naturally preserved for hundreds or thousands of years have identified 1,300 cases in which the organ survived when all other soft tissue had decomposed. Some of these brains are over 12,000 years old.

“This type of brain is the only one with preserved soft tissue and has been found in sunken ships and flooded graves with only floating bones.” alexandra morton hayward at Oxford University. “It's really, really weird.”

“To be honest, we don't expect the brain to be preserved in any environment,” she says. “As an archaeologist, if you were to dig a grave and find a brain rattling inside a skull, you would be shocked. But you don't expect soft tissue to be preserved, especially in a waterlogged environment. yeah.”

Morton-Hayward first became interested in brain preservation while working as a mortician. “The brain is known to be one of the first organs to decompose after death. I saw it liquefy pretty quickly. But I also saw it preserved.” she says.

Many researchers point out that the human brain is preserved more often than expected and in surprising circumstances, says Morton-Hayward. Now, she and her colleagues are conducting the first-ever systematic study of this phenomenon. They compiled a database of more than 4,400 preserved human brains found around the world.

They also collected and studied many preserved brains themselves. “We actually put it in an MRI machine, and that was a terrible mistake. We didn't know how much iron was in there,” says Morton Hayward.

In most cases, brain preservation can be explained by known processes. For example, the brains of sacrificial Incas buried atop volcanoes in South America around 1450 AD were freeze-dried along with the bodies, Morton-Hayward said.

2,400 years ago, the bodies and brains of swamp people like Tollundman, who was hanged and dumped in a swamp in what is now Denmark, were preserved through a tanning process similar to that used for leather.

Saponification, in which fatty substances are turned into a soap form called grave wax, also preserved the brains of some people who were shot and buried in mass graves in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War.

However, the known process preserves all soft tissue, not just the brain. They do not account for the 1300 cases in which the brain is the only surviving soft tissue.

“This unknown mechanism is completely different,” says Morton-Hayward. “The key feature of this device is that only the brain and bones remain. There is no skin, no muscle, and no intestines.”

For example, St. Hedwig of Silesia was buried in Poland in 1243. When her body was exhumed in the 17th century, it was discovered that her brain was preserved, and at the time it was thought to be due to divine powers.

Alexandra Morton Hayward holds a preserved 1000-year-old brain

graham poulter

Morton-Hayward's working hypothesis is that under certain circumstances, substances such as iron can catalyze the formation of cross-links between proteins and lipids, forming more stable molecules that resist degradation. The nature or ratio of proteins and lipids in the brain may be key.

“The mechanisms are similar to those seen in neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia,” she says. “So if we can understand what happens to the brain after death, we may be able to understand what happens to the brain as it ages during life.”

“It's great news that the data is being made public,” he says. brittany moeller He is one of the researchers at James Cook University in Melbourne, Australia who discovered that: Brain preservation is more common than thought. “This may raise researchers' awareness of the possibility of preserving brain material,” she says.

This is important because preserved brains are often the same color as the surrounding soil. “Therefore, it is very likely that brain material is not recognized for what it is and is frequently discarded during archaeological excavations,” Moller says.

Although this study focused on the human brain, the findings should also apply to animals. Morton Hayward says there are at least 700 examples of animal brains preserved as fossils, the oldest of which he says is an arthropod from 500 million years ago.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

The blue whale genome is sequenced by researchers

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

An international team of scientists has created a reference-quality, long-read-based genome assembly. blue whale (glans muscle).

blue whale (glans muscle). Image credit: NOAA.

The blue whale is one of the largest animals to have ever existed, with adults reaching up to 33 meters (110 feet) and weighing up to 150 tons.

Megaanimal genome research is of interest to several subfields of biomedicine.

Understanding the developmental mechanisms that control body size may have applications in regenerative medicine and animal husbandry.

Although large mammals tend to live longer and have orders of magnitude more cells, meaning they divide more, they develop mechanisms that increase their resistance to cancer. I am.This mysterious phenomenon is known as Peto's paradox.

“The genome is the blueprint of an organism,” he said. Dr. Yuri Bukmana computational biologist at the Morgridge Institute.

“You need to know the genome of that species in order to manipulate cell cultures and measure things like gene expression. That allows you to do more research.”

“It is generally understood that larger organisms take longer to develop from fertilized egg to adult than smaller organisms, but we do not yet understand why.”

“From that perspective, just the basic biological knowledge is important: How do you make an animal that big? How do you make it work?”

“The practical application of this knowledge lies in the emerging field of stem cell-based therapy,” he said.

“Healing the injury requires stem cells to differentiate into specialized cell types in the relevant organ or tissue.”

“The rate of this process is controlled by some of the same molecular mechanisms underlying the developmental clock.”

In the study, the authors analyzed segmental duplications, large regions of duplicated sequences that often contain genes, which can provide insight into evolutionary processes when compared to other closely or distantly related species. can.

They found that blue whales have had extensive segmental duplication in the recent past, with more copies than bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and that Vorpoise (Phocoena Cave)the world's smallest Cetacea.

Most of the copies of genes created in this way are probably non-functional or their functions are still unknown, but several known genes were identified.

One encodes a protein called metallothionein, which is known to bind to heavy metals and sequester their toxicity, a mechanism useful for large animals that accumulate heavy metals while living in the ocean. be.

Reference genomes also help preserve species. Blue whales were hunted to near extinction in the first half of the 20th century. It is now protected by international treaties and its population is recovering.

“In the world's oceans, blue whales are basically everywhere except in the high Arctic,” Dr. Buchman said.

“So having a reference genome will allow us to make comparisons and better understand the population structure of different groups of blue whales in different parts of the globe.”

“The blue whale genome is highly heterozygous and there is still a lot of genetic diversity, which has important implications for conservation.”

of result appear in the diary molecular biology and evolution.

_____

Yuri V. Buchman other. 2024. High-quality blue whale genomes, partial duplications, and historical demography. molecular biology and evolution 41 (3): msae036; doi: 10.1093/molbev/msae036

Source: www.sci.news

Astrophysicist declares universe devoid of dark matter

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Professor Rajendra Gupta of the University of Ottawa is challenging current theoretical models of the composition of the universe by showing that there is actually no room for dark matter in the universe.

This artist's impression shows the evolution of the universe, starting with the Big Bang on the left and continuing with the emergence of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the Dark Ages of the universe, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

In cosmology, the term dark matter refers to anything that does not appear to interact with light or electromagnetic fields, or that can only be explained by gravity.

Although we can't see it and don't know what it's made of, it helps us understand how galaxies, planets, and stars work.

Professor Gupta reached this conclusion using a combination of covariation coupling constant (CCC) and “tired light” (TL) theory (CCC+TL model).

His model combines two ideas: how the forces of nature diminish over cosmic time and that light loses energy as it travels long distances.

It has been tested and shown to be consistent with several observations, including how galaxies spread and how light from the early universe evolved.

The discovery challenges the common understanding of the universe, which suggests that about 27% of the universe is made up of dark matter, less than 5% is normal matter, and the rest is dark energy.

“This new discovery confirms previous research, which found that the universe is 26.7 billion years old, and found that the existence of dark matter is not necessary for the universe,” said Gupta. the professor said.

“Standard cosmology says that the accelerating expansion of the universe is caused by dark energy, but it's actually because the forces of nature weaken as the universe expands, not by dark energy.”

In his research, Professor Gupta analyzed data from a recent paper on the distribution of galaxies at low redshifts and the angular size of the sound horizon in the literature at high redshifts.

“There are several papers that question the existence of dark matter, but to my knowledge, my paper does not support the existence of dark matter, while being consistent with the major cosmological observations that we have had time to confirm.” “This is the first paper to exclude ,” he said.

“By challenging the need for dark matter in the universe and providing evidence for a new cosmological model, this study opens up new avenues for exploring the fundamental properties of the universe.”

of paper Published in astrophysical journal.

_____

Rajendra P.Gupta other. 2024. Testing the CCC+TL cosmology with observed baryon acoustic vibration signatures. APJ 964, 55; doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad1bc6

Source: www.sci.news

Research finds that consumption of cranberries enhances performance markers in well-trained runners

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Cranberries have the highest polyphenol and antioxidant capacity of any fruit or vegetable, which may help prevent the production of free radicals during exercise, which in turn may improve performance. In a new study, scientists investigated the effects of polyphenol-rich cranberry extract on time trial performance and post-exercise lactic acid response.

Consuming cranberries for 28 days seemed to improve running speed as well as aerobic performance in trained runners. Image credit: Michael Reichelt.

Polyphenols, such as proanthocyanidins, anthocyanins, flavonols, and flavonols, are secondary plant compounds found in fruits and vegetables.

Cranberries have the highest total polyphenol content of the most consumed fruits in the American diet and the highest antioxidant capacity of any fruit and vegetable.

In addition, its polyphenol content is notable due to its high concentration of rare A-type proanthocyanidins, which are believed to be the main contributors to its beneficial effects.

The use of nutritional supplements is increasing among athletes, and many are turning to natural health products to improve athletic performance.

Intense exercise significantly increases the production of reactive oxygen species due to high oxidative metabolic demands.

As a result, polyphenols may provide a natural antioxidant defense against exercise-induced free radical production.

“For elite athletes, any advantage can make the difference between finishing fifth or reaching the podium,” said study lead author Dr. Andreas Bergdahl, a researcher at Concordia University.

For this study, Dr. Bergdahl and his colleagues recruited 14 high-level runners who did at least five hours of endurance training per week.

The athletes ran two time trials during their three visits, one running 1,500 meters and one running 400 meters.

The first visit was used as the baseline. The second time, they administered a single large dose of cranberry extract two hours before the run.

The athletes were then instructed to consume a small amount of cranberry extract every day for 28 days before repeating their third run.

“We chose these distances to test the effects of cranberry extract on different energy systems,” said Dr. Francis Parenteau, lead author of the study. candidate at Concordia University.

“The 400m is short and intense and requires an anaerobic system. The 1,500m uses an aerobic system, but is shorter than what athletes typically run.”

“They weren’t training to run that distance, so we were able to isolate the effect of training as a variable.”

In addition to running time, the researchers also measured post-exercise blood lactate levels, a marker of potential muscle fatigue and oxygen deprivation.

They also fitted the runners with a portable near-infrared spectroscopy device to measure muscle oxygenation levels before, during and after a run.

After analyzing the data, the scientists found that consuming cranberry extract for 28 days showed a trend towards increased speed in the 1,500 meter time trial, but not in the 400 meter.

However, compared to baseline, they found that lactic acid accumulation decreased after 400 meters, but not after 1,500 meters.

Data also showed that cranberry extract promoted better oxygen extraction by muscles, improved lactate clearance, and slowed muscle deoxygenation.

“The benefit of this is that it’s all natural,” Dr. Bergdahl said.

“It’s an ergogenic aid, meaning it enhances performance, but it’s not an anabolic steroid.”

“Athletes can significantly improve their performance simply by consuming more cranberries.”

of study It was published in the magazine physical activity and nutrition.

_____

Francis Parenteau other. 2023. Cranberry supplements improve physiological markers of performance in trained runners. physical activity and nutrition 27 (4): 8-14; doi: 10.20463/pan.2023.0032

Source: www.sci.news

The interlocking teeth of Morocco’s new mosasaurus species were sharp as daggers.

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Paleontologists have described a bizarre new species of mosasaurid, based on a skull and parts collected from a phosphate mine southeast of Casablanca, Morocco.

Kinjaria Akta. Image credit: Andrei Atutin.

Kinjaria Akta It was part of a highly diverse predatory fauna that lived in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Morocco 66 million years ago, just before the dinosaurs went extinct.

The ancient beast was about 7-8 meters (23-26 feet) long and had powerful jaws and long dagger-like teeth.

belongs to Mosasauridaea family of giant marine lizards with specialized flipper-like limbs and tails.

Dr Nick Longrich, a palaeontologist at the University of Bath, said: 'Some mosasaurs had teeth for piercing their prey, while others had teeth for cutting, tearing or crushing their prey. There were,” he said.

“Now we Kinjaria AktaIt has huge dagger-like teeth on its short face. ”

“This is one of the most diverse marine animals seen at any time in history, and it existed just before marine reptiles and dinosaurs went extinct.”

The only known specimen is Kinjaria Akta was recovered from Sidi Shenan Phosphatein the Ourad Abdoun Basin, Kouriga Department, Morocco.

“Morocco's phosphates are deposited in shallow, warm continental oceans in upwelling systems,” said Professor Nathalie Bardet, a paleontologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

“These zones are caused by deep, cool, nutrient-rich water flows rising toward the surface, providing food for large numbers of marine life and, in turn, many predators. Masu.”

“This is probably one explanation for this extraordinary paleobiodiversity observed in Morocco at the end of the Cretaceous.”

“Morocco's phosphates immerse us in the Upper Cretaceous ocean, in the latest geological period of the age of dinosaurs,” says Professor Nour Eddin Jalil, also from the National Museum of Natural History. .

“No other deposit from this period has yielded so many fossils and species.”

“After “Sea Giant,'' Thalassotitan“sawtooth” mosasaurus Xenoden“Startooth” Mosasaurus, Stelladen and many other things now Kinjaria Akta, a new mosasaur with dagger-like teeth. ”

“The elongation of the posterior part of the skull, which houses the jaw musculature, suggests formidable biting forces.”

discovery of Kinjaria Akta is explained in paper in a diary Cretaceous research.

_____

Nicholas R. Longrich other. A strange new species of Plioplatecarpine mosasaurid from the Maastrichtian region of Morocco. Cretaceous research, published online March 1, 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2024.105870

Source: www.sci.news

Seven nations adhere to WHO air quality standards, US falls short

Posted on March 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A report released on Tuesday by Swiss air quality monitoring company IQAir suggests that the World Health Organization's air pollution ranking will increase in 2023 due to the continued reliance on fossil fuels and the impacts of climate change, posing a threat to human health. Only seven countries currently meet the WHO guidelines.

According to the report, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India have the most polluted air, with particulate pollution levels exceeding the WHO’s recommendations by at least 10 times. More than 92% of countries and territories analyzed surpassed the guidelines for particulate matter pollution, including the United States.

The report also highlights that Canada has become the most polluted country in North America, primarily as a result of a record wildfire season that burned over 45 million acres. Smoke from Canadian wildfires has affected air quality in the United States and contributed to an overall increase in particle pollution from 2022 to 2023.

It is evident from this analysis that air pollution from fossil fuel combustion, coupled with other factors like wildfires exacerbated by climate change, is impacting human health globally. While some regions such as Western Europe are seeing improvements in pollution levels as economies shift towards electrification, in other areas, air pollution control measures are regressing. The report authors emphasize that air pollution transcends national borders, making it a global issue even for countries making efforts to reduce emissions.

According to IQAir, this data is based on inputs from over 30,000 air quality monitors in 134 countries and territories. The company installed monitoring devices to assess average annual pollution levels in cities and calculate people’s exposure to particulate matter around 2.5 microns in size, known as PM2.5, which is considered a crucial indicator of pollution’s impact on human health.

“PM2.5 particles can penetrate every cell in our bodies, from skin cells to lung and brain cells,” stated IQAir Global CEO Frank Hames at a press conference.

Air pollution is linked to approximately 6.7 million premature deaths annually, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States, air pollution levels experienced a slight increase, with Canadian wildfires causing a 30 to 50% rise in average annual pollution in cities like Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Detroit in the upper Midwest.

A study by Stanford University researchers published in Nature last year revealed that smoke from wildfires in some parts of the US has reversed decades of air quality progress achieved through the Clean Air Act, with the situation now deteriorating.

In 2023, Americans, on average, inhaled more wildfire smoke compared to any other year on record, as per Stanford University researchers.

Wildfire smoke can deeply penetrate lungs and enter the bloodstream, increasing the risk of asthma, lung cancer, and other chronic respiratory diseases. Studies have also linked exposure to wildfire smoke to premature births and miscarriages.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Kuhl: Genetic mutations could provide protection against brain diseases linked to cannibalism

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Cerebellum of a person suffering from kuru disease

Liberski PP (2013)

Genetic research in a very remote community in Papua New Guinea has revealed new insights into a brain disease that is spread when people eat dead relatives and has killed thousands of people over two decades.

Dotted with mountains, gorges, and fast-flowing rivers, Papua New Guinea’s Eastern Highlands province is extremely isolated from the rest of the world, and it wasn’t until the beginning of the 20th century that outsiders realized that about 1 million people lived there.

Some tribes known as the Fore practiced a form of cannibalism called “funeral feasts,” in which they consumed the bodies of their deceased relatives as part of their funeral rites.

This could mean they ingested an abnormally folded protein called a prion, which can cause a fatal neurodegenerative condition called kuru associated with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). there was. However, local people believed that the Kuru phenomenon was caused by witchcraft. At least 2,700 Kuru deaths have been recorded in the eastern highlands.

simon mead Researchers at University College London examined the genomes of 943 people representing 68 villages and 21 language groups in the region. Although this region of Papua New Guinea covers just over 11,000 square kilometers, smaller than Jamaica, researchers say the different groups are as genetically different as the peoples of Finland and Spain, some 3,000 kilometers apart. ing.

The study found that not everyone who attended the funeral died from the disease. Meade and his colleagues say it appears that communities were beginning to develop a resistance to kuru, which led to tremors, loss of coordination and, ultimately, death.

The study found that some of the elderly women who survived the feast had mutations in the gene encoding the prion protein, which likely conferred resistance to kuru disease.

By the 1950s, funeral feasts had become illegal and the kuru epidemic began to subside, but visitors say that the number of women in some villages had dwindled because so many women died from kuru. It pointed out. Mead said women and children are most susceptible to the disease, likely because they ate the brains of deceased relatives.

However, genetic evidence shows that despite fears of the disease, there was a large influx of women into Fora tribal areas, particularly in areas where the highest levels of kuru were present.

“We believe it is likely that the sexual prejudice caused by Kuru caused single men in Kuru-affected communities to look further afield for wives than usual because they were unable to find potential wives locally. “We will,” Meade said.

He said the team wants to understand what factors confer resistance to prion diseases such as CJD, which caused a severe epidemic in the UK in the 1990s.

“[Our work sets] “This is a site to detect genetic factors that may have helped the Fore people resist kuru,” Mead said. “Such resistance genes may suggest therapeutic targets.”

Ira Debson Researchers from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, say the study provides new insight into the “rich and unique cultural, linguistic and genomic diversity” of the Eastern Highlands region.

“This is a demonstration of how genomics can be used to almost look back in time, reading the genetic signature of past epidemics and understanding how they have shaped today’s populations. It helps.”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

The resurgence of diamond-spewing supersonic volcanoes: What’s behind it?

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Twenty years ago, deep underground in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, thomas garnon Before I knew it, I was walking through a hellish place. The sound of explosions echoed off the walls and the temperature rose. “It was like a baptism of fire,” he says. It was his first trip to Kimberlite and his diamond mines.

The scene was full of cameras, and Garnon, now a student at the University of Southampton in the UK, was warned that if any jewelery was found on her, accidentally or not, she would be in trouble. But he didn't come here to find his fortune. He was seeking answers to one of Earth's greatest mysteries.

Diamonds are precious to many, but they hold a special place in the hearts of geologists. They were forged long ago in the fiery depths of Earth's inaccessible mantle and rose to the surface riding supersonic jets of magma from strange volcanoes called kimberlites.

Although we don't know exactly how diamonds are formed, we do know that diamonds are like time capsules that reveal secrets of Earth's distant past. And perhaps the biggest question is why the kimberlites that pushed them to the surface appear to have gone extinct millions of years ago.

Now, nearly 20 years after that first visit to the diamond mine, Gernon and his fellow kimberlite detectives finally have a comprehensive model of how volcanoes work, and with it You may gain a deeper understanding of volcanic treasures. Additionally, the study revealed the intriguing prospect that kimberlites may not be extinct after all.

Diamonds are the opposite…

Source: www.newscientist.com

Liverpool FC and DeepMind collaborate to create artificial intelligence for soccer strategy consultation

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Corner kicks like this one taken by Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold can lead to goal-scoring opportunities.

Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty

Artificial intelligence models predict the outcome of corner kicks in soccer matches and help coaches design tactics that increase or decrease the probability of a player taking a shot on goal.

petar veličković Google's DeepMind and colleagues have developed a tool called TacticAI as part of a three-year research collaboration with Liverpool Football Club.

A corner kick is awarded when the ball crosses the goal line and goes out of play, creating a good scoring opportunity for the attacking team. For this reason, football coaches make detailed plans for different scenarios, which players study before the game.

TacticAI was trained on data from 7176 corner kicks from England's 2020-2021 Premier League season. This includes each player's position over time as well as their height and weight. You learned to predict which player will touch the ball first after a corner kick has been taken. In testing, Ball's receiver ranked him among TacticAI's top three candidates 78% of the time.

Coaches can use AI to generate tactics for attacking or defending corners that maximize or minimize the chances of a particular player receiving the ball or a team getting a shot on goal. This is done by mining real-life examples of corner kicks with similar patterns and providing suggestions on how to change tactics to achieve the desired result.

Liverpool FC's soccer experts were unable to distinguish between AI-generated tactics and human-designed tactics in a blind test, favoring AI-generated tactics 90% of the time.

But despite its capabilities, Veličković says TacticAI was never intended to put human coaches out of work. “We are strong supporters of AI systems, not systems that replace AI, but augment human capabilities and allow people to spend more time on the creative parts of their jobs,” he says.

Velicković said the research has a wide range of applications beyond sports. “If you can model a football game, you can better model some aspects of human psychology,” he says. “As AI becomes more capable, it needs to understand the world better, especially under uncertainty. Our systems can make decisions and make recommendations even under uncertainty. It’s a good testing ground because it’s a skill that we believe can be applied to future AI systems.”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

“British tech company accused of being ‘controlling’ as Mike Lynch fraud trial continues into second day” | Autonomy

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

British entrepreneur Mike Lynch faced arrest on the first day of his criminal trial, where prosecutors portrayed him as a controlling boss who orchestrated a massive fraud. Lynch is set to appear in court in San Francisco on Tuesday.

Co-founder of Autonomy, Lynch is accused of inflating the software company’s sales, misleading auditors, analysts, and regulators, and threatening those who raised concerns before its acquisition by Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011.

Lynch’s lawyers plan to have him testify once prosecutors complete their case against him. He has denied all allegations of wrongdoing and faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

A deal by HP to acquire Autonomy for $11.1 billion soured when HP reduced the purchase price by $8.8 billion due to alleged accounting irregularities, omissions, and misstatements in the business.

As the trial commenced, prosecutors called on Ganesh Vaidyanathan, Autonomy’s former head of accounting, as the first witness to testify about accounting issues raised in 2010.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Reeves argued that Lynch presented Autonomy as a successful company to HP but that its financial statements were false and misleading due to accounting tricks and concealing hardware sales.

Chamberlain, Autonomy’s financial director, also pleaded not guilty to charges related to falsifying documents and misleading auditors, with his attorney suggesting he was a pawn caught in a battle between giants.

Lynch alleges Autonomy’s poor performance post-acquisition was due to mismanagement by HP, not wrongdoing before the acquisition, as he spent time preparing for trial under house arrest.

Extradited from Britain to the U.S. last year, Lynch posted bail and wears a GPS tag on his ankle under 24-hour guard surveillance.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Exploring the Exciting Features of Nvidia’s Latest AI Superchip

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Nvidia, a chipmaker, has once again solidified its position in artificial intelligence by introducing a new “superchip,” a quantum computing service, and a set of tools to assist in the development of general-purpose humanoid robots. Let’s delve into what the company is up to and the implications of their advancements.

What is NVIDIA doing?

At their annual development conference, Nvidia unveiled the latest generation of AI chips, known as the “Blackwell” series, used to power high-end data centers for training cutting-edge AI models like GPT, Claude, and Gemini. Among them is the Blackwell B200, an upgrade to the existing H100 AI chip. Using this new chip, training large AI models like GPT-4 would require significantly fewer chips and less power, potentially leading to more efficient power usage in the AI industry.

What makes a chip “super”?

In addition to the B200, Nvidia introduced the GB200 “superchip,” which combines two B200 chips on one board to enhance processing efficiency. This setup can significantly reduce energy consumption and improve overall performance, making it an attractive option for running advanced AI models like chatbots.

What if I want it to be bigger?

For those looking for even more power, Nvidia offers the GB200 NVL72, which can be configured with multiple B200 chips to create a powerful AI data center capable of handling complex tasks. Despite the high cost of these advanced chips, they provide significant capabilities for AI development.

What about my robot?

Nvidia’s Project GR00T aims to create foundational models for controlling humanoid robots, enabling them to understand natural language, mimic human behavior, and interact with the real world. Combined with technologies like Jetson Thor, Nvidia is paving the way for autonomous machines that can perform diverse tasks efficiently.

quantum?

While Nvidia is not directly involved in quantum cloud computing, they are venturing into this realm by offering a service that simulates quantum computing using AI chips. This enables researchers to test quantum ideas without the need for expensive quantum computers, with plans to provide access to third-party quantum computers in the future.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Astronomers produce the most extensive map of quasars in the universe ever recorded

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

of new mapThis quasar, called Quaia, contains about 1,295,502 quasars from across the visible universe and could help astronomers better understand the properties of dark matter.

story fisher other. This is an all-sky quasar catalog that samples the largest comoving volume of any existing spectroscopic quasar sample.Image credit: Story Fisher other., doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad1328.

Quasars are powered by supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies and can be hundreds of times brighter than entire galaxies.

When the black hole's gravity kicks up nearby gas, the process creates a very bright disk, and sometimes a jet of light, that can be observed with telescopes.

The galaxies that quasars live in are hidden in huge clouds of invisible dark matter.

The distribution of dark matter gives insight into how much dark matter is present in the universe and how strongly clustered it is.

Astronomers compare these measurements across cosmic time to test current models about the composition and evolution of the universe.

Quasars are so bright that astronomers use them to map dark matter in the distant universe and fill in a timeline of how the universe evolved.

For example, scientists are already comparing the new quasar map to the Cosmic Microwave Background, the oldest snapshot of light in the universe.

As this light travels to us, it is bent by an intervening web of dark matter (the same web drawn by quasars), and by comparing the two, scientists can determine how matter changes over time. You can measure how strongly it clumps together.

“The new quasar catalog differs from all previous catalogs in that it provides the largest volumetric three-dimensional map in the history of the universe,” said David, an astronomer at the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Flatiron Institute in New York.・Professor Hogg said. University.

“This is not the catalog with the most quasars or the highest quality quasar measurements, but it is the catalog with the largest total volume of the universe mapped.”

Professor Hogg and his colleagues constructed the Quasar map using data from the third data release of ESA's Gaia mission, which includes 6.6 million quasar candidates, as well as data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Explorer and Sloan Digital Sky Survey. did.

By combining the datasets, contaminants such as stars and galaxies were removed from Gaia's original dataset and the distance to the quasar was determined more precisely.

“We were able to measure how matter clustered in the early universe with as much precision as those from major international research projects. Data as a 'bonus' from the Milky Way This is quite remarkable considering that we got . We are focusing on the Gaia project,” said Dr. Kate Storey-Fisher, a postdoctoral researcher at the International Physics Center Donostia.

“It's very exciting to see this catalog spurring so much new science.”

“Researchers around the world use quasar maps to measure everything from variations in the initial density that seeds the cosmic web, to the distribution of voids in the universe, to the movement of our solar system through space. ”

Astronomers have created a map showing where dust, stars, and other nuisances are expected to obstruct the view of certain quasars. This is important in interpreting quasar maps.

“This catalog of quasars is a great example of how productive astronomy projects can be,” Professor Hogg said.

“Gaia was designed to measure stars in our galaxy, but it also discovered millions of quasars, giving us a map of the entire universe.”

of result will appear in astrophysical journal.

_____

Kate Story Fisher other. 2024. Quair, Gaia-unWISE quasar catalog: all-sky spectroscopic quasar samples. APJ 964, 69; doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad1328

Source: www.sci.news

The Launch of Streamr Network 1.0 Mainnet: Achieving Decentralized Data Broadcasting as outlined in the 2017 Roadmap.

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Zug, Switzerland, March 19, 2024, Chainwire

Streamr announced the launch of Streamr Network 1.0 mainnet, a milestone that marks the completion of the original network. 2017 roadmap. 1.0 introduces the full deployment of the $DATA token incentive layer, transforming the network into a fully featured, fully decentralized protocol, run and operated by users.

The culmination of more than six years of research and development, three incentivized testnets, and overcoming technical hurdles that caused a last-minute launch cancellation, Streamr 1.0 marks the arrival of decentralized data broadcasting.

Main features of Streamr 1.0:

Fully expanded tokenomics: activation of $DATA Token Incentive Layermeans that the Streamr network can operate autonomously from teams as a neutral, fully distributed messaging protocol.
Introducing new network roles: Unleash the power of a peer-to-peer marketplace between sponsors, operators, and delegators.
Stream sponsorship: Sponsors create and fund sponsorships, and operators earn income from them. These smart contracts manage reward distribution between operators who run the nodes and help relay data within the nodes.
Trackerless network architecture: Moving to a trackerless architecture. Leverages a globally distributed hash table (DHT) to enhance efficiency and scalability.
New benefits for node operators: 1.0 gives node operators the opportunity to earn more revenue by allowing them to accept delegations and receive a portion of the revenue. 1.0 also brings other enhancements for node operators, including the removal of per-IP node limits, instant reward claims from active sponsorships, and other quality of life improvements.

New use cases are unlocked:

1.0 sets the stage for exploring new use cases in areas such as decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), decentralized AI, and decentralized video streaming.

decentralized video streaming: Streamr is exploring decentralized live video streaming, testing its ability to deliver scalable and stable video feeds to viewers at scale. By leveraging the network's peer-to-peer protocols, Streamr eliminates dependence on centralized distribution points and enables viewers to contribute directly to the broadcast network while consuming content, optimizing efficiency and scalability.

Depin: Streamr 1.0 enhances DePIN's ability to move from a centralized data pipeline to a fully decentralized contributor array. The network's serverless, secure, and scalable framework is ideal for broadcasting data between connected devices and moving DePIN to a truly decentralized architecture.

decentralized AI: The 1.0 milestone can be: Transforming artificial intelligence We position Streamr as a neutral data layer, providing a secure data stream for AI development, trust, and transparency. Streamr allows AI models to connect with each other, share insights, connect to real-time tuning data and live content delivery, and collectively power intelligence. By integrating with decentralized frameworks, you can take a step toward making your AI operations more open, verifiable, and modern.

These changes, along with exploring new use cases, highlight Streamr's commitment to pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the realm of decentralized technology.

About streamers

streamer is building a real-time data protocol for the decentralized web. This includes a scalable, low-latency, secure P2P network for data broadcast, distribution, and exchange. As part of our vision, Streamr built The Hub, a dApp that champions open data, allowing DePin, AI, and Web3 builders to decentralize their tech stacks with real-time data flows. The Streamr project was started by real-time data veterans with experience in algorithmic trading and financial markets.

contact

CMO
mark little
streamer network
media@streamr.net

Source: the-blockchain.com

PFAS – The Persistent Chemicals – Are Becoming Common in Food Packaging

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Potentially dangerous chemicals may be present in food packaging

Pirin Petunia/Getty Images

Food packaging and utensils commonly contain up to 68 “forever chemicals” that can pose health risks, many of which regulators are potentially unaware of. There is a gender.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a type of synthetic chemical used to make products such as nonstick cookware and waterproof clothing. The bonds between carbon and fluorine atoms in PFAS are so strong that it can take hundreds to thousands of years for the bonds to break down.

Many of these chemicals are associated with adverse health outcomes, including: cancer and reproduction and immunity problem.

“There are thousands of these chemicals,” he says. Birgit Geueke At the Swiss Food Packaging Forum organization. “We wanted to understand what information is known about the presence of PFAS in food packaging.”

Geweke and his colleagues analyzed 1,312 studies conducted around the world that looked in detail at chemicals that come into contact with food that can be generated during manufacturing, packaging, and cooking. He then cross-referenced these chemicals with his list of known PFAS.

The research team found that 68 types of PFAS are commonly present across food-contact materials, such as packaging and utensils. Of these, 61 were not included in the regulatory list mandating the use of PFAS because they were not previously known to be present in such substances.

Of the 68 PFAS, only 39 have been tested for toxicity. One of the substances analyzed was perfluorooctanoic acid, which has been shown to have the potential to cause cancer in humans, based on limited evidence that it can cause testicular and kidney cancer. It is classified, Geueke said.

“I think it’s the manufacturer’s responsibility to minimize the use of PFAS,” she says. Regulators around the world are working in the right direction, she says. For example, the European Union recently proposed banning most PFAS.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Review: Alone in the Dark – Jodie Comer and David Harbor struggle to elevate this lackluster horror game

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

IIt’s fitting that this latest Alone in the Dark game chooses a generational curse as its premise, as the series that pioneered the survival horror genre hasn’t had a good run for nearly 30 years. Its various misadventures include the disastrous 2008 game of the same name. The game included a blink-only button, among many strange design decisions. But it was terrible, at least in an interesting way, and that’s more than can be said for this boring and derivative re-imagining of the game that started it all.

Set in early 20th century Louisiana, Alone in the Dark follows Emily Hartwood (Jodie Comer), who is sent to a mental health clinic after receiving a worrying letter from her uncle Jeremy. It depicts a visit to Tokoro Delceto Manor. So worried, in fact, that she not only hires private investigator Edward Carnby (David Harbour) to accompany her, but one of the first questions she asks Carnby is whether he’s “waving a gun.” I expected that there might be a need for it, so I was wondering if he brought a gun. She is there to meet her uncle.

As it happens, you get to choose between Carnby and Heartwood to swing the gun, and that decision creates a slightly different perspective on the same story. This reimagining retains the general premise of his 1992 original, but its presentation and mechanics are heavily borrowed from Capcom’s remake of Resident Evil 2. Explore Delceto mansion in limited freedom and solve simple puzzles to unlock different rooms. This is interspersed with more action-oriented segments where you enter Uncle Jeremy’s dreams and fight monsters in locations inspired by HP Lovecraft’s stories.

Very boring most of the time…Alone in the Dark, 2024. Photo: Places Interactive/THQ Nordic

The southern Gothic manor house is fun enough to explore, and the puzzles it contains may be a little distracting. But for the most part, Alone in the Dark is pretty boring. The biggest problem is writing. The game aims for a snappy, noir-esque detachment, but it can’t match it with the fundamental silliness of a Lovecraftian mystery. The sudden switch in tone and location is more disconcerting than interesting. It also struggles to justify itself. Why do the dual protagonists spend most of the game apart, even though Heartwood specifically hired Carnby to protect her?

If Pieces Interactive was hoping that the star talent they hired would improve their writing skills, unfortunately the effect is quite the opposite. Comer seems confused as to what Heartwood’s character is. Almost every line she says is off-key. Simple filler phrases like “I need the key” sound like something a sarcastic teenager would say to her. Harbor sometimes sounds like he’s reading a script with one eye on the clock, but he does a somewhat better job of it.

It’s worth noting that the Resident Evil games aren’t narrative masterpieces either. But those people teeth Scary and exciting, the qualities of Alone in the Dark stumble past. Aside from a few instances, exploring the mansion lacks any sense of suspense, as combat and puzzle-solving exist in separate realms. Even in the dream world, encounters with monsters are surprisingly rare. Assuming you can’t stand enemies quaking in corners due to the game’s regular AI glitches, it might be fun to shoot them when they appear, but most other interactions are underwhelming or not at all It’s frustrating. Melee combat is sluggish, but opening doors and climbing ladders is excruciatingly slow.

The sudden change in sound is more disconcerting than intriguing… Alone in the Dark, 2024. Photo: Places Interactive/THQ Nordic

Moreover, for someone who is supposed to be lost in the abyss of madness, Jeremy’s dreamscapes are disappointingly mundane. These include Louisiana swamps, cemeteries, warehouses, and libraries (apparently ancient). You’ll visit some more exotic locations later on, but they’re too fleeting to have much of an impact. It takes enough effort just to hear real people talk about their dreams. If you’re going to force yourself to experience a fake person’s dream, you’d better make sure it’s very weird.

Where Alan Wake 2’s excellent surrealist horror offered a clear and compelling story while reveling in its weirdness, Alone in the Dark was too staid, too clumsy and, so haphazard that it evokes nothing more than a shrug. The mystery surrounding Jeremy’s madness isn’t worth the weighty unraveling, but the combat and puzzle-solving are just a shadow of Resident Evil 2’s excellent design. It seems the curse lives on.

Source: www.theguardian.com

This week’s picks

There’s a podcast for that

Why not try it…

1. Switzerland has lost 10 percent of its glaciers in the past two years

2. On any given day in 2023, a third of the oceans experienced a heatwave.

3. The cost of inaction on climate change could be staggering.

4. Antarctic winter sea ice was 1 million km2 below the previous record

About our experts

What is NVIDIA doing?

What makes a chip “super”?

What if I want it to be bigger?

What about my robot?

quantum?

contact

4. Antarctic winter sea ice was 1 million km² below the previous record