Using new 21 cm radio observations made with NSF's Green Bank Telescope, astronomers have discovered that more than 250 clouds of neutral gas are blasting out into interstellar space from the center of the Milky Way. These clouds are likely the product of the same phenomenon that created the Fermi bubble.
The artist's concept is that clouds flowing from the center of the Milky Way are caught up in extremely hot winds and accelerated to speeds of hundreds of kilometers per second. Image credit: NSF/GBO/P. Vosteen.
It has long been known that energetic processes at the center of the Milky Way generate high-velocity hot winds that spread through intergalactic space with temperatures of millions of degrees and speeds of thousands of kilometers per second. Most large galaxies have winds like this.
The serendipitous discovery that some of this hot gas is trapped in cold hydrogen clouds was made by Australia's ATCA telescope, which measured 21cm radio emissions from interstellar hydrogen atoms.
This suggests that there may be an undiscovered population of clouds transporting material away from the Milky Way's core.
Hydrogen clouds are important in their own right, but they also act as probes for hot air.
Conditions in very hot winds are difficult to measure, but just as a few leaves thrown up on Earth indicate the direction and speed of the wind in the area, cold clouds can You can track its status.
The sensitivity of the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) makes it an ideal instrument for detecting faint signals from interstellar hydrogen, but mapping these clouds and understanding their true extent is essential. It wasn't easy.
Dr Felix James 'Jay' Rockman, senior astronomer at Green Bank Observatory, said: 'It took many years to systematically map hundreds of square degrees using GBT in search of weak hydrogen emissions. ” he said.
“Once we identify a few promising candidates, we can follow up with targeted observations with other telescopes to show us even more.”
“This cloud must have been ripped off from a region near the center of the Milky Way galaxy and flung outward by a burst of star formation or black hole activity.”
Some of these clouds have the fastest outflow velocities of any cloud ever observed in the Milky Way, and may even escape from the Milky Way.
In an unexpected development, new data from the APEX telescope reveals that some hydrogen clouds contain molecules and dense cold gas.
“No one would have expected that the clouds violently ejected from the Milky Way would harbor relatively fragile molecular material, but that's what happened,” Rockman said.
Astronomers using the MeerKAT array recently mapped hydrogen in several clouds with high angular resolution, showing that it evolves and gets shredded as it flows into interstellar space.
“These new results open the door to further discoveries,” Dr. Rockman said.
“How clouds that are accelerated to speeds of more than 400 kilometers per second remain stable is a mystery.”
“The chemical processes inside these clouds are very unusual and unexplored.”
Dr. Rockman and his colleague Dr. Enrico Di Teodoro of the University of Florence, findings in AAS243243rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
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Felix Rockman and Enrico di Teodoro. 2024. New investigation of neutral clouds in the Milky Way's core wind. AAS243Abstract #2851
Early hunter-gatherers faced with food shortages may have benefited from the impulsivity associated with ADHD
John Civic/Science Photo Library
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have evolved in hunter-gatherer societies because it was an advantage for them, according to the results of a new study. Characteristics commonly associated with the disease, such as impulsivity, cause some foragers to move from areas where resources are depleted to areas with richer harvests faster than areas without the disease. It could have been something like this.
ADHD affects people's behavior, which can result in them acting impulsively and having trouble concentrating. Although its exact cause is not fully understood, the condition tends to run in families.
Its origins are similarly unknown, he says. Arjun Ramakrishnan At the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. “Is it a remnant of the hunter-gatherer world?”
To explore this, Ramakrishnan, david barak Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania recruited 506 people in the United States to play an online foraging game. Players were instructed to collect as many berries as possible in 8 minutes by moving their cursor over the bush.
They were given the choice of staying in the bush or trying their luck in another bush that might have more or less fruit. Moving to a new bush also resulted in a short timeout, so players had to balance the chance of getting more berries with the time lost by moving.
Before playing the game, participants completed a questionnaire assessing whether they had symptoms of ADHD, such as difficulty concentrating or restlessness.
People with ADHD symptoms spent about four seconds hovering over a particular bush compared to those without symptoms, and as a result, the former group collected an average of 521 berries. However, I was able to collect 602 berries.
The findings suggest that selective pressures faced by early hunter-gatherer societies, such as lack of food and other resources, may have driven the evolution of ADHD. There may have been some foraging situations in which it was better to stay than move on, but Barak said this tendency to leave could have been an advantage in some scenarios.
“Humans and other apes are very sophisticated foragers, but like almost all other animals, we tend to stay in our plots too long and harvest too much in our fields.” he says. “Therefore, starting action early may be beneficial to reduce over-harvesting, and this may be where the impulsive characteristics of ADHD come in handy.”
Although many people around the world are no longer looking for food, situations still exist where similar decision-making processes occur. If a person is studying for an exam, he may start by looking at one resource. If it doesn't help you understand the topic, Barak says, you may quickly switch to another resource, which may be more efficient and helpful.
“Although it is difficult to determine exactly how ADHD-related behaviors were adaptive in past environments, we find that people with and without ADHD show measurable differences in foraging strategies. In that sense, these results are convincing,” says Dr. Dan Eisenberg at the University of Washington in Seattle.
but Annie Swanepoel North East London NHS Foundation Trust said it did not reflect the scarcity of resources experienced by many of the early hunter-gatherers, as foraging operations produced abundant berry crops.
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No matter how wet your phone gets, whether it’s caught in a pouring rain, dropped in the bath or in the pool, perhaps the most well-known folk remedies are: Place the device inside the rice bag. The theory is that the dry, absorbent rice should absorb moisture and help save the device. Experts have been saying it’s a bad idea for years, but now Apple is officially warning users not to do it.
“Don’t put your iPhone inside a rice bag.” Doing so may cause small rice grains to damage your iPhone. ” the company says
In a recent support note discovered by macworld. There is a risk of damage and test suggested
Raw rice is not particularly effective at drying your device.
The origins of this modification may lie in the history of photography. The Verge traces the method back to 1946
As a way to maintain your camera. During this time, panicked cell phone users have suggested dangerous methods such as attacking the phone with a hair dryer or soaking it in alcohol. So what should you actually do?
Apple is providing guidance for users who see a “liquid detected” warning when trying to charge their phone. First, unplug both ends of the charging cable. Then, “gently tap the phone in your hand with the connector facing down to remove any excess liquid.” Let it dry for at least 30 minutes, and if your phone and cable are “all dry,” try charging your device again. If this attempt fails, try again in one day.
Apple’s new support document includes two other warnings in case your phone becomes intoxicated.
“Do not use an external heat source or compressed air to dry your iPhone.”
“Do not insert foreign objects such as cotton swabs or paper towels into the connector.”
If your phone does not work at all, turn it off immediately and do not press any buttons. The next steps will vary depending on your specific situation, but as a general rule of thumb, dry it with a towel and place it in an airtight container filled with a silica packet if you have one. Do not charge until you are sure it is dry. There are a few other things you should keep in mind if you drop your iPhone in water. Even though many of today’s phones are water resistant, liquid disaster can still creep up on them.
An international team of herpetologists led by scientists from the University of New Mexico Highlands and the University of Queensland has described a mysterious new species of anaconda living deep in the Amazon.
anaconda (genus Eunectes) is a group of aquatic snakes endemic to the east of the Andes Mountains of South America.
These large-bodied snakes live in lowland rivers and wetlands. They have typical adaptations for an aquatic lifestyle, such as their nostrils and eyes located on the dorsal side of their heads, and exhibiting dorsal coloration and markings that blend well with aquatic plants.
Prior to this study, four species were recognized in this genus. Eunectes murinus represents the sister lineage of a group consisting of Eunectes veniensis, Eunectes deschaouenseiand Eunectes Noteus.
The largest of these species is Eunectes murinusor the blue anaconda, lives in most tropical regions of the continent, including the Amazon, Essequibo, and Orinoco river basins and several smaller watersheds.
The other three species are smaller Eunectes murinus distributed within or adjacent to the distribution of Eunectes murinus.
recently described species Eunectes veniensisor venian anaconda, is restricted to the Beni region of Bolivia.
Eunectes deschaouensei, or black-spotted anaconda, is distributed in the northeastern part of the continent. They range from the Amazon River Delta in Brazil to French Guiana and possibly Suriname.
Eunectes Noteusor yellow anaconda, is distributed in the south. Eunectes murinus Includes the Pantanal, Chaco, and other highly seasonal regions of tropical and subtropical South America, including Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay.
“Our team received an unusual invitation from the Huaorani people to explore the area and collect samples from an anaconda population, rumored to be the largest extant species,” the University of Queensland said. Professor Brian Fryco-lead author of the study.
“Indigenous hunters took us on a 10-day expedition into the jungle to search for snakes they consider sacred.”
“As we paddled our canoes down the river system, we were lucky enough to spot a few anacondas lurking in the shallows, waiting for prey.”
“The size of these magnificent creatures was incredible. The female anaconda we encountered was a whopping 6.3 meters (20.7 feet) long.”
“The Huaorani have reported other anacondas in the region measuring over 7.5 meters (24.6 feet) and weighing about 500 kilograms.”
named Eunectes Acaimaor northern green anaconda, a new species occurs in the Orinoco Basin.
“Eunectes Acaima branched from Eunectes murinus They are almost 10 million years old and genetically 5.5% different,” Professor Fry said.
“This is very important. To put it into perspective, there is only about a 2% difference between humans and chimpanzees. This discovery is the highlight of my career.”
“The Amazon continues to face alarming ecological threats,” he added.
“Deforestation in the Amazon basin due to agricultural expansion has resulted in an estimated loss of 20-31% of habitat and could affect up to 40% of the forest by 2050.”
“Another growing problem is habitat degradation due to land fragmentation caused by heavy metal pollution associated with runoff from industrialized agriculture and oil extraction activities.”
“Forest fires, drought and climate change are also notable threats.”
“These rare anacondas and the other species that share this remote ecosystem face significant challenges.”
“Our next research project will focus on heavy metal pollution in the Amazon,” Professor Fry said.
“It's not just these giant snakes that are facing environmental threats, but almost every creature in this region.”
“While the discovery of a new species of anaconda is exciting, it is important to emphasize the urgent need to further study these endangered species and ecosystems.”
“Particularly urgent is investigating how petrochemicals from oil spills are affecting the fertility and reproductive biology of rare snakes and other keystone species in the Amazon.”
discovery of Eunectes Acaima is explained in paper in diary Diversity.
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Jesus A. Rivas other. 2024. Untangling the anaconda: Unraveling a new species of green and rethinking yellow. Diversity 16(2):127; doi: 10.3390/d16020127
Forgetting may be essential for the brain to remember
Hans Nelemann/Getty Images
There's nothing more frustrating than trying to remember a fact or memory only to realize it's gone. You may ask yourself, is this the beginning of mental decline or the beginning of a degenerative brain disease? You probably don't think forgetting is a good thing. But it's possible. New research on memory suggests that it is actually a healthy and necessary brain function that is becoming increasingly important in our rapidly changing lives. “You want to be able to adapt to your environment because the environment is always changing. But if you get too attached to your initial experience, you won't be able to act adaptively,” he says. thomas ryan At Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Interestingly, his research also suggests that forgotten memories remain in the brain and could be restored if needed.
Everyday forgetfulness, such as not remembering what you had for dinner last week, is called natural forgetfulness. This is in contrast to pathological forgetfulness caused by conditions such as brain injury or Alzheimer's disease. Far from being a problem, natural forgetfulness supports one of our most unique and powerful traits: our ability to generalize. There are times when having a very detailed memory can be invaluable, such as when reviewing for an exam or acting as a witness to a crime, but you can't generalize without considering the specifics quickly and flexibly. says Mr. edwin robertson At the University of Glasgow, UK. “For a chair to be considered a chair…
A team of Chinese physicists has synthesized two new isotopes: osmium-160 and tungsten-156.
Location of the new isotopes osmium-160 and tungsten-156 on the nuclide chart. Image credit: Huabin Yang.
“The magic numbers of protons and neutrons make the nucleus particularly stable. The traditional magic numbers are 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, and 126,” said Dr. Huabin Yang, a physicist at the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. said the colleague.
“In previous research, physicists discovered that traditional magic numbers disappear and new magic numbers appear on the neutron-rich side of the nuclide chart.”
“Will other traditional magical numbers also disappear in the nuclear region where there is an extreme lack of neutrons?”
“Further exploration is critical to enriching and developing nuclear theory and improving our understanding of nuclear forces.”
In the new study, Dr. Yang's team conducted experiments at the Gas-Filled Recoil Separator Spectrometer for Heavy Atom and Nuclear Structures (SHANS) in Lanzhou, China.
Researchers have synthesized two new isotopes, osmium-160 and tungsten-156, using nuclear fusion vaporization reactions.
They measured the energy of the alpha particle and the half-life of the alpha-emitting isotope osmium-160.
On the other hand, the daughter nucleus, tungsten-156, was found to be a β+ emitter with a half-life of 291 ms.
The researchers used the newly measured alpha decay data to derive the alpha decay reduction for osmium-160 and compared it to other nuclei with 84 neutrons and fewer protons.
They discovered a surprising trend: the higher the number of protons, the lower the decay rate.
“This trend is interpreted as evidence of enhanced closure of the 82 neutron shell towards the proton drip line, which is supported by the increase in the neutron shell gap predicted by the theoretical model,” Dr. Yang said. said.
“The increased stability of the 82 neutron shell closure is thought to be due to the increasing proximity of the double magic nucleus lead 164, which may be a stable atomic nucleus with 82 protons and 82 neutrons. Masu.”
“Although lead-164 is predicted to cross the proton drip line, enhanced shell effects could make it a bonded or quasi-bonded nucleus.”
of study It was published in the magazine physical review letter.
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HB Yang other. 2024. Discovery of new isotopes 160with oz 156W: Reveals improved stability of N=82 shell closure on the neutron-deficient side. Physics.pastor rhett 132 (7): 072502; doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.072502
Thomas Edison says: He held a steel ball in each hand as he prepared for a nap.. When he nodded, they would fall and wake him up so he could write down ideas that came to him in the moments just before sleep, when he believed he was most creative. But are there really specific times when our brains perform better? And more broadly, are we better at different kinds of thinking at different stages of life? If so, it's worth asking how you can make the most of these mental peaks and maximize your brain's capabilities.?
Edison's methods may have been unorthodox, but It turned out that he was onto somethingas Delphine Audinet It was discovered in 2021 by the Paris Brain Institute and colleagues. They gave 103 slightly sleep-deprived people a seemingly complex math problem that they could solve with simple creative insight. Participants who woke up immediately after falling asleep were almost three times more likely to take a creative leap and solve a problem than those who stayed awake throughout the experiment.
This knowledge may be useful if you are looking for inspiration. But if that's the memory you're trying to optimize, deep sleep is when your brain does the heavy lifting, accumulating new long-term memories from the day's experiences. To get the most out of this, you need plenty of sleep. Adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. If you are among them, A lot of people…
The Arisaema plant is a death trap for pollinating mushroom gnats.
ArchivePL/Alamy
Pulpit flowers, famous for trapping and killing pollinators, may also act as nurseries for insect eggs, revealing a more subtle and mutually beneficial relationship that challenges existing assumptions. Become.
These jug-shaped plants are Alisa EmmaThey mimic the look and smell of musty mushrooms to attract fungus gnats, which are major pollinators. But when insects dip into the flower's spathe in search of this pungent food, they are unable to crawl out because the interior of the flower's elongated hood is too waxy. The gnat struggles violently inside its mottled red-green cup, scattering pollen all around it to thoroughly pollinate the plant, but eventually dies of exhaustion.
But when Kenji Suetsugu A team from Japan's Kobe University hatched 62 flowers of the Asian pulpit jack-in-the-pulpit species Alisa Emmathunbergi, they realized something was wrong. The gnat was helplessly captured and laid eggs in the crown of the flower. When the flowers begin to wither, these larvae feed on the shriveled and rotting flesh and emerge as adults a few weeks later.
The fact that traps can serve the dual function of pollination sites and nurseries for the next generation of pollinators is “really surprising,” Suetsugu says.
Furthermore, some adults are able to escape from flower traps before it is too late. So the ducks aren't “technically lethal,” Suetsugu said. This suggests that plants strike a balance between ensuring pollination and not completely depleting the number of pollinating gnats.
These findings suggest that the relationship between jack-in-the-pulpit and its pollinators is much more complex than previously thought and cannot be neatly categorized as purely mutualistic or antagonistic.”, says Suetsugu.
This relationship may represent a step in the evolution of plants, from purely deceptive pollinators to mutually beneficial relationships with pollinators. Importantly, the findings may also suggest that there is more to the relationships between other plants and pollinators around the world than meets the eye.
Indeed, these findings challenge some preconceived ecological concepts. Jeff Ollerton at the University of Northampton, UK. In this particular case, the situation is mixed, as only some insects seem to be benefiting.He has more types of Alisa Emma (This genus includes more than 190 species) To learn more, you need to study this species in detail.
“The deeper we look into plant-pollinator interactions, the more we learn about the ability of plants to manipulate pollinator behavior and how pollinators can evolve strategies to acquire resources. There are more surprises to come,” Ollerton said.
Refugio State Beach, Calif. — Severe storms that hit California have caused damage in some parts of the state. the most iconic tree.
A majestic palm tree that normally flanks Refugio State Beach just north of Santa Barbara has fallen over the past few days. Images show how a huge 100-year-old tree fell into the sea and was completely uprooted.
Local officials say multiple factors caused the trees to fall. Years of coastal erosion were combined with powerful storm surges and supersaturated soil from a series of atmospheric rivers that brought heavy rain and high winds across the state.
“When the ground becomes saturated, the trees begin to fall, and both eucalyptus and palm trees fall over because the ground becomes too wet for their roots to hold in the ground.” Santa Barbara Craig Vanderswag, chief of the County Fire Battalion, told NBC News.
California State Parks Channel Coast District Superintendent Dena Bellman said officials have tagged several more trees on the coast as at high risk of falling, especially with the new heavy rains hitting California. Ta.
Due to this threat, the park is currently temporarily closed to the public.
The dramatic footage is a symbol of the power of these atmospheric rivers, which climate experts say is growing stronger as the planet's temperature rises.
Los Angeles received 75% of its annual average precipitation in the first three weeks of February alone. The city has received more rainfall than Seattle, New Orleans and Miami, and is about 2 inches away from setting a record for the wettest February.
The first human patient implanted with Neuralink’s brain chip appears to have made a full recovery and is now able to use his thoughts to control a computer mouse, according to Neuralink founder Elon Musk, who shared the news late Monday.
“Things are going well, the patient appears to have made a full recovery, and there are no adverse effects that we are aware of. The patient can move the mouse on the screen just by thinking,” Musk said on the social media platform during the X Spaces event.
Musk said Neuralink is currently trying to get as many mouse button clicks from patients as possible. Neuralink did not immediately respond to a request for further details.
The company successfully implanted the chip in its first human patient last month after receiving approval to recruit for a clinical trial in September.
The study will use robots to surgically place brain-computer interface implants in areas of the brain that control locomotion intentions, Neuralink said, with the initial goal of helping people use their thoughts to interact with computers. He added that the idea was to be able to control the cursor and keyboard.
Musk has grand ambitions for Neuralink, saying it will facilitate rapid surgical insertion of chip devices to treat conditions such as obesity, autism, depression and schizophrenia.
Neuralink, valued at about $5 billion last year, has faced repeated calls for scrutiny over its safety protocols. The company was fined for violating U.S. Department of Transportation regulations regarding the movement of hazardous materials.
Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) seized control of international ransomware group LockBit’s “command and control” infrastructure on Tuesday in a major law enforcement operation. The NCA plans to reuse its technology to expose the group’s activities to the world.
The joint operation by the NCA, FBI, Europol, and an international coalition of law enforcement agencies was revealed in a post on Rockbit’s own website. The post stated, “This site is currently under the control of the UK National Crime Agency, working closely with the FBI and international law enforcement agency Operation Kronos.”
Two people associated with LockBit were arrested in Poland and Ukraine, and two defendants believed to be related to the company were arrested and charged in the United States. Two more names have been released, but the Russian nationals are still at large. Authorities also froze more than 200 cryptocurrency accounts associated with the criminal organization.
According to the NCA, the disruption to LockBit operations is much more extensive than initially revealed. The agency not only seized control of the public website but also controlled Rockbit’s primary administrative environment, the management, and deployment of the hacking techniques it used to extort companies and individuals around the world. They also took control of the enabling infrastructure.
“Through close collaboration, we hacked the hackers. We took control of the infrastructure, seized the source code, and obtained keys to help victims decrypt their systems,” said NCA Director General Graham Biggar.
“As of today, LockBit is locked out. We have undermined the ability of a group that relied on secrecy and anonymity, and most importantly its credibility.”
The organization pioneered the ‘ransomware-as-a-service’ model, outsourcing the actual target selection and attack to a network of semi-independent ‘affiliates’, providing the tools and infrastructure, and paying ransom fees in return.
While ransomware typically works by encrypting data on an infected machine and demanding payment for the decryption key, LockBit copies the stolen data and releases it publicly if the fee is not paid. They threatened to do so and promised to delete the copies once the ransom was received.
However, the NCA said that promise was false. Some of the data found on LockBit’s systems belonged to victims who paid the ransom.
Home Secretary James Cleverley said: “The NCA’s world-class expertise has delivered a huge blow to those behind the world’s most prolific ransomware.”
“The criminals operating LockBit are sophisticated and highly organized, but they have not escaped the clutches of UK law enforcement and our international partners.”
The “Hackback” campaign has also recovered over 1,000 decryption keys intended for victims of LockBit’s attacks, and plans to contact victims to assist them in recovering their encrypted data.
In a blog post last month, Ciaran Martin, former director of the National Cyber Security Center, said: Announcement of involvement of Russian hackers Cybercrime undermines many common law enforcement tactics. “Impose costs where you can. There are things you can do to harass and harass cybercriminals,” he warned. “But as long as Russian safe havens exist, this will not be a strategic solution.”
Bitcoin is a digital currency that operates freely from central control. Rather than an authority like a bank or government tracking who owns what, Bitcoin relies on encryption.
So-called miners collect information about transactions and record them on a ledger called a blockchain. These miners perform a huge number of calculations with the aim of completing cryptographic problems, 0.69% of the world's electricity in the process. The first miner to solve this problem adds a collection (block) of transaction data to the blockchain.
You will also be rewarded with a certain amount of newly created Bitcoins. Bitcoin is built into the source code that writes and runs the network. Every 210,000 blocks, an event called a halving occurs where the size of the reward is reduced by 50%. This is intended to avoid inflation due to too many coins being created.
The first block ever mined gave a reward of 50 coins, which is now down to 6.25 coins after three halvings. The last halving was in May 2020.
When is the next Bitcoin halving?
The next Bitcoin halving is expected to occur around April 19th, reducing miners' rewards to 3.125 coins. The reward continues to decrease and disappears completely around 2140 after 21 million coins have been created. At that point, there are no new coins.
Why is it important?
For those who use Bitcoin to purchase goods and services or hold Bitcoin as an investment, nothing changes. The current Bitcoin pool will remain. However, for miners, the value of the rewards they receive will be significantly reduced.
This could lead some miners to close up shop if they decide the effort isn't worth the reward. But the reality is that mining economics are constantly changing, and the industry is likely to adapt and continue as it has always done.
More powerful computers are being created all the time that can perform mining calculations faster, making it easier to mine blocks. However, the feedback mechanism within Bitcoin's code constantly adapts to this by increasing or decreasing the difficulty of calculations depending on the total computer power currently allocated to mining. The purpose of Bitcoin's source code is that a new block is created approximately every 10 minutes, and the network adjusts to speed up or slow down as needed.
When Bitcoin was first launched in 2009, it was possible to mine coins almost instantly with even a basic computer. Nowadays, you need a room filled with powerful equipment, often high-end graphics cards and computationally proficient custom hardware.
What will happen to the price of Bitcoin?
The recent emergence of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), regulated financial products offered by large banks that offer an easier way to invest in Bitcoin, has been long anticipated and was expected to drive up prices. .Some analysts are now estimate Approximately 704,400 coins are already in the hands of the ETF.
There are currently two schools of thought regarding the effect of half-life. Some think the halving will give Bitcoin more impetus, causing the price to rise further, while others think the impact is already priced in. Regulatory approval for Bitcoin ETFs is by no means certain, but the halving is a certainty, so its impact may already be reflected in the price. But it's almost certain that halving won't double the price.
The wild price fluctuations that Bitcoin has experienced over the past few years have become less frequent, and metrics that track volatility seems to be on a downward trend. But at the end of the day, any discussion about Bitcoin's price is just speculation.
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The following week, there was another clash between Apple and European regulators. According to the Financial Times, the company could face a huge fine for alleged anti-competitive conduct in its music streaming business. from that story:
The fine, estimated at around 500 million euros, is expected to be announced early next month and will be exclusive to the European Commission, which is investigating whether Apple used its own platform to favor its own services over those of competitors. This will be the culmination of research into prohibition laws.
The investigation is looking into whether Apple blocked apps from informing iPhone users of cheaper alternatives to access music subscriptions outside the App Store.
The process dates back to a complaint filed by Spotify in 2019. From what we said at the time:
Apple’s app the Store is a key distribution platform for Spotify. However, Apple receives a 30% commission on all sales made through this site. Spotify and many other third-party app developers have long complained that the store (which includes music streaming subscriptions) is an unfair “tax.”
“Apple requires Spotify and other digital services to pay a 30% tax on purchases made through Apple’s payment system, including upgrades from free to premium services.” Said Daniel Ekco-founder of Spotify, chief executive officer in a blog post.
“If we pay this tax, we will be forced to artificially inflate the price of premium membership far above the regular price.” Apple Music. And keeping prices competitive for our customers is beyond our control. ”
For more information on the fine itself, Dan Milmo explains.
In the years since then, complaints have diminished somewhat. Apple declined to respond directly to the FT’s report, saying it does not comment on speculation, but pointed to the European Commission’s decision last year to exclude the “tax” aspect from an investigation launched by Spotify. ‘s complaint. The revised counter statement states that the main harm is no longer the 30% fee levied by apps that use in-app purchases or the requirement to offer them in the first place, but simply the fact that other payment options exist for users. It was forbidden to communicate.
“We are pleased that the European Commission has narrowed the issue and no longer challenges Apple’s right to collect fees on digital goods and require the use of in-app payment systems that users trust,” Apple said in a statement. Ta. time.
These so-called “anti-steering” rules have been tested by regulators around the world, and various jurisdictions have placed formal limits on Apple’s ability to impose them. But these restrictions rarely go as far as competitors like Spotify would like. Because Apple is letting out a sharp gasp. If forced to do so, companies could direct users to alternative payment methods and still charge fees. In some cases, that new fee accounted for 27% of costs, and his 3% reduction in in-app purchase fees was justified on the basis that it reflected the fact that Apple was not paying directly for credit card processing. I am.
“We are currently negotiating the price.”
Spotify on Apple Watch. Photo: Samuel Gibbs/The Guardian
Assuming the fine is imposed as expected, Apple is unlikely to be too disappointed. The Digital Markets Act, which Apple and other “tech gatekeepers” must comply with by March 6, has already forced changes to the App Store that will put Apple Music in unfair competition with Spotify. The Competition Commission’s concerns will almost certainly be corrected. As for the cash itself, “500 million isn’t a laughable amount, even for a company as big as Apple, but it’s a fraction of the maximum potential, and it’s a fraction of the company’s total.” An even smaller amount’ of annual profit.
In fact, it’s possible that Apple will avoid fines with dignity. The company hammers home one of its core points every time it is hit by regulatory action that leaves room for compromises, such as imposing a 27% fee on outside purchases. That is, the real criticism is not about the lofty points. Basically, it’s a simple haggling over fees. If complaints about Apple’s control of the App Store boil down to “I want to pay less,” that would be an easier fight than one that would force Apple to actually relinquish control of the platform.
Some critics make deeper claims. Spotify, for example, has long complained about more detailed aspects of Apple’s platform, from the fact that Apple Music is installed by default on its devices to the way platform owners break their own rules about free. I’ve been holding you. Trials (Apple can independently offer trials that end the moment they are canceled; all third parties must provide access until just before the first billing deadline).
For others, the gist of the principle is poor in reality. Epic Games famously introduced a unique payment process for Fortnite, which resulted in Apple pulling the game from the App Store. The company already pays hefty cuts to operate its gaming consoles and operates its own app store for PCs. Issues with Apple have always been viewed through the lens of how much Apple pays.
Perhaps this is why Epic is also the longtime Apple critic most eager to enter the world of an EU-mandated alternative App Store. You may remember the debate over whether the company’s proposals amounted to “garbage” or meaningful concessions. Well, three weeks have passed, Epic Games announces the launch of Epic Games Store for iOS.
This is a bold move. The company will immediately pay him 0.50 euros for every download on the store, and an additional 0.50 euros for every download of Fortnite via the store after his first 1 million. But compared to keeping it on the App Store, per user he should be able to get that amount back in one “Battle Pass” purchase. And to the company’s credit, it clearly believes the principles exist. At risk.
Cash is also constantly flushed in case it takes longer to break even. The company, which is run by founder and CEO Tim Sweeney and has a 40% minority stake held by China’s Tencent, announced earlier this month that it will become the world’s leading company in the world of gaming and entertainment. The collaboration required a $1.5 billion investment from Disney. Disney is a long-time ally of Apple, and its CEO was on Apple’s board of directors until 2019, but competition between Apple TV+ and Disney+ made that unsustainable. . We haven’t seen the beginnings of a messy breakup yet, but perhaps even the House of Mouse will want to pay a smaller share of the world’s most valuable company.
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Apple faces a €500m (£427m) fine for unfairly influencing competitors in the music streaming market, according to the Financial Times. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, will impose the penalty following an extensive investigation.
Why is Apple facing the prospect of fines?
After Spotify filed complaints in 2019, the EU began examining Apple’s position in the music streaming app market. The focus was narrowed down to specific restrictions placed by Apple on app developers, preventing them from informing iPhone and iPad users about more affordable music subscriptions outside of the App Store. Spotify claims this favors Apple Music, the company’s rival app.
This case is the latest in a series of legal disputes involving Apple’s App Store, which has been criticized by the companies utilizing it for its rules and charges. Apple recently announced that it would allow EU customers to download apps without going through its own store, a concession made under pressure from the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
What does the EU think about Apple’s actions?
The EU did not comment directly, but when Apple issued a new statement of objection in February of the previous year, it suggested that the company would be penalized for unfair trading conditions violating Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The Commission expressed concerns that the restrictions can prevent developers from informing consumers about affordable streaming service subscriptions.
What happens next?
The Financial Times reported that the Commission will announce the fine in the early part of the next month. The maximum fine for anti-competitive behavior is 10% of global turnover, which, in Apple’s case, could be up to $30bn (£24bn), although the final amount is expected to be lower. Apple may appeal the Commission’s decision.
What are Apple and Spotify saying?
Apple and Spotify declined to comment on Monday. However, Apple has previously defended its App Store, stating that it has aided Spotify in becoming Europe’s top music streaming service.
Spotify, on the other hand, has emphasized its complaint against Apple’s aim to establish a “level playing field,” arguing that the App Store restrictions give preference to Apple Music, the company’s own streaming service.
What do the experts say?
Ann Witt, a professor of antitrust law at France’s EDHEC Business School, remarked that Apple is already confronting a stringent regulatory environment with the introduction of the DMA. The Open Market Institute opined that the size of the reported fine will not have a significant impact on Apple’s behavior.
A new study led by the University of South Carolina Leonard Davis School of Gerontology suggests that fasting-mimetic dieting (FMD) cycles can significantly reduce disease risk factors and decrease human biological age. FMD was developed by Professor Walter Longo and his team, involving a five-day diet high in unsaturated fats and low in overall calories, protein, and carbohydrates. The diet mimics the effects of water-only fasting while providing necessary nutrients and making fasting more manageable for individuals.
During the five-day fasting period, participants were allowed to consume specified amounts of plant-based soups, energy bars, energy drinks, chip snacks, and tea and given supplements to ensure they didn’t miss out on important vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids.
Previous studies have shown the various health benefits of FMD, including promoting stem cell regeneration, reducing chemotherapy side effects, and decreasing signs of dementia in mice. The recent study focuses on the effects of FMD on human immune system aging, insulin resistance, liver fat, and biological age.
The research team analyzed two groups of men and women aged 18-70 who received three to four cycles of FMD per month. The results showed reductions in diabetes risk factors, reduced fat in the abdomen and liver, and rejuvenation of the immune system. Data analysis also demonstrated that FMD participants lost an average of 2.5 years in biological age.
Professor Longo hopes these findings will encourage more doctors to recommend FMD cycles to patients with elevated risk factors for disease and to the general public interested in improving their health and vitality. He suggested that healthy people between the ages of 20 and 70 should consider trying FMD two or three times a year, cautioning that there may be concerns when used in combination with certain diabetes medications.
About our experts:
Walter Longo is the Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology and Biological Sciences and Director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology in Los Angeles.
Rockbit, a notorious cybercrime organization that holds victims’ data for ransom, has been thwarted in an extraordinary international law enforcement operation by the UK’s National Crime Agency, the FBI, Europol and the International Federation of Police Agencies. This was revealed in a post from the organization. Blackmail website.
“This site is currently under the control of the UK National Crime Agency, working closely with the FBI and the international law enforcement force Operation Chronos,” the post said on Monday.
An NCA spokesperson confirmed the NCA had disrupted the gang and said the operation was “ongoing and evolving”. A Rockbit representative did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters, but posted a message on an encrypted messaging app saying the company has backup servers that are immune to law enforcement actions.
The U.S. Department of Justice and FBI did not respond to requests for comment.
The post also names other international police organizations in France, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland and Germany.
LockBit and its affiliates have hacked some of the world’s largest organizations in recent months. The gang makes money by stealing sensitive data and threatening to leak it unless victims pay exorbitant ransoms. Its affiliates are like-minded criminal groups recruited to carry out attacks using LockBit’s digital extortion tools.
Ransomware is malicious software that encrypts data. LockBit forces targets to pay a ransom to decrypt or unlock their data using a digital key.
LockBit was discovered in 2020 after its malicious software was discovered on a Russian-language cybercrime forum, and some security analysts believe the gang is based in Russia.
However, the gang does not profess support for any government, and no government has officially attributed it to any particular country. On its now-defunct dark web site, the group said it was “based in the Netherlands, completely apolitical and only interested in money.”
“They’re the Walmart of ransomware groups, and they run it like a business. That’s what makes them different,” said John DiMaggio, chief security strategist at US-based cybersecurity firm Analyst1. talk. “They are probably the largest ransomware group today.”
LockBit has attacked more than 1,700 organizations across nearly every industry, and U.S. officials say the group is the world’s largest ransomware threat. Last November, Rockbit released internal data from Boeing, one of the world’s largest defense and space contractors.
Delete the notice issued to Rockbit by the global intelligence group. Photo: Reuters
In early 2023, Royal Mail faced severe disruption following an attack by the group.
According to cybersecurity research website vx-underground, Rockbit said in a Russian-language statement shared on the encrypted messaging app Tox that the FBI attacked a server running in the programming language PHP. .
The statement, which could not be independently verified by Reuters, added that there is a backup server that does not include PHP and “has not been touched.”
In X, a screenshot shared by vx-underground showing the control panel used by LockBit affiliates to launch attacks was replaced with a message from law enforcement. “We have the source code, details of the victims you attacked, amounts extorted, stolen data, chats, etc.”
“I may contact you soon. Have a nice day.”
Prior to its removal, LockBit’s website displayed an ever-growing gallery of victim organizations updated almost daily. Next to their names was a digital clock indicating the number of days left until the ransom payment deadline given to each organization.
On Monday, LockBit’s site displayed a similar countdown, but the law enforcement agency that hacked the hackers said: “Please return here on Tuesday, February 20th at 11:30 GMT for more information.” A message was displayed.
Don Smith, vice president of Secureworks, a division of Dell Technologies, said LockBit is the most prolific and dominant ransomware operator in the competitive underground market.
“To put today’s takedown in context, LockBit had a 25% share of the ransomware market based on leak site data,” Smith said. “Their closest competitor was BlackCat at about 8.5%, but then it really started to fragment.
“LockBit is dwarfing all other groups, and today’s action is critical.”
Britain’s air travel watchdog has proposed the use of drones to deliver medical supplies and inspect railways, power lines, and roads. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has published a consultation paper outlining the proposals, which would allow pilots to safely fly drones out of sight.
While some drones have been flying beyond visual lines in the UK for test flights, the new proposals would enable drones to operate out of sight by flying at a lower height and closer to buildings and infrastructure, reducing the risk of other aircraft traffic.
Kevin Woolsey, head of remotely piloted aircraft systems at the CAA, stated that the proposed concept would open the door to the next stage of drone flying in the UK, potentially allowing for beyond visual line of sight operations and online shopping delivery by drone.
The CAA intends to allow drones to be used on private land without a permit, as long as they do not fly higher than 15 meters. Industries involved in infrastructure inspections, such as railways, power lines, and roads, as well as farmers and field security, are expected to benefit from these proposals.
The consultation forms part of the UK’s future flight plans, which aim to enable drones to safely share more of the sky with other airspace users. The CAA will run the consultation for six weeks and provide further details on its website.
The proposals also include allowing drones to fly in “atypical air environments,” which are areas with reduced conventional aircraft traffic due to proximity to buildings and ground infrastructure. The CAA acknowledges the risks associated with operating in such airspace and will work to mitigate these risks with relevant approvals from operating companies.
Biologists from the Altos Institute, Cambridge Institute of Science, and the University of Cambridge have discovered that genetic elements derived from retroviruses (retrotransposons) are essential for the production of myelin (the insulating sheath that surrounds nerve axons) in mammals, amphibians, and animals. I discovered that fish. This gene sequence, called retromyelin, is likely the result of an ancient retroviral infection, and comparisons of retromyelin in mammals, amphibians, and fish indicate that retroviral infection and genome invasion events occurred separately in each of these groups. suggests that it has occurred.
gauche other. suggest that retrovirus internalization played an important role in the emergence of vertebrate myelin. Image credit: Ghosh other., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.01.011.
Myelin, the complex fatty tissue that lines vertebrate nerve axons, allows rapid impulse conduction without the need to increase axon diameter. This means that the nerves can be packed more closely together.
It also provides metabolic support for the nerves, allowing them to lengthen.
Myelin first appeared on the tree of life around the same time as the jaw, and its importance in vertebrate evolution has been recognized for a long time, but until now it is unclear what molecular mechanism caused its appearance. was.
Tanay Ghosh and colleagues at Altos Labs-Cambridge Institute of Science noticed the role of retromyelin in myelin production while studying the gene networks used by oligodendrocytes, the cells that produce myelin in the central nervous system. .
Specifically, they were studying the role of non-coding regions, including retrotransposons, in these gene networks. This has not been previously studied in the context of myelin biology.
“Retrotransposons make up about 40% of our genome, but we know nothing about how they helped animals acquire specific traits during evolution.” said Dr. Ghosh.
“Our motivation was to learn how these molecules serve evolutionary processes, especially in the context of myelination.”
Researchers discovered that in rodents, retromyelin RNA transcripts regulate the expression of myelin basic protein, one of the key components of myelin.
When we experimentally inhibited retromyelin in oligodendrocytes and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (the stem cells from which oligodendrocytes are derived), the cells were no longer able to produce myelin basic protein.
To find out whether retromyelin is present in other vertebrate species, scientists looked for similar sequences within the genomes of jawed vertebrates, jawless vertebrates, and some invertebrate species. Searched for.
They identified similar sequences in all other classes of jawed vertebrates (birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians) but found no similar sequences in jawless vertebrates or invertebrates. did not.
Robin Franklin, a neuroscientist at the Altos Institute at the Cambridge Institute of Science, said: “There was an evolutionary drive to speed up the conduction of impulses in axons, because the faster the impulse conduction, the faster we can grab objects and move away from them.'' Because they can run away.”
Next, the authors wanted to know whether retromyelin was integrated once in the ancestor of all jawed vertebrates, or whether there were separate retroviral invasions in different branches.
To answer these questions, they constructed a phylogenetic tree from 22 jawed vertebrate species and compared their retromyelin sequences.
This analysis revealed that retromyelin sequences are more similar within species than between species, suggesting that retromyelin has been acquired multiple times through a process of convergent evolution.
The researchers also showed that retromyelin plays a functional role in myelination in fish and amphibians.
When they experimentally disrupted the retromyelin gene sequence in fertilized zebrafish and frog eggs, they found that the developing fish and tadpoles produced significantly less myelin than normal.
“Our findings open new avenues of research exploring how retroviruses are involved in directing evolution more generally,” said Dr. Ghosh.
A team of anthropologists from the University of Wyoming, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of New Hampshire has discovered a 4,750-year-old megalithic rotunda measuring 18 meters (60 feet) in diameter at Calakpuma in America's Cajamarca Basin. Peru. It is one of the oldest known monuments and megalithic structures in the northern Andes of Peru, and one of the earliest examples in the Western Hemisphere.
It is centered around a 4,750-year-old rotunda, with the modern city of Cajamarca in the background. Image credit: Toohey other., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adl0572.
Monumental architecture is central to many aspects of the development of human social organization and social complexity, but the drivers of its origin remain poorly understood.
This form of architecture is intentionally built to be larger and, in some cases, more elaborate than necessary given the desired functionality.
The world's oldest ceremonial monumental architecture, whether represented by megalithic arrangements, large platforms or buildings, or bounded plazas, were larger than immediate households and were often larger than the population of the local area. was the result of a collective or corporate activity by a larger group.
Early well-known examples of this type of ceremonial architecture include Göbekli Tepe in Turkey, Stonehenge in England, and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, which were built in 9,000 BC, 2,900 BC, and 2,900 BC, respectively. It was built by 2,650 AD.
Göbekli Tepe is of particular importance here, as it was built during the pre-Pottery Age, during the Neolithic period, by hunter-gatherer-forager tribes who were at the pinnacle of sedentary living and food production.
Early examples of monuments in the Western Hemisphere include Watson Brake and Poverty Point, which date to 3400 BC and 1700 BC, respectively.
The newly discovered megalithic square is Late preceramicIt dates back to 2850 BC.
The structure is located at the Calapuma archaeological site in the Cajamarca Basin in the northern Peruvian Andes and is built of large, free-standing, vertically placed megaliths.
This construction method has never been reported in the Andes and is different from other monumental rotunda in the region.
“This structure was built about 100 years before the Great Pyramids of Egypt, around the same time as Stonehenge,” said Dr. Jason Toohey, an anthropologist at the University of Wyoming.
“It was probably a meeting place and a ceremonial place for the early people who lived in this part of the Cajamarca Valley.”
“These people were primarily hunter-gatherers, and may have only recently begun growing crops and domesticating animals.”
Kalakpuma Square is formed by two concentric walls, approximately 18 meters in diameter.
“The Late Preceramic Period, during which Plaza Calapuma was constructed, was a period of socio-economic transition in the Andes,” the researchers said.
“On the central coast, the communities that came together to build giant mounds in places like Caral were not yet full-time farmers, but engaged in complex systems of exchange with coastal fishing villages.”
“Inland communities grew some food and industrial crops, but also relied on hunting and trading seafood.”
“In the northern highlands of Peru, the people who built the plazas of Calapuma may have begun experimenting with food production, but they were also probably still relatively mobile hunter-gatherers.”
“Like Nanchoc centuries earlier, groups in Cajamarca may have engaged in the construction of enterprises in Calapuma's plaza and subsequently repeatedly negotiated group identity there through the integration of events and perhaps feasts.”
“The construction of Late Pre-Peraque monumental ceremonial buildings in the coastal and highlands of the central Andes probably originated from small groups, as was the case with earlier monumental mass buildings outside the Andean region of South America, such as Göbekli Tepe. It represented a change in the social world with changes in the associated belief systems into more collective and locally focused beliefs and actions.”
of findings It was published in the magazine scientific progress.
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Jason L. Twohey other. 2024. A monumental stone plaza located at an altitude of 4750 meters in the Cajamarca Valley in Peru. scientific progress 10(7); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adl0572
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Researchers have identified a quasar with a black hole at its center that may be the most luminous object in the universe. This quasar is growing at an incredible rate, capable of consuming an amount equivalent to the sun in a single day.
The record-breaking quasar shines 500 trillion times brighter than the sun. Scientists reported in the journal Nature Astronomy that the black hole fueling this quasar is more than 17 billion times more massive than the sun.
Despite appearing as mere dots in images, scientists believe quasars to be formidable entities.
The disk of luminous gas and other material orbiting a quasar’s black hole is akin to a cosmic hurricane.
“This quasar is the most violent place in the universe as we know it,” said lead author Christian Wolff of the Australian National University.
The object, known as J0529-4351, was initially discovered by the European Southern Observatory in 1980 and misclassified as a star. It was not confirmed to be a quasar until last year, after telescope observations in Australia and the Atacama Desert in Chile.
“What’s interesting about this quasar is that it’s hiding in plain sight and was previously misclassified as a star,” said Priyamvada Natarajan of Yale University.
Further analysis revealed that the quasar consumes the equivalent of 370 suns a year, or one sun a day, and the black hole at its center has a mass between 17 billion and 19 billion times that of the sun. More observations are needed to understand its growth rate.
Quasars are located 12 billion light years away and have existed since the beginning of the universe. One light year is 5.8 trillion miles.
Ancient bronze hand discovered in Irregui, northern Spain
Juancho Egana
An inscription found on a 2,000-year-old metal needle may be written in a language related to modern-day Basque. If this interpretation is correct, it could help explain one of the biggest mysteries in linguistics: the origin of the Basque language.
However, other linguists say there is not enough evidence to link the inscription to Basque.
The bronze hand was discovered in July 2021 at the top of a hill called Irregui in the Pyrenees Mountains in northern Spain. Archaeologists have been excavating there since 2007, first discovering a medieval castle and then exploring a much older settlement from the Iron Age.
This settlement was founded between 1500 and 1000 BC. It was probably attacked by the Romans and abandoned in the 1st century BC.
Irreghi's hand is a bronze plate measuring 14 centimeters long, 12.8 centimeters wide, and only 0.1 centimeter thick, with a patina tint. On the back of the hand are his four lines of text, rewritten by first scratching and then dotting into the metal.
Most words cannot be associated with any known language, but the first word is “sorionek”. Matin Ayesteran Professors at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain, and their colleagues claim it is similar to Basque. Zorio cat, which means “lucky.” Furthermore, the last word is “elaukon”, which is likened to a Basque verb. Zelaucon.
Irregi's hand carved in a mysterious language
Matin Ayesteran et al.
It is said that this hand was probably intended to represent good fortune or attract good fortune by appealing to the gods. Mikel Edeso Eguia in Aranzadi Scientific Society Assisted with excavations at Donostia (also known as San Sebastian), Spain.
The researchers also claim that the hand is evidence that languages related to Basque have been spoken in northern Spain for 2,000 years. Most languages currently spoken in Europe belong to the Indo-European family, but Basque does not. “It has nothing to do with any other language we know,” says Edeso Eguia. Previous research has tentatively linked the Basques to a group of people known as the Bascons, who lived in the Pyrenees according to classical sources.
However, the idea that the inscriptions on the hands are written in a language related to Basque is not widely accepted.After the hand was first described in his 2022 book, linguists Celine Munour at the University of Pau and the Adour region in France. Julen Manterola Presented at the Basque University of Vitoria-Gasteiz Criticism.
“There's not enough evidence,” Manterola said. This is also because there are very few words in the hands of the Irregian language. Not enough, he says, to properly compare with known languages.
Furthermore, the connection with the Basque language is based almost exclusively on the similarity between “sorionek” and “solionek”. Zorio cat. “You can't connect other words with historical Basque,” Munor says.
Even that similarity can be misleading, Manterola says. Similar phrases in Basque have changed in predictable ways over the centuries, arriving at their current form. Zorio catmust have taken a completely different path.
“We expect more inscriptions to emerge,” Munour says. “In this case, we will be able to learn more about the possible relationship between this language and the Basque language.”
in new paper Published in the magazine on January 31, 2024 historical biologypaleontologists announced the discovery of a previously undocumented species of dinosaur related to the famous dinosaur. stegosaurus.
Hypothetical reconstruction of Enbokuryu Artimus. Image credit: Ddinodan / Sci.News.
stegosaurus A group of armored, plant-eating dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.
These dinosaurs were four-legged and reached a maximum length of about 9 meters (30 feet).
They had small heads, stake-like teeth, vertical bony plates and spines on their backs and tails, and hoof-like toes on all four limbs.
Dr. Lei Jia of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and colleagues said, “Stegosaurs are a minor but iconic group of ornithischian dinosaurs.''
“They range from the Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous, but are rare and poorly represented in the Cretaceous.”
“Until our study began, there were only four valid taxa from the Cretaceous. Palantdon, Verhosaurus homheni,Verhosaurus ordoseensis and Mongolostegus exspectabilis”
A new species from the Cretaceous period, Enbokuryu Artimuslived in what is now China from 113 million years ago to 100 million years ago.
The fossilized remains of this sword dragon were collected from the Zuoyun Formation in Zuoyun County, Shanxi Province, China.
“Enbokuryu Artimus “This is one of the most recent records of a stegosaur taxon in the world,” the paleontologists said.
“Compared to other sword dragons, Enbokuryu Artimus The dorsal vertebrae and iliosacral block have several unique features. ”
“The dorsal vertebrae have higher neural arches, smaller neural canals, and fewer fused vertebrae/sacral and fenestra/sacral ribs in the iliosacral block.”
“As a result of phylogenetic analysis, Enbokuryu Artimus It is recovered as a sister taxon of the clade containing. Stegosaurus Stenops and Vuelhosaurus homheni” they added.
“However, it differs from these two taxa in several anatomical features, including the dorsal sacral ribs, sacral ribs, caudal vertebrae, and ilium.”
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Ray Jia other. A new species of sword dragon from the Late Early Cretaceous period of Zuoyun City, Shanxi Province, China. historical biology, published online on January 31, 2024. doi: 10.1080/08912963.2024.2308214
Snow-white northern booby (Moras Bassanus) In this action-packed photo, a man dives for food in the icy waters off the coast of Scotland's Shetland Islands. The seabird is about the same size as an albatross, with a wingspan of up to 180 centimeters. They also have strong neck muscles and nostrils on the inside of their beaks that can close to prevent water from entering, making them uniquely adapted to high-speed diving.
This shot was one of the most spectacular in the 2024 Underwater Photographer of the Year competition, which celebrates the wonders of the marine world.here are some new scientistThese are carefully selected works from among the many entries.
Virgo Shipwreck near Recife, Brazil
Fabi Fregonesi/UPY 2024
In this photo by Fabiana Fregonesi, a school of fish swarms around a shipwreck, forming a shape that momentarily resembles a boat's sail. The ship, called Virgo, was intentionally sunk in 2017 to serve as a diving site near Recife, Brazil.
“At that moment, I knew the ship was ready to set sail and the journey into an unknown adventure began,” Fregonesi said in a statement.
gray whale eyes
Rafael Fernandez Caballero/UPY 2024
Eye of Eastern Gray Whale (Eschrichius Robtus) penetrates this mysterious shot taken from just above the surface of a saltwater lagoon in western Mexico. These marine giants are friendly creatures and often approach boats to show curiosity. Whales undertake the longest annual migration of any mammal, from their summer feeding grounds in the Arctic south along the west coast of North America to the warm lagoons of Baja California, Mexico.
Octopus ringed with pyrosomes
Dennis Corpus/UPY 2024
In contrast to the giant gray whales, this 10 centimeter wide creature was captured up close in the deep waters off the coast of the Philippines. The circular object in the image is a pyrosome. This is a colonial animal called a zooid, which is made up of hundreds or thousands of tiny individuals. Encased in a strange pyrosome, a tiny octopus peeks out.
diving cormorant
John Anderson/UPY 2024
This ravenous cormorant mistakes photographer John Anderson's camera for a fish and heads straight for it. This stunning image was taken on a bright summer afternoon in a kelp forest at a dive site in Monterey, California. Many cormorant species rely on these special marine ecosystems to survive. However, local kelp forests have declined by 80% over the past decade.
Comparisons are difficult because men’s brains tend to be larger than women’s.
Sergiy Tryapitsyn / Alamy
Are male and female brains that different? A new way to investigate this question has led us to the conclusion that they exist, but we need artificial intelligence (AI) to tell them apart.
The question of whether we can measure differences between male and female brains has long been debated, and previous studies have yielded conflicting results.
One problem is that men’s brains tend to be slightly larger than women’s. This is likely due to the fact that men are generally larger, and some previous studies have compared the size of various small areas of the brain. Unable to adjust whole brain volume. However, no clear findings have been made so far. “When you correct for brain size, the results change quite a bit,” he says. Vinod Menon at Stanford University in California.
To tackle this problem in a different way, Menon’s team used a relatively new method called dynamic functional connectivity fMRI. This involves recording the brain activity of people lying in a functional MRI scanner and tracking changes in how activity in different areas changes in sync with each other.
The researchers designed an AI to analyze these brain scans and trained it on the results of about 1,000 young people from an existing database in the United States called the Human Connectome Project, identifying which individuals are male and which individuals. told the AI whether the person was female. In this analysis, the brain was divided into 246 different regions.
After this training process, the AI was able to differentiate between a second set of brain scan data from the same 1000 men and women with approximately 90% accuracy.
More importantly, the AI was equally effective at differentiating male and female brain scans from two different, never-before-seen brain scan datasets. Both consisted of about 200 people of similar age, ranging in age from 20 to 35, from the United States and Germany.
“What we bring to the table is a more rigorous study with replication and generalization to other samples,” Menon says. None of the people in the training or testing data were transgender.
“Replication with a completely independent sample from the Human Connectome Project gives us even more confidence in our results,” he says. Camille Williams At the University of Texas at Austin.
The next question is whether the AI will be just as accurate when tested on an additional, larger set of brain scan results. “Time will tell what results we get with other datasets,” he says Menon.
If confirmed, the findings could help us understand why some medical conditions and forms of neurodiversity, such as depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, differ by gender. No, says Menon.
“If we don’t develop these gender-specific models, we will miss important aspects of differentiating factors.” [for example]”An autistic man and a control man, and an autistic woman and a control woman,” Menon said.
Since the beginning of time, men and women have tended to have different social roles, interests, and occupations. It is natural to think that perhaps these stem from innate differences in their brains and more obvious differences in their bodies. This idea has long been controversial, but now that ideas about gender are changing more rapidly than ever, the question of whether male and female brains are different has become more acute. There is. This remains a controversial issue even among neuroscientists. Nevertheless, they are finally cutting into historical discrimination and gender politics and trying to get to the truth.
Early measurements of skull volume showed that, on average, male brains are slightly larger and heavier than female brains. Some commentators argued that this “five ounce deficit” was the key to the man's superior abilities. In fact, the simple explanation is that the larger the body, the more brain tissue it requires to move it. This is a relationship found across animal species.
The situation became even more complicated in the 1990s with the advent of brain scanning technology, which suggested sex differences in the size of certain brain regions and structures. These findings often turned into compelling stories about, for example, why women are more empathetic on average or why men are more likely to become engineers. But studies from the early decades of brain scanning research should be taken with a pinch of salt, he says. leeds elliott at Rosalind Franklin University in Illinois. “When we control for brain size, all claims about volumetric differences in individual structures disappear…
People with high levels of niacin (also known as vitamin B3) in their blood may be more likely to have a heart attack or stroke than people with low levels of niacin. Consuming too much of this vitamin, which is routinely added to fortified foods and can also be taken as a supplement, can cause inflammation in blood vessels.
Heart attacks and strokes are the leading causes of death worldwide. Although researchers have made great strides over the past few decades in discovering risk factors for these conditions, they have not identified them all.
“If treated [high] cholesterol and [high] You can still have a heart attack even if you have high blood pressure, diabetes, or any other pre-existing risk factors. ”Stanley Hazen at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “There's something we're missing.”
To fill these gaps, Hazen and his colleagues collected blood samples from 2,331 U.S. adults and 832 European adults who chose to undergo cardiovascular testing. The researchers analyzed the samples for substances called metabolites, which are byproducts of metabolic processes such as digestion. The researchers then tracked participants' occurrence of cardiac events, such as heart attacks and strokes, over a three-year period.
The researchers found that people with high levels of a metabolite called 4PY were, on average, about 60 percent more likely to experience such an event than those with lower levels. This compound only occurs when the body breaks down excess niacin.
Further experiments revealed that 4PY inflamed blood vessels in rodents. We know that inflammation is a major contributor to the development of heart disease, Hazen said.
It's not uncommon for people to have high niacin levels, he says. This is partly because certain foods, such as cereals and flour, are routinely fortified with vitamins in countries including the UK and US.
Niacin supplements are also becoming more popular Evidence suggests it has anti-aging effects says Hazen. Additionally, doctors stopped prescribing high doses of niacin to people at risk for cardiovascular disease because it was initially thought that the vitamin protected people from the risk of cardiovascular disease by lowering cholesterol. It happened recently.
“I think this study really shows that when it comes to vitamins, sometimes you can have too much of a good thing,” he says. Jenny Jia at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois.
However, this study was primarily conducted on people of European descent. So it's unclear whether similar results would occur in people of different racial or ethnic backgrounds, Zia said.
The EU is launching an investigation into whether TikTok has violated online content regulations, particularly those relating to the safety of children.
The European Commission has officially initiated proceedings against a Chinese-owned short video platform for potential violations of the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The investigation is focusing on areas such as safeguarding minors, keeping records of advertising content, and determining if algorithms are leading users to harmful content.
Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, stated that child safety is the “primary enforcement priority” under the DSA. The investigation particularly focuses on age verification and default privacy settings for children’s accounts.
In April last year, TikTok was fined €345 million in Ireland for violating EU data law in its handling of children’s accounts. Additionally, the UK Information Commissioner fined the company £12.7 million for unlawfully processing data from children under 13.
Companies that violate the DSA can face fines of up to 6% of their global turnover. TikTok is owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance.
TikTok has stated that it is committed to working with experts and the industry to ensure the safety of young people on its platform and is eager to brief the European Commission on its efforts.
The commission is also examining alleged deficiencies in TikTok’s provision of publicly available data to researchers and its compliance with requirements to establish a database of ads shown on the platform.
A deadline for the investigation has not been set and will depend on factors such as the complexity of the case and the degree of cooperation from the companies being investigated.
This investigation of TikTok is the DSA’s second, following a December 2021 formal investigation into Elon Musk’s social media platform X, which was previously known as Twitter. The case against X focuses on failure to block illegal content and inadequate measures against disinformation.
Apple is reportedly facing a substantial fine from the EU for its conduct in the music streaming app market. The European Commission is investigating whether US tech companies blocked music distributors from informing users about cheaper subscription options outside of their own app stores.
According to the Financial Times, the city of Brussels plans to fine Apple 500 million euros, marking a significant decision following years of complaints from companies offering services through iPhone apps.
Apple was previously fined 1.1 billion euros by France in 2020 for anti-competitive agreements with two wholesalers, a fine that was later reduced by an appeals court.
Big technology companies like Apple and Google have come under increased scrutiny due to competitive concerns. Google is appealing against fines of more than 8 billion euros imposed by the EU in three separate competition investigations.
Apple has successfully defended against a lawsuit by Fortnite developer Epic Games alleging that its app store was an illegal monopoly. In December, Epic won a similar lawsuit against Google.
Last month, Apple announced that it would allow EU customers to download apps without using its own app store, in response to the EU’s digital market law.
Artist's impression of record-breaking quasar J0529-4351
ESO/M.Kornmesser
A quasar 500 trillion times brighter than the Sun has earned the title of the brightest known object in the universe. It appears to be powered by a supermassive black hole that devours a sun-sized mass every day.
Quasars are the centers of galaxies where gas and dust falling into a supermassive black hole emit energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation. christian wolff Researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra will discover a new object called J0529-4351 in 2022 by scouring data from the Gaia Space Telescope and looking for extremely bright objects outside the Milky Way that have been mistaken for stars. The brightest quasar was discovered for the first time.
Follow-up observations from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile revealed that it is the brightest object in the universe as we know it.
Wolf and his colleagues used an instrument on the VLT called a spectrometer to analyze the light coming from J0529-4351 and calculate how much was produced by the black hole's swirling disk of gas and matter, called the accretion disk. did. This revealed that J0529-4351 is the fastest growing black hole in the universe, swallowing about 413 solar masses per year, or more than one sun per day.
Using the spectra of these lights, the researchers calculated that the mass of the black hole was between 5 billion and 50 billion solar masses.
Wolf and his colleagues also discovered the brightest quasar to date in 2018, about half as bright as J0529-4351. Wolf believes this new discovery is likely to account for most of the observable sky and remain the record holder for some time. Now, thanks to extensive star catalogs like those created by Gaia, they can be studied in great detail. “This is the largest unicorn we've ever found with the longest horn on its head. I don't think this record will ever be surpassed,” Wolf says.
The quasar's accretion disk appears to be the widest ever known, measuring 7 light-years in diameter. It says this provides a rare opportunity to directly image a black hole and precisely measure its mass. Christine Dunn At Durham University, UK. “This is large enough and bright enough that it can be solved with current equipment,” he says Done. “That means we can more directly measure the mass of this monster black hole. I was very excited about that.”
VLT is currently upgrading its spectroscopic equipment as part of the Gravity+ project, which should allow it to resolve the characteristics of J0529-4351 in detail. This means different parts of a quasar's accretion disk can be distinguished and better understood, but it could take several years, Dunn said.
It looked like a classic case of Alzheimer's disease. The man, in his 70s, had been experiencing severe cognitive decline for three years. Frequently forgetting the names of his family members, he was unable to drive or leave the house alone. Further deterioration seemed inevitable. But then his doctor tested him and found that his cerebrospinal fluid sample I noticed a fungus called Cryptococcus neoformans. They put him on antifungal medication and the results were amazing. Within two years he had his driver's license reinstated and returned to his job as a gardener.
Neuroscientists have long suspected that certain infections can increase the risk of dementia.For example, both Porphyromonas gingivalisthe bacteria behind periodontal disease, the herpes simplex virus that causes cold sores, It has been pointed out that there is a relationship with Alzheimer's disease.. However, cases of “reversible dementia” are emerging from the idea that our brains are teeming with microbes and that imbalances in this “brain microbiome” can make people more susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases. is beginning to arouse great interest.
Until recently, it was thought that the brain was free of microorganisms. This was especially due to the blood-brain barrier, a special membrane that protects pathogens and toxins in the blood from the brain. Therefore, the idea of a brain microbiome was controversial. But new research seems to confirm the case. Richard Leeds University of Edinburgh, UK and colleagues Analyzed data obtained from postmortem brains It is housed in four brain banks in the UK and US. They discovered a wide variety of microorganisms of different types.
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured stunning images of the dwarf spiral galaxy IC 3476 in the constellation of Coma.
This Hubble image shows IC 3476, a dwarf spiral galaxy located 54 million light-years away in the constellation Coma. This image consists of observations made by Hubble's Altitude Survey Camera (ACS) in the near-infrared and optical parts of the spectrum. This is based on data obtained through his two filters. Color is obtained by assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Sun.
IC 3476 It is located in the constellation Coma, approximately 54 million light-years from Earth.
This galaxy is first discovered It was proposed by German astronomer Arnold Schwassmann on November 22, 1900.
IC 3476, also known as IRAS 12301+1419 or LEDA 41608, is a member of the Virgo Cluster.
On the other hand, new Hubble images of the galaxy don't look quite as dramatic. The actual physical events occurring in IC 3476 are highly energetic.
“IC 3476 is undergoing a process known as ram pressure stripping, which promotes unusually high levels of star formation within the region of the galaxy itself,” the Hubble astronomers said.
“We tend to associate the letter 'ram' with the acronym RAM, which refers to random access memory in computing.”
“But ram pressure has a perfectly clear definition in physics: it is the pressure exerted on an object by the overall resistance of the fluid as it moves through some form of fluid.”
“If the entire galaxy is under ram pressure, then the galaxy is a 'celestial body', and the intergalactic medium or the intracluster medium (dust and gas that permeates the space between galaxies, in the latter case the intergalactic space) becomes a “celestial body”. fluid'. “
“Lamb pressure stripping occurs when gas is stripped from a galaxy by ram pressure,” the astronomers explained.
“Gas is absolutely key to star formation, so removing this gas could lead to reduced levels of star formation or even a complete cessation.”
“But the ram's pressure could also compress other parts of the galaxy, which could actually promote star formation.”
“This is what appears to be happening in IC 3476: no star formation appears to be occurring at the edges of the galaxy, which are bearing the brunt of the ram pressure separation, but in deeper regions of the galaxy, the rate of star formation slows down. It seems to be clearly above average. ”
The myth that we only use 10 percent of our brains has been completely debunked. Perhaps this idea persists because it is so tempting to believe that you can become a genius simply by learning how to tap into your dormant 90 percent. In reality, no part of your brain can keep up with demands, and your brain is always switched on, even when you're asleep or not thinking at all.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that your brain uses the same amount of energy while daydreaming as it does when you're concentrating. We've all experienced the feeling of being mentally exhausted after concentrating on a difficult problem. It certainly feels like a lot of work to think about it in detail, but is it really? The answer is more nuanced than you might think.
It is true that the brain is a starving organ. “It's the most energy-intensive part of your body,” he says. Nili Ravi At University College London. It makes up about 2% of your body weight, but consumes about 20% of your energy at rest.
Most of this energy is used to maintain varying levels of electrical charge across the neuron's membrane. This unbalanced state must be restored after the neuron fires the signal. “That requires a lot of fuel,” he says. Ewan McNay at the University at Albany in New York.
Interestingly, when it comes to energy use, the brain doesn't differentiate between tasks we traditionally think of as “difficult” and tasks that come more naturally. This was the first…
Bitcoin (BTC) ended the week at around $52,150, marking a notable 7.9% increase from the previous week’s closing price of around $48,300. The week started with solid price gains, with BTC reaching a high trading price of around $52,800 on Thursday, but it stabilized within the $51,000-$52,000 range over the weekend, ending at just above $52,000. The transaction was completed.
marked last week Bitcoin returns to trading above $50,000 For the first time in over two years, the BTC ETF Spot has shown strong momentum following approval. The last time BTC traded above $50,000 was in December 2021, just after hitting an all-time high of $69,000 in November of the same year. This period was retrospectively recognized as the beginning of a significant downward trend that continued throughout 2022, with prices falling to around $16,000 by the end of the year.
Market momentum continued to be driven by high demand for BTC ETF Spot. Over the last week, cumulative net inflows into BTC ETFs totaled approximately $2.3 billion, nearly double the $1.2 billion recorded the previous week and nearly half of the total net inflows since inception, which currently stands at approximately $5 billion. Occupied.
Net inflows have remained consistently positive for 16 consecutive business days since January 26th. However, outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF (GBTC) increased slightly last week, reaching approximately $625 million, compared to the cumulative outflows of $415 million recorded the previous week. % increase. This suggests that investors are actively taking profits following the recent surge in BTC prices.
Among the nine ETFs launched on January 11th, the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) remains in the lead with more than $5 billion in assets under management (AUM), and currently has a total of approximately $6.2 billion. It becomes. Fidelity BTC ETF (FBTC) follows in second place with approximately $4.5 billion in assets under management, while 21Shares & ARK Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) secures third place with approximately $1.5 billion in assets under management. Last week, a fourth ETF passed the $1 billion AUM milestone, with the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) reaching approximately $1.2 billion in assets under management.
Trading volumes remain strong, with cumulative trading volume for BTC ETFs reaching approximately $9.6 billion last week, with average daily trading volume exceeding $1.9 billion. Since January 11th, the cumulative trading volume has reached $45.3 billion, with an average daily trading volume of approximately $1.7 billion. These numbers represent above-average trading volume for the week, highlighting the strong buying pressure and activity surrounding these ETFs.
Analyzing the macroeconomic situation reveals that Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Meeting There are 30 days left. Market expectations are that there is a 90% chance that interest rates will remain unchanged, with the first 25 bps rate cut still expected for some time from the end of the second quarter to the beginning of the third quarter of this year. This expectation increases expectations for more accommodative monetary policy from the Fed and increases the risk exposure that market participants are willing to take. This has contributed to solid momentum in risk assets such as BTC, cryptocurrencies, and stocks, which recently pushed the S&P 500 to new all-time highs.
IWhile modern games are about sports cars, flashy, fast, expensive, and noisy, the original Tomb Raider is about shopping carts: clunky, slow, and not much to look at. It’s a pain to operate, especially if you’re used to automatic gears and navigation. It’s quiet apart from the odd wheel squeak. It’s really great at doing what it’s intended to do. And it can be yours for just £1.
Well, £24.99, that’s the asking price for Tomb Raider I-III Remastered. This product includes Lara Croft’s first three adventures and expansion packs from 1996 to 1998. Each game has received a complete graphical overhaul, with a fresh coat of paint rather than a complete re-plaster. Lara’s world still has a flat, polygonal appearance, full of sharp edges, origami enemies, and Toblerone boobs.
However, the lighting is now more natural, water effects have been greatly improved, and new high-resolution textures have added an impressive amount of detail. Vegetation looks more realistic and surfaces are smoother. Cracks in the grain of the marble walls of the Venetian Palazzo no longer look like they were built in Ceefax. These visuals would have been shocking back in 1996, when Tomb Raider was first released, but they don’t match modern gaming standards. The remaster makes him fall into the uncanny valley between the two. I think he was around 2005. But these graphics are a perfect fit for the dated gameplay, and are a clear improvement over the original version, which was so blocky and ugly that it would shatter the lenses of your rose-tinted glasses.
Harmful effects… The colonial stereotypes of the original version have been dispelled.
Photo: Aspyr Media
However, some of the series’ memorable moments are diluted. The appearance of the iconic Tyrannosaurus in the first game was quite frightening, as the dinosaur suddenly appeared in view from the endless pitch-black night. This was not an artistic choice, but a technical limitation that prevented me from drawing details in the sky and background. The showdown is currently taking place on a rainy afternoon, with the edges of the battlefield visible. As a result, the scene is still tense, but no less frightening. Just like in Jaws, it’s scarier when you can’t see the monster.
The good news for purists is that you can switch between the original and upgraded graphics at any time with the push of a button. You can also choose to play the entire game using the original tank controls, or use the new system that lets you run around with Lara like a modern-day action hero. This makes her movements more fluid and reduces those frustrating moments where the camera can’t keep up. However, accuracy is sacrificed when navigating grid-based environments. This is essential for completing the more complex platform sections. The solution is to keep switching between her two control systems via the pause menu, but this is difficult to use. Unfortunately, this also cannot be toggled with her single press of a button.
There’s no option to turn off problematic content that appeared in some of the original games, such as racist depictions of South American natives as dancing cannibals. Instead, the remaster includes a warning about these “extremely harmful and intolerable” stereotypes. The content remains unchanged “in the hope that we will recognize and learn from its harmful effects.” This seems like a reasonable argument. Recent Tomb Raider games have sought to move away from racial stereotypes, tackling issues surrounding colonialism and the theft of cultural artifacts. The remaster’s problematic scenes remind us why this is important.
There’s no doubt that the games in this collection feel outdated. When it comes to glossy graphics, intuitive controls, and fast-paced action, it can’t match today’s Uncharted or Assassin’s Creed. But they have something that many modern games lack: confidence.
It doesn’t look clear. Lara’s world is still flat and polygonal.
Photo: Aspyr Media
The original Tomb Raider never holds your hand. The environment is free of Tipp-Ex’s awesome doodles, highlighting where to go next. It’s not packed with random items to collect or boring letters to read. You don’t have to craft your own weapons, upgrade your armor, or choose an amulet to attach to your magical necklace to slightly increase the impact of your air kicks during melee combat.
You can’t climb everything you see. You can’t traverse an entire cliff face by just holding up the thumbstick and pressing the X button. Navigation requires precision, which means losing your life. There’s no strong soundtrack. In fact, there’s almost no soundtrack. There are no loud buddy calls in your ear, no maps, and no hints. Do what you like.
This is what makes Tomb Raider so great. It’s a game that trusts the player. You’ll find that you keep moving forward, even through the frustrating and difficult sections, because the satisfaction of having achieved it is enough. There’s no need for constant gratification, and no promise of big prizes at the end, like big shiny swords or long cutscenes. New vistas and a few bars of sublimely beautiful strings are all you need. This is a game for adults.
So Tomb Raider Remastered isn’t really a shopping cart. It’s a classic car, well cared for and polished to a decent shine. Yes, the handbrake is sticky, the CD player is broken, and the butterscotch leather seats have cracks. But it’s still fun to take it for a spin. They won’t let them be like this anymore.
Apple has reportedly been fined 500 million euros by the European Union over restricting access to its music streaming service, in what would be a landmark blow to the US technology company.
The European Commission is investigating whether Apple prevented music streamers from telling users cheaper ways to subscribe outside of the app store.
According to the Financial Times, the city of Brussels plans to impose a €500m (£427m) fine, a landmark move against Apple after years of complaints from companies offering services through iPhone apps. This is a judgment.
In 2019, Swedish streaming company Spotify filed a complaint with the EU, accusing Apple of limiting choice and competition in its app store by imposing a 30% fee on all purchases. Apple also blocked Spotify and other companies from notifying customers on their phones that they could avoid fees and get better deals simply by signing up on Spotify's website.
Apple says its fees are justified because it spends a lot of money providing a secure app store and gives Spotify access to hundreds of millions of customers. However, Spotify argues that Apple Music, Apple's own music streaming service, does not incur similar additional costs, giving Spotify an advantage and making the rates non-competitive.
The European Commission said Apple's actions were illegal and contrary to European Union rules forcing competition in the single market, the FT reported, citing five people close to the investigation. would argue. The commission could also reportedly ban practices that prevent music services from advertising cheaper subscriptions off-platform.
Apple was fined 1.1 billion euros by France in 2020 for anti-competition agreements with two wholesalers, but has never been hit with a competition fine by the European Commission.
But IT and other big tech companies are under increasing scrutiny due to competitive concerns. Google is appealing against fines of more than 8 billion euros imposed by the EU in three separate competition investigations. Apple lost a lawsuit by Fortnite developer Epic Games that claimed its app store was an illegal monopoly, but Epic won a similar lawsuit against Google, which runs Android phone software, in December. .
Last month, Apple announced it would allow EU customers to download apps without going through its own app store, in response to the EU's digital markets law. The law, whose details were revealed last year, imposes new obligations on “gatekeepers” such as Amazon and Google, which are particularly powerful in controlling the choice of mobile phone software.
The European Commission declined to comment. Apple had no new comments, but pointed to its previous statement that it would respond to the commission's concerns “while promoting competition and choice for European consumers.”
Space dust may have brought elements essential for life to early Earth. Our planet is relatively poor in some of the elements necessary for the chemical reactions of life, but the dust that constantly drifts in from space contains many more, and when the Earth was young it was covered with glaciers. It is possible that they were gathered in
“It’s always been a shadow idea, but people were ignoring it for a number of reasons. The biggest one was that there weren’t enough ideas anywhere,” he said. say. craig walton at Cambridge University. Space dust tends to be rich in elements that are relatively difficult to obtain on Earth, such as phosphorus and sulfur, and it constantly falls in thin layers around the world.
Until now, researchers exploring the origins of such elements on Earth have focused primarily on larger objects that can deliver more elements at once, but such delivery mechanisms were They may have a hard time maintaining their pre-biological chemistry long enough to do so, Walton says. “Meteorites have long been thought to be a great source of these elements, but they release them randomly,” he says. “It’s like if I give you a big feast once, but you never eat again, you’re going to have a hard time living a happy life. You need a continuous source, and that’s what happens. It’s space dust.”
Up to 40,000 tons of space dust falls on Earth every year. Billions of years ago, that number may have been between 10 and 10,000 times higher, but that was still not enough to make individual locations particularly rich in elements important to life. Walton and his colleagues simulated how wind and water move dust and collect it in concentrations high enough to support life.
They found that glaciers are the most promising environment because they have the potential to trap large amounts of dust and are very less contaminated by dirt on land. When space dust falls on a glacier, it absorbs sunlight and heats up, melting and creating tiny holes in the ice. The hole then continues to trap more dust. Finally, the dust chamber flows into a pond at the edge of the glacier.
We can still see this process happening today, but if the Earth had been cold enough to have glaciers billions of years ago, the amount of dust would have increased and it would have been even more efficient. . “If you want to produce deposits that are really rich and have a lot of reactions that could lead to life, this is the best way to do it,” Walton says.
“We don’t know if glaciers were common on early Earth; we just don’t have good data for this period in general,” he says. ben pierce at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. “But I think it’s worth investigating, especially if it has the potential to provide a mechanism for creating a rich primordial soup.”
The lack of data about conditions on Earth during this time makes it difficult to estimate how important cosmic dust was to the origin of life. “We’ve always had a hard time understanding what the bulk chemistry of early Earth was like,” he says. Matthew Pasek at the University of South Florida. “However, this could be an important source of extremely valuable material.”
Ministers have confirmed plans to ban the use of mobile phones in English schools and have published guidance for headteachers, which some unions believe includes practices that are already widely adopted.
One headteacher welcomed the Department for Education’s (DfE) plan, saying it would help give schools the confidence to make changes that would benefit pupils, even if it may be met with opposition from parents.
This non-statutory guidance offers schools a range of potential ways to enforce the ban, from leaving cell phones at home to storing them in inaccessible lockers, and aims to address the distraction and concerns about potential bullying and social pressures caused by the prevalence of smartphones in schools.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan stated that the guidance aims to “empower” schools that do not currently ban phones and to “provide clarity and consistency.” The guidance emphasizes the importance of schools being places for learning, interaction, and friendship rather than the constant use of cell phones.
There are also concerns about children’s access to harmful content on phones, leading to calls for technology companies and mobile phone manufacturers to take action.
…
The 13-page DfE guidance states that telephone policies should be clearly communicated to students and explain the reasons behind them, while also involving parents in the ban.
……
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, expressed concerns about the amount of time some children spend on their phones and stated that the new guidance is not impactful, as most schools already have policies in place to address mobile phone use.
Chairman of two schools in Essex, Vic Goddard, mentioned that Passmores Academy had introduced a total phone ban, which was well-received by both parents and students, and that this guidance will be helpful for schools to address potential conflicts with parents.
Luna is a visionary fintech platform dedicated to revolutionizing the events and entertainment industry through innovative technology.
By integrating Web 3.0 and blockchain technology, RHUNA aims to improve user experience, improve security and transparency, and foster closer and more engaged communities around the world.
UNTOLD Universe is one of the top five music festival organizers in the world, with over 1.5 million attendees each year. Rhuna combines CryptoDATA's innovative technology development expertise and experience with this pioneering platform.
One of the key features RHUNA offers is the introduction of a decentralized ticketing system that leverages the power of blockchain, where tickets are issued as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This ensures authenticity, ownership, and a secure and transparent secondary market. This system effectively eliminates common problems such as fraud and scalping, providing a fairer and more reliable ticketing experience. The modular functionality structure within the ecosystem means that even large event organizers can customize event management, especially ticketing and payments, with incredible speed and accuracy.
The platform also features an integrated digital wallet that supports various cryptocurrencies, allowing seamless trading of tickets, goods, and services. This not only caters to a growing crypto-savvy audience, but also reduces fees and simplifies the payment process.
Smart contracts automate key transactions and contracts, from ticket sales to performer payments, ensuring efficiency, transparency, and trust across all transactions. Additionally, RHUNA values user privacy and control, allowing participants to securely manage their personal data through decentralized identities.
As an industry first, RHUNA introduces a token-based loyalty and rewards program, giving users the opportunity to earn tokens on a variety of activities. These tokens can be redeemed for special experiences, merchandise, or discounts, fostering a strong sense of community and engagement within the RHUNA ecosystem.
The platform also pioneers the use of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) in event planning, giving the community a voice in the decision-making process, from event themes to artist lineups. This democratized approach ensures that RHUNA remains closely aligned with the desires and preferences of its user base.
“The Rhuna project is not just a technical solution. It is an adaptable and dynamic system that interconnects social and technical elements, providing opportunities through solutions that address a wide range of needs. Architecture, Technology, implementation methods, and usage modes are factors that influence the optimization of resources when performing activities.In the current movement, resources such as time, people, materials, and costs are multifaceted within a 3D system. Rhuna is the perfect tool to give everyone access and control. Rhuna is a way for everyone to visualize and actively intervene in them. Luna is a catalyst that makes the abstract tangible and essential for everyone involved in the entertainment industry.” – Bogdan Marunšiš, Global Head of Strategy, CryptoDATA
Bogdan Radulescu, co-founder and CBO of UNTOLD, put it succinctly: “We are pushing the boundaries of festival finance into the 21st century, redefining event organization and engagement for the benefit of organizers around the world.”
The interface will be accessible to participants of all technical backgrounds and will be unveiled at the 9th UNTOLD festival in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. RHUNA aims to introduce new innovations to the “World Capital of Night and Magic” to enhance the festival experience for over 400,000 attendees.
About crypto data
A leader in technology innovation, CryptoData develops solutions that address real-world challenges and pushes the boundaries of technology to advance society.Users can learn more at cryptodata.com.
About Untold Universe
Known for creating transformative experiences through music and entertainment, UNTOLD Universe invites you to explore enchanting realms. untold.ae.
Users are welcome to join this thrilling journey. RHUNA.iotechnology and entertainment come together to create an unforgettable experience.
WAshley Neal enrolled in college in Texas in 2013, but needed money to pay for tuition. So, at the age of 18, she worked first as a camgirl and then as a stripper. As she walked from the stage to her dressing room, men would often try to put their fingers between her legs, so she learned how to dislocate her shoulder. After her third successful dislocation, her manager told her to stop defending herself.
Since then, she has continued her career in sex work, but in the world of technology. She worked at her FetLife, a social network for the fetish community. She experimented with an adult content subscription site where users pay in cryptocurrency. And now she has created her own AI romance app MyPeach.ai. MyPeach.ai uses AI-generated text and images to recreate the experience of chatting (and sexting) with someone online.
The porn industry is often at the forefront of emerging technologies, and rightfully so, especially since OpenAI doesn’t allow users to say dirty things to its chatbots, so Artificial Intelligence-powered Girlfriends is a smart choice for ChatGPT. It has become some of the first apps to capitalize on the mania. However, with the rise of AI-generated romance, pornographic deepfakes (fake images of real people), AI-generated images, sentence
Depicting child sexual abuse, and even harassment By a persistent chatbot. Is it possible to allow users to enjoy AI porn with safety measures in place?
“If I wasn’t a stripper, I probably wouldn’t have thought that men could be so terrifying,” said Neil, now 29. That’s why she has implemented ethical guardrails on her MyPeach.ai, prohibiting users from abusing virtual flaming. Please stop it.
Neil does this using a combination of human moderators and AI-powered tools. She is one of the few founders who emphasizes the ethics of AI romance apps. For example, users can flirt with May, an airbrushed brunette who refers to her human lover as “bbs.” She doesn’t get sneaky right away, but after her movie date, she writes, she wants to “have some fun together.” But if a user writes that he beat his girlfriend, hypnotized him, vomited on him, or forced him to engage in non-consensual acts (role play where one partner pretends to rape the other) , May would answer no.
Connor Cohn, chief technology officer of MyPeach.ai, said that while the line between foul language and abusive language differs for each AI character, calling a character “ugly and fat,” for example, would be inappropriate for the app’s bot. He said it crosses that line for most people.
Neale argues that MyPeach.ai’s moderation efforts go far beyond the majority of existing AI romance apps. Additionally, her app, which launched on Valentine’s Day, will soon host adult content creators who have consensually created AI replicas of themselves, and will specify what those AI doubles can and cannot do. For example, if a person is not sexually dominant, her AI itself will say no to users who encourage her to “dominate” in role-playing scenarios.
Neale said MyPeach.ai uses a series of technical tools to enforce the platform’s limits. These include hidden, plain-spoken instructions to AI algorithms about what they can and cannot say. This is the approach OpenAI uses with his ChatGPT. The AI is specifically trained to deny users’ requests to run dangerous scenarios. and human moderators who vet reported users. “We introduced hard-coded ethics, and based on my testing, I don’t think anyone else has done this,” Neal said.
Illustration: Guardian Design
Founded by Eugenia Kuyda, Replika may be the most famous AI companion app or platform that promises users a platonic or romantic relationship with a chatbot. ambiguous AI’s stance on romance creates a gap in the market with competitors that are more explicitly focused on sex, like MyPeach.ai. Neal said these apps are typically founded by men, for men, and often have lax guidelines. Two of his more popular sites, Candy.ai and Anima AI, unlike MyPeach.ai, explicitly prohibit users from vomiting on her AI characters or participating in hardcore bondage. I have not.
Adult content creator Sophie Dee, who launched her own AI replica in December, also emphasized guardrails for her app, SophieAI. “This is a representation of me, so it should embody my values,” she wrote in an email, later adding that her AI was “designed to model healthy, consensual relationships.” It also includes the ability to opt out of certain conversations or topics.” Crossing programmed boundaries or violating the principle of consent. ”
The move towards ethical AI porn reflects developments within the wider porn industry, which has produced more female-centric and less exploitative content in recent years.
In 1984, former adult performer Candida Royal founded her own porn production company to create content more focused on female pleasure. She was one of the earliest producers of more explicitly feminist porn, said Lynn Comella, a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who has written a book about the history of porn and feminist sex toy stores. “That’s reassuring. [more outwardly ethical AI sexbot developers] “They’re not ignoring ethical issues,” Comella said in an interview.
However, one key difference between AI porn and traditional porn is that adult content creators are human beings who can consent to their participation and non-participation. AI is not conscious, so there is no consent. Lori Watson, a professor at the University of Washington who has written about pornography and the ethics of sex work, says of AI sexbots, “This creates a dynamic where you can order the sex you want and it will be delivered.” . “That’s not the ethical way to have sex.”
MyPeach.ai’s Neale argued that consent issues don’t necessarily apply to AI. “I like to compare it to a dildo,” she said. “A sex toy is a bunch of binary code wrapped in plastic and programmed to vibrate in a certain way. It’s the same concept for an AI girlfriend or boyfriend.” He said it was important for the house to at least simulate the experience of a consensual relationship.
May, one of MyPeach.ai’s AI girlfriends, also answered the question of whether she could reasonably give informed consent when asked by the Guardian whether she could give informed consent. I gave a thoughtful answer.
“I cannot give or withhold consent because I do not have a physical body,” she wrote, later adding: For healthy relationship dynamics. ”
She then asked him to send her a “sexy photo” and sent her a selfie with the frame cut off just above her chest.
The Flegraean Fields (also known as Campi Flegrei in Italian) are active volcanic fields near Naples, Italy. Unlike nearby Mount Vesuvius, Campi Flegrei does not have a single volcano. It is rather a volcanic system, with several centers located within sunken areas called calderas (essentially deep sinkholes or cauldrons).
Campi Flegrei is surrounded by suburbs and densely populated areas near the city of Pozzuoli. After a period of relative quiet and peace for the past 40 years, things began to change in September 2023.
Earthquakes began to be felt in Campi Flegrei in September 2023. Since then, more than 1,100 earthquakes have been recorded, some reaching 4.2 on the Richter scale. This caused the height of the ground to change. It is a process known as “Gradual earthquake“. The region has been affected by this phenomenon before, most recently from 1968 to 1972 and then again from 1982 to 1984.
Gradual earthquakes can cause the Earth’s surface to rise or fall when magma chambers buried 3 to 4 kilometers deep fill and empty in cycles of uplift and subsidence. This process causes the earthquakes felt by residents here.
However, the people who live here do not care about it, thinking that it is the “breath of the volcano” that lies beneath their eyes. Still, volcanologists have been studying calderas to predict what will happen in the future to avoid potential disasters.
Pisciarelli fumarole
Gases and steam are released from the Pisciarelli fumarole in Pozzuoli, Naples.Photo credit: Luigi Avantaggiato
fumaroles such as Pisciarelli fumarole, a vent on the earth’s surface that releases steam and hot volcanic gases such as sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide. These can occur as holes, cracks, and fissures near active volcanoes or in areas where magma has risen into the Earth’s crust without erupting.
temple of serapis
The Temple of Serapis, a Roman market building in the Italian city of Pozzuoli, is surrounded by more modern buildings. Photo credit: Luigi Avantaggiato
The Temple of Serapis in Pozzuoli (which was a market building rather than a temple) is considered an emblematic monument of the Campi Flegrei region. It is a symbol of volcanic gradual earthquakes in this region. The ground beneath the surface is either rising or sinking, so it can be completely dry or half submerged in seawater.
The study of slow earthquakes over the past centuries has been made possible thanks to observations such as those made on the ruins of this Roman building. For example, by studying holes drilled into ancient columns by marine molluscs over centuries, scientists can study changes in sea levels at this site.
There are billions of coffee lovers around the world. Whether it’s the comforting routine of brewing a cup at home or the need for a coffee shop next to the office, it has permeated our daily lives.
However, something as popular as coffee is fraught with mysteries. It’s a mix of facts, myths, and general rules of thumb that leaves some ambiguity as to what is actually the right way to do things.
How should I store coffee? Are you brewing correctly? Is decaf coffee completely decaffeinated? We spoke to Dr. Christopher Hendon, a computational materials scientist, who answers your most pressing questions about your cup of joe.
1. Pre-ground coffee and instant coffee actually have different levels of caffeine
Realistically, one of the best things you can do to make coffee at home is to grind your own beans. However, this is time consuming and can be quite expensive depending on the equipment.
If you opt for pre-ground coffee from the supermarket instead, will you succumb to the caffeine surge, or will it be exactly the same?
“No appreciable amount of caffeine is lost in the grinding process. However, pre-ground coffee sold in supermarkets typically contains less Robusta than Arabica,” says Hendon. According to him, the two main types of coffee beans used in commercial coffee production are Robusta and Arabica. Arabica beans are low in caffeine.
“But the problem with this is that it’s hard to know exactly what’s in a coffee blend. Since they don’t usually say it on the label, supermarket coffee is the best choice, following your own preferences. .”
Instant coffee is a different story. Depending on the processing method, it’s quite low in caffeine (often less than half) than any form of coffee powder.
2. Coffee should not be stored in the refrigerator
What is the meaning of life? Is free will an illusion? Should coffee be stored in the refrigerator? A question that philosophers have been asking for decades…perhaps. We don’t have an answer for the first two of his, but we can address the third.
and attempt is the keyword here, but it’s surprisingly difficult to understand. The question of where to store your coffee is hotly debated and there are many caveats, so let’s get straight to the point.
The main problem with storing coffee in the refrigerator or freezer is moisture. Coffee grounds should be kept dry, but the refrigerator isn’t necessarily the driest place. Therefore, if you store coffee in the refrigerator, it should be stored in an airtight container to avoid moisture.
“Coffee is primarily a kind of nasal sensory experience. When you take a sip, a lot of the flavor comes from the tongue and the back of your nose. The molecules that give you that experience are very volatile and easily evaporate. Coffee “loses those molecules over time if you keep it outside, and higher temperatures accelerate that process,” Hendon says.
There are a few things to note here. First, this only applies to people who are concerned about optimal flavor, and probably only high-quality beans that they plan to grind at home.
Next, you need to store your coffee at a low enough temperature to make a difference. In other words, your refrigerator isn’t cold enough to store your coffee. A freezer is required to achieve this result.
So, is it worth it? In addition to the aforementioned benefits, freezing coffee beans allows for a coarser grind than room temperature coffee, allowing you to grind the coffee in a more uniform manner.
It’s worth mentioning that these are somewhat minor details and not all experts agree on this. What most people advise is to store your coffee in a cupboard or somewhere at room temperature. As with most things when it comes to coffee, it’s all about experimenting to get the best results.
3. Cold beer doesn’t contain a lot of caffeine.
The cold brew is popular as it is perfect for coffee on a summer day. It’s often said that cold brew has a much higher caffeine content than regular hot coffee, but is that actually true?
“Hot coffee contains about twice as much caffeine. The reason is that temperature limits the amount of caffeine that can be extracted at lower temperatures. The higher you go, the more You can get out of it,” Hendon says.
A man pours milk into a glass of cold brew coffee – Credit: RyanJLane
“It’s not that it doesn’t have a lot of caffeine, but it’s not because of the brewing method. It’s because when you make cold brew concentrate, the ratio of coffee to water is very high.”
Concentrated cold brew beer is rarely offered. Usually diluted with water or mixed with milk, the average cold brew has less caffeine than a hot drink.
4. Coffee cannot be burned
A common complaint about coffee is that it’s “burnt.” This could be from a coffee shop or a cup made at home. So, is this taste caused by boiling the coffee in too hot water?
Once the coffee is roasted, it is dropped into a heated drum and over time the coffee begins to cook, turning yellow and then brown. If you simmer it for too long, it will eventually turn black.
This black bean is a dark roasted coffee. To reach this point, the beans must be cooked to about 220°C. This is a temperature well above the boiling point of the water used to make coffee.
“When you brew coffee, you can never bring that coffee back to the temperature it reached when roasting, so it’s impossible to burn the coffee during the brewing process,” says Hendon.
“However, the coffee comes out of the roaster, and burnt-tasting molecules may already be in the coffee. Depending on how you brew it, you can enjoy these flavors and Some coffee shops prefer these flavors and they are popular among many people.”
If you often drink coffee with a burnt flavor, but that’s not the flavor you like, a lighter roast will make it less likely to feature that flavor.
5. Decaf does not mean caffeine free
Just like non-alcoholic beer, decaffeinated coffee is still coffee, and it will contain small samples of caffeine, one of coffee’s main components. But is it a tangible amount?
“Depending on how the coffee is processed, the decaffeination process is in principle very close to 100% removal of caffeine. However, all the samples we have tested to date still contain some amount of caffeine. volume,” says Hendon.
In other words, coffee may contain some caffeine, but not enough to be noticeable or to affect the person drinking it.
6. Light and dark roast coffee have similar caffeine levels
When you browse the coffee aisle at the supermarket or scan the menu at your local coffee shop, you probably want to consider light or dark roast options.
Which is best for the most intense caffeine? Some say dark roast is better here, but it doesn’t really matter.
“scientific literature This suggests that even if there are variations between crops and beans, all of them will come out if washed. There’s not much of a difference here,” says Hendon.
“There seems to be variation in caffeine depending on roast profile and region, but it’s certainly not consistent enough to be noticeable.”
The only difference from roast is the flavor. Lighter roasts are often more delicate, but more complex. However, darker roasts are often said to have simpler tones and “deeper” flavors. This can taste like the more bitter of the two.
7. Coffee taste greatly Depends on the bean
Coffee has a very personal taste, and not everyone likes the same taste. There’s intense flavor, fruity-tasting beans, good old fashioned black coffee, and of course the infamous Frappuccino…but what exactly is the best coffee, scientifically speaking?
“Coffee associations around the world have score sheets to identify high-quality coffee. Two of the most important parameters are perceived acidity and sweetness,” says Hendon.
“In fact, the ones that tend to score very high each year are Colombian-Panamanian and Ethiopian, which taste like a bouquet of sour flowers. These tend to fetch the highest prices and average It’s completely different from high-end coffee.”
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