African Reforestation Initiatives May Harm Grasslands and Savannahs

Posted on February 16, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Introducing too many trees into the African savannah can prevent small plants from accessing sunlight, which can affect the animals that eat them

Karine Boukey/Alamy

Ambitious tree-planting projects aimed at restoring Africa's forests could inadvertently harm grasslands and savannahs by providing too much shade. This can interfere with photosynthesis in small plants, which can have knock-on effects on other parts of the ecosystem.

In 2011, the German government and the International Union for Conservation of Nature launched the Bonn Challenge to restore 350 million hectares of degraded or deforested land around the world by 2030. As part of this effort, the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) was formed, with 34 countries across the continent pledging to reforest his 133.6 million hectares of land.

However, this has raised concerns about how Africa's other major ecosystems will be affected. You can learn more about kate parr Researchers at the University of Liverpool in the UK compared the area of forest restoration efforts in the AFR100 countries with the area of naturally forested areas.

In 18 of these countries, the pledged area was found to exceed the actual forest area, so non-forest habitats must also be included in the pledged area.

Of the 133.6 million hectares committed to reforestation across Africa, 70.1 million hectares are comprised primarily of non-forest ecosystems such as grasslands and savannahs. “It's the size of France, it's huge,” Parr said.

The researchers also found that 52 per cent of projects already underway are located in grasslands or savannahs. Approximately half of these are agroforestry projects. These include planting trees on agricultural land, which tends to be non-forest areas consisting of non-native species with low overall species diversity.

“Trees are great individually, but when you get a lot of them together, they can really change the ecosystem,” Parr says.

In open, grassy ecosystems, trees typically grow in a sparse pattern. Crowding of trees through mass planting can greatly reduce access to sunlight and can damage small plants. This has a knock-on effect on animals such as zebras that eat these plants.

Many of the countries involved receive funding to carry out afforestation projects, so there is an economic incentive to plant more trees, Parr said. “There is also a lack of awareness that these ecosystems are being harmed by tree planting,” she says.

Mr Parr hopes those responsible for tree-planting operations will consider the broader impacts of where they are planted, working with local communities to ensure people's livelihoods are not affected.

Jessica Gurevich A professor at Purdue University in Indiana said: “This is a worrying wake-up call for NGOs.” [non-governmental organisations], national and international restoration efforts, and a misguided “let's plant a tree” public reassured that these efforts must be more tightly controlled and evidence-based. Masu. ”

AFR100 had not commented at the time of publication.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Is Russia’s Space Weapon Nuclear and a Potential Threat?

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Mysterious new weapon could threaten satellites in Earth orbit

Key Fame/Shutterstock

According to a series of reports, the US government has privately warned lawmakers and European allies that Russia is planning to launch a nuclear-capable space weapon.

The news comes after U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner announced: vague warning It cited a “grave national security threat” and asked US President Joe Biden to “declassify all information related to this threat” for more public discussion. Since then, news reports have revealed additional details about what Russia's mystery weapon is. Here's what we know so far:

Does this mean Russia aims to deploy nuclear missiles and bombs into space?

This point remains unclear.Report from ABC News and new york times The term “nuclear weapon” may mean a weapon capable of producing an explosion involving a fission or fusion reaction.If this is true, it would be a violation of the rules 1967 Outer Space TreatyIt prohibits signatories, including Russia and the United States, from placing nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in space.

Although a nuclear explosion in space would not directly harm people on Earth, it could destroy and disable multiple satellites.When the United States detonated a nuclear bomb in low Earth orbit during that period starfish prime In a 1962 experiment, the resulting radiation damaged or destroyed about a third of the satellites in low Earth orbit at the time.

However, there is another possibility that does not involve nuclear weapons.

What else does Russia have in its nuclear capabilities in space?

Russian space weapons may simply use nuclear power to power onboard systems. PBS News Hour U.S. officials said the Russian weapon was “probably nuclear-powered.”

Russia and the United States have used various forms of nuclear power in space for decades. One form includes nuclear fission reactors, such as those found in civilian nuclear power plants, which derive their power from an ongoing nuclear chain reaction.

The United States launched an experimental nuclear reactor into space in 1965, while Russia reportedly launched at least 34 nuclear reactors aboard satellites between 1967 and 1988. World Nuclear Association.

The United States, Russia, and other countries have also launched space missions using radioisotope systems. These use heat from the natural decay of radioactive materials as a power source, but they provide much less power than nuclear fission reactors.

What does this Russian space weapon actually do?

News reports agree that Russian weapons are designed to target satellites in space, rather than directly harming anyone or anything on the ground. However, if this weapon is able to knock satellites out of orbit, these objects could fall to the planet's surface and cause severe damage. If they blow away, the resulting cloud of space junk could threaten other satellites and even the International Space Station. This could even trigger a Kessler syndrome scenario, where a chain reaction of space debris gets out of control and makes it virtually impossible for satellites to survive in Earth orbit.

Various countries, including Russia, the United States, China, and India, have previously tested anti-satellite weapons (ASATs), which shoot missiles from Earth and shoot down objects in orbit. But countries have been much quieter about whether they have actually deployed ASAT weapons into space.

What does Russia say about the potential of this weapon?

A spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin's government reportedly called the U.S. warning a “malicious hoax” aimed at pushing the U.S. Congress to pass legislation authorizing more military aid to Ukraine. Ta. Reuters. Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States and Europe have supported Ukraine's military resistance against Russian forces.

Why does Russia need new anti-satellite weapons?

Satellites are important for both military and civilian applications that have a huge impact on modern life. They monitor the weather, power GPS systems, provide space-based surveillance, and enable communications. For example, SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation has proven essential to the Ukrainian military in coordinating drone and artillery fire against Russian forces on the battlefield.

A U.S. official quoted by PBS NewsHour suggested that Russian space weapons have “electronic warfare capabilities to target U.S. satellites critical to U.S. military and civilian communications.”

According to some sources, Russia has spent years developing a space-based electronic warfare system that can jam communications signals to and from satellites. report This is by the Secure World Foundation, a space security organization based in Colorado.Victoria Samson at the Secure World Foundation Said Such a Russian space weapon could be powered by nuclear power.

So how dangerous is this new anti-satellite weapon?

The good news is that if this space weapon sabotages satellites rather than physically destroying them, it will not cause a catastrophic space debris scenario like Kessler syndrome. However, it can still be dangerous.

Space weapons that use electronic warfare to jam signals could effectively disable satellites. That could disrupt critical battlefield communications, render GPS guidance systems inoperable and obscure reconnaissance satellites, making it more difficult for the United States to coordinate military forces around the world.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Beneficial microorganisms in plant roots enhance the flavor of tea

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Microbes appear to influence how well tea plants absorb nutrients

Artur Szymczyk/Alamy

Tweaking the microbial community at the base of the tea plant could make your favorite tea taste even better.

Just as the bacteria that live in our guts influence our health, the microbes that live in and around plant roots play a role in how plants absorb nutrients from the soil. Masu. But little is known about their effects on tea flavor and nutritional content, he says. Yang Zhenbiao At the University of California, Riverside.

To learn more, Yang and his colleagues collected and analyzed tea plants (Camellia sinensis) is grown in Fujian Province, China. Researchers found that certain soil microorganisms are involved in increased nitrogen uptake, which increases the production of a chemical called theanine in plant roots, resulting in increased production of a chemical called theanine, especially in the leaves of a variety called Roguey. It turns out that the level has increased.

Theanine adds a rich flavor to beer, and the amount of theanine contained is considered an important indicator of the quality of tea. It also has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can counteract the stimulant effects of caffeine, Yang says.

In the next step of the study, the researchers extracted the 21 most beneficial microorganisms for theanine from the soil and generated a custom microbial community. Its composition was very similar to that found naturally around Logi.

When this mixture was applied to the roots of other types of tea plants, theanine levels were increased even in the roots of tea plants grown in nitrogen-poor soils. “Not only does it have great health benefits, but it also improves the sweetness and flavor of the tea,” says Yang.

The research team hopes that the customized microbial community could be used in the future to perfect the quality of tea and improve the nutritional value of other plants such as rice.

“Improving nitrogen absorption efficiency can also reduce dependence on fertilizers, which could also have a major impact on the future of agriculture,” says Yang.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Telemedicine and doctor’s office have the same safety for abortion pills.

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Abortion pill pills contain mifepristone and misoprostol

Brigette Supernova / Alamy

Abortion pills are just as safe and effective when obtained through telehealth services as they are when obtained in a doctor's office, according to the largest study ever on telemedicine abortions.

Access to abortion is a contentious political issue in the United States. In 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) eliminated in-person dispensing requirements for the abortion drug mifepristone, allowing people to obtain the pill through telehealth services or by mail. Anti-abortion groups are currently challenging this ruling in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Previous studies of hundreds of pregnancies have shown that telemedicine abortions are safe. For further investigation with a larger sample size, Ushma Upadhyay Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, collected data on more than 6,000 telemedicine abortions performed in 20 U.S. states and Washington, DC. All participants were less than 10 weeks pregnant, and approximately 72% of them obtained the abortion pill through a secure text message rather than a video call.

The researchers followed the participants for three to seven days after the abortion, and then again two to four weeks later. The research team found that nearly 98 percent of abortions effectively ended the pregnancy. Additionally, only 0.25 percent of participants experienced serious side effects, such as uncontrolled bleeding or infection. By comparison, personal use of mifepristone is more than 97% effective and has a 0.3% chance of causing adverse events. There was also no difference in outcomes between abortions obtained via text message or video.

“These findings are consistent with the growing body of evidence that mifepristone is safe and effective and that FDA's decision to eliminate the in-person dispensing requirement was scientifically sound.” says Upadhyay.

“The outcomes for patients who come to telemedicine and brick-and-mortar clinics are essentially indistinguishable,” he says. samuel dickman at Planned Parenthood of Montana, a reproductive health nonprofit. Telemedicine abortions are essential to providing care to rural populations and people who are uncomfortable going to an abortion clinic because of an abusive partner, he says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Unanswered Questions Surrounding Putin’s Plans for Russian Nuclear Weapons in Space, Says Intel

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Despite its recent emergence, these technologies and concepts are not new.

The United States and the Soviet Union developed and tested anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) during the Cold War. Both nations also regularly utilized nuclear power in space.

As early as 1959, the United States initiated the development of anti-satellite missiles due to concerns about Soviet efforts to do the same. This led to a 1985 test launch by an F-15 fighter jet, which successfully destroyed a satellite by ejecting its payload at an altitude of 36,000 feet and hissing into orbit, carrying a deteriorating U.S. aircraft, according to the U.S. Air Force Museum.

A paper published by the Air Force’s Air University Press in 2000 stated that from 1969 to 1975, the U.S. government developed an anti-satellite system using existing nuclear missiles in “direct ascent” mode to destroy space targets.

In addition to nuclear weapons, the U.S. government placed its first nuclear-powered satellite into orbit in 1961. The Soviet Union similarly developed and deployed comparable technology that powered many satellites during that period.

History has demonstrated that these developments are not without risks. In 1978, a Soviet nuclear-powered satellite malfunctioned and fell from the sky, spreading radioactive debris over northern Canada.

However, what has not yet been publicly revealed is the existence of a Russian nuclear-powered satellite carrying weapons.

According to a 2019 technical essay published in The Space Review, nuclear-fueled satellites equipped with powerful jammers that can block communications and other signals over large areas for extended periods may be installed. Experts have responded to this week’s news.

Bowen, of the University of Leicester, stated that such a design would be “very expensive” and “waiting for something to go wrong could create a nuclear environmental disaster in orbit.”

Ultimately, while none of this technology is new, the actual implementation would certainly be considered an escalation, according to Bowen and Bugerin.

Some have questioned whether the disclosure is purely political in nature, rather than a military threat.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskovin suggested that the White House’s actions may be an attempt to manipulate Congress to vote on a funding bill that would provide new aid to Ukraine. He raised the possibility of a diversionary tactic from the other side.

Francesca Giovannini, executive director of the Atomic Stewardship Project at Harvard Kennedy School, noted that “Russia has long been attempting to develop weapons in space,” indicating potential misinformation or diversion tactics being employed.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

I experimented with Apple Vision Pro and it gave me a fright – Arwa Mahdawi

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

IIf you’re worried that technology is getting a little too intelligent and robots are on the verge of taking over the world, there’s a simple way to ease your fears. Call the company and ask some simple questions. He is put through an automated voice system and spends the next 10 minutes yelling, “No, I didn’t say that!” What do you mean by “I didn’t really understand”? We don’t need that option! Make me human, damn it!

That was certainly my experience when I called Apple to try and reconfirm the Vision Pro demo, which was abruptly canceled due to snow. But if my phone experience felt dated, the Apple Vision Pro headset itself felt like an amazing glimpse into the future. Not surprisingly, its price is $3,499.

I think my expectations were pretty low. For the last decade or so, we’ve been told that virtual reality and augmented reality are just around the corner, but they’ve consistently failed to break into the mainstream. The headset was clunky and impractical, the price was prohibitive, and the experience itself, while impressive, wasn’t necessarily awe-inspiring. Metaverse, a rebrand of virtual reality, was similarly disappointing.

But the Vision Pro really impressed me. I felt like Usher and kept saying “wow” throughout the demo. The Vision Pro is branded as a “spatial computing” rather than an entertainment device and is intended to be used for everything from answering emails to browsing the Internet. Navigate with your eyes and scroll by pinching your fingers or moving your hand. He is conducting an invisible orchestra.

Despite all the use cases on the market, its most impressive aspect is immersive video. Everything else feels like a bit of a gimmick. Do you want to see computer apps floating in front of your eyes? Not so much! But when you watch a movie, you feel like you’re drawn into the content. If money wasn’t an issue, I would have bought a headset right away just because watching movies is so much fun.

And that’s basically the scope of the market for Vision Pro at this point. In other words, people who have nothing to do with money. The headset is impressive, but it’s still not very comfortable (I’m lucky to be able to drink coffee while wearing it) and it’s not worth the price. This technology is still in its infancy and will take some time to become widespread in broader culture.

But while it’s hard to say when spatial computing will become as ubiquitous as smartphones are today, it’s clear that the question is when it will be widely adopted, not if. There is no denying that we are moving towards a world where “real life” and digital technology seamlessly merge. The internet is moving from our screens to the world around us. And it raises serious questions about how we perceive the world and think about reality. Big tech companies are rushing to get the technology out there, but it’s unclear how worried they are about the consequences.

Some of these outcomes are easy to predict. In a few weeks’ time, you’ll almost certainly hear about a car accident caused by someone using a headset while driving. There are already a lot of videos out there of people using the Vision His Pro while out and about, including in the car. (Incidentally, while Apple advises people not to use headsets while driving, it doesn’t have guardrails to prevent people behind the wheel from using the technology.)

And without some radical intervention, it seems depressingly inevitable that these headsets will soon take online harassment to a whole other level. Over the years, there have been multiple reports of people being harassed and even “raped” within the Metaverse. The highly immersive nature of virtual reality makes the experience feel frighteningly real. With the lines between real life and the digital world blurring to the point of being almost indistinguishable, is there a meaningful difference between attacks online and attacks in real life?

Even scarier, and more broadly, is the question of how spatial computing will change what we think of as reality. Researchers at Stanford University and the University of Michigan recently studied the Vision Pro and other “pass-through” headsets, a feature that brings VR content into a real-world environment and allows you to see what’s around you while using the device. (This is a technical term referring to It has emerged with some stark warnings about how this technology will rewire our brains. interfere with social connections).

These headsets basically give us all our private worlds and rewrite the concept of shared reality. The camera you use to see the world allows you to edit your environment. For example, you can wear a camera and go to the store. Then all the homeless people will disappear from your sight and the sky may become brighter.

“What we’re going to experience is that when you use these headsets in public, you lose that common ground,” said the director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab and lead researcher on the study. Jeremy Bailenson, one of them, recently said: Said Business Insider. “People will be physically in the same place and visually experience different versions of the world at the same time. We’re going to lose what we have in common.”

What’s scary isn’t just the fact that our perception of reality might change. It’s the fact that a small number of companies will have a lot of control over how we see the world. Consider how much influence big tech companies already have over the content we watch. And it’s multiplied by millions. Do you think deepfakes are scary? Wait until they look more realistic.

We are seeing a global increase authoritarianism. If we’re not careful, this kind of technology will significantly accelerate that. Is it possible to draw people into another world, numb them with entertainment, and determine how they see reality? It is an authoritarian’s dream. We are entering an era in which we can coax and manipulate people like never before. Forget Mussolini’s bread and circuses, up-and-coming fascists now have donuts and vision pros.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? Click here if you would like to email your answer of up to 300 words to be considered for publication in our email section.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Top Podcast of the Week: Uncovering the PCP Mystery on the Titanic Set

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

This week’s picks

the guillotine is coming

Wide range of weekly episodes available
“Themes are for cowards,” says the outspoken host of this new freeform chat series with three Glaswegian comedy buddies, Frankie Boyle, Susie McCabe and Christopher MacArthur Boyd. There are frank discussions about the ethics of sex with Tories, whether Billy Connolly would have been radicalized had he grown up in the internet age, and whether Boyle’s date with a “neo-Nazi” constituted sexual assault. There is a high possibility that it will develop into love. Alexi Duggins

Go straight to the comments

Wide range of weekly episodes available
Delve into the delusions of Daily Mail readers’ brains in this witty, high-spirited piece, where you hear celebrity guests comment on the news stories they’ve covered and guess which one it’s related to. I’ll try. Our first guest is Dani Dyer, who talks about his father’s love of Chinese restaurants, babysitting Keira Knightley and blow-drying fake eyelashes on Love Island. advertisement

With a handshake: Peter Bogdanovich and the icons of cinema

Wide range of weekly episodes available
Before his death, American filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich was working on an interview podcast. Now, thanks to his ex-wife and collaborator Louise Stratten, the work has seen the light of day. The guest list is impressive, with Quentin Tarantino, Guillermo del Toro, Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy and more talking about other greats in filmmaking. Hannah Verdier

‘Themes are for cowards’…Frankie Boyle (pictured) has launched a new podcast with Susie McCabe and Christopher MacArthur-Boyd. Photo: Paul Hansen/Observer

Source: www.theguardian.com

Scientists warn that Amazon’s crucial water cycle is on the brink of collapse

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A study published Wednesday in the journal Nature warns that wildfires, deforestation, and global warming could permanently disrupt the water cycle in parts of the Amazon rainforest if action is not taken in the coming decades. The study suggests that between 10% and 47% of the landscape is at risk of transitioning away from tropical rainforest by 2050 if rates of warming and deforestation are not dramatically reduced.

Lead author of the study, Bernardo Flores, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Santa Catarina in Florianópolis, Brazil, stated that “So many stressors are intensifying, including climate stressors and land-use stressors, that when combined will ultimately cause water stress in forests. We could reach a point where forests can no longer survive.”

The Amazon contains about 10% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity and serves as a vital carbon sink. Exceeding the limits of rainforests could accelerate climate change and have dire consequences for communities, including indigenous peoples, who depend on rainforests. Flores said he is optimistic that the changes outlined in the study are already occurring, but they could slow or even stop.

The study focuses on overlapping stressors on the Amazon, including rising temperatures, extreme drought, deforestation, and fires. Ernest Alvarado, an associate professor at the University of Washington’s School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, who was not involved in the study, emphasized the importance of maintaining the Amazon’s water cycle, stating, “If you lose your balance, it’s a big problem.”

Reducing the amount of water-absorbing forests due to deforestation, wildfires, drought, and climate change reduces the amount of water available to the atmosphere from plants and reduces the amount of rain that sustains the landscape. Approximately 15% of the Amazon has already been lost, according to Flores.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

“Millennials Embracing the Nostalgia of Landline Telephones” | Lifestyle and Technology

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Landline is nearing deprecation. For many young people, CD-ROMs, cassette tapes, and simple printers are the mainstream. Parents film their kids on TikTok holding a wall phone Like an archive piece, I don’t know how to make a phone call. Public telephones have long since disappeared. But not everyone is ready to hang up the curl cord.

Nicole Randone, 24, of Westchester, New York, receives calls from her bedroom using a Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen-branded purple landline that was first sold in 2003 when she was 3 years old. ing. “One of my first memories is of the tan landline my parents had mounted on the kitchen wall,” Randone said. “I always dreamed of the day I would have one in my room.”

All of Randone’s styles are influenced by what she calls “2000s nostalgia.” On her Instagram, she shows off to her 118,000 followers a bedroom decorated with bright pink boomboxes, Von Dutch accessories, and Chad Michael Murray wall poster. “Having a landline really bridged the gap between reality and childhood fantasy,” Randone said. “It will make you feel like the main characters of your favorite TV shows, One Tree Hill, The OC, and Gilmore Girls.”

Sunny paid $30 for a Hello Kitty landline. Photo provided by: Sunny

The overwhelming majority of American adults do not own a landline phone.by washington post, in 2022, only a quarter of Americans lived in a home with a telephone. That number has essentially dropped significantly since 2010, when about 63% of Americans had both wireless and landline options.

Service providers are closer than ever Landline phone phasing out: California, AT&T was suggested It completely abolished landline telephones and asked the state Public Utility Commission for permission to suspend service. The telecommunications giant called landlines “historical curiosities that are no longer needed.”

Perhaps so, but that’s why some Gen Z customers are attracted to analog technology.they are not need Services; They still use their mobile phones for most daily tasks. Instead, they appreciate the beauty of a landline phone. It reminds them of simpler times before digital. Landlines are a way to talk to friends for hours, and the conversations go deeper than a standard “wyd” text.

“When people look at my landline, they treat it like a toy,” Landon added. “I’m an influencer, so I’m always online, so it feels really comfortable to disconnect, and it almost feels like an escape.”

Sunny bought a Hello Kitty landline after seeing someone show off a frog-shaped cell phone on TikTok. (Sunny asked that her last name not be used for privacy reasons.) Then she learned that she could buy an adapter to connect her iPhone to a landline. Ta. That way it will be more convenient. The adapter connects to her Bluetooth and pairs with her phone. That means the landline shares a number with her iPhone and calls are sent to both devices.

“I love the novelty of talking with friends and sitting in the same place,” Sunny said. “When I have a long text conversation with a friend, I just ask if we can talk on the phone and catch up.”

A landline telephone installed in Sam Casper’s West Hollywood home. Photo: Sam Casper

Sam Casper, a 27-year-old singer-songwriter who lives in West Hollywood, owns a pale pink Crosley landline phone. “It was her mother’s husband’s grandmother’s phone call,” she said. “But it’s funny. You might think it’s old when I say that, but she bought it from Urban Outfitters a few years ago.”

Casper uses his phone to talk to friends, but some of them have their own landlines. “It’s so cute and romantic,” she said. “This is very ‘Sex and the City.’ That’s why we started this.” I hate cell phones. Nowadays everyone cancels last minute via text and I think that’s so stupid. ”

Casper has his friend’s phone number on a Chateau Marmont napkin next to his cell phone. Another part of her setup: “I have a tape, but what is it called?” “It’s like a voice box, a voicemail machine,” she added. Combined Wi-Fi and phone service used to cost about $130 a month, but I called my provider and got it reduced to $82.

Not everyone can talk on a landline in Casper. She is “choosing” who receives a phone number that is separate from her own mobile number.

“There’s no caller ID, so you can’t see who’s calling you,” she said. “If I meet a new friend and they’re someone I want to invite over to my house, I use my landline. I always get giddy when I hear the phone ringing. I just sit there and talk. I love spinning little cords.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Odysseus’ quest to become the first privately funded lunar lander delayed

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A Houston-based company’s planned launch of a spacecraft to the moon, aimed at becoming the first commercially built spacecraft to land on the moon, has been postponed.

The Intuitive Machines spacecraft, nicknamed Odysseus, was scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 12:57 a.m. ET on Wednesday. However, the launch was postponed because “the methane temperature before entering the methane load was outside nominal values,” according to NASA. Announced just before release.

The new launch date is scheduled for Thursday at 1:05 a.m. ET.

The lander will ride into orbit atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

Odysseus was originally scheduled to spend eight days in space before landing on the moon on February 22nd. This event marks the first U.S. moon landing in more than 50 years.

Another company attempted to accomplish the same feat a month ago, but ultimately failed. The lander, built by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, suffered a catastrophic fuel leak shortly after liftoff, forcing operators to abort the entire mission.

Astrobotic Technology and Intuitive Machines are part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Lander Services Program, which is designed to accelerate the development of lunar landers by private companies and ultimately help NASA deliver cargo to the lunar surface. The lander could also be used to transport scientific equipment.

On its next flight, the lander will carry a combination of commercial cargo and NASA scientific equipment.

Odysseus is expected to land near the moon’s south pole, an area that has long intrigued scientists because water ice is thought to be relatively abundant in craters. .

NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program is part of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon in the next few years. NASA recently announced delays for two upcoming Artemis missions, pushing back a lunar circumnavigation flight that was scheduled to launch later this year to 2025 and pushing back Artemis’ first landing attempt to next year.

NASA eventually hopes to begin regular missions to the moon and build a base camp there.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

North Korea and Iran have been found using AI for hacking, Microsoft reveals

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Microsoft announced on Wednesday that adversaries of the United States, primarily Iran and North Korea, and to a lesser extent Russia and China, are starting to take advantage of generative artificial intelligence to launch or coordinate offensive cyber operations.

Microsoft disclosed that it collaborated with business partner OpenAI to identify and prevent numerous threats exploiting the AI technology it developed.

In a blog post, the company stated that these techniques are still in their early stages and are not particularly novel or unique, but they do broaden the capabilities of U.S. rivals to use large-scale language models to infiltrate networks and exert influence, emphasizing the importance of publicly exposing this.

Cybersecurity companies have been using machine learning to detect anomalous behavior within networks for years, but the introduction of OpenAI’s ChatGPT-led large-scale language model has intensified the cat-and-mouse game, as both criminals and aggressive hackers are leveraging it.

Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI is substantial, and the company noted in its announcement on Wednesday that generative AI is anticipated to power malicious social engineering and lead to the development of more advanced deepfakes and voice clones, at a time when disinformation is on the rise and threats to democracy are rampant, with more than 50 countries holding elections in a year.

Microsoft provided examples of how adversaries were using large-scale language models, including the disabling of AI accounts and assets for specific groups.

The North Korean cyber-espionage group known as Kimsky used the model to study foreign think tanks and generate content for spear-phishing hacking campaigns.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps utilized large-scale language models for social engineering, troubleshooting software issues, and researching ways to bypass detection on compromised networks, using phishing emails and accelerated email creation.

The Russian military intelligence unit, Fancy Bear, employed the model to study satellite and radar technology potentially linked to the Ukraine war.

China’s cyber-espionage group known as Aquatic Panda targeted various industries, higher education, and governments from France to Malaysia, with limited exploration of how large-scale language models can enhance technical operations, and another Chinese group, Maverick Panda, interacted with the model to gather information on high-profile individuals and regions.

On another blog, OpenAI announced that its current GPT-4 model chatbots are “limited to malicious cybersecurity tasks beyond what is already achievable with publicly available non-AI-powered tools,” a situation that cybersecurity researchers aim to change.

Jen Easterly, head of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, informed Congress of the growing threat from China and the potential impact of artificial intelligence, stressing the need to develop AI with security in mind.

Amidst concerns about the irresponsible release of large language models, Microsoft and other companies are facing criticism for not taking focused action to address vulnerabilities, which has disappointed some cybersecurity experts who advocate for creating more secure underlying models to counter potential misuse.

Edward Amoroso, a professor at New York University and former AT&T chief security officer, emphasized the increasingly powerful role of AI and large-scale language models as potential weapons in cyber warfare, stating that they ultimately pose a threat to every nation-state.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Elon Musk relocates SpaceX to Texas following reduction of $56 billion compensation to Tesla by Delaware judge

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

SpaceX, the rocket company, has relocated its corporate headquarters from Delaware to Texas, as announced by CEO Elon Musk.

Musk stated, “SpaceX has moved its state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas. If your company is still incorporated in Delaware, we recommend moving to another state as soon as possible.” This announcement was made on the platform.

This move comes after a Delaware judge ruled in favor of Tesla investors in a lawsuit alleging that Musk’s $56 billion compensation was excessive. Musk, who also serves as Tesla’s CEO, recently announced plans for a shareholder vote to move Tesla’s corporate domicile to Texas as well.

Musk also mentioned, “The people’s vote is unequivocally in favor of Texas! Tesla intends to immediately conduct a shareholder vote to move its incorporated state to Texas.” This statement was made earlier this month after a public opinion poll indicated support for the incorporation change.

In January, a Delaware judge nullified Musk’s compensation package, citing improper actions by the electric car maker’s board of directors.

This decision follows a lawsuit filed five years ago by Tesla shareholder Richard Tornetta, accusing Musk of improperly directing negotiations over his compensation package and the board of directors of lacking independence.

Musk’s compensation deal with Tesla is the largest ever for an executive, contributing significantly to his fortune, which ranks among the largest in the world. Musk testified at his compensation trial in November 2022 that the money would be used to fund interplanetary travel.

Neuralink, Musk’s brain chip implantation company, also moved its location from Delaware to Nevada last week.

Reuters contributed to this report

Source: www.theguardian.com

Miski Omar’s Top 10 Most Hilarious Internet Finds | Cultural Comedy

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

I I experience existential fear in three situations. The first is when I meet people. “Fat penguin,” I blurted out. It breaks the ice. The second situation is when someone asks me to name the 10 funniest things he's seen on the Internet. Third, we must recognize that by 2030, climate change will be irreversible and more than 1 million species will be at risk of extinction. In other words, it's not just fat penguins that break the ice even when they're alive.

But that doesn't matter now. The key is to edit the content that loops endlessly in your head. This is where I bring up existential fear number two. have fun.

1. Notice, Senpai, notice!

This guy certainly wants attention, but it's not clear from whom.

You say, “It will be or it won't be,'' but I say, “I hope his eyes look at me and my loyalty is recognized. Realize, Senpai, realize.'' This monologue is, Better than anything Shakespeare could have come up with. It's also a great reference for anyone looking to write science fiction dialogue.

2. Who brings the baby into the mosh pit?

It takes a village to raise a child and it is said that strangers went to great lengths to bring this child to THE Flo Rida. There are many questions, including why the baby was in the mosh in the first place. Why didn't I know the words? What is that retrograde? I can't believe this random baby accomplished one of my bucket list goals before me.

3. Triumph Skating Academy Dance Class

www.theguardian.com

The overlooked community of scientific detectives is now gaining attention from the research community

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A group of investigators devoted to finding errors in scientific research has shocked some of the world’s most prestigious research institutions and the scientific community as a whole.

The highly publicized case of alleged image manipulation in a paper co-authored by a former Stanford University president and a leader at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has garnered national media attention, prompting speculation from top scientific leaders that this may only be the beginning.

“At this pace, we’re going to see another paper published every few weeks,” said Holden, the editor-in-chief of Science, one of the world’s two most influential journals. Mr. Thorpe said on site.

Investigators argue that their work is necessary to rectify the scientific record and prevent generations of researchers from pursuing futile avenues due to flawed papers. Some scientists are calling for universities and academic publishers to reform their approach to addressing flawed research.

“I understand why the investigators who discovered these issues are so furious,” said Michael, a biologist and former editor of the journal eLife, as well as a prominent advocate for reform in scientific publishing. “Authors, journals, institutions, everyone is incentivized to downplay their significance,” Eisen said.

For approximately a decade, investigators identified widespread problems with scientific images in published papers and voiced their concerns online, but received little attention. Last summer, neuroscientist and then-Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne resigned amid scrutiny over allegations of image manipulation in a study he co-authored and a report criticizing his lab culture. Since then, there has been a noticeable shift. While Tessier-Lavigne himself has not been found to have engaged in any misconduct, members of his lab appear to have manipulated images in questionable ways. Thereport from the scientific panelhired to investigate the allegations stated.

In January, a blogger’s scathing post exposed questionable research by top leaders at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, which subsequently retracted six papers and requested corrections to dozens more.

In hisresignation statement, Tessier-Lavigne stated that the committee could not find any evidence that he was aware of any misconduct, and that he had never submitted documents that appeared to be inaccurate. In a statement from its research integrity officer, Dana-Farber stated that it had taken decisive action to correct the scientific record and that discrepancies in the images were not necessarily evidence that the authors were attempting to deceive.

“We are experiencing a moment of public awareness that really turned a corner when the Mark Tessier-Lavigne scandal unfolded, and since then the Dana-Farber scandal has been the most recent and continuous,” Thorpe said.

This long-standing issue is now receiving national attention, with the emergence of new artificial intelligence tools that are helping address problems ranging from longstanding errors and sloppy science to unethically manipulated images in photo-editing software, making it easier to spot various issues.

This increased scrutiny is prompting changes in how some publishers operate. Universities, journals, and researchers are being urged to consider new technologies, the potential backlog of undiscovered errors, and methods for enhancing transparency when problems are identified.

This comes at a challenging time in academic circles. Venture capitalist Bill Ackman, in apost last month on X, discussed the use of artificial intelligence to identify plagiarism by leaders of top universities with ideological differences, and raised questions about political motivations in plagiarism investigations. More broadly, public trust in scientists and science has steadily declined in recent years, according to thePew Research Center.

Eisen stated that he does not believe investigators’ concerns about scientific images veer into “McCarthyist” territory. “I think they’re honing in on a specific type of problem in the literature, and they’re right. That’s bad,” Eisen said.

Scientific publishing is the primary means by which scientists establish a foundation of understanding in their fields and share new discoveries with their colleagues. Before publication, scientific journals review submissions and solicit feedback from researchers outside the field to identify errors or faulty inferences, a process known as peer review. Journal editors evaluate research findings for plagiarism and conduct copy editing prior to publication. While this system is not perfect, it still relies on the good faith efforts of researchers to avoid manipulating research results.

Over the past 15 years, scientists have become increasingly concerned that some researchers are digitally altering images in papers to distort or enhance their results. The field of image integrity screening has expanded significantly since Yana Christopher, a scientific imaging expert with the European Federation of Biochemical Societies and its journals, began working in the field nearly 15 years ago. At the time, “no one was doing this, and people were in denial about research misconduct,” Christopher stated. “The prevailing belief was that it was very rare and that instances of manipulating results were few and far between.”

Scientific journals now employ entire teams dedicated to processing images and ensuring their accuracy. The number of retractions of published papers has increased significantly in recent years, with records indicating that over 10,000 papers were retracted last year, according to aNature analysis. A loose collective of scientific investigators applies external pressure, often identifying and flagging errors and potential manipulation on the online forum PubPeer. Many of these investigators receive little or no compensation or public recognition for their work.

“There’s a certain level of urgency,” Eisen stated. Ananalysis of comments on over 24,000 articles posted on PubPeer revealed that over 62% of PubPeer comments were related to image manipulation. For years, investigators relied on keen observation, pattern recognition, and a grasp of photo manipulation tools. In recent years, artificial intelligence tools capable of scanning documents for anomalies have been rapidly developed and improved.

Scientific journals are now utilizing similar technology to detect errors prior to publication. In January, Science announced that it is using an artificial intelligence tool called Proofig to scan papers undergoing editing and peer review for publication.Science editor-in-chief Thorpe stated that the family of six journals quietly incorporated the tool into their workflows approximately six months prior to the January announcement. The journal previously relied on visual inspection to identify these types of issues. During the editing process, Proofig flagged papers that had not yet been published, citing “logical explanations” for problematic images that were difficult to justify, or issues that the authors had addressed prior to publication. “Less than 1% of errors are significant enough to prevent a paper from being published,” Thorpe stated.

Chris Graff, director of research integrity at publisher Springer Nature, stated that the company is developing and testing “in-house AI image integrity software” to identify duplicate images. Graff’s research integrity department currently uses Proofig to assess papers in case concerns arise post-publication. The testing process varies among journals, but some Springer Nature publications use Adobe Photoshop tools to manually identify image manipulation and conduct experiments to visualize cellular components or general discrepancies in raw scientific experimental data.

“Although AI-based tools can facilitate and scale investigations, we still believe the human element is important in all investigations,” Graff stated, emphasizing that image recognition software is not infallible and that human expertise is necessary to guard against false positives and negatives. No tool can detect all mistakes and fraud.

“There are many facets to that process. You can never catch them all,” Thorpe remarked. “As journals, institutions, and authors, we need to do a better job of addressing this when it occurs.”

Many forensic scientists have grown frustrated that their concerns have been disregarded, or that investigations have progressed slowly with little public resolution. Sholto-David, who publicly voiced his concerns about the Dana-Farber study in a blog post, stated that the response from journal editors was so unsatisfactory that he nearly “gave up” on writing a letter to journal editors regarding the errors he had discovered. Elizabeth Bick, a microbiologist and longtime image investigator, said that if she reports image issues frequently, “nothing happens.”

While public comments on PubPeer questioning research data can stimulate discussion surrounding questionable research, authors and institutions often do not directly respond to online criticism. Although journals can issue corrections or retractions, it is generally the responsibility of research institutions or universities to investigate incidents. If the incident pertains to federally funded biomedical research, the federal Office of Research Integrity may conduct an investigation.

Thorpe stated that agencies need to assume responsibility when errors are discovered and act more swiftly to openly and candidly address what occurred to regain public trust. He stated, “The university has been very sluggish in responding, very slow in instituting the process, and the longer this goes on, the greater the damage will be. I don’t know what would have happened if Stanford had said these papers are flawed, instead of initiating this investigation.”

Some scientists are concerned that the problem of image manipulation is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of scientific integrity. Detecting issues with images is much simpler than spotting simple data errors in spreadsheets. While it is crucial to crack down on problematic papers and hold individuals accountable, some scientists believe that these measures address a larger problem: rewarding career advancement for those who publish the most exciting results rather than enduring results. “Scientific culture itself doesn’t say we care about getting it right. It says we care about getting papers that make a splash,” Eisen said.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Odysseus Makes Historic Landing on the Moon as First Commercial Lander

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Houston-based company successfully launched a private lunar lander into space on its second attempt early Thursday morning. The spacecraft, developed by Intuitive Machines, took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 1:05 a.m. ET atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. The original launch was scheduled for Wednesday but was canceled due to a problem with the rocket’s methane fuel. Intuitive Machines aims to land the first commercially built spacecraft on the moon, which would be the first U.S. moon landing in over 50 years. The lander, named Odysseus, will spend a week in space before attempting to settle on the moon’s surface on February 22nd. This mission comes after another company, Astrobotic Technology, attempted but failed to send a lander to the moon’s surface due to a severe fuel leak shortly after liftoff. Both Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic Technology are part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Lander Services Program, designed to accelerate the development of lunar landers by private companies to deliver cargo to the lunar surface and transport scientific equipment. On its next flight, Odysseus will carry a combination of commercial cargo and NASA scientific equipment and is expected to land near the moon’s south pole. NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program is part of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon in the next few years. The timeline for upcoming Artemis missions has been delayed, and NASA eventually hopes to begin regular missions to the moon and build a base camp there.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Transforming Facial Appearance: The Impact of ‘Looksmaxxing’ on Men’s Features

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

FOr James, it started with muscles. He was about 16 years old, he was confident in his body shape and worried that he wasn't strong enough to attract girls. He went to bodybuilding forums and started doing his workouts. I don't remember when it happened, but at some point trolls started invading the forums. They were visitors from different online communities with different focuses.

“Their whole vibe was pretty mean,” says James, who did not want to give his real name. “They would take pictures of their great physiques that people posted and say, 'You guys forgot to work out your face!'”

Despite the meanness, James was flooded with curiosity on forums primarily focused on facial aesthetics. He discovers a new world, primarily a young man and his teenage boys, scouring each other's photos for possible flaws and fixes.

The forum was filled with brutal judgments, providing James with a compelling new outlet for his anxiety. “I was learning about issues I wasn't even aware of,” he says. “I had a short face, a short chin, a nose that was too wide, eyes that were too far apart, and a hairline that was too high. A lot of these things you don't notice until someone points them out to you.” I can't stop seeing you. ”

James was hooked on LooksMaxThing, an online community for people who want to beautify their faces. He began learning strange codes that members use to compare their features. Eye angle (eye angle). Meow meow (a tongue movement that is said to improve the shape of the jaw). “The ultimate goal is to improve SMV,” he says. In other words, sexual market value.

Kareem Shami promotes non-surgical soft maxing (2020) (left) And in 2023.

Looksmaxxing has been around for at least a decade, but in recent months it has exploded from obscure forums and Reddit pages to mainstream social media, especially TikTok. An incredibly chiseled chin, pouty lips, and cheekbones as high as the Egyptian pyramids are complemented by “hunter” eyes (slanted slightly downward toward the nose, meaning the corners of the eyes are positively slanted). It is highly prized along with other people.

I felt like an outcast and it triggered something in me.

“The majority of the groups we work with are now LookMax conscious,” says Mike Nicholson, a former teacher who runs a workshop program in schools called Progressive Masculinity. says. The day after a report by researchers from University College London and the University of Kent found that TikTok's algorithm amplified misogynistic content and helped normalize it on playgrounds, he talking to. (In response, TikTok said it removed the misogynistic content it had banned and questioned the report's methodology.)

“We approach this issue from a very sympathetic perspective,” Nicholson added. “But the world that these young people and boys live in is a world that is increasing their insecurities and leading them down this path that can lead to 'incel' ideology if they are not careful. –

James, who is in his 20s and works in finance in the UK, started participating in forums around 2015, when they were still niche. He started “Soft Max Thing,” which is tweaking hair styling, skin care regimens, diet, exercise regimens, and more. But as the site held up an increasingly harsh mirror, he began exploring a more extreme fix known as “hardmaxing.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

AI Voice Messages of Shooting Victims Call for Gun Reform in the US

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

SNine years ago today, Joaquin Oliver was murdered in the hallway outside his Florida classroom. He was one of 17 students and staff killed in America's deadliest high school shooting. On Wednesday, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., will hear his voice recreated by artificial intelligence on the phone, asking them why they haven't done more about the gun violence epidemic.

“It's been six years and you haven't done anything. You can't stop the shootings that have happened since then,” he said of the Valentine's Day 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. A message from Oliver, who was 17 at the time of his tragic death, reads:

“I came back today because my parents used AI to recreate my voice and call you. Other victims like me have also received countless calls demanding action. How many calls will it take to care? How many dead voices will I hear before I finally hear it?”

Oliver is one of six people who lost their lives to firearms, and his voice is about to be heard again. He's issuing a call to action in an innovative online gun reform campaign launched today. shot line.

Parkland victim Joaquin Oliver

“How many dead voices will we hear before we finally hear it?”

Sorry, your browser does not support audio. However, you can download and listen here $https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2024/02/13/TheShotline_AI_JoaquinOliver_Call_to_Congress.mp3

A project by two activist groups formed in the wake of the Parkland shooting and creative communications agency MullenLowe, it leverages AI technology to generate direct messages from shooting victims themselves.

The voices are “trained” using deep machine learning from audio clips provided by family members. The resulting recordings are ready to go directly to the people in Congress who have the power to take action against gun violence. Website visitors enter their zip code and choose the message they want to send to their elected representatives.

“We all hear children's voices in our heads. Why don't lawmakers need to hear them too?” said Mike Song, whose 15-year-old son Ethan died in an accident involving a missing gun.

Ethan's message, like Oliver's, is straightforward. “Children like me die every day. It's time to act. It's time to pass laws that protect children from unsafe guns. At the end of the day, it's about helping people. It’s your job to pass responsible gun control, or we’ll find someone to do it.”

Other voices recreated for the Shotline project include that of 10-year-old Ujiyah Garcia, a victim of the 2022 Uvalde Elementary School shooting in Texas. Akira DaSilva, 23, was killed in the 2018 Waffle House shooting in Tennessee. Jaycee Webster, 20, was shot and killed by an intruder in his Maryland home in 2017. And in 2014, Mike Bohan committed suicide with a gun he could buy in 15 minutes.

Vaughn's death, who suffered from depression, sparked a movement that led to passage of Maryland's first Red Flag gun control.

Six years after Oliver's murder, it is by design that Oliver's voice is at the forefront of the campaign. One of his two groups behind this effort is march for our livean activist group formed by Stoneman Douglas students that sparked global protests after Parkland.

The Shotline campaign uses AI to generate audio messages from gun violence victims. Photo: shot line

the other one is, Change references, was founded by the teenager's parents, Manny and Patricia Oliver. They have been relentlessly advocating for gun reform since his son was murdered.

“We wanted this to be a powerful message,” Patricia Oliver said. “Joaquin has his own energy, his own image, and that's what keeps him alive. I'm so proud of Joaquin, he's the driving force that drives us forward.”

She admits the process of recreating her son's voice for 56 seconds was mentally taxing. The Olivers searched their phones and computers for videos containing Joaquin's statements and asked her sister Andrea, other relatives and girlfriend Tori to do the same.

“It was difficult to make out his exact voice because of the noise in the background,” she said. “In one video, he was in the pool and we were talking and the sound of the water was distracting.”

Eventually, we assembled enough clips for our engineers to work with, and after a long period of fine-tuning, we received the final “draft.”

“When I played it, it was incredibly shocking and a lot of different emotions came up. We had been listening to videos of Joaquín talking about the past, and now he's in a situation where he is today, very emotional. We talk about recent things,” she said.

“I know this is just a fantasy and not the truth. But in that moment, you forget what you're listening to, why you're listening, and he just says, 'Hello, Mom, how are you?' I just hope from the bottom of my heart that you just say, “?”. once again. “

Ethan's mother, Christine Song, said she felt the same painful emotions when she heard her son “talk” again six years after his death.

“It brings you back to that day, the last words your child said to you before leaving your life,” she said.

“Honestly, I just sat there and sobbed, because I knew he would never come back. But the Olivers, and my husband, and people like us all have one thing in common: What we're saying is that we go out every day and fight for respect for our children, and we're actually fighting for your children and grandchildren.”

The Songs are pressuring federal lawmakers to pass the Connecticut bill. ethan's lawrequires safe storage of firearms in the home.

“We have promised that we will not stop until we can create a cultural shift in this country where gun owners make safe storage of their weapons second nature,” said Kristen Song. Ta. “You might think that's enough because the coffins of our dead children are piling up, but when it comes to Republicans in Congress, they just don't listen.”

To create voice and calls, MullenLowe talking baby For E*Trade's Super Bowl commercial, we partnered with AI specialist Edisen, with teams in the US and Sweden working on the project.

Snippets of audio “trained” on speech patterns and tonality were fed through Eleven Labs’ generative voice AI platform, and the reconstructed voices generated voice calls from text-to-speech scripts.

“There's a lot of talk about AI right now, but this is a beautiful example of what AI can actually achieve, and a very human achievement,” says Mirko, AI creative designer at Stockholm-based Edisen.・Mr. Lempert said.

“This project was very moving and showed me how different our world is, because in my country we are not exposed to it.” [gun violence] That's the situation. That was a wake-up call. ”

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission banned robocalls using AI-generated voices after Joe Biden's voice was imitated in a fake phone call to voters in New Hampshire.

MullenLowe said Shotline calls are exempt because they are not auto-dialed, are made to a landline and are provided with a callback number.

Source: www.theguardian.com

The Use of School Uniforms May Restrict Children’s Exercise Opportunities

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

School uniforms can restrict movement and make children less active

Dan Kenyon/Getty Images

Wearing a uniform to school is associated with a lack of physical activity in young children, especially girls.

While many children are missing World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations of at least 60 minutes of exercise per day, Mairead Ryan Researchers at the University of Cambridge decided to investigate why.

They analyzed existing data on the physical activity levels of more than 1 million children aged 5 to 17 in 135 countries and territories, and conducted an original online survey on the prevalence of school uniforms in these regions. compared with the results.

Overall, boys were 1.5 times more likely to meet WHO recommendations for physical activity than girls. But among younger children who live in areas where uniforms are the norm, the difference is nearly twice as large, Ryan said.

Among middle school students (generally 11 to 17 years old), uniforms did not appear to be associated with gender differences in physical activity. However, in primary school (ages 5 to 10), the difference between girls and boys was 9.8 percentage points in areas where at least 50 percent of schools required uniforms, compared to 5.5 percentage points in areas with low uniform requirements. was.

According to the researchers, the difference in results between older and younger children is that elementary school children get more physical activity from sporadic exercise throughout the day, whereas adolescents get most of their total physical activity. This may be due to the fact that they get this from structured activities.

“If girls wear skirts or dresses, they may feel less confident doing things like doing cartwheels and falls on the playground or riding their bikes on windy days,” the team members say. esther van slicealso at the University of Cambridge.

Although this finding does not show that school uniforms are the cause of lower physical activity rates, it is consistent with other research that suggests that children, especially girls, find uniforms restrictive. We are doing so.

Research in ChileFor example, it has been found that children's cardiovascular fitness improves when they wear sports-appropriate uniforms to school rather than traditional clothing such as skirts, blouses, ties, and blazers.Ireland's former sports minister worries that uniforms are hindering children's athletic activities jack chambers mentioned the issue In a December 2022 report on youth sports.

While the findings do not support a “total ban” on uniforms, they do suggest that further research is needed, particularly on whether changes to uniforms would help. “For example, we don't know if it's the design of the uniform, the fabric, or the shoes, but that could be a factor,” Ryan said.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Victoria Police asked to investigate HyperVerse information in 2020, but referred the case back to Asic 22 months later.

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Australia's corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), referred information about a US$1.89 billion “pyramid scheme” known as Hyperverse to Victoria Police in 2020. But no action was taken, and the watchdog referred it again almost two years later.

The ASIC referred the company to Victoria Police for “possible criminal fraud” after concerns were raised with corporate regulators about its affiliate company Blockchain Global. The HyperVerse crypto investment scheme was operated by HyperTech Group, founded by two of Blockchain Global's directors, Sam Lee and Ryan Xu.

An ASIC spokesperson said, “Asic provided information relating to the HyperVerse matter to Victoria Police in 2020 after being informed that VicPol was investigating the HyperVerse matter. [alleged] and after determining that it was not a financial product and that the police were in the best position to investigate. [alleged] There is a possibility of criminal fraud.”

Neither ASIC nor Victoria Police provided further details about the alleged act.

“ASIC takes seriously any fraudulent activity that harms investors and we have the authority to act against fraudulent activity in relation to financial products and services,” the spokesperson said. “When we become aware of conduct that is outside of our jurisdiction, we seek to refer information about that conduct to the appropriate authorities.”

However, Victoria Police said it had assessed that information and decided after almost two years that ASIC was “best placed to investigate further”.

Meanwhile, Blockchain Global went bankrupt and owed creditors $58 million, while Mr. Xu and Mr. Lee were allegedly involved in a “global multi-level marketing and marketing of crypto-assets” as per the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Xu is not named in the SEC's lawsuit.

A Victoria Police spokesperson confirmed it received a referral from ASIC in April 2020, but the matter was not assessed until 2021. After that assessment, “it was decided that the lead agency should be ASIC”.

The matter was transferred back to ASIC in January 2022. Asked why the process took 22 months, a Victoria Police spokesperson said: “For matters of this nature, the first step is to determine whether a criminal offense has been committed and whether it is best to approach Victoria Police. Depending on the situation, it may take some time.”

A spokesperson declined to comment on the content of the evaluation.

Mr. Ashiq said he believes he is acting on this referral. “ASIC understands that this matter is being actively considered by VicPol. Ultimately, VicPol is best placed to explain its decision to refer this matter back to ASIC,” the spokesperson said.

“At the time VicPol referred the matter back to ASIC, an external administrator had been appointed to Blockchain Global. ASIC is currently considering the information contained in the liquidator’s report relating to this scheme.”

At the time ASIC was referred to Victoria Police, the first Hyper scheme, ‘HyperCapital’, was underway and launched in Hong Kong in 2019. Meanwhile, HyperCapital was rebranded to HyperFund in 2020 and became HyperVerse in December 2021.

Mr. Lee denied claims that the scheme was a fraud and defended his role at HyperVerse as limited to the technical and financial management aspects of the business. Members were offered memberships to HyperVerse, where they could explore the HyperVerse ecosystem. There were returns of 0.5% per day and a 300% return over 600 days. HyperUnits were linked to various crypto tokens and could be withdrawn and converted into other cryptocurrencies once matured.

Mr Lee also did not mention that he had resigned from Blockchain Global’s board of directors and that the company was no longer in business.

According to court documents, Brenda Chunga, a senior U.S. promoter charged and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and wire fraud, hired Hypertech Group and Blockchain Global to potentially promote the scheme. Mr. Chunga emphasized his connection with Blockchain Global to give the HyperFund project credibility and increase security of investment.

Ashiq defended his failure to issue a warning about the Hyperfund and Hyperverse investment schemes. Mr. Lee declined to answer questions from Guardian Australia, and Mr Hsu could not be reached for comment.

Source: www.theguardian.com

The unsettling reality of cannibalism in human history

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of at least six people at Gough's Cave in the Cheddar Valley in southwest England. Many of the bones were intentionally broken, and the fragments are covered in cut marks, the result of people using stone tools to separate the bones and remove the flesh.Additionally, 42 percent of bone fragments traces of human teeth. There is little doubt that the people who lived in this cave 14,700 years ago practiced cannibalism.

Today, cannibalism is considered taboo in many societies. We think that's an anomaly, as evidenced by films like . texas chainsaw massacre. We associate it with zombies, psychopaths, and serial killers like the fictional Hannibal Lecter. There are very few positive stories about cannibals. But despite our preconceptions, evidence is accumulating that cannibalism was a common human behavior, so perhaps it's time to reconsider.

Our ancestors have been eating each other for over a million years. In fact, it seems that about one-fifth of society has practiced cannibalism since ancient times. While some of this cannibalism may have been done simply to survive, in many cases the reasons appear to be more complex. For example, in places like Gough's Cave, eating the bodies of the dead appears to have been part of the funerary ritual. Some archaeologists say cannibalism may be a way to show respect and love for the dead, rather than a horrific insult to nature.

Stories of cannibals can be found throughout human history.At Homer's Odyssey,…

Source: www.newscientist.com

Helldivers 2: A Co-op Shooter That Rivals Left 4 Dead – A Review

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

IIf you’ve ever dreamed of starring in your own version of Paul Verhoeven’s biting sci-fi satire Starship Troopers, fear not now. Your wish has already been answered. A sequel to the 2015 top-down co-op shooter, Helldivers 2 sees a squad of burly space marines swoop down onto an alien planet, inspired by patriotic slogans, and crush anything that moves with ultra-high-tech weaponry. It’s an online game. Some of them involve giant insect monsters, and some involve robots. However, the result is the same, so it doesn’t really matter. Industrial slaughter with guts flying out. And like the movie it’s based on, Helldivers 2 is a surprisingly fun and entertaining game.

There’s not much to explain in advance. It’s the future, and Earth, now known as Super-Earth, finds itself under threat from alien monsters from a distant planet, a planet that happens to be rich in mineral deposits. You start with a basic spaceship and a rudimentary warrior, then choose a world to visit and a mission to undertake, then land on land and begin educating the local population in the joys of militarized democracy . You can take on the mission alone, but it’s even better when you play with three other her players. This is truly cooperative play. Everyone gets a set of primary and secondary weapons (meaning a shotgun, SMG, assault rifle, and pistol), and a grenade. However, during battle you can also summon strategic gems, special weapons and items, ranging from orbital missile attacks to defensive shields and automatic machine gun turrets.

A wonderfully entertaining “Helldivers 2”. Photo provided by: Sony Computer Entertainment

Missions range from raising patriotic flags to recalibrating communications equipment to rescuing civilian settlers, but there are always side tasks like destroying bases or exploring abandoned research stations. You can also find samples that you can collect to buy upgrades for your spaceship, as well as medals that allow you to get new armor and custom his items. The main currency is demand vouchers, which pay for new strategies from a huge and exotic list. There is one currency, “Super Credits,” which can be purchased with real money, but the developer, Arrowhead Game Studios, notes that the things you buy with them (mostly body armor and helmets) are not required for progression, and that you can purchase them with real money. I claim it can be done. Earn Super Credits in the game anyway. I’ve never felt the need to buy anything while playing and leveling up for hours.

The gameplay loop is so tight that it can become laughably slim if done poorly. Team up, attack planets, kill stuff, collect stuff, then extract it and count your earnings to buy better weapons. Repeat until exhausted. Leveling up unlocks new collections of more powerful hardware, but it’s basically the same thing until a planet is “liberated” and you and all other players around the world move to another location. (yes, it’s there). ™ is a global real-time battle map where all participants contribute to intergalactic peace efforts).

On a mission…Helldiver 2. Photo provided by: Sony Computer Entertainment

Why doesn’t this tire quickly? Because Arrowhead focuses its design attention on making every aspect of the experience highly enjoyable. The guns are chunky, varied, and impactful. Each direct hit is accompanied by the gurgle of insects and a tangle of metal, while the sounds of missile strikes and napalm explosions are a fiery symphony of destruction. This is a game that truly understands the value of intense, disproportionate feedback.

Visually, Helldivers 2 benefits greatly from the move from top-down to fully third-person 3D visuals. And the air smells like cordite?

The best shooters encourage players to participate in a way that fits the tone and world of the game, and Helldivers 2 is definitely one of them.

Helldivers 2 is now available on PC and PS5

Source: www.theguardian.com

Confirmation of the existence of a new form of magnetism

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

AC magnetism works differently than standard magnetism

Libor Chemeikal and Anna Birk Hellenes

A new type of magnetism has been measured for the first time. Alternative magnets that combine the properties of different types of existing magnets could be used to make high-capacity, high-speed memory devices and new types of magnetic computers.

Until the 20th century, permanent magnets were thought to consist of only one type of ferromagnetic material. Ferromagnetic effects are seen in objects with relatively strong external magnetic fields, such as refrigerator magnets and compass needles.

These fields are caused by the magnetic spins of the magnet’s electrons aligned in one direction.

But in the 1930s, French physicist Louis Niel discovered another type of magnetism called antiferromagnetism, in which the spin of the electrons alternates up and down. Although antiferromagnets do not have the external magnetic field of ferromagnets, they exhibit interesting internal magnetic properties because of their alternating spins.

And in 2019, researchers Complex currents in the crystal structure of certain antiferromagnets, called the anomalous Hall effect, which could not be explained using the conventional alternating spin theory. Current flowed without an external magnetic field.

When we looked at the crystal from the perspective of a sheet of spins, it seemed to us that: A third type of permanent magnetism, called vicarious magnetism, may be responsible. Alternating magnets look like antiferromagnets, but the sheets of spin look the same no matter what angle they are rotated from. This explains the Hall effect, but no one had seen the electronic signature of the structure itself, so scientists weren’t sure if it was definitely a new kind of magnetism.

now, Juraj Krempaski and his colleagues at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Billigen, Switzerland, and his colleagues have discovered that by measuring the electronic structure within the crystals of magnesium telluride, previously thought to be antiferromagnetic, they were able to create an alternating magnet. confirmed the existence of

To do this, they measured how light reflected off magnesium telluride and found the energy and speed of the electrons in the crystal. After mapping these electrons, they found that they matched almost exactly the predictions given by simulations of alternating current magnetic materials.

The electrons appear to be split into two groups, which allows them to move more within the crystal and is the source of the unusual magnetic properties. “This gave us direct evidence that we can talk about metamorphic magnets and that they behave as predicted by theory,” Krempasky says.

This grouping of electrons appears to originate from the nonmagnetic tellurium atoms in the crystal structure, which separates the magnesium’s magnetic charge into each plane, allowing for its unusual rotational symmetry.

“It’s really amazing to prove that these substances actually exist,” he says. Richard Evans At York University, UK. Not only can electrons in alternating magnets move more freely than electrons in antiferromagnets, but this new type of magnet has no external magnetic fields like ferromagnets, so it could be used to create non-interfering magnetic devices. Evans says. each other.

This characteristic can increase the storage capacity of your computer’s hard drive. This is because commercially available devices are packed with ferromagnetic materials so tightly that external magnetic fields in the material begin to interfere. AC magnets can be packed more densely.

They say this magnet could even lead to spintronic computers that use magnetic spins instead of electrical current to perform measurements and calculations. joseph barker At the University of Leeds in the UK, memory and computer chips have been combined into a single device. “This may give more hope to the idea that spintronic devices can become a reality,” Barker says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Bovine cell-infused rice may offer a sustainable dietary option

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Rice and beef finally come together

Yonsei University

It's the ultimate fusion food. Two key ingredients come together in a lab-created hybrid format for ready-to-eat rice and beef meals.

A number of research groups and companies are developing meat products grown from cells in the laboratory to address issues such as the heavy environmental impact of animal agriculture.

Rather than coaxing animal cells to grow into large structures that replicate the texture of meat (which has proven difficult) Hong Jin-ki Doctors from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, wanted to create a “new complete food” by fusing rice grains with cultured animal cells.

They first coated the rice grains with fish gelatin so that the cow muscle cells could attach to the rice grains, and then allowed the cells to grow throughout the rice grains for about five to seven days. The rice was then placed in a culture medium to encourage the growth of bovine cells within the grain.

The resulting beef-rice hybrid can be boiled or steamed just like regular rice. Hong said its texture is harder, more brittle and less sticky than regular rice, and it has a nutty taste.

“It's not like beef in the traditional sense, but it offers a new gastronomic experience that combines the familiarity of rice with the richness of meat's flavor,” he says.

Researchers found that hybrid rice contained 7% more protein and 8% more fat than regular rice. Researchers estimate that beef production releases about 50 kilograms of carbon dioxide per 100 grams of protein, compared to about 6 kilograms of carbon dioxide released per 100 grams of protein.

Hong said that unlike other types of cultured meat, all the ingredients used to make beef rice are well-known, cheap and highly nutritious. Additionally, this process does not involve genetic modification.

“These benefits…offer a more sustainable way to produce meat, reduce the environmental footprint associated with traditional livestock farming, and create new food sources that can meet the growing global demand for protein. We provide that,” Hong said.

“Not only is it a great gimmick, but it can also be very useful,” he says. Johannes Le Coutre at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. “The key is whether these products can be scaled up. The challenge is growing meat cells on rice at scale.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

By 2050, Half of the Amazon Rainforest May be Reaching a Climate Tipping Point

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Forest fires in the Amazon in October 2023

Gustavo Basso/Null Photography via Getty Images

Large parts of the Amazon rainforest are threatened by the combined effects of drought, heat and deforestation, and some ecosystems may be pushed past tipping points. But the likelihood of a larger collapse remains uncertain.

“Forests as a whole are very resilient, so we still have room to act,” he says. Marina Hirota at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Brazil.

Researchers have warned for decades that rising temperatures and deforestation could push the Amazon past a tipping point, leading to runaway feedbacks that could lead to a rapid transition from forest to savannah. The drought and heat caused by the ongoing El Niño phenomenon, as well as the warming temperatures caused by climate change, are once again on the rise.

But climate and ecological models that describe the Amazon's highly complex structure disagree on when and where such a tipping point would occur.

To understand which regions of the Amazon are most at risk, Hirota and his colleagues looked at satellite data to see how several different ecosystem stressors might change in the coming decades. evaluated. These include dry season temperatures, exposure to drought, and the risk of fire and deforestation.

They estimate that 10 percent of the Amazon basin is at risk of being exposed to at least two of these stressors by 2050 and is therefore likely to transition to degraded forest- or savanna-like ecosystems. I discovered that. 47% of this watershed is predicted to be exposed to at least one stressor, meaning it is also exposed to some hazard.

“Due to ongoing changes, we will lose some forest, but there are things we can do to prevent it from reaching 47%,” Hirota says. She said the majority of forests that are not exposed to stressors are located within protected areas; indigenous territory, which is associated with low deforestation rates. Brazil's deforestation rate also fell sharply under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's administration. Increased in other areas as well Amazon's.

dominique spracklen Researchers from the University of Leeds in the UK say the study is a powerful investigation into the range of threats facing the Amazon. But he says the discrepancies between models predicting potential tipping points remain unresolved.

For example, models predict that some of the negative effects of warming could be offset by increased concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere, which could boost plant growth. . However, other factors such as nutrients and water availability vary widely across the basin and influence the strength of this impact, creating considerable uncertainty in modeling the future of the Amazon. .

“It's a very scary place for such an important ecosystem,” he says.

Nature
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06970-0

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Ultrasound treatment activates sluggish sperm movement

Posted on February 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Sperm that don't move fast enough have a hard time reaching the egg and can cause fertility problems.

Alexei Kotelnikov / Alamy

Laboratory research has revealed that applying ultrasound to immobile sperm causes it to move. If sperm does not move properly, it becomes difficult for them to reach the egg, which is a major cause of infertility. With further research, this technology could help improve the success rate of in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Previous research suggests that: High frequency ultrasound increases sperm motility. However, the study did not involve isolating the sperm to assess which individual cells would be beneficial, allowing doctors to find the best cells to use in fertility treatments.

In the latest research, Ali Vafaie The researchers, from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, classified 50 semen samples into three groups (fast, slow, and stationary) according to sperm motility, based on guidelines for assessing swimming speed.

After separating individual sperm cells from semen samples, the researchers measured the motility of the cells before and after exposure to ultrasound waves with a power of 800 megawatts and a frequency of 40 megahertz.

After 20 seconds of ultrasound, 59 percent of the immobile sperm slowed down, and some started swimming rapidly. Changes in sperm motility peaked at an increase of 266%.

Overall, immotile sperm made up 36% of the samples at the start of the study, but this decreased to just 10% after treatment. It is unclear how long the increase in migration lasted.

Researchers believe that exposure to ultrasound improves dysfunction in sperm's mitochondria, the cells' powerhouses, contributing to increased motility.

This approach could increase the success rate of in vitro fertilization, which requires motile sperm for conception, and could avoid the need for multiple costly surgeries.

But first, Vafai says, the research group will need to test the effectiveness of the approach on sperm, particularly in people experiencing infertility due to reduced sperm mobility. Scientists also need to assess whether it is safe to create embryos from sperm exposed to ultrasound, he says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

The impact of age, gender, and nationality on the interpretation of emojis

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Emojis are often used in digital communications such as text messages and social media.

mixtape/shutterstock

Think twice before replying to a message with just emojis. Emojis may be interpreted differently by different people.

Previous research suggests that Men and women perceive facial expressions differently. ruth fillick Researchers from the University of Nottingham in the UK thought that a person's gender and other factors might also influence how they interpret emojis.

To find out more, they asked 253 Chinese and 270 British people (about an equal number of men and women) aged 18 to 84 to take part in an online survey.

Researchers selected 24 emojis to represent one of six emotions: happiness, disgust, fear, sadness, surprise, and anger based on the suggestions that appeared when you typed the word. There are four emojis for each emotion, representing different designs used by Apple, Windows, Android, and WeChat.

Each participant then assigned an emoji to the emotion they thought best matched.

Women were more likely than men to match emojis to the same emotions selected by researchers. The researchers say women may be better at recognizing facial expressions, perhaps because they make more eye contact.

Younger participants also matched emojis better than older participants, probably because they used them more frequently.

On the other hand, British participants agreed better with emojis than Chinese participants, although this may be because the latter group uses emojis differently. “For example, it has been suggested that: [people in China] According to the researchers, people rarely use the happy emoji to express happiness, but instead use it in negative connotations, such as sarcasm.

“When you send someone a message that includes emojis, you can't just assume that they see the emojis the same way you see them,” says Fillick.

Isabel Butet Researchers at the University of Ottawa in Canada say matching 24 emojis to six emotions is extremely restrictive. Nevertheless, “assigning emojis specific emotional labels is problematic when you don't know how they will be interpreted in various online communities,” she says. “For example, it would never have been considered to use eggplant as an allusion if that meaning had not developed in a particular community.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Why Does Pressing the Button in Palworld Make You Feel Cold? Understanding the Game’s Effects on Emotions

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

TThe biggest story in the gaming world so far this year is Palworld, the Pokémon-with-guns early access game that broke and broke concurrent player records on PC.It's showing some signs that it's unsustainable, as these player numbers show dropout In recent weeks, developers have revealed: eye-watering cost Although it requires keeping servers online for so many people (about $600,000 a year), it still has the potential to be the biggest game of 2024 in terms of pure revenue.

There's something a little off-putting about Palworld that makes other developers and critics wrinkle their noses. Unlike Minecraft's blocky animals, it's not just unpleasant to point a gun at a creature that's designed to look cute.The character design became a hot topic because it was too similar to Pokemon. suspicion of plagiarism, the 3D models of some of the game's creatures are incredibly closely matched to those from recent Pokemon games. (The Pokémon Company is currently investigating, but Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe said: palworld said The studio says it has “cleared legal review” and that it has “absolutely no intention to infringe on any other company's intellectual property.” ) Lead developers are also actively outspoken about the use of AI tools, which is a very unpopular opinion among all users. Everyone except a few executives is working on the 2024 game.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, from 2022. Photo provided by: Pokemon Co., Ltd.

This game borrows ideas from several other games without incorporating many of its own ideas. When you play Palworld, what comes to mind is not Pokemon, but Ark: Survival Evolved. This is his 9 year old survival game where you tame dinosaurs in addition to the usual collecting, building and crafting. Once you capture a creature, it will either be forced into indentured servitude within your base, or it will come to fight alongside you in the wilderness.

It's nothing we haven't seen in some other survival games, but Palworld makes it completely smooth and takes a lot of the hectic work out between you and the next great upgrade. Like fellow smash hit Genshin, this game employs familiar gaming tropes and is so easy and engaging that it's hard to put down.

It helps that other players aren't trying to ruin your fun like Ark and Rust do. In another survival game, there's always someone trying to smash you with rocks and take your stuff. There is currently no player vs player competition in Palworld (planned for a later version). Instead, you collaborate with other players on the server. The game's attitude towards creatures is cruel, they exist to be killed, enslaved, or eaten. However, the attitude towards players is very welcoming. There's a reason it's popular.

Despite this, I don't like Palworld. It's soulless, and anecdotally it seems like there are a lot of kids in the 19 million player base, even though this is not a game made with kids in mind. It's violent and immoral, especially when compared to the Pokemon games from which its creature design is clearly inspired. In Pokémon, a children's classic that has evolved over 25 years, your creatures aren't just pets, they're companions. You fight them for sport, sure, which Peta won't approve of, but they don't get hurt, they don't have weapons, and of course you don't either. eat they.

Massacre on a farm…Palworld. Photo: pocket pair

Palworld is more like what panicked parents and reactionary preachers of the late 1990s had in mind. Pokemon was like when Time magazine featured fear-mongering headlines. Be careful of pokemoniacs And Christian groups claimed that Pikachu was literally a manifestation of the devil. “Monsters make disturbing playmates. No matter how toylike and frivolous they may seem, they are unnatural and ultimately deal with unresolved fears,” Time magazine wrote in 1999. Stated. Consider the dubious fascination with the creature called Pokémon… The 4- to 12-year-old set may exhibit the most troubling enthusiasm about Pokémon. ” It's funny to read that line now, but I remember when video games were always talked about in mainstream media in this tone, as a symptom of serious mental illness among kids in the '90s.

Anyway, I'm not here to create a moral panic about Palworld. It's ironic, but it's also mostly harmless and undeniably compelling. I wouldn't let her 7 year old play, but anyone over 12 would have had a much worse experience with her YouTube. There's probably nothing new under the sun, and most of the upcoming breakout games will be repackaged ideas he's seen ten times before. But we keep hoping that the next unexpected hit we'll play this year will leave us with a smile instead of a nasty taste in our mouths.

what to play

Dream Daddy: Daddy dating simulator. Photo: Game Gramps

Since it's Valentine's Day, I have to recommend a game about love that many games don't tackle with confidence. dream daddy is a dating game where you play a single father looking for love with one of seven other eligible single fathers in a new neighborhood. Many thought it was an over-the-top joke until it was released in 2017, but it remains one of the most sincere and unexpectedly touching dating games of all time. Teenage daughters often muster up the courage to talk to the father of your choice. It also often leads to mildly surreal mini-games, where you try to wow your date with competitive pride in your child's achievements, for example. The game turns out to be about the love between parents and children, and the budding romance between you and the sexy singles in your neighborhood. They all have their own problems and are stories that are handled with humor and compassion.

Available on: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC, smartphone,
Estimated play time: 2-10 hours depending on how many dads you want to date

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Star Wars x Fortnite, anyone? Disney invested $1.5 billion in Fortnite maker Epic. Photo: PictureLux/Hollywood Archive/Alamy

We're still waiting for Microsoft to outline its vision for the future of Xbox. It will take place tomorrow evening UK time. via podcast Featuring Xbox executives Sarah Bond, Phil Spencer, and Matt Booty. This is according to a recent study from 2K Games, which suggests that the PS5 is outperforming the Xbox Series X two to one.
I loved Gene Park's feature on the Yakuza series in the Washington Post. “Japan's crime game series captures hearts with its gentle and heroic masculinity.”. Even if you don't have time to play for dozens of hours, you'll get to the heart of what makes these games so appealing.
British maker of Jagex, the developer of Runescape; Acquired for £900m By two private equity firms.
Disney is Invested $1.5 billion (!) in Epic Games As part of a deal to create a “new permanent universe” [that] It provides numerous opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more. ” That sounds like it could mean some more Star Wars skins will be added to Fortnite.

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Iron Age people may have buried their beloved pets, such as dogs and horses along with them

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Remains of dog and baby girl buried in Seminario Vescoville near Verona, Italy

Laffranchi et al. (CC-BY 4.0)

Late Iron Age people in northern Italy were sometimes buried with dogs and horses. Probably because they loved dogs and horses.

Archaeologists often suspect that the ancient worldwide custom of placing animals in human graves is associated with higher socio-economic status, beliefs about the afterlife, or certain family traditions. I was there. However, after thorough investigation, researchers say they are now beginning to suspect that such “community burials” may have simply been expressions of love for devoted non-human family members. Marco Mirella At the University of Bern, Switzerland.

He and his colleagues reexamined bones excavated from the 2,200-year-old Seminario Vescoville cemetery just east of Verona, Italy. There, the Cenomani lived in metal-making communities before and during the Roman conquest.

Most of the 161 graves discovered at the site contained only human remains, but 16 graves also contained whole or partial animal remains. Twelve of the items were pork or beef products, apparently food offerings to the deceased. Zita Laffranchialso at the University of Bern.

However, the remaining four were buried with dogs and/or horses, which were not used for food by the group. Among them were a middle-aged man with a small dog, a young man with part of a horse, a 9-month-old baby girl alongside the dog, and, most unexpectedly, a pony. She was a middle-aged woman. She had a dog’s head placed above her and a dog’s head placed above her head.

“At first, the excavators were surprised to find human legs under the horses, and their first idea was that there were horsemen here, there were warriors.” LaFranch says. However, the woman was buried unarmed, suggesting that her association with the 1.3 meter tall pony had nothing to do with the war.

The researchers found no particular trends in the age of the people buried with the animals, and DNA analysis suggested they were not genetically related to each other. Chemical analysis of these corpses Dietary differences related to socio-economic status were also not revealed compared to human-only graves.

The findings suggest that ancient people may have felt a strong connection to their animals and therefore chose to bury their loved ones with them, the researchers said. “And why not?” says Mirella. “You can never rule that out.”

Another explanation, the researchers added, is that the animals may have had symbolic meaning for the afterlife. For example, in Gallo-Roman religion, The Celtic horse goddess Epona was believed to protect individuals after death..And what about Gallo Romance? Sometimes dogs are associated with the afterlife.. In fact, burying dogs with infants may even have had a purpose: Protecting parents from future baby loss.

Still, the animals in the graves appear to have benefited from careful human care, rather than as disposable livestock. The dog in particular appears to have been fed human food and is showing signs of wound treatment and healing.

So it’s also possible that people were buried with animals for both symbolic and affectionate reasons, Mirella said.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Lyft CEO takes responsibility for typo in financial results that led to 60% rise in stock price

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Lyft performed well in the fourth quarter, exceeding profit expectations due to increased rides to stadiums and airports and significant cost savings.

However, the company’s stock price initially rose over 60% in after-hours trading, but most of those gains were erased after Lyft’s chief financial officer corrected a major error in its earnings report. The company had initially predicted growth of 500 basis points (5%) in 2024, but later announced that the actual growth rate was lower at 50 basis points (0.5%). In 2023, the stock price had risen by about 36%.

Lyft CEO David Risher acknowledged the mistake, saying in an interview the following day: bloomberg“Bad. This was a terrible error, but there was one zero.”

Lyft reported that stadium attendance increased over 35% from 2022, driven primarily by popular tours and sporting events. The company also highlighted improvements to airport transportation as contributing to its growth.

Under new leadership, Lyft implemented an aggressive restructuring plan last year, including staff cuts and the removal of management to pursue profitability. The company laid off 1,200 employees in April and reduced overall costs by 12%.

“We’re going to put more money into the bottom line because we can scale even further and keep costs flat,” Risher said.

Lyft also announced a new policy to pay drivers the difference if their income, after outside fees, is less than 70% of what a passenger pays. In addition, Lyft and Uber agreed to pay $328 million to a New York rideshare driver accused of withholding pay and benefits.

There are growing concerns about safety, job security, and the general fear of artificial intelligence with regard to self-driving cars. Lyft is addressing this by partnering with Motional to provide more than 100,000 self-driving rides across the United States.

Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 was $1.22 billion, in line with analyst expectations. The company expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization to be between $50 million and $55 million for the quarter, exceeding expectations of $46.3 million. Lyft’s fourth-quarter adjusted core profit was $66.6 million, also beating expectations of $56.2 million.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Drug-loaded nanoparticles may reduce arthritis pain when injected

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Osteoarthritis affects 530 million people worldwide

Puwadol Jaturautchai/Shutterstock

Drug delivery nanoparticles may be useful in treating osteoarthritis. In mice with signs of symptoms, a single injection of the particles relieved pain for several months.

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and is approximately 530 million people worldwide. It occurs when the cartilage that cushions bones breaks down, causing joint stiffness and pain. Treatment options for this condition are limited, and there is no treatment to prevent cartilage degeneration.

Previous research has shown that a drug called pazopanib may help reduce osteoarthritis pain. However, the effect only lasts for a few days.So Heejeong Im Sampeng University of Illinois at Chicago and colleagues have developed a method of administration that extends release.

The researchers encapsulated pazopanib within nanoparticles that have already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to deliver other drugs. They then injected the nanoparticles into the knees of 16 mice, and found that half of them had early signs of osteoarthritis, and half had advanced signs. The same number of animals received a dummy injection of nanoparticles without pazopanib.

Because it is difficult to assess joint pain in animals, the researchers used the widely accepted idea that individuals experiencing pain, such as joint pain, also become more sensitive to physical touch. and instead focused on rodent sensitivities.

Immediately after treatment, the researchers assessed how quickly the mice removed one paw from the uncomfortable hot plate. Mice with early or advanced osteoarthritis took significantly longer to remove their paws when given pazopanib rather than a dummy injection, suggesting that pazopanib nanoparticles rapidly reduced joint pain. I did. The researchers then repeated the hot plate test and found similar effects after two months in the advanced osteoarthritis group and after three months in the early osteoarthritis group. This means that pazopanib nanoparticles provide effective pain relief over several weeks. Animals treated with pazopanib also had less cartilage degeneration, indicating that nanoparticles may slow the progression of osteoarthritis.

But just because a treatment works in mice doesn't mean it will work in humans, Sampen says. The researchers plan to explore other ways to assess pazopanib's analgesic properties in animals. One approach, the researchers say, is to analyze how people walk and use their limbs to make sure the drug reduces joint pain.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

The origin of humor in great apes: teasing each other.

Posted on February 14, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Chimpanzees enjoy teasing each other

apple2499/Shutterstock

Bonobos, orangutans, gorillas, and chimpanzees all poke, tickle, and even steal from their companions as a form of teasing. Understanding the mischievous behavior of these apes could help biologists uncover the origins of the human sense of humor.

Previous research They found that chimpanzees can use painful teasing, or harassment, to reinforce their hierarchical position. But he says teasing can also be a form of play and fun when the right balance of fun and aggression is struck. Isabel Romer at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Germany.

“So far, the playful nature of teasing has not been systematically studied,” she says. “Therefore, our goal was to identify and create standards for play that teases great apes.”

To do so, Romer and her colleagues studied five species of great apes, bonobos (Pampan Niscus), Sumatran orangutan (pongo abeli), Western Gorilla and Eastern Gorilla (gorilla gorilla and gorilla beringay) and chimpanzees (pan-troglodytes). There were a total of 34 great apes, all housed in the zoo.

The researchers recorded 504 social interactions between individuals from 75 hours of video footage. Of these, 142 were classified as playful teasing, and included 18 acts such as pecking, hitting, hair pulling, impeding movement, and stealing.

“Teasing is characterized by an element of provocation,” Romer says. “It usually starts with a teaser, is often one-sided, and repeats itself over and over again.”

Researchers found that teasers tended to stare at the target's face immediately after the action. This suggests that the teaser was anticipating the reaction. If there is no response from the target, the teaser will usually escalate the teasing by poking the target further.

One of the most important signs that the teasing is playful rather than hostile is that it usually takes place in a calm and comfortable environment. “During the interaction, participants tended to relax,” Romer says.

Cases of theft were considered to be play if the item provided no obvious benefit to the teaser or if the teaser lost interest in the item shortly after pinching it.

“We found that playful teasing is present in all four species of great apes,” Romer said. Like play in general, this behavior can also help build relationships between groupmates and test social boundaries, she says.

Romer added that the last common ancestor between humans and other great apes likely also playfully teased, which may have been a precursor to our love of jokes. Ta.

“Studying great apes is important for understanding which cognitive and behavioral traits humans share and likely evolved in a common ancestor millions of years ago.” says the doctor. Christopher Krupenier at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. “This study provides exciting evidence that all great apes appear to engage in playful teasing behavior, and also points the way for future research in other species.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Jeff Bezos could potentially save $600 million in taxes by relocating to Florida.

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Billionaire Jeff Bezos and his fiance Lauren Sanchez saved $600 million in taxes just by moving to Florida.

The accounting windfall resulted from the $2 billion sale of Amazon stock.

Bezos, 59, who is in a three-way race with Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Tesla’s Elon Musk to become America’s richest man, announced in November that he would be leaving Seattle, where he has worked for 30 years. –This is what he said on the outside: in an instagram postto be closer to his parents, and his Blue Origin rocket is launched at Cape Canaveral.

“I’ve lived in Seattle longer than anywhere else and have so many great memories here. This move is both exciting and an emotional decision for me. Seattle, you will always be my It’s a part of my heart,” he wrote.

But on Tuesday, Financial News Network CNBC provided another clue In response to his move, Washington two years ago introduced a new 7% capital gains tax on the sale of stocks and bonds worth more than $250,000.

However, Florida does not tax income or capital gains.

Since 1998, Bezos has been involved in projects such as his philanthropic project Blue Origin, new homes on Miami’s “billionaire bunker” island Indian Creek and a $500 million, 417-foot home, the newspaper reported. The company has reportedly sold billions of dollars in Amazon stock to raise money for splashy acquisitions such as Amazon. Megayacht Col.

Last year, after the new tax was introduced, Bezos halted sales of Amazon stock until he notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that he planned to sell 50 million shares by January 31, 2025, at a current value of That’s equivalent to $8.7 billion.

With the first $2 billion tranche last week, Bezos saved $140 million in taxes he would have paid to Washington state. If Amazon stock continues to rise, total sales over the next two years will be about $610 million or more. This savings is enough to cover Kuro’s expenses.

The cost of relocating to Miami was in itself daunting for the couple, who have so far purchased two homes in Indian Creek, near the mansions of quarterback Tom Brady, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner. It has invested $47 million. Investor Carl Icahn.

Real estate brokers in Miami say Mr. Bezos will likely demolish two homes and build new ones. He is also said to be considering other properties on the island, which is itself a municipality and has a mayor.

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Kobi Karp, an architect who has worked in Miami “since the days of Miami Vice and Scarface,” told Bloomberg that the island’s biggest draw is privacy. paul george, History Miami Museum He told the media that the island was “inhabited only by very wealthy people, billionaires.”

Karp added: “We’re not going to lose hundreds of millions more.”

But Bezos’ personal real estate projects may not fully account for the costs involved in moving the billionaire, his fiancée and their support staff across continents. Shortly after Bezos announced the couple’s move to Miami, Amazon announced it was looking for 50,000 square feet of office space near Brickell.

Source: www.theguardian.com

How to easily make your pancakes even more delicious

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Shrove Tuesday, the traditional holiday celebrated the day before the Christian Lent, is now almost exclusively associated with pancakes by many people around the world.

Pancakes come in many shapes and sizes and are eaten in cultures around the world. From French crepes to American griddle cakes to Indian dosas, these versatile rings of fried dough provide endless sweet and savory indulgences.

But no matter how you enjoy it, a little science can go a long way in making this Pancake Day a huge success (as long as you don't get carried away and end up flipping pancakes on the floor).We collaborated with materials chemists and food scientists. Professor Matt Hartings and professor of fluid mechanics. Ian Eames Add scientific rigor to your favorite pancake recipes.

1. Swap regular milk for buttermilk

Most pancake recipes use some type of milk. But if you want the perfect layer of American fluffy pancakes, pancakes with a little bit of butter slowly melting on the surface, you should replace regular milk with fermented buttermilk.

You can substitute the same amount of buttermilk for milk in most recipes. “For me, the best pancakes have to be made with buttermilk,” Hartings explains. “This ingredient provides an irreplaceable punch of flavor and I never make pancakes without it.

“Key molecules found in buttermilk include diacetyl, which has a buttery aroma; many aldehydes and ketones, some floral and fruity; amino acids, which have a umami flavor; acids – Especially lactic acid and citric acid.

“These acids are doubly important in that they not only add flavor but are part of the one-two punch that makes pancakes rise. These acids react with the baking soda in the batter to produce carbon dioxide. This will cause the pancakes to become fluffy while cooking.

Don't have buttermilk at home today? Squeezing lemon juice into the batter (we recommend 1 tablespoon per 250 ml of milk) has the same effect as the acid in buttermilk, giving the pancakes the perfect frothy texture.

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2. Add melted butter to the dough.

If you want to give your stack of American pancakes that classic golden-brown color, this step is non-negotiable. why? Mr Hartings said: “A buttered batter will ensure that your pancakes are perfectly golden brown from edge to edge.

“However, this brown color is not entirely due to butter. That beautiful brown color and accompanying flavor are the product of the Maillard reaction.”

The Maillard reaction is a complex process that occurs when sugars and proteins are exposed to heat, producing compounds known as melanoidins. These compounds are what give food its brown color and distinctive flavor when cooked.

Grilled steak, bread, toasted marshmallows, and pancakes all have these reactions when cooked.

“Butter may play a role in producing the chemical components that are part of Maillard, but butter is most important here, ensuring consistent thermal contact between the pancake batter and the hot skillet. ” says Hartings.

Try melting about a quarter of the flour by weight and adding melted butter to the mixture at the same time as milk.

Pro tip: Maillard reactions favor non-acidic environments. That said, if you're using buttermilk, adding a little more baking soda than called for in the recipe will help you achieve the desired browning.

3. Use the golden ratio

Unlike fluffy American pancakes, British pancakes are much thinner and wider. According to Eames, wrote an entire scientific paper All about making perfect pancakes, the secret to delicious pancakes lies in knowing how to get the perfect balance of ingredients.

“The characteristics of a pancake are determined by the baker's ratio,” he says. This is approximately equal to the amount of milk (in milliliters) in the dough divided by the mass of flour (in grams).

“This ratio indicates how much liquid is in the pancake mix and how thin the pancakes are. Compared to other countries, British pancakes tend to be very thin and wide, resulting in The mix contains a lot of dairy ingredients.”

Eames' research concluded that the correct Baker ratio is approximately:

1 American style pancakes
2 British pancakes
3 for French crepes

Sounds like too much math? If you're trying to make English pancakes, Eames recommends using 200 ml of milk, 100 g of flour, and 1 or 2 eggs.

4. Please rest!

We know what pancake day is like. All you want to do is dash home and lose weight with fried batter in as little time as possible. You may want to rush things. But please don't let that happen.

why? If you want to make thin pancakes, an important step is to let the dough rest for about 30 minutes.

The reason for this is the protein “glutenin” contained in wheat flour. This protein is initially inactive, but when mixed with water it stretches and bonds with other gluten molecules. This forms a network that traps the air bubbles. This is great if you want thick, fluffy pancakes, but less ideal for traditional thin pancakes.

Letting the mix rest for a while allows the flour to fully absorb the liquid, making the pancakes lighter, and giving the gluten time to relax, making the pancakes less prone to pesky bubbles.

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About our experts

matt hartings He is an associate professor of chemistry at American University in Washington. His research aims to develop new materials for 3D printing and environmental monitoring, and to explore how biology creates materials. Hartings is also an expert in food and cooking chemistry and has written a book on the subject. kitchen chemistry.

Ian Eames Professor of Fluid Mechanics at University College London. His research interests include fundamental fluid mechanics and extreme environment engineering. His entertaining scientific paper on how to make the perfect pancake formed part of a more serious study of biological membranes in the eye.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Scientists use innovative method to hunt for signs of extraterrestrial technology

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

techno signature Any measurable property that could provide evidence of extraterrestrial technology. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is a branch of astrobiology that focuses on the discovery of technosignatures, which provide evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Traditionally, targeted wireless surveys have been the mainstay of his SETI research, and many of his ongoing SETI projects are still conducted in the radio band. SETI Ellipsoid, a newly proposed technology, suggests that an extraterrestrial civilization observing a galactic-scale event such as supernova SN 1987A could use it as a point to broadcast a synchronization signal indicating its presence. This is a strategy for selecting techno signature candidates based on the assumption that .

Gaia Early Data Release 3, using Cabrales' improved star 3D positions other. identified 32 SN 1987A SETI ellipsoidal targets with uncertainties better than 0.5 light-years within the TESS continuum. Image credits: ALMA/ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/Alexandra Angelich, NRAO/AUI/NSF.

Barbara Cabrales, Ph.D., of the SETI Institute and the Berkeley SETI Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, and her colleagues demonstrate that the SETI ellipsoid method leverages continuous, wide-field surveys of the sky and demonstrates its ability to detect potential technosignatures. We have shown that it can be significantly improved.

By using up to a year of observations to correct for uncertainties in the estimated time of arrival of such signals, we implement the SETI ellipsoid strategy in an innovative way using state-of-the-art technology.

“The new survey of the sky provides a groundbreaking opportunity to search for technosignatures in concert with supernovae,” Dr. Cabrales said.

“Typical timing uncertainty takes months, so we want to cover the bases by finding well-documented goals over about a year.”

“In addition to that, it's important to make as many observations as possible about each target of interest, so you can see what looks like normal behavior and what looks like potential techno-signatures.” You will be able to judge.”

In examining data from the Continuous Display Zone of NASA's TESS mission, which covers 5% of all TESS data during the first three years of the mission, the authors leveraged advanced 3D position data from Gaia Early Data Release 3. Did.

This analysis identified 32 major targets within the SETI ellipsoid in the southern part of the TESS continuum, with all uncertainties adjusted to better than 0.5 light-years.

Although initial inspection of TESS light curves during ellipsoid-crossing events did not find any anomalies, the foundation laid by this effort lends itself to other investigations, a broader range of targets, and a variety of potential signal types. Paving the way for expansion into research.

Applying SETI Ellipsoid technology to scour large archival databases represents a breakthrough in the search for technosignatures.

This study demonstrates the feasibility of leveraging Gaia's highly accurate distance estimates and cross-matching these distances with other time-domain surveys such as TESS to enhance monitoring and anomaly detection capabilities in SETI research. doing.

Combining the SETI Ellipsoid method with Gaia's distance measurements provides a robust and adaptable framework for future SETI searches.

Astronomers can apply it retrospectively to sift through archived data for potential signals, proactively select targets, and schedule future monitoring campaigns.

“The SETI Ellipsoid method, in collaboration with Gaia distances, provides an easy and flexible method for SETI searches that can be adapted to suit a variety of current surveys and source events,” the researchers said. I am.

“This can not only be applied retrospectively to look for signals in archived data, but also propagated in time to select targets and schedule surveillance campaigns.”

Their paper will appear in astronomy magazine.

_____

Barbara Cabrales other. 2024. Find the SN 1987A SETI ellipsoid using TESS. A.J. 167, 101; doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/ad2064

Source: www.sci.news

Researchers find five previously unknown species of eyelash pit vipers in South America

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Scientists have identified five mysterious species of the genus Viper Botrykiss They live in the jungles and cloud forests of Colombia and Ecuador.

Botrykis Rahimi. Image credit: Lucas Bustamante.

The eyelash viper is distinguished by a unique feature: a set of huge spine-like scales above the eyes.

These eyelashes give the snake a frightening and ferocious appearance, but the true purpose of this feature is still unknown.

However, what is certain is that certain populations exhibit longer and more stylized eyelashes compared to others.

The changes in the condition of the eyelashes led researchers to hypothesize that an undiscovered species existed.

Eyelash vipers are also famous for another characteristic: they are multicolored. The same patch of rainforest may contain individuals of the turquoise morph, moss morph, or gold morph. They all belong to the same species, even though they have completely different attire.

Alejandro Arteaga, a researcher with the Carmai Foundation and Tropical Helping SA, said: “No two individuals have the same color, even if they belong to the same litter (giving birth to live offspring).”

“Some species have a ‘Christmas’ form, a ghost form, and even a purple form, and different varieties can coexist and even breed with each other.”

“The reasons behind these incredible color changes are still unclear, but it is likely that the pit vipers are able to occupy a wide range of ambush perches, from mossy branches to bright yellow heliconias. is.”

Distribution of palm beetles botry extract schlegeli Species complex including 5 new species.Image credit: Arteaga other., doi: 10.3897/evolsyst.8.114527.

The newly identified species of eyelash viper is Botry extract lasix morum, Botrychus crebai, botry extract kwargi, Botrykis Rahimiand botry extract fusaini.

The first three species are endemic to the eastern Columbia Mountains and live in cloud forests and coffee plantations.

Botrykis Rahimi It stands out because it occurs in the remote and pristine Chocó rainforest on the border of Colombia and Ecuador.

botry extract fusaini It lives in the forests of southwestern Ecuador and northwestern Peru.

“The venom of some (perhaps all) of the new viper species is much less lethal and hemorrhagic than the venom of typical vipers. Central American eyelash viper (botry extract schlegeli)” said Tropical Helping SA and Savia Foundation researcher Lucas Bustamante, who was bitten on the finger. Botrykis Rahimi When the photo was taken during a research expedition in 2013.

“There was intermittent localized pain, dizziness and swelling, but after three doses of antivenom within two hours of the sting, it quickly resolved and no scarring remained.”

“One of the key conclusions of the study is that four species in the group face high risk of extinction,” the researchers said.

“Their geographic range is very limited, and 50% to 80% of their habitat has already been destroyed.”

“Therefore, rapid response measures are urgently needed to save remaining habitat.”

of study It was published in the magazine evolutionary systematics.

_____

A. Arteaga other. 2024. Systematic revision of Eyelash Palm-Pitviper botry extract schlegeli (Serpentes, Viperidae), 5 new species descriptions and 3 revalidations. evolutionary systematics 8 (1): 15-64; doi: 10.3897/evolsyst.8.114527

Source: www.sci.news

EarnBet.io Hits $1 Billion in Bets, Awards Millions in User Rewards and Rakebacks – Blockchain News, Opinion, TV, Jobs

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Willemstad, Curacao, February 13, 2024, Chainwire

EarnBet.ioan online crypto gambling platform, today proudly announces that it has processed over $1 billion in bets and transferred millions of dollars in rewards and cashbacks to users and token holders, leading to player satisfaction and innovation. shows the efforts of

Since 2017, EarnBet has established itself as a pioneering online betting platform, leveraging blockchain technology to offer unparalleled fairness, transparency and player rewards.

The introduction of several exclusive in-house games and an avant-garde wallet system has streamlined the deposit and withdrawal process for top cryptocurrencies and improved the overall user experience.

A year of transformation: Rebranding and platform enhancements

Over the past year, EarnBet.io has embarked on an ambitious transformation journey, focusing on a complete overhaul and rebranding of its platform. This initiative aims to improve the user experience through the introduction of new games, enhanced rewards programs, and revamped user interface, marking a new chapter in the platform's growth and development.

An important update to the platform is the EarnBet rakeback feature, which offers up to 62.5% rakeback. This allows users to claim instant cash rewards on every bet, win or lose, further highlighting his EarnBet.io commitment to providing value to users.

Diverse game portfolio and user-centered innovation

EarnBet.io's commitment to providing an unparalleled gaming experience is evident through its extensive game offering. The platform introduces a variety of in-house games in addition to popular titles from well-known developers such as NetEnt, NoLimit, Pragmatic Play, and BGaming. This expansion ensures a rich and diverse game portfolio, further enhanced by a user-friendly interface designed to improve performance and encourage community engagement through social features. In the coming months, EarnBet plans to further expand its library by adding even more betting games from multiple award-winning platforms, demonstrating the company's commitment to offering players a wide and attractive selection of games. is shown.

EarnBet.io also reinforced its commitment to fairness with a proven fair gaming system, allowing players to independently verify the fairness of game results. This commitment to transparency is further highlighted by the platform's updated leaderboards, which showcase top players and their achievements and foster a competitive yet fair gaming environment.

EarnBet.io's platform overhaul introduces a series of innovative features designed to revitalize your online betting experience. Among them, the gameplay mechanics of classic casino games such as Blackjack and Baccarat have been enhanced and redesigned for an interactive and engaging user experience. Additionally, the platform takes the popularity of dice games and optimizes gameplay for fair outcomes.

Community-focused features and rewarding opportunities

At the heart of EarnBet.io's ethos is a focus on community and player rewards. The introduction of the VIP Members Club and innovative features such as Rain Bot and the new tipping system strengthen the social aspect of the platform, allowing players to interact with each other and share their successes. These efforts not only foster a vibrant community, but also provide players with the opportunity to earn rewards and strengthen EarnBet.io's position as a player-centric platform.

Finally, EarnBet ebet Native tokens allow users to speed up cashback rewards if the tokens are staked. The EarnBet team notes that they intend to buy back EBET tokens as before.

As EarnBet.io continues to progress, we remain focused on continuous innovation and enhanced player engagement. The platform's commitment to introducing new games, improving user features, and introducing cutting-edge technology is unwavering. This commitment ensures that EarnBet.io continues to offer a great online betting experience characterized by fun, fairness, and a strong focus on community.

About earn bet

Since its founding, EarnBet.io has set a new standard in the crypto online gambling industry by combining blockchain technology with a commitment to fairness, transparency, and user satisfaction. Recent platform enhancements and rebranding efforts mark important milestones in EarnBet.io's journey, highlighting our commitment to innovation and a great gaming experience. With these updates, EarnBet.io reaffirms its commitment to redefining online gaming and delivering an unparalleled experience that prioritizes player rewards, engagement, and a transparent gaming environment.

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earn bet team
support@earnbet.io

Source: the-blockchain.com

Is there a viable alternative to Twitter now that Bluesky is open to the public? | Technology

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

If you have received this newsletter for the second time, we apologize. Due to a technical error, it was originally sent with last week's subject line.

Last week, Bluesky opened its doors. After a year in her closed, invite-only beta, anyone who wants to can now sign up for an account with just their email address.

Even if the value of the invitation has dropped somewhat in recent months (I have 5 unused seats, not that I want to try), it's clear there was latent demand. In just two days, the service received more than 1 million new registrations. By the way, since Bluesky released his iOS app last February, it took him over three months to reach his 70,000 user count.

This slow growth has also been a blessing for Blue Sky. On the other hand, the beta did its job, allowing the company to iterate on the service based on feedback from a smaller but more engaged user base than it might otherwise have.

Last year, the company built a suite of moderation tools that enable a “decentralized” approach to social networking, where users can voluntarily opt in or out of content such as nudity, violence, and hate speech. Launching on Android and the web. And by adopting a butterfly as our own version of Twitter's bird, we created a consistent visual identity. Meanwhile, Elon Musk's site destroyed its own visual shorthand in response, replacing some, but not all, Twitter branding with a double-strike 𝕏.

But the slow burn also meant that Bluesky never really got his moment in the sun. For a year now, I've been listening to the words I often hear from new users. It was about getting excited to be granted access to the service, then being disappointed when you realized there was less content than there was in Twitter's heyday.

In some cases, it's a memory trick. A Bluesky feed that follows 50 people will be less crowded than a Twitter feed that follows 500 people, and for many power users of the latter service, everyone they follow will be his 2 Gone are the days when you could ride a decker bus. Many longtime Twitter users probably don't remember what it was like to have a quiet feed or have to find new people to follow. And those things could cause people to push back from new social networks like Bluesky, just as they have bothered many people. I stumble when registering on Twitter itself.

(That's why Facebook's People You May Know feature is so incisive.) The biggest hurdle for social networks isn't getting people to sign up, it's getting people to keep using them. I always know that the trick is to get as many other users to follow as possible…)

Even if you went through the trouble of building a Bluesky account and building a fairly extensive address book, there's no way the service could match the rosy memories of Twitter's heyday. Sure, it's a similar enough experience to curb your craving for the real thing, but it's not compelling enough to make you want more. You post. No one responds. Log off and touch the grass.

Of course, all of this is talking about Bluesky as an early social network. But the company doesn't think that way. Chief Executive Officer Jay Graeber gave several interviews to commemorate the grand opening.she came talk to wired:

We weren't using invites to try to be exclusive. We were using them to manage our growth while building rails, the essential foundation of this new kind of decentralized network.

We needed to build an app protocol, an AT protocol, under Bluesky that allows different developers, companies, and people to come in and change the experience. Some of them will be rolled out soon.

When it's finished, Bluesky's vision is for it to sit somewhere between a full Twitter replacement and a fully decentralized service like Mastodon, the second of the big three social networks after Twitter. . Like Mastodon, the technology behind Bluesky should eventually make that possible. But unlike Mastodon, Bluesky has been less keen to highlight its technical differences with Twitter, as the majority of its users will continue to use its official apps and services for the time being.

And then there's the thread. Meta's Twitter clone is arguably the largest of the three in terms of user numbers alone, but it has made little ripple in broader culture. The site's policy of suppressing political content (according to Threads' platform safety policy, there is no algorithmic promotion) does not solve the problem. There are parallels here with early online culture. Twitter dominates the discussion despite being a fraction of Facebook's size, and so does TikTok despite YouTube having a much larger user base.

Elizabeth Lopat explained the disconnect with The Verge. very accurate classification method I can't do anything but quote her at length.

The silent majority of successful text-based social media sites are lurkers. They are sane, normal people living sane, normal lives… Influencers are building businesses. They are creating #content … The commenter is trying to have a conversation with another human being. They want to be able to have meaningful interactions online, even if they are misplaced. Replyers can be considered the most important subclass of commenters. They are specific. They usually interact with or act on behalf of their favorite Internet users. Finally, prepare your poster (also known as a poster). Posters are necessary for all social networks to function.

The problem that all Twitter alternatives face is that there is an imbalance. Threads is huge, but its user base is hidden and influential. Like Marvel movie audiences, they may consume professionally produced content, but they never form lasting memories. For the past year, Bluesky has been a pure poster child, locked in rooms with each other and unable to get much of the dopamine needed to maintain his frenetic energy. Mastodon is a community of commenters and responders, and while it's possible to have fun chatting, it's decentralized to the point that it's hard to discern conversations that originate from within.

So opening up Bluesky could be the first step toward restoring some of that balance. Posters cannot survive on posters alone. They, and we, need lurkers. Would you like to join us, we have to touch the grass.

Wider Techscape

Waymo self-driving car catches fire in San Francisco.

Photo: Michael Vandy/Reuters

Source: www.theguardian.com

Is the Brazilian flea toad the world’s smallest vertebrate?

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Flea frog perching on 1 Brazilian Real (coin diameter is 27 mm)

Renato Gaiga

The tiny Brazilian frog, about the size of a pea, could threaten the current record holder for the world's smallest vertebrate.

flea toad Brachycephalus purex (actually a species of frog) was first described by scientists in 2011. Immediately after that, Mirko Sole Researchers at Brazil's Santa Cruz State University thought this species might be the smallest amphibian ever discovered. But only a few specimens have been collected from the frog's only known habitat, a forested hilltop in southern Bahia, Brazil. Also, the necessary gonad tests to determine whether they were adults were not performed.

Solé and his colleagues measured the lengths of 46 flea toads, examined their gonads, and checked for the presence of throat clefts, which only males have, to determine the frogs' maturity and gender.

adult B. Purex Males have an average body length of over 7 millimeters and are slightly smaller than females. Therefore, they are smaller than males. Phaedophryn amauensisa frog from Papua New Guinea that was previously considered both the smallest amphibian and the smallest vertebrate.

Say “It's perfectly clear.” mark schartz At the Danish Natural History Museum in Copenhagen. “These may actually be the world's smallest living frogs, which is amazing.”

It's not just the average size that's shocking, the smallest specimens in the study show just how small these flea frogs are compared to other minifrogs. “It's 6.45 mm.” [long]That's 30 percent smaller than any adult male frog I've ever seen,” Schertz said. “It's almost a millimeter smaller than the next smallest frog.”

At such small scales, frogs develop strange anatomical peculiarities, such as missing toes and underdeveloped ears. they cannot hear their suitor's song. Some species have very weak balance organs and are barely able to jump.

But Solé says there may also be smaller vertebrates that have yet to be discovered. Perhaps the next record holder could be another small frog or a parasitic male deep-sea anglerfish.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

“The Brilliant Beauty: Celebrating the Talents of Game Designer Lalaleen McWilliams” | Games

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

NRenowned game designer Lalalyn McWilliams, 58, passed away on February 5th in Seattle, Washington due to complications from heart surgery. She is the creative director of Free Realms, Sony's computer entertainment family-friendly online world, the lead designer of Full Spectrum Warrior in 2004, and the winner of the Game Developers Choice Awards. Recipient of her 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award.

McWilliams was born in 1965 in Vicenza, Italy, to an American military family and moved frequently during his youth. She found her place in the games she played, and her Mist was especially important to her, a world she returned to again and again. She earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from Vassar College and her J.D. from St. Louis Law School. Although she worked hard for these honors, she never forgot the joy the game brought her and she wanted to return to those worlds to bring that same joy to others. She is a self-taught game designer and has become a master of creating games for Disney, DreamWorks, and many others. She was a rare all-rounder who worked on everything from first-person shooter games to casual games.

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Lalarin loved justice and supported principles over character. She did not compromise or remain silent in the face of significant online harassment of hers. She spoke up for those who couldn't. She was a voice for those who were afraid to speak. She didn't back down from anything – she didn't back down. When it came to good and evil, she was a warrior as flexible as concrete. She has worked tirelessly to make the gaming industry a place where underrepresented people are valued and heard.

It coincided when she was diagnosed with cancer (an incurable, terminal cancer). She sought out doctors who advocated for her health and were committed to treatments, clinical trials, and cutting-edge medicine. And in an industry that favors the young and healthy, she spoke candidly about her diagnosis, treatment, recovery and remission, joining others who found strength in her words and opened up about her own journey as well. inspired people.

She was a beautiful nerd. Laralyn likes to talk about subtle game mechanics, how they play out during a game, and how they can be adapted and made more meaningful when combined with other mechanics. was. She loved talking about the players and centering things around their experiences. She could write a tutorial script as easily as she could balance a combat progression. She was a mentor, friend, and inspiration. Lalaleen McWilliams was a true legend in the gaming industry. She leaves her mark on people, players, games, and design.

Lalarin is survived by her husband and best friend Charlie Hatley, mother-in-law Charlene, brother Jim and daughter Sophie, and aunt Sandy.

Source: www.theguardian.com

French experts in security unveil a disinformation network based in Moscow | Cyberwarfare

Posted on February 13, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

French military and cybersecurity experts have identified a Moscow-based network that is spreading propaganda and disinformation across Western Europe.

France’s Agency Viguinum, established in 2021 to detect digital interference from foreign groups influencing public opinion, stated that it was unclear whether Russia was involved online in the lead-up to the European elections and other important votes this year, paving the way for a new wave of operations.

The online network, named Portal Combat, consists of at least 193 sites spreading pro-Russian propaganda supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and criticizing the Kiev government. The disinformation is spread through social media sites and messaging apps targeting people who propagate conspiracy theories.

Researchers at Biginum identified and analyzed the network between September and December last year, tracing the massive disinformation campaign back to Moscow. One pro-Russian channel on the French Telegram app publishes up to nine articles an hour almost continuously.

The European Commission, NATO, and UN agencies have classified disinformation as one of the biggest threats to democracy in 2024, recognizing it as a national security issue.

UN Information Secretary-General Melissa Fleming stated that disinformation was being used to create more suspicion and hatred, weakening peacekeeping forces.

EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell described this new war as being about words and ideas that can colonize minds, not about bombs that can kill people.

Vera Yulova, the EU’s vice-president for values and transparency, expressed the EU’s determination to fight back against Kremlin’s actions to spread propaganda and interfere in democracy, welcoming the strong determination of France, Germany, and Poland.

French defense experts noted that sites linked to disinformation networks do not produce original material, instead flooding the internet with materials from pro-Russian sources since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Biginum report revealed that the disinformation network is directly contributing to the polarization of digital public debate in the Francophone world and is targeting Russian communities in Ukraine and several Western countries.

Furthermore, Biginum identified three “ecosystems” involved in the propaganda campaign.

Another network of websites primarily targets Russian-speaking audiences in Ukraine and began operating just over a month after the Russian invasion, delivering propaganda focused on the Ukraine conflict.

Despite the massive propaganda and disinformation campaign, security experts believe it has had limited success, with the average traffic for the five portals in November 2023 reaching 31,000 visits.

Source: www.theguardian.com

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