Mondo News

Paleontologists Say Early Dinosaurs Thrived and Survived Due to Advances in Motor Skills

Posted on February 9, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Early dinosaurs were faster and more dynamic than their competitors, according to a study led by University of Bristol researcher Amy Shipley.

By adopting more diverse limb morphologies and styles, dinosaurs may have been able to occupy more terrestrial habitats and greatly diversify extinction events. Image credit: Sergey Krasovskiy.

In their study, Shipley and colleagues compared the limb proportions of a wide range of Triassic reptiles. The Triassic period is the period from 252 million years ago, when dinosaurs first appeared and became famous, to 201 million years ago.

They determined which of these ancient beasts were quadrupedal (quadrupedal) or bipedal (bipedal), and also examined the cursority index, a measure of running ability.

Researchers found that not only were dinosaurs and their relatives bipedal from the beginning, meaning they had limbs adapted for running, but they also We found that it showed a much wider range of running styles. pseudostia.

Pseudonesians also included the ancestors of modern crocodiles. Although there were some small bipedal animals that ate insects, most were medium to large carnivores or herbivores, and they were diverse throughout the Triassic.

The authors believe that dinosaurs and their relatives bird metatarsal maintained a higher range of motor modes throughout this period.

“When the crisis hit 233 million years ago, the dinosaurs won,” Shipley said.

“At that time, the climate changed from wet to dry and there was severe pressure on food.”

“For some reason, dinosaurs, which had been living in small numbers for 20 million years, appeared, but no pseudo-dinosaurs appeared.”

“Like many reptiles and birds today, early dinosaurs may have been good at conserving water.”

“However, our evidence shows that their high adaptability during walking and running played an important role.”

“After the mass extinction at the end of the Triassic period, dinosaurs expanded again,” added Professor Mike Benton from the University of Bristol.

“With the exception of the crocodile ancestors, most of the pseudodinosaurs went extinct in mass extinctions, and we found that these surviving dinosaurs once again expanded their range and took over many of the niches that had been vacated.”

“When we looked at the rate of evolution, we found that dinosaurs were not actually evolving particularly rapidly,” said co-author Dr Armin Elsler, a researcher at the University of Bristol.

“This was a surprise because we expected to see rapid evolution in ornithopods and slower evolution in pseudopods.”

“What this means is that while dinosaur locomotion style was advantageous for dinosaurs, it was not the driving force behind intense evolutionary selection.”

“In other words, when the crisis happened, they were in a better position to take advantage of the opportunities after the crisis.”

“We always think of dinosaurs as large, mobile animals,” says co-author Dr Tom Stubbs, also from the University of Bristol.

“This reminds us that dinosaurs actually started out as nifty little insect-eaters.”

“The first dinosaurs were only a meter long and walked bipedally with their legs raised high. Their leg posture meant they could move quickly and capture prey while fleeing from larger predators. I meant it.”

“And of course, dinosaurs' postural diversity and focus on fast running mean that dinosaurs could diversify given the opportunity,” said co-author Suresh Singh, also from the University of Bristol. the doctor said.

“After the mass extinction at the end of the Triassic period, truly gigantic dinosaurs emerged, over 10 meters long, some with armor, many quadrupedal, but many still bipedal, like their ancestors. Walking.”

“Their diversity of posture and gait means they are highly adaptable, and this ensured their great success for a long time on Earth.”

of study It was published in the magazine Royal Society Open Science.

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Amy E. Shipley other. 2024. Archosauromorph migration and early Mesozoic success. R. Soc. Open Science 11(2):231495; doi: 10.1098/rsos.231495

Source: www.sci.news

Hubble spots a group of newly formed stars at the end of a colliding galaxy

Posted on February 9, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers observed seven interacting galaxies with long tadpole-like tidal tails of gas, dust, and numerous stars. Hubble’s exquisite clarity and sensitivity to ultraviolet light led to the discovery of 425 clusters of newborn stars along these tidal tails. Each cluster contains up to a million newborn blue stars.

As seen in this Hubble image, galaxy AM 1054-325 has been distorted from its usual pancake-like spiral shape into an S-shape by the gravity of its neighboring galaxies. As a result, clusters of newborn stars form along tidal tails stretching across thousands of light years, resembling strings of pearls. Image credit: NASA/ESA/STScI/Jayanne English, University of Manitoba.

Tidal tail star clusters have been known for decades. When galaxies interact, gravitational tidal forces pull out long streams of gas and dust.

Two commonly used examples are antennas and rat galaxy It has elongated finger-like projections.

In a new study, astronomer Michael Rodrak of Randolph-Macon College and his colleagues combined new observational data with archival data to determine the age and mass of the tidal tail cluster.

Researchers discovered that these star clusters are very young, only 10 million years old.

And they appear to be forming at the same rate along a tail that extends over thousands of light years.

“It’s surprising that there are so many young objects in the tail,” said Dr Rodrak, lead author of the paper. paper Published in Royal Astronomical Society Monthly Notices.

“It tells us a lot about cluster formation efficiency.”

“With tidal tails, a new generation of stars will be built that otherwise would not exist.”

Tidal tails look like spiral arms of galaxies extending into space.

The outer part of the arm is pulled like taffy by the gravitational tug of war between a pair of interacting galaxies.

Before the merger occurred, galaxies may have been rich in dusty clouds of hydrogen molecules that simply remained inert.

However, during the encounter, the clouds swayed and clashed.

This compressed the hydrogen and triggered the firestorm of star birth.

“The fate of these strung star clusters is uncertain,” the astronomers said.

“They remain intact under gravity and can evolve into globular clusters that orbit outside the plane of the Milky Way.”

“Alternatively, they could disperse and form a stellar halo around their host galaxy, or be thrown off and become stars that wander between galaxies.”

“This pearly star formation may have been more common in the early Universe, when galaxies were colliding with each other more frequently.”

“These nearby galaxies observed by Hubble are proxies for what happened in the distant past, and are therefore laboratories for studying the distant past.”

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michael rodrak other. 2023. Star clusters in tidal dust. MNRAS 526 (2): 2341-2364; doi: 10.1093/mnras/stad2886

Source: www.sci.news

Woman sues over allegations that robotic device caused burns to her small intestine during surgery

Posted on February 9, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A woman who was undergoing surgery for colon cancer has been the victim of a wrongful death lawsuit in Florida this week. The lawsuit alleges that a robotic device caused damage to Sandra Sulzer’s small intestine, which led to her death. This happened after she experienced abdominal pain and fever following the surgery in September 2021. The extra procedures to close her lacerations were not enough to save her life, as she died in February 2022 due to small bowel injuries.

Sandra’s husband, Harvey Salzer, is seeking damages from Intuitive Surgical, the manufacturer of the device. The lawsuit claims that the company knew about the insulation problems in the robot that could cause internal organ burns, and yet failed to inform the users about the risk nor to disclose it to the public. It also asserts that Intuitive Surgical doesn’t properly train surgeons who use the device, the da Vinci, and that hospitals lack experience with robotic surgery.

According to the complaint, Intuitive has received thousands of reports of da Vinci-related injuries and defects, but “systematically underreports” injuries to the Food and Drug Administration. The company also stated in a 2014 Financial Report that it was a defendant in approximately 93 lawsuits at the time.

Many doctors support robotic surgery as a safe method, but there are discussions about whether it is more effective than traditional surgery. The technology aims to make procedures precise and less invasive, potentially leading to faster, less painful recovery.

Da Vinci Xi Surgical System.Provided by: Intuitive

A 2018 NBC News analysis revealed over 20,000 da Vinci-related adverse events over the past 10 years, as per reports from the FDA’s MAUDE database. More than a dozen patients spoke to NBC News about burns or injuries during procedures using da Vinci.

Intuitive defended the device’s safety, referring to scientific evidence supporting its effectiveness in over 15,000 studies.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Albanian mines reveal large reserves of natural hydrogen gas underground

Posted on February 9, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Albanian mine where hydrogen naturally seeps through rocks

FV.Donze

The largest flow of natural hydrogen gas ever recorded has been measured deep in an Albanian mine. The discovery could help locate underground reserves of this clean fuel.

“The lather is really intense,” he says. Laurent Truche Researchers at France’s Grenoble-Alpes University measured gas in a pool of water about a kilometer underground. “It’s like a jacuzzi.”

Companies are currently searching for natural hydrogen deposits around the world as a source of clean fuel, but there is scant evidence that this “golden hydrogen” has accumulated in large quantities. Most claims about vast subsurface hydrogen deposits rely on extrapolation rather than direct measurements.

In search of more substantive evidence, Truche and his colleagues descended on Albania’s Balkizekromite mine. There, hydrogen gas escaping from the rocks has caused several explosions. The mine is also located in an outcrop of iron-rich rocks known as ophiolites. In other places, such as Oman, water is known to react with such rocks to produce hydrogen.

The researchers found that more than 80% of the gas bubbling out of the pool was hydrogen, mixed with methane and small amounts of nitrogen. That gas was flowing at a rate of 11 tons per year, almost an order of magnitude more than any other gas. Flow of hydrogen gas measured from a single point source elsewhere on the Earth’s surface.

To determine the source of the gas, the researchers also modeled various geological scenarios that could produce such flows. They found that the most likely scenario is that the gas is coming from a deeper reservoir of hydrogen accumulated in faults beneath the mine. Based on the geometry of the fault, they estimate that the reservoir contains at least 5,000 to 50,000 tons of hydrogen.

“This is one of the largest amounts of natural hydrogen ever measured,” he says. Eric Gaucher an independent geochemist focused on natural hydrogen.

But he says it’s still not a huge amount. Jeffrey Ellis At the U.S. Geological Survey. But evidence of stable hydrogen accumulation supports the idea that there is more hydrogen stored underground, he says. “We need to look deeper.”

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The scent of flowers is altered by air pollution, confusing insects

Posted on February 9, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Hawk moths are less likely to visit flowers if air pollution changes their smell.

Image courtesy of Floris van Brugel

Insects may have a hard time finding flowers because air pollutants are breaking down the chemicals responsible for the flowers' attractive scent.

“In recent years, there has been increasing interest in 'sensory pollution,'” he says. Jeff Riffel at the University of Washington in Seattle. This pollution resulting from human activities can change wild animal behavior by changing or introducing new stimuli, he says.

For example, we know that noise pollution affects bird songs and may be linked to an increase in whale strandings. Light pollution, on the other hand, can disorient a variety of animals, including migratory birds and sea turtles.

However, little is known about how human activities affect animals' sense of smell. Riffel and colleagues therefore investigated the effects of anthropogenic pollutants on plant pollinators.

They focused on ozone and nitric acid radicals, which are pollutants produced by the interaction of vehicle exhaust and gases in the atmosphere. Both are known to react with compounds emitted by flowers to change their scent.

The research team discovered pale evening primrose (evening primrose), a desert flower found in North America. Both pollutants degraded aroma compounds, but nitrate radicals did so more completely.

To study whether this led to changes in the behavior of the flowers' main pollinators, the researchers exposed species of hawk moths, including the hawk-moth sphinx.Hyles Lineata), flowers that emit a natural floral scent, or flowers that have been engineered to emit a degraded scent.

Primroses that emitted degraded scents were visited 70% less frequently than flowers that emitted naturally delivered scents. This decline in visitors could affect the hawkmoth's health, Riffel said. Researchers estimate that reduced moth visitation could reduce the amount of fruit plants produce by 28 percent, potentially having ripple effects on the broader ecosystem.

The researchers' models show that since the Industrial Revolution, the distance at which hawk moths can detect flowers has shrunk from about two kilometers to just a few hundred meters.

“This is another reason why we need to switch to energy sources that do not involve combustion,” say team members. Joel Thornton, also at the University of Washington. “Reducing nitrogen oxide emissions would be a win not only for air quality, but also for ecosystem function and agriculture.”

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The huge magma flow in Iceland set a new speed record

Posted on February 9, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

On February 8th, lava erupted near Grindavik, Iceland.

Iceland Civil Defense/Handout/Anadolu, via Getty Images

Prior to the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland, the influx of magma into the 15-kilometre-long fissure occurred at the highest rate of its kind ever observed anywhere in the world.

“Higher eruption rates can occur in very large eruptions,” he says.
Freistein Sigmundson at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik. “But I don't know of any higher estimates for magma flowing into cracks in the surface.”

Sigmundsson is part of a team that is monitoring recent volcanic activity beneath Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula using ground-based sensors and satellites. It started when magma built up several kilometers beneath the Svartsengi region, the site of a geothermal power plant that supplies hot water to the tourist attraction Blue Lagoon Spa.

On November 10, 2023, a giant fissure several kilometers deep and 15 kilometers long formed nearby. When the magma opened, some of the accumulated magma flowed into it at a speed of 7,400 cubic meters per second, according to the researchers' calculations.

This is about 100 times faster than the magma flow that occurred during the 2021, 2022 and 2023 eruptions in the nearby Fagradalsfjall region, Sigmundsson said.

The magma inside the crack is at most 8 meters wide, so it can be visualized like a piece of paper, he says. This crack formed because Iceland is located on the boundary where the tectonic plates are moving apart.

On December 18, a so-called fissure eruption began along part of this terrain and lasted for three days. Another lava wave that lasted two days began on January 14, with some of the lava reaching the evacuated town of Grindavik.

Sigmundsson said the lava flow destroyed only a few buildings, but cracks in the ground caused extensive damage to roads and pipes, and created underground cavities.

On February 8, another eruption began a short distance from Grindavik. Lava from here flowed across pipes carrying hot water from the Svartsengi geothermal power plant. This means heating is cut off in some neighborhoods, and most buildings in Iceland rely on geothermal water for heating.

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Hubble Observes Bright Blue Compact Galaxy

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Dazzling new photos from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope show the brilliant blue compact galaxy ESO 185-IG013 in the constellation Telescope.

This Hubble image shows ESO 185-IG013, a brilliant blue compact galaxy located approximately 260 million light-years away in the constellation Telescopium. Image credit: NASA / ESA / R. Chandar, University of Toledo / Gladys Kober, NASA and Catholic University of America.

ESO 185-IG013 is located about 260 million light-years away in the small constellation Telescopium in the south.

Also known as LEDA 63618, this galaxy is classified as a luminescent blue compact galaxy (BCG).

All stars in ESO 185-IG013 have a combined mass of more than 7 billion solar masses.

“BCG is a nearby galaxy that exhibits intense bursts of star formation,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.

“It is unusually blue in visible light, distinguishing it from other high starburst galaxies that emit more infrared light.”

“We study BCG because it provides a relatively close equivalent to galaxies in the early universe.”

“This means BCG can help us learn about the formation and evolution of galaxies as they may have occurred billions of years ago.”

Astronomers imaged ESO 185-IG013 at ultraviolet, visible, and infrared wavelengths, revealing details about its past.

“There are hundreds of young star clusters in our galaxy, many of which are younger than 100 million years,” the astronomers said.

“Many star clusters are only 3.5 million years old – relatively infants compared to the time scale of our universe.”

“Scientists predict that many of these youngest clusters will not survive because young clusters often outgas so much that they can disappear.”

“The large number of young star clusters indicates that ESO 185-IG013 was part of a recent galaxy collision and merger.”

“Disturbances in the galaxy's structure, likely caused by intense interactions between gas and dust during the collision, are another sign.”

“This merger provided the system with large amounts of fuel for star formation, which continues today.”

“ESO 185-IG013 also contains a tidal shell, and the diffuse light surrounding its bright center is a common signal of galaxy mergers,” the researchers said.

“We think that in galaxy mergers, the smaller of the two interacting galaxies is blocked by the larger galaxy and loses most of its material.”

“This causes matter to be ejected and then pulled back in by the gravity of the larger galaxy.”

“The dense region where material rearranges is called a shell, and it contains many star clusters. In addition to the shell, ESO 185-IG013 boasts a tail of gas to the northeast.”

Source: www.sci.news

Study finds that low carbon dioxide emissions from volcanoes may have caused the Sturtian ‘Snowball Earth’ ice age.

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

of Sturtian “Snowball Earth” Ice Age (717 million to 661 million years ago) is considered the most extreme icehouse period in Earth’s history. In a new study, geologists from the University of Sydney and the University of Adelaide used plate tectonics modeling to identify the most likely cause of the Staats Ice Age.

Artist’s impression of “Snowball Earth”. Image credit: Oleg Kuznetsov, http://3depix.com / CC BY-SA 4.0.

“Imagine if the Earth almost completely froze over, which is exactly what happened about 700 million years ago,” said lead author Dr. Adriana Dutkiewicz, a researcher at the University of Sydney. .

“The Earth was covered in ice from the poles to the equator, and temperatures plummeted. But what caused this to happen is an open question.”

“We think we have now solved the mystery. Historically, volcanic carbon dioxide emissions have been low, driven by the weathering of large volcanic rock mountains in what is now Canada. It’s a process that absorbs carbon dioxide.”

Named after Charles Sturt, a 19th-century European colonial explorer of central Australia, the Sturtsian Ice Age spanned 717 million to 660 million years, long before dinosaurs and complex plants existed on land. It continued until ten thousand years ago.

“There are many possible causes for the trigger and end of this extreme ice age, but the most mysterious one is why it lasted 57 million years. It’s hard for humans to imagine,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.

Dr. Dutkiewicz and his colleagues used a plate tectonics model that simultaneously shows the evolution of continents and ocean basins after the breakup of the ancient supercontinent Rodina.

They connected it to a computer model that calculates the outgassing of carbon dioxide from submarine volcanoes along mid-ocean ridges, where plates diverge and new oceanic crust is born.

They soon realized that the beginning of the Starch Ice Age correlated precisely with the lowest ever levels of volcanic carbon dioxide emissions.

Additionally, carbon dioxide flux remained relatively low throughout the ice age.

“At that time, there were no multicellular animals or land plants on Earth,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.

“Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere were determined almost entirely by carbon dioxide emitted by volcanoes and by the weathering processes of silicate rocks that consume carbon dioxide.”

“At that time, geology ruled the climate,” said co-author Professor Dietmar Müller, a researcher at the University of Sydney.

“We think the Staats Ice Age began with a double whammy: plate tectonics realigned to minimize volcanic degassing, while at the same time Canada’s continental volcanic belt began to erode, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Consumed.”

“As a result, atmospheric carbon dioxide has fallen to levels that could begin an ice age. This is estimated to be less than 200 parts per million, less than half of today’s levels.”

The team’s current research raises interesting questions about the long-term future of the planet.

Recent theories suggest that over the next 250 million years, Earth will evolve toward Pangea Ultima, a supercontinent hot enough to wipe out mammals.

However, the Earth is currently on a trajectory where volcanic carbon dioxide emissions decrease as continental collisions increase and plate velocities decrease.

So perhaps Pangea Ultima will snowball again.

“Whatever the future holds, it is important to remember that geological climate changes of the type studied here occur very slowly,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.

“According to NASA, human-induced climate change is occurring 10 times faster than ever before.”

of study appear in the diary geology.

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Adriana Dutkiewicz other. The period of the Sturtian “Snowball Earth” ice age is associated with unusually low gas emissions at mid-ocean ridges. geology, published online on February 7, 2024. doi: 10.1130/G51669.1

Source: www.sci.news

Iran-affiliated hackers disrupt UAE TV streaming service by creating fake news using deepfake technology

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

According to Microsoft analysts, Iranian state-backed hackers disrupted a television streaming service in the United Arab Emirates and broadcast a deepfake newsreader distributing reports on the Gaza war.

Microsoft announced that a hacking operation by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps disrupted streaming platforms in the UAE with an AI-generated news broadcast dubbed “For Humanity.”

The fake news anchors introduced unverified images showing wounded and killed Palestinians in Israeli military operations in Gaza. The hacker group known as Cotton Sandstorm hacked three online streaming services and published a video on the messaging platform Telegram showing them disrupting a news channel with fake newscasters, according to Microsoft analysts.

Dubai residents using HK1RBOXX set-top boxes received a message in December that read, “To get this message to you, we have no choice but to hack you,” the UAE-based news service said. The AI-generated anchor then introduced a message that read: “Graphic” images and captions showing the number of casualties in Gaza so far.

Microsoft also noted reports of disruptions in Canada and the United Kingdom, where channels including the BBC were affected, although the BBC was not directly hacked.

In a blog post, Microsoft said, “This is the first Iranian influence operation where AI plays a key element in messaging, and is an example of the rapid and significant expansion of the Iranian operation’s scope since its inception.”

“The confusion was also felt by viewers in the UAE, UK, and Canada.”

Breakthroughs in generative AI technology have led to an increase in deepfake content online, which has raised concerns about its potential to disrupt elections, including the US presidential election.

Experts are concerned that AI-generated materials could be deployed on a large scale to disrupt elections this year, including the US presidential election. Iran targeted the 2020 US election with a cyber campaign that included sending threatening emails to voters posing as members of the far-right Proud Boys group and launching a website inciting violence against FBI Director Christopher Wray and others. Spreading disinformation about voting infrastructure.

Microsoft said that since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Iranian state-backed forces have engaged in a series of cyberattacks and attempts to manipulate public opinion online, including attacks on targets in Israel, Albania, Bahrain (a signatory to the Abraham Accords formalizing relations with Israel), and the US.

JET fusion reactor in the UK achieves record-breaking energy output

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Inside the JET fusion reactor

eurofusion

A 40-year-old nuclear fusion reactor in the UK has set a world record for energy output in its final run before permanent shutdown, scientists have announced.

The Joint European Taurus (JET) in Oxfordshire began operations in 1983. During its operation, it briefly became the hottest point in the solar system, reaching 150 million degrees Celsius.

The reactor's previous record was in 2021 for a reaction that lasted five seconds and produced 59 megajoules of thermal energy. However, it surpassed this in its final test in late 2023, using just 0.2 milligrams of fuel to sustain the reaction for 5.2 seconds, reaching an output of 69 megajoules.

This corresponds to an output of 12.5 megawatts, enough to power 12,000 homes, Mikhail Maslov of the UK Atomic Energy Agency said at a press conference on February 8.

Today's nuclear power plants rely on nuclear fission reactions, in which atoms are shattered to release energy and small particles. Fusion works in reverse, pushing smaller particles together into larger atoms.

Nuclear fusion can produce more energy without any of the radioactive waste produced by nuclear fission, but there is still no practical way to use the process in power plants.

JET trains atoms of two stable isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium, together in a plasma to create helium, releasing a huge amount of energy at the same time. This is the same reaction that powers our sun. This is a type of fusion reactor known as a tokamak, which uses rings of electromagnets to contain plasma in a donut shape.

Scientists conducted the final experiment using deuterium and tritium fuel on JET in October last year, and other experiments continued until December. However, the machine is now permanently closed and will be decommissioned over the next 16 years.

Juan Matthews Researchers at the University of Manchester in the UK say many secrets will be revealed during JET's dismantling. For example, how the reactor lining deteriorated from contact with the plasma, and where in the machine the precious tritium, worth around £30,000 a gram, is embedded. You can recover. This will be important information for future research and commercial reactors.

“It's great to have a little bit of a bang,” Matthews said. “It has a noble history. Now that it has served its purpose, we plan to squeeze out more information during the decommissioning period as well. So it's not sad. It's something to be celebrated.”

France's larger, more modern replacement for JET, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), is nearing completion, with first experiments scheduled to begin in 2025.

ITER construction project deputy director Tim Luce told a news conference that ITER plans to expand its energy output to 500 megawatts and possibly 700 megawatts.

“These are what I normally call power plant sizes,” he said. “They are at the lowest level of cost required for a power generation facility. Moreover, to obtain high fusion power and gain the timescale needs to be extended to at least 300 seconds, but from an energy production point of view it is probably less than an hour. So what JET has done is exactly a scale model of what we need to do with the ITER project.”

Another reactor using the same design, the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) device, recently succeeded in sustaining a reaction for 30 seconds at temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius.

Other approaches to creating practical fusion reactors are also being pursued around the world, such as the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. It fired a very powerful laser into the fuel capsule, a process called inertial confinement fusion, and was able to release almost twice the energy that was put into it.

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The Impact of AI on Creativity in the Fashion Industry

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

T
The impact of artificial intelligence on creative industries is a topic that has sparked widespread fears of job losses and the death of imagination, and the world of fashion is no exception.

But this month’s London Fashion Week, which marks the event’s 40th anniversary, will feature a slew of AI-generated costumes, with industry insiders saying the technology is helping to make the journey from improving diversity to shortening the path to the design desk. He is expressing increasing optimism about what the field can do. Go to the sales floor.

President of London College of Fashion
innovation agency
Matthew Drinkwater believes AI will prove to be an “incredibly useful tool” for the creative process and the industry as a whole.

“It’s opened the door to a non-traditional path into the fashion industry for people who wouldn’t have been able to get into it before, because let’s be honest, this industry is pretty elitist and very This is because there may be a perception that the industry is exclusive and expensive.

“But thanks to these tools, people from completely different backgrounds are starting to gain a foothold in the industry. And to me, that feels really fresh and exciting,” he said.

Brands such as Heriot Emil, Zara and H&M are already using AI to manage their supply chains, promoting sustainability by reducing overstock and waste. Many brands are also leveraging AI to aid the design process, visualizing different materials and patterns using garment images generated from input prompts. This allows designers to make informed decisions before the garment is physically produced.

consulting company
McKinsey predicted
Last year, generative AI (a term used to describe technology that can generate compelling images, text, and audio from simple human prompts) drove the domestic fashion and luxury sector’s operating profits from $150 billion to $275 billion ($120 billion). It has been announced that this could increase from £220 billion to £220 billion. Next 3-5 years. It is predicted that the use of AI to predict future fashion trends and the realization of virtual try-on will be just around the corner.

Drinkwater has been working with his team to consider how AI can change the industry, and has been testing generative AI’s ability to create clothing for years. “We were trying to scrape websites and get a lot of data so we could create a dress from over 40,000 images. It was actually quite a task to do this four years ago. But now they open up their laptops, or even their smartphones, and start generating images very quickly,” Drinkwater said.

A collaboration between VFX and AI artist Atara and London College of Fashion’s Fashion Innovation Agency will take place in March 2023.

“So typically we take things that are probably three to five years away from commercialization and start showing research projects about where the future of the industry could move,” he added.

Last April, Cyrille Foiret’s generative AI studio, Maison Meta, hosted the first AI Fashion Week in New York. This included a competition for aspiring designers to create a fashion line using AI. Winners were able to physically manufacture their collections for sale online at retailer Revolve. As in other industries, AI has become associated with layoffs, with critics arguing that creative artistry could be lost. But Foiret insists there is little need to fear.

“AI is a very powerful tool to amplify creativity. People who think it will reduce their jobs should not think that way. We just need to get used to the tool, but it is just a tool.” , and it’s useless if there’s no one behind it,” he said.

Arti Zeighami, former chief data and analytics officer at H&M and now senior AI advisor at consulting firm BCG, agrees that AI can be used as a force for good in the fashion world. “Being transparent about AI can help people feel less fearful and more secure and in control. What’s important is a change in human thinking,” he said.

“AI will evolve as a technology, and we need to evolve with it, but we’re not at the Terminator stage, at least not yet.”

Mary Towers, head of AI at the TUC, said AI could be a useful support for creative sector workers, but it should not be taken over to replace human creativity. .

“We need new legislation to ensure that all workers in the arts, including fashion, are consulted and properly compensated when their work or intellectual property is used by AI.” she stated.

“In the UK, we have already seen performers having their images, voices or likenesses replicated by AI technology without their consent. We cannot afford for this to become the norm in other industries. , new regulations are urgently needed to protect worker creativity and copyright.”

The Potential Harmful Effects of Spiral Scratches on Contact Lenses

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Contact lenses with a spiral design

Laurent Galinier

Lenses featuring a trippy spiral design could be an alternative to traditional multifocal lenses. It seems to produce clearer images than standard multifocal lenses, even in dimly lit areas.

The lens was created by the inventor Laurent Galinier.when bertrand simon He met Galinier through a scientific collaboration at the Institute of Optics Graduate School in France, and he immediately wanted to test lenses in the lab.

They are round lenses like traditional contact lenses, but the surface is carefully turned into a spiral using a lathe. This spiral shape changes the path that light rays take through the lens. That is, the lens does not have a single focal point, but several focal points, some closer to the lens and some farther from it.

It's unclear exactly how the spiral shape does this, but Simon said it appears to twist the light rays and create vortexes of light (like small tornadoes of light) that somehow influence each other. ing.

In the lab, Simon and his colleagues analyzed laser light passed through a spiral lens and simulated the process on a computer. In direct comparison with traditional multifocal lenses, the spiral lenses provided more clarity and detail when more light passed through them, and performed better in dim light conditions.

Therefore, spiral lenses may be suitable under various lighting conditions. For example, it could be useful for people who use multifocal lenses while driving at night, Simon said. He tried the spiral contact lenses himself and said that while the hard material was uncomfortable in contact with his eyes, it saved him the hassle of removing his glasses to look at his cell phone. With the spiral lens, I could see the screen clearly.

james wolfthorn According to researchers at Aston University in the UK, many people experience problems focusing on nearby objects, even if their distance vision is corrected. Innovations like spiral lenses are promising, but only clinical trials can prove how much of a difference new technology will actually make for people, he says.

Simon says it's possible to create a more compact camera by replacing part of the lens with a spiral lens version, but the team will first investigate the science behind spiral light. We would like to do further testing.

topic:

How to Safeguard the Most Vulnerable in Digital Healthcare

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

from AI algorithm to detect early cancer“Doctor in your pocket” Video consultation on smartphoneNext-generation healthcare technologies are being announced one after another at a rapid pace.

For example, as recently announced in the UK, users of the NHS app will now be able to collect medicines from pharmacies without having to visit a medical centre, and the usual paper slip given by a doctor will now be replaced by a barcode within the app. will be replaced by

Innovations like these have brought tremendous benefits to millions of patients. However, these benefits of digitalization are not evenly distributed. According to his Ofcom report in 2023: 1 in 13 households do not have access to the internet And a similar proportion do not have a computer at home. But even within connected households, the so-called ‘digital skills gap’ means many people may still struggle.

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Imagine this typical case. Dorothy and Bill are retired factory workers in their mid-70s. They have their home computer connected to their TV and have a machine that allows them to (almost) send e-mails to their daughter who lives abroad.

It’s hard to use, but I love watching my family’s news come through the TV screen. However, I don’t use my computer much for other purposes because websites take a long time to load. Bill has a smartphone and receives photos of his grandchildren through an instant messenger app, but he doesn’t know how to send them back.

Prompted by a text message from their doctor, the couple confirms they have internet access and enters their email address. A few weeks later, I received a message inviting Bill for his annual checkup and treatment for shingles. However, subject lines are unclear and long messages are impersonal and difficult to understand.

The couple had only ever received emails from their daughter, so they thought the message from their doctor was spam and deleted it. As a result, Bill neglected medical checkups, ran out of blood pressure medication, and was left susceptible to shingles.

digital skills gap

The problem is that entry-level home computing is primarily designed for basic gaming and simple email exchange, and it’s not easy to interact with data-intensive web platforms or send high-resolution images of body parts. It is not intended for this purpose. The same goes for budget-level data bundles offered by mobile phone providers.

For people like Dorothy and Bill to navigate the digital health space, they need not only better technology, but also technical skills to interact with technology, such as comfortable typing, using a mouse, and navigating drop-down menus. Skills are also required.

Also important is “information literacy.” This is the ability to recognize when information is needed (such as an old address or login code) and how to provide it. Second, health literacy, or the ability to find, understand, and use health information and online health services.

Generally, individuals are either digitally equipped, technologically proficient, information literate, and health literate, or they simply are not. There is very little in between. And as A major analysis from the University of Oxford found that, the more indicators a person has of a disadvantage (low income, older age, preference for a language other than English, to name a few), the harder it is to access digital services. Several of these factors combine to make it even less likely that these disadvantaged patients will be able to connect to health services through digital means.

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Unfortunately, such inequalities are nothing new. In fact, it was 53 years ago that British physician Julian Tudor Hart first proposed the Reverse Care Act, a principle that was developed to protect people who need health care the most: the poor, the less educated, It was argued that people (older people and people with frequent illnesses) are healthier. It is the least likely that you will receive it. There is no easy solution to the “digital reverse care” method. A person who lacks the necessary digital skills may be willing to go to the local library for computer training, but with an empty bucket he can safely “replenish” the complex skills he has missed. You shouldn’t think about it.

What is the solution?

What should NHS organizations do to ensure everyone gets a fair contract in today’s digital world?

First, digitally supported services should be designed or improved primarily for patients who have difficulty accessing them. A service that works for someone who is not familiar with or unable to use a computer or smartphone will almost certainly work for someone else. “Digital navigators” – human staff who can help patients find directions about services if needed – can be a big help here.

Second, healthcare providers need to look beyond the binary when assessing people’s digital connectivity and skills. Instead of asking patients if they have an internet connection, you should ask them to describe what they are actually comfortable doing with technology and customize their care package accordingly.

Third, for the most disadvantaged patients, those with complex health and social care needs, there is no need to use technology at all, especially when their needs are not adequately met by technology. Keep in mind that your approach may be the most appropriate. technology. For these patients, their records can be marked with electronic flags that remind busy staff to use no technology or provide a technology-free option.

And finally, we need to see digital exclusion first and foremost as a moral issue. NHS founder Nye Bevan said: “No society can legitimately be called civilized if the sick are denied medical assistance because of lack of means.”

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Can naked mole rats hold the secret to their youthful appearance?

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Learn from the mole rat

Feedback is promising a bonanza of new pharmaceutical, medical and lifestyle product launches that propose boosting hyaluronic acid levels for everyone. Hyaluronic acid is a substance recently found to provide some protection to naked mole rat cells from inflammation and early death.

Marketers who specialize in mass inflammation cannot afford to miss this situation. Journal of Experimental BiologyFeeling grateful for hyaluronic acid. Under the heading is “Anti-aging secrets from underground burrowing rodents” says the magazine. “Most cells live within a blanket of molecules and minerals called the extracellular matrix. In naked mole rats, this blanket is woven from a thicker fabric. Naked mole rats produce the heavier, larger molecule hyaluronic acid, which is the backbone of this extracellular matrix.

“This extra padding protects cells from inflammation and premature death, as shown by Andrei Seruanov and Vera Gorbunova's team at the University of Rochester in the US.”

The report ends with this almost poetic wink. “The fountain of youth may be embodied in the heavy hyaluronic acid of the naked mole rat, a nearly blind rodent with many wrinkles and yellowed teeth.”

Anarchist Cookbook Tips

Books can pose dangers in unexpected ways.

Feedback reminds you to be careful when using anarchist cookbook. If you don't cook your anarchist to the right temperature, you can run into problems.

similarly shredded vegan chef. Not shredding your vegan chef properly can cause pain.

If your hobby is astrophysics, this warning applies to: Whole Earth Cookbook.

encounter after death

After Mallard's gay necrophilia became known to the world 20 years ago, many more reports of “Davian behavior” entered the public record. A quick update here.

This topic received a lot of attention in 2003 when Dutch ornithologist Keith Moeliker won an award. Ig Nobel Prize His now famous paper “The First Case of Homosexual Necrophilia in Mallard Ducks” Anas Platyrhynchus”. Mr. Mauliker talked about two ducks that encountered the Davian bird. The necrotic behavior is called “Davian” here because American ornithologist Robert W. Dickman published a paper in 1960. This is because he gave the necrotic act a new name: “Davian.''Ground squirrel's “Davian behavioral complex”” was published. mammal journal.

Michal Řeřicha and his colleagues at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague have published a report documenting a practice among ladybugs (known in some areas as ladybugs). The title of the report is scary.Mating of nonnative ladybirds with dead conspecifics is influenced by sexual fasting in males and time since death in females”.

This comes just three years after a report on necrophilia at sea by Amber Lee D. Kincaid and colleagues at the Mote Marine Institute in Florida:Necrosis of a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) near Sarasota, Florida.”.

High-profile, hard-hitting reports sometimes take a literary turn, like a 2015 paper about South American snakes.The sexual appeal of corpse brides: unusual mating behavior of Helicops carinicaudus (Dipsadidae)”, by Raíssa Siqueira and colleagues at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. They write: “We observed a young male mating with a headless female by fully inserting her hemipenis. Specimens were collected, dissected and measured.”

Literary works influence other literary works, as evidenced by a 2020 paper by Marco Colombo and Emiliano Mori of the University of Siena in Italy. the title is”The 'corpse bride' strikes again: first report on Davian behavior in Eurasian badgers”.

Delightful yet scary title

Some medical papers have very intriguing and frightening titles. For those who like horror novels, the title will almost make you want to skip reading the study itself.

Why avoid a complete study? Because when a person's imagination is overstimulated, it can conjure up strange things. By comparison, the actual details you can go and see for yourself may seem mundane, dull, and even relatively boring. Reading them can lead to literary disappointment and dissatisfaction, and in some cases even death of curiosity.

For example, consider a paper written by a medical team in Chiba, Japan. For non-experts, this book describes how doctors solve accidental jigsaw puzzles, puzzles made of strange parts from a person's digestive system. Please read the title of the paper carefully.Risk factors for unintentional partial resection in endoscopic mucosal resection for colorectal polyps larger than 10 mm”.

In feedback, if you find an unexpected title for a published scientific report, please submit it. Please include a full citation and link to the paper. Send to: “Very scary title” feedback.

Mark Abrahams hosted the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founded the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Previously, he was working on unusual uses of computers.his website is impossible.com.

Have a story for feedback?

You can email your article to Feedback at feedback@newscientist.com. Please enter your home address. This week's and past feedback can be found on our website.

UK’s JET fusion reactor achieves highest energy output in the world

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A 40-year-old nuclear fusion reactor in the UK has set a world record for energy output in its final run before permanent shutdown, scientists have announced.

The Joint European Taurus (JET) in Oxfordshire began operations in 1983. During its operation, it briefly became the hottest point in the solar system, reaching 150 million degrees Celsius.

Inside the JET fusion reactor

eurofusion

This corresponds to an output of 12.5 megawatts, enough to power 12,000 homes, Mikhail Maslov of the UK Atomic Energy Agency said at a press conference on February 8.

Nuclear fusion can produce more energy without any of the radioactive waste produced by nuclear fission, but there is still no practical way to use the process in power plants.

France's larger, more modern replacement for JET, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), is nearing completion, with first experiments scheduled to begin in 2025.

ITER construction project deputy director Tim Luce told a news conference that ITER plans to expand its energy output to 500 megawatts and possibly 700 megawatts.

Midland warehouse workers accuse Amazon of employing ‘union-busting’ tactics

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

GMB has accused Amazon of resorting to “union-busting” tactics at its warehouse in the Midlands, with a workplace message board telling workers: and you.Labor unions want talks for you. “

The claims come as unions prepare for three days of strike action next week at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse, known as BHX4, as part of a labor dispute that has been going on for more than a year. Staff are demanding a pay rise to £15 an hour and the right to negotiate with the company over pay and conditions.

The Guardian has seen photos from information boards and internal newsletters that GMB claims were on display at BHX4 and other Amazon warehouses in the region. These will display messages similar to the following: ‘The union wants to pay you £14.37 a month to represent you. We believe there should be no price to pay for having your voice heard’, ‘Make your voice heard’ You don’t have to join a union to do it. We’ve got you.”

Another says: “Before you vote or join a union, we encourage you to research the facts for yourself. The best relationships are direct relationships.”

Gary Smith, general secretary of the GMB, said: “What do you want to call it? One of the richest companies in the world working on union-busting right here in the UK.”

He added that GMB members in Coventry “refuse to give in to Amazon’s union busting and they will get the pay and recognition they deserve.”

TUC assistant general secretary Kate Bell, who visited the Coventry picket line last year, said: “Rather than giving workers the respect they deserve, Amazon will do everything in their power to stop workers from organizing for better pay. “I’m working on it,” he said. and conditions. “

GMB’s latest criticism of Amazon comes as the company prepares for a new battle to gain formal recognition in Coventry. The union last year withdrew its application to the Independent Central Arbitration Commission (CAC) and ordered Amazon to add at least 1,000 additional workers to prevent GMB from proving it represented a clear majority of its front-line workers. accused of conscripting people into military service.

The company denied the allegations and said the recruitment of new staff was done as a result of normal business requirements. A concerted membership recruitment campaign continues on the ground, and GMB said it plans to submit a new application to the CAC this spring.

“We respect our employees’ right to join or not to join a labor union,” an Amazon spokesperson said.

Uber achieves landmark moment with its first annual profit as a limited liability company

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Uber reported annual operating profit for the first time as a limited liability company. It was a landmark moment for the company, which has spent billions of investors' money on an aggressive and often controversial expansion around the world.

The US taxi app company announced a profit of $1.1bn (£870m) in 2023, compared to a loss of $1.8bn the previous year.

The milestone has investors speculating about whether Uber will buy back stock or pay investors a dividend. Uber Chief Financial Officer Prashant Mahendra-Raja said the company will share its “capital allocation plan” with investors next week.

Uber stock rose 1% on Wednesday after initially falling. The company's stock has risen by more than a fifth through 2024 and doubled in the past 12 months, giving it a value of nearly $150 billion.

The company said customers have booked 2.6 billion trips in the past three months of 2023, which equates to about 28 million trips per day.

“2023 was a turning point for Uber, proving that we can continue to see strong, profitable growth at scale,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber's chief executive officer. Our audience is bigger and more engaged than ever, and our platform powered an average of nearly 26 million trips every day last year.

Uber was founded in 2009 by entrepreneurs Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick. Kalanick took over as CEO in 2010 and continued its expansion, during which time the app quickly spread across the United States, followed by Europe and many cities around the world.

This growth has been made possible by Uber's embrace of the gig economy, where drivers in many countries are considered self-employed and are not entitled to things like sick pay or paid time off.

Mr. Kalanick's time as CEO was marked by a series of scandals and battles with regulators. In 2022, leaks reported by the Guardian revealed how Uber broke laws, deceived police, and secretly lobbied governments while rolling out its service.

Mr. Kalanick was replaced in 2017 by Mr. Khosrowshahi, the former chief executive of travel agency Expedia, in an effort to soften the company's image and focus on meeting regulators' requirements.

Dan Ives, an analyst at investment bank Wedbush, said Khosrowshahi has led “one of the greatest turnarounds in tech industry history” and that Uber is “not slowing down.”

Uber has consistently suffered significant operating losses since its stock listing on the New York Stock Exchange in May 2019. Losses increased from $3 billion in 2018 to $8.6 billion in 2019, then declined to $4.9 billion in 2020, $3.8 billion in 2021, and $1.8 billion in 2021. 2022.

Thanks in part to growing demand, the company made a profit in 2023. Gross booking value (the total amount paid by Uber riders and delivery customers) in the final quarter of 2023 increased 22% year over year to $37.6 billion. Uber's profit from these deals was $9.9 billion.

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” Stars Dive into 120 Episodes of Cringe-Worthy Content in This Week’s Top Podcasts

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

This week's picks

Late fragment
Wide range of weekly episodes available
This introspective and thoughtful show interviews people in their 80s about politics, religion, sex and money. Its outstanding line-up includes Neil Kinnock, Miriam and Margolyes, and Proulis. The first episode of our latest series is a wide-ranging conversation with humanitarian Terry Waite. This is a thoughtful look at his homelessness situation, his economic situation, and what it was like to spend his five years in chains and in total solitary confinement. Alexi Duggins

drink champion
Wide range of weekly episodes available
If you're looking for a quick listen, the latest episode of this loud, alcohol-filled series isn't for you. But if he has more than three hours to spend in conversation with the likes of Grandmaster Flash and Ludacris (below) with his MC Noah and DJ EFN of Hip Hop, it's a lively laugh into the Golden Age of Hip Hop. It will be a journey filled with. advertisement

Ludacris, Guest of Drink Champs. Photo: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

real black history
Wide range of weekly episodes available
Francesca Ramsey and Conscious Lee shed light on the lesser-known figures who have shaped black culture beyond Martin Luther King Jr., and engage in many fascinating discussions. The excellent first episode focuses on the women of the Black Panther Party, including Assata Shakur, a fugitive targeted by the FBI who maintains her innocence. Hannah Verdier

hidden 20%
Wide range of weekly episodes available
A neurodivergent mind can lead to great creativity, as evidenced by Seedlip entrepreneur Ben Brunson, who was diagnosed with autism and ADHD as an adult. He currently hosts a podcast to change people's perceptions of his 20% who don't fit the neurotypical classification. Guests including actor Kit Harington, vocal coach Carey Grant, and athlete Adele Tracy will bring their insights. HV

A history of curbing enthusiasm
Wide range of weekly episodes available
After 23 years, the final series of Curb has just begun. That's why two of its stars, Jeff Garlin and Susie Essman, are celebrating with a rewatch podcast that rewinds it all the way to the beginning. In fact, in the first episode, Larry David talks about pre-pilot development. A must-listen for avid fans. Holly Richardson

There's a podcast for that

Mary Robinson, host of Mothers of Invention. Photo: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

this week, nima job Our picks for the 5 best podcasts on climate crisisfrom the positive changes we can make as individuals to combat the crisis, to the impact on Indigenous communities.

Pre-drilled
From award-winning investigative journalist Amy Westervelt's exclusive season focusing on Namibia's growing oil reserves to Guyana's oil boom that is creating more economic uncertainty for the general public (not to mention rising sea levels) , which delves into the most pressing issues surrounding the climate crisis. . Amy explores the complexities that arise when a country faces both climate change and poverty simultaneously.

mothers of invention
In this fascinating podcast, Mary Robinson (above), Ireland's first female president, shares the microphone with comedian Maeve Higgins and series producer Timari Kodikara. The all-female case leaves no room for debate as to whether men are primarily responsible for the climate crisis. Each episode spotlights a heroic brown, black, and indigenous woman taking on the challenges facing our planet. The trio also give airtime to concerns young people have about how the climate crisis will affect their future prospects. The show features a wide range of guests, from female climate change activists like Diara Tucano to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

I'm curious about the climate
If you're feeling confused and unprepared to discuss the climate crisis and its potential impact on your life, this TEDxLondon podcast hosted by Mariam Pasha and Ben Hurst is perfect for you. It's a learning tool. The show demystifies unfamiliar climate terminology, dissects climate issues with expert interviews, celebrates Pride, explores queer ecology, and explores intersex birds and transsexual fish. shed light on the world.

climate of change
Climate of Change doesn't have a huge back catalogue, but its six episodes make for a short and sweet listening experience. Guests include Hollywood veteran Cate Blanchett and clean energy economy entrepreneur Danny Kennedy, as well as Prince William, fashion activist Livia Firth and Don't Look Up director Adam McKay. Appear. Despite highlighting the dire challenges facing our planet, this podcast maintains an optimistic tone while providing insight into the important work being done.

good together
Hosted by sustainability expert Laura Alexander Wittig, this podcast gives listeners the tools to make a difference in mitigating the climate crisis. In each weekly episode, she learns about terms like “circular economy” and discovers practical tips for incorporating eco-friendly habits into your daily life. Wittig covers a wide range of topics, from sustainable spring cleaning to the environmental impact of her streaming services. If you want to contribute to positive change, this is the perfect podcast to inspire you to channel your inner climate hero.

For more Guardian reporting on the environment and the climate crisis, sign up here to receive the Down to Earth newsletter every Thursday.

Why not try it…

collection of memories This production takes you on a journey across Canada, from a Viking-era Norse settlement in Newfoundland to the ruins of a sacred Haida village in Gwaii Harnas. Each episode explores new locations and stories that help us understand our complicated past.
Comedians Kiri Pritchard-McLean and Eshild Sears travel across Wales, sampling local food and drink, famous landmarks and talking to local characters. pod of wales.

in Small efforts are prohibitedIn , theologian and professor Lee C. Camp, along with guests including actor Martin Sheen, examines what makes a good life possible.

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

Understanding the Job Cuts in the $180 Billion Gaming Industry

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

I
It's widely agreed that 2023 was a great year for video games. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur's Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Marvel's Spider-Man 2… Barely a week has passed without a blockbuster or independent masterpiece appearing.

But behind these accolades there is a sadder and more worrying story. This year also saw widespread layoffs in the industry, a trend that continues into the first weeks of 2024. Microsoft laid off 1,900 employees after acquiring Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. .Publisher Embracer Group
lay off at least 900 staff
In addition to shutting down veteran British developer Free Radical Design, it has ended activity across many of the company’s studios. Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, one of his most successful titles of this decade, has laid off 830 employees.electronic arts
6% reduction in workforce, which equates to approximately 780 jobs. There were similar harrowing stories from Ubisoft, Naughty Dog, Sega, and Unity.Big publishers and small studios alike
is affected

Why did this happen? Why is the entertainment industry, said to be worth $180 billion a year, cutting staff at such an alarming rate?

In some cases, there are certain factors that promote redundancy. In the case of Activision Blizzard, one of the reasons is the duplication of roles after the purchase is completed. “Microsoft obviously already had a publishing business, but they bought ZeniMax Media, Bethesda's parent company, and another publishing business,” said James Batchelor, editor-in-chief of GamesIndustry.biz. “The company then acquired two publishing businesses, Activision and Blizzard, which operated somewhat separately. Think about the number of departments that have doubled here, including human resources, public relations, marketing, and accounting. So you end up with a lot of people doing the same job within the same company. This is a case of rationalization.”

Even though Fortnite has been a huge success, the publisher is still cutting back on employee numbers.
Photo: Zuma Press/Alamy

Sweden's Embracer Group is a game publisher that owns 135 studios around the world, including Tomb Raider creator Crystal Dynamics. After a period of accelerated expansion, the company was forced to close developers, cancel games, and make staff redundant. “The company had a very aggressive merger and acquisition strategy, but we now know that it was dependent on outside investment,” Batchelor said. “But last year, deals worth at least $2 billion were reportedly struck by Saudi investors.
was canceledThis meant we had to make major adjustments to our plans. Embracer is a classic example of a company that is too big to survive. There are thousands of people working on the Embracer game, but we didn’t have a big seller to sustain that number. ”

However, one event looms large in the background: the new coronavirus pandemic. Interest in video games exploded during lockdown. He had two effects. For one thing, strong sales of titles like “Animal Crossing” and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” have boosted revenues and sent stock prices soaring, attracting the attention of outside investors and flooding the industry with money. That means I did it. In response, arrogant publishers commissioned more ambitious projects and hired accordingly.

But the bubble didn't last. Sales declined as lockdowns eased and people continued to live their lives. “We've seen a lot of games canceled over the last few months. I think there are more that we just don't know about,” Batchelor says. “If we cancel a project and focus on a few games that we know will do well for the studio, we will unfortunately be putting the jobs of the people working on the projects that are being scrapped at risk.”

Hyena, one of many games canceled in 2023.
Photo: Sega

The solution for many publishers has been to cut back on riskier projects and focus on “sure-fire” hits, but this may just be perpetuating the cycle. McDonald explains: “Publishers are signing fewer games, development costs are lower, and it takes longer to sign deals, but if you leave them without all the promising games for the next few years, You put yourself at risk.”

Macdonald believes there may be a bandwagon effect. “We're at a stage now where so many studios are having so many layoffs that some companies think it's an opportunity to make layoffs for more specific reasons. , many other studios will be in the spotlight for job losses. It's especially unfortunate that companies with billions of dollars in cash jumped on the bandwagon and made mass layoffs, and that cash It is likely that the interest increase alone could have covered all of these salaries.

Given the gloomy start to 2024, the effects of coronavirus and various acquisitions across the industry are likely to continue to impact the gaming business. And even if it recovers, another threat looms over staff: the rise of artificial intelligence in development and production processes. “We don't know how widely AI tools are being deployed, but there is talk that some reductions are being made in hopes of leveraging AI for content creation.” McDonald says.

The use of AI could be attractive to publishers looking to reduce costs, such as by creating digital caricatures of an actor's voice.
Photo: David O’Donnell/The Guardian

For publishers looking to reduce development costs, the use of AI can be attractive, especially in areas such as quality assurance and performance capture. In January, the Sag-Aftra union
criticized An agreement reached with an AI company that will allow actors to create digital images that resemble their voices has sparked an uproar on social media.Starfield and Mortal Kombat actor Sunil Malhotra
I wrote to X: “I sacrificed going on strike for half of the last year to keep my profession instead of hoarding AI replicas.”

With their livelihoods threatened, more development staff are seeking to unionize, increasing pressure on the industry to self-regulate. Incumbent publishers are starting to see both as threats. Last June,
Electronic Arts Financial Report We have identified unionization and AI regulation as having the potential to negatively impact our business and performance.

So how can newcomers to the gaming industry protect themselves? “At the end of the day, job seekers always have to look out for themselves,” McDonald says. “Check if the company is profitable, has a history of layoffs, and if salaries are sustainable.”

Video game companies also have a responsibility to reflect on the past year and learn from it. But what lessons might they learn?

“I think the industry is going to get more attention and focus on known hits and safer bets,” Batchelor said. “This is unfortunate because the industry still needs to take risks. But ultimately those risks need to be maintained and funded by companies, rather than relying on external investment.”

“As companies become more streamlined and more sustainable, we hope to create a smarter industry.”

January Breaks Record as Hottest Month; Global Temperature Surpasses 1.7°C Rise

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Devastating wildfires break out in Chile following January's heat wave and drought

Javier Torres/AFP via Getty Images

Temperature records continue. According to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Agency, January this year was the hottest on record, with temperatures 1.7 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.

This means there were 12 months in which the Earth's average surface temperature was more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the average between 1850 and 1900, the pre-industrial reference point.

“2024 begins with another record month,” Samantha Burgess of the Copernicus Climate Change Service said in a statement. She said: “Rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are the only way to stop global temperatures from rising.”

At the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, countries pledged to work to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Climate scientists will not consider this limit to have been breached until the Earth's long-term average temperature exceeds this level for many years.

The long-term average is now 1.25°C warmer than before the industrial revolution. Richard Betts At the Met Office, the UK's National Weather Service. However, carbon emissions are still increasing, and by this standard it seems certain that the 1.5°C limit will be breached soon, perhaps around 2030.

Long-term global averages are rising in line with climate model predictions. However, the extremely rapid warming over the past year or two has far exceeded expectations. Among other records, in 2023 he recorded for the first time a day warmer by 2 degrees Celsius than the average from 1850 to 1900.

It remains unclear why there has been such rapid warming over the past year or so, and how long it will continue. Factors that may have accelerated warming include the 2022 eruption of Tonga Volcano, which pumped large amounts of water into the stratosphere, and reduced aerosol pollution from ships.

For practical reasons, climate scientists have defined pre-industrial temperatures as the average from 1850 to 1900, since there are few records of temperatures before then. However, using this as a baseline could mean that the level of warming due to fossil fuel emissions is being underestimated.

One 2017 survey This indicates an error of approximately 0.2°C. Another announcement this week put the difference at 0.5°C, based on analysis of sponges, meaning we have already breached the 1.5°C limit, but other climate scientists They are not satisfied with this.

topic:

The Hubble Space Telescope captures a distorted spiral galaxy

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have obtained a surprising new perspective of spiral galaxy UGC 3912.

This Hubble image shows UGC 3912, a small spiral galaxy located 63 million light-years away in the constellation Canis Major. Image credit: NASA / ESA / C. Kilpatrick, Northwestern University / Gladys Kober, NASA and The Catholic University of America.

UGC 3912also known as IRAS 07315+0439 or LEDA 21303, lies. 19.3 megaparsecs It is located in the constellation Canis Minor (63 million light years) from Earth.

“UGC 3912 is classified as a spiral galaxy, but you wouldn't know it from this detailed Hubble image,” said Hubble astronomers.

“This galaxy's distorted shape typically indicates a gravitational encounter with another galaxy.”

“When galaxies interact, meaning they bump into or collide with each other's gravitational fields, their stars, dust, and gas can be pulled into new paths.”

“UGC 3912 may have once been an organized-looking spiral, but now it appears to have been bent out of shape by a giant thumb.”

“Fortunately, when galaxies interact, individual stars and objects orbiting them remain intact, even though their orbits change dramatically and the shape of the galaxy as a whole changes.”

“That's because the distances between stars in galaxies are so great that they simply keep moving along new orbits without colliding with each other.”

Astronomers are studying UGC 3912 as part of their investigation into supernova activity. Supernova activity is when a star at least eight times the size of the Sun explodes at the end of its life.

“Hubble studies hydrogen-rich phenomena known as supernovae, one of several types of supernovae. Type II supernova” they explained.

“Although enough Type II supernovae have been observed, they exhibit highly variable properties in brightness and spectroscopy and are not well understood.”

Source: www.sci.news

Confirmation of Two Newly Discovered Carboniferous Ctenacan Shark Species in the United States

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

An intensive search for ancient marine vertebrates in Mammoth Cave National Park's paleontological resource inventory has yielded a wealth of new fossil data. To date, paleontologists have identified marine vertebrate fossils from four major formations within the park, two of which are the first of marine vertebrate fossils to occur in those formations. It's a record. The Mammoth Cave ruins have yielded more than 70 species of ancient fish, approximately 90% of which are cartilaginous fish (sharks and related species), including two new species: I am. Troglocladodus trimbley and Grikmanius Care Forum.

Reconstruction of a new Ctenacan shark discovered in Mammoth Cave National Park and northern Alabama: Grikmanius Care Forum Two people can be seen swimming in the foreground. Troglocladodus trimbley swimming above. Image credit: Benji Paynose.

Mammoth Cave National ParkLocated in central Kentucky, it is home to the longest cave system in the world.

To date, more than 685 km (426 miles) of corridors within 214 km have been mapped.² It forms a park. In addition, within the boundaries of the park there are more than 500 small caves.

These cave passages date back 340 to 325 million years and were formed by dissolution by underground rivers, streams, and other drainage channels that cut through a series of limestones covered with durable sandstone. I did.

These passages opened up unique views of these limestones. Limestone is a time capsule containing a wealth of information about the ancient marine environment at the time of its deposition.

From these layers, invertebrate fossils such as horned corals, fan-like bryozoans, brachiopods, gastropods, shelled cephalopods, and a variety of echinoderms are found throughout the various strata that form the cave. It has been.

“Every new discovery at Mammoth Cave is made possible because of collaboration,” said Superintendent Barclay Trimble.

“Our parks team is proud to collaborate and collaborate with the National Park Service Paleontology Program and now the University of Alabama Department of Geological Sciences to make this latest announcement possible.”

Restoration of the St. Louis Shallow Marine Environment and its Fauna Genevieve Formation, Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. Image credit: Julius Csotony.

The two new species are stenacanto shark, Troglocladodus trimbley and Grikmanius Care Forumlikely hunting in an ancient coastal habitat that covered Kentucky and Alabama more than 325 million years ago.

This region was once an ancient sea route connecting what is now eastern North America, Europe, and North Africa, but it later disappeared with the formation of the supercontinent Pangea.

Troglocladodus trimbley It was identified from adult and juvenile teeth found in St. Louis and St. Louis. Genevieve Formation and Bangor Formation of Mammoth Cave.

The ancient shark is estimated to have reached about 3 to 3.7 meters (10 to 12 feet) in length, about the same size as the oceanic white shark.

Grikmanius Care Forum It was mainly identified from teeth in St. Louis, St. Louis.Genebabe and Haney Formations in Mammoth Cave, Hartselle and Bangor Formations in Alabama, but a partial set of jaws and gills from a young specimen Grikmanius Care Forum It was also discovered in Mammoth Cave.

The body length of this species was 3-3.7 meters. The shape of its jaws suggests that it had a short head with a powerful bite to hunt small sharks, bony fish, and right-cone-shaped creatures like squid.

“This discovery pushes the origin of the Ktenacanto shark back more than 50 million years earlier than expected,” the paleontologists said.

of study It was published in the magazine park management forum.

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JM Hodnet other. 2024. Sharks in the Dark: Paleontological inventory reveals multiple contiguous populations of Mississippian cartilaginous fishes (chondrichthyes) in Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. park management forum 40(1); doi: 10.5070/P540162921

Source: www.sci.news

Research: How small structures in the wax coating of blue-pigmented fruit contribute to its blue color

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

It is perhaps surprising that fruits with blue pigments are less common, since many visually guided fruit eaters have eyes highly adapted to blue sensitivity. However, some fruits do not contain blue pigment. In a new study, scientists from the University of Bristol and elsewhere investigated dark fruits with wax blooms, such as blueberries, plums and juniper cones, and found that structural color mechanisms are involved in their appearance. Did.

The structural color of the wax bloom gives the fruit a blue appearance across a wide range of accessions. (A) Undamaged highbush blueberries growing on the plant. (B) Blueberry (i) unmodified wax, (ii) mechanical wax removal, (iii) chloroform wax removal, (iv) surface application of (approximately) index-matched oil, (v) surface application of water; (vi) peeling off the outer skin to expose the pulp; (vii) the underside of the peeled skin; (C) Transmission light microscopy of a blueberry peel peeled from the inner edge showing red pigmentation of epidermal cells. Scale bar – 200 μm. (D) (i and ii) Plum selection (Plum) Fruits with different cell pigmentation, (i) with wax intact and (ii) with wax removed.Image credit: Middleton other., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adk4219.

“You can't 'extract' the blue color from blueberries by crushing them, because blueberries are not present in the highly pigmented juice that can be squeezed from the fruit,” said lead author Dr Rocks Middleton, a researcher at the University of Bristol.

“That's why I knew there had to be something strange about this color.”

“So we removed the wax and recrystallized it on the card. In doing so, we were able to create a completely new blue UV coating.”

This ultra-thin colorant is about 2 microns thick, has a low reflectance, but looks blue and reflects UV well, potentially paving the way for new colorant methods.

“This shows that nature has evolved to use a very neat trick: an extremely thin layer of a vital colorant,” Dr Middleton said.

Most plants are covered with a thin layer of wax, which has multiple functions, many of which are still unknown to scientists.

They know that it is highly effective as a hydrophobic, self-cleaning coating, but only now have they realized how important this structure is for visible coloration.

Now Dr. Middleton and colleagues plan to look at easier ways to recreate and apply the coating.

This could lead to the development of more sustainable, biocompatible, and even edible UV- and blue-reflecting paints.

Additionally, these coatings may have multiple functions similar to natural biological coatings that protect plants.

“It was really interesting to discover that there was an unknown coloration mechanism just beneath the surface of the popular fruit that we grow and eat all the time,” Dr Middleton said.

“It was even more exciting to be able to recreate that color by taking wax and creating a new blue coating that no one had ever seen before.”

“Our dream is to incorporate all the functionality of this natural wax into a man-made material.”

of result It was published in the magazine scientific progress.

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Rocks Middleton other. 2024. Self-organized disordered structural colors from fruit wax blooms. scientific progress 10(6); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adk4219

Source: www.sci.news

Killer whale pod trapped in drift ice off the coast of Japan vanishes

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Killer whale trapped in ice off the coast of Japan

NHK/Screenshot

A pod of more than a dozen killer whales has gone missing after languishing in Japan's icy waters for nearly a day, trying to escape being trapped in an ice floe. It is unknown what happened to them, but they may have died.

Fishermen near Hokkaido first noticed the pods struggling in the thick mud early Tuesday morning. Images and drone video show at least 12 orcas. Several boys struggle in a small space It was trapped in heavy ice about 1 km offshore.

As of Wednesday morning, The containment area was empty.Japanese news outlet NHK said it gave hope that the animals may have escaped to the open waters of the Sea of Okhotsk.

However, late Tuesday afternoon, a pod of 17 orcas was found trapped on an ice floe 2 kilometers northeast of their original location. NHK reporting.

“Orcas are not ice-adapted whales. They are not comfortable in this area.” colin galloway at the University of Manitoba, Canada. “So they are definitely experiencing the stress of confinement and are more likely to be starving.”

Cetaceans that permanently inhabit the Arctic region, such as narwhals (Monodon Monoceros) and belugas (Delphinapterus leucas), can sometimes become trapped in ice. Killer whale (killer whale) However, they usually avoid heavy ice and avoid getting trapped.

Still, black-and-white marine mammals can end up in icy waters at the wrong time.in 2016 reviewScientists found that since 1840, there have been 17 incidents in the Northern Hemisphere where a total of 100 orcas were trapped in ice. Almost half of them occurred in the Sea of Okhotsk, Japan. Confinement usually ends in the killer whale's death, Galloway said.

Scientists believe that even the reported orcas “broken freedomAfter being trapped in the ice, they can die struggling through further ice drifts while trying to reach the open sea.

A 2019 study of ice-trapped killer whales suggests that: Mammals can live on body fat for up to 50 days before being trapped and starving to death.. Sightings of orcas trapped in the ice have increased in recent years, as the Arctic ice melts and curious orcas seek new territory to explore.

Global warming may indeed be playing a role, Galloway says. His team is currently investigating the environmental impact of killer whales' gradual northward migration. But it's also possible that entrapment incidents simply appear to be more common because people are reporting more incidents.

“Just because we've gotten better at detecting, observing, and recording climate warming, and we're more interested in it, it's very difficult to disentangle the relationship between climate warming.” “That's one of the predictions,” he says.

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Using Inhalable Nanoparticles to Treat COPD, a Chronic Lung Disease

Posted on February 8, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease affects the lungs

Sebastian Kauricki/Science Photo Library

Using inhalable nanoparticles to deliver drugs to the lungs could help treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In mice with signs of the condition, treatment improved lung function and reduced inflammation.

COPD causes the airways in the lungs to gradually narrow and stiffen, blocking airflow and blocking mucus drainage. As a result, mucus builds up in the lungs, attracting bacterial pathogens that further worsen the disease.

This thick layer of mucus also traps drugs, making it difficult to treat infections. So, Zhu Junliang Researchers at China's Dongzhou University have developed inhalable nanoparticles that can penetrate mucus and deliver drugs deep into the lungs.

The researchers constructed hollow nanoparticles from porous silica and loaded them with an antibiotic called ceftazidime. A shell of negatively charged compounds surrounding the nanoparticles blocked the pores and prevented the antibiotic from leaking. This negative charge also helps the nanoparticles penetrate mucus. The slight acidity of the mucus then changes the charge on the shell from negative to positive, opening the pores and releasing the drug.

Researchers used an inhalation spray containing nanoparticles to treat bacterial lung infections in six mice with signs of COPD. A similar number of animals received antibiotics only.

On average, mice treated with nanoparticles had about 98 percent fewer pathogenic bacteria in their lungs compared to mice given antibiotics alone. They also had fewer inflammatory molecules in their lungs and less carbon dioxide in their blood, indicating better lung function.

These findings suggest that nanoparticles could improve drug delivery to people with COPD and other lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis, where thick mucus makes infections difficult to treat. It has said. vincent rotello from the University of Massachusetts Amherst was not involved in the study. However, it is unclear whether these nanoparticles are cleared from the lungs. “If you have a delivery system that accumulates over time, that's a problem,” he says.

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A possibly magma-covered super-Earth with the appearance of an ocean

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Diagram of exoplanet K2-18b based on scientific observations

NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmstead (STScI)

The types of planets thought to be able to support life may actually be covered in hot magma. Previously thought to have oceans of liquid water, the chemistry of these so-called high sea exoplanets may instead indicate oceans of magma.

Oliver Shortle Researchers from the University of Cambridge used observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of the exoplanet K2-18b to reach this conclusion. This world is typically Hycean. This is the name given to a planet with a hydrogen-rich atmosphere above a liquid ocean. These planets also tend to be between Earth and Neptune in size, and the chemicals in their atmospheres suggest the presence of liquid water on their surfaces, making them a prime search for extraterrestrial life. It has become a target.

But recent models of K2-18b's climate suggest it may be hotter than previously thought, hot enough to cause oceans of water to boil away long ago. “From a theoretical perspective regarding the situation here on Earth, it's like the ground is moving beneath our feet,” Schotle says.

The researchers investigated how it would affect Earth's atmospheric chemistry if these oceans were made of magma instead of water. This would be consistent with the expected high temperatures. They found this to be consistent with his JWST observations as well as water bodies.

“These two fundamentally different regimes are very similar,” Schotle says. “Detecting habitable conditions for super-Earths and sub-Neptune-sized planets will be more complex than we expected.”

This means that we probably need more detailed data to tell the difference between a potentially habitable world with oceans of water and a world of burning, inhospitable magma. For K2-18b, Schotle said his additional JWST observations over the next few years should resolve this issue. And when it comes to other Heim worlds, we may need to develop new ideas for how to find liquid water.

topic:

exoplanet/
james webb space telescope

Study suggests Mimas, one of Saturn’s moons, could be responsible for forming Earth’s oceans beneath its icy shell

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

From a detailed analysis of Mimas’s orbital motion based on data from NASA’s Cassini mission, planetary researchers from the Sorbonne, the University of Nantes, Queen Mary University of London, Franche-Comte University, and Jinan University have discovered that the heavily cratered They showed that some ice shells hide recently formed ice shells. (less than 2-3 million years ago) global ocean 20-30 km deep.

The surface of Mimas, like the surfaces of other major Saturn moons that do not have atmospheres, is not pure ice but contains some black impurities. Relatively dark markings appear along the lower part of the walls of the 130km-wide Herschel Crater (the crater's central peak is about the same height as Mount Everest); the impact may have all but destroyed the Moon. there is). some small craters. Scientists interpret the darkening as evidence that the impurities have gradually become concentrated as icy material evaporates in areas where they are slowly sliding down the crater walls. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.

There is growing evidence that some moons may have oceans beneath their surfaces, but such watery worlds are difficult to detect.

Mimas — Saturn's innermost and smallest (radius = 198.2 km, or 123 miles) regular moon — is an unlikely candidate due to the different nature of its surface compared to other icy moons such as Enceladus .

This theory has been challenged by Sorbonne University researcher Valerie Rainey and others who are evaluating Cassini's observations of small satellites.

Previous research suggests two possibilities inside Mimas. It is either an elongated rocky core or a global ocean.

A new study reveals that the small moon's rotational motion and orbit change due to internal influences.

For the solid-state model to apply, the rock core must be elongated and approximately pancake-shaped, which is inconsistent with observations.

Rather, measurements of Mimas' position suggest that the evolution of its orbit is better explained as influenced by an internal ocean.

The researchers calculate that the ocean lies beneath an ice shell about 20 to 30 kilometers deep.

Their simulations suggest that it appeared between 25 and 2 million years ago.

Therefore, signs of such an underground ocean would not have had time to leave traces on the surface.

This result suggests that recent processes on Mimas may have been common during the early stages of the formation of other ice worlds.

“Mimas was a small moon with a cratered surface and no sign of an ocean hidden beneath,” said co-author Nick Cooper, a researcher at Queen Mary University of London. the doctor said.

“With this discovery, Mimas joins an exclusive club of moons with inland oceans, including Enceladus and Europa, but with a unique difference: its oceans are surprisingly young.”

of study Published in today's magazine Nature.

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V. Rainey other. 2024. A recently formed ocean within Saturn's moon Mimas. Nature 626, 280-282; doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06975-9

Source: www.sci.news

Possible Vast Global Ocean Discovered Beneath Ice on Saturn’s Moon Mimas

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Mimas photographed by NASA's Cassini spacecraft

NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology/Space Science I

Saturn's moon Mimas appears to have a vast global ocean beneath its icy shell, according to detailed measurements of its orbit. If other icy worlds have similar oceans, the number of planets that can support life could increase.

Mimas is the smallest of Saturn's seven major moons. For a long time, it was thought that most of it was composed of solid ice and rock, but in 2014 astronomers observed that the orbit around Saturn was unexpectedly wobbling, suggesting that this could only be explained by either a rugby ball-shaped nucleus or a liquid ocean.

Many astronomers rejected the ocean explanation, as the friction required to melt the ice would have caused visible marks on Mimas's surface. However, recent simulations suggest that this ocean may exist even without such traces.

Looking for more clues? Valerie Rainey Researchers from France's Paris Observatory analyzed observations of Mimas' orbit by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. They found that the orbit around Saturn has shifted by about 10 kilometers over 13 years.

According to the team's calculations, this orbital drift could only have been caused by an ice shell sliding over the ocean, or by wobbles from the physically impossible pancake-shaped core.

The moon's elliptical orbit and lack of surface markings also suggest that the ocean is about 30 kilometers deep and formed less than 25 million years ago. “It was very recent,” Rainey says. “We are more or less witnessing the birth of this global ocean.”

This recent activity could help explain not only the lack of traces on the surface, but also why the moon is so different from its neighbors. Enceladus has a similar shape and orbit to Mimas, and has a global ocean, but it also has a very active surface and giant spout. Rainey said the difference is simply a difference in time, and in a few million years Mimas' ice could melt and it could look similar to Enceladus.

“It would be surprising if that were true,” he says. William McKinnon at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. But he says there are still things that aren't perfectly aligned, such as the vast 80-mile-wide Herschel crater, which was formed by a giant impact. If Mimas' ice shell was truly only tens of kilometers deep, McKinnon said, we would have seen evidence of a distorted crater floor in the impact and aftermath. It's also unlikely, he says, that you'll be able to get a front-row seat at such a short and unique time in Mimas' long history. “I remain a Mimas ocean skeptic,” McKinnon says.

However, if Mimas has a hidden ocean, it suggests that other icy planets and moons in the solar system and elsewhere may have the same, expanding the possibility of life. “It's expanding our vision of what is and isn't a habitable world,” Rainey says. “Mimas teaches us that even a corpse that seems to have no life in it may someday come to life.”

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Ondo Finance Introduces Real-World Assets and High-Yield Stablecoin USDY to Sui on Blockchain Platform

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, February 7, 2024, Chainwire

Ondo’s upcoming integration of Sui will provide native access to new tokenized assets such as on-chain treasuries, securities, and stablecoins.

Sui, a Layer 1 blockchain that has seen explosive growth since its launch eight months ago, today announced that Ondo Finance is expanding into the Sui ecosystem. With this expansion, Sui Network’s first native dollar-denominated token (including stablecoins and interest-bearing stablecoin alternatives) will be available in the form of Ondo USD Yield or “USDY” (a U.S. Treasury-backed interest-bearing token issued by Ondo).

Ondo’s expansion to Sui further builds on Sui’s ferocious DeFi momentum and demonstrates the growth and demand for financial applications and native on-chain functionality. Sui’s DeFi volume has increased over 1200% since October, and Sui recently ranked in the top 10 of his DeFi ecosystem as measured by TVL.

Ondo Finance is the third largest platform bringing tokenized derivatives of real-world assets onto public blockchains, with $185 million in new TVL launches in the first week of late January There is over $1 billion in governance token transactions. In addition to stablecoins, Ondo’s flagship Treasury-backed tokens, tokenized securities, and real-world assets create countless new opportunities for Sui-based teams.

Ondo’s expansion into the Sui ecosystem also continues the trend of top projects actively choosing to integrate into Sui. For example, in December 2023, Solend, the leading Solana lending protocol, announced the launch of a Sui-native lending protocol, and decentralized derivatives exchange Bluefin similarly announced the launch of V1 Arbitrum to focus entirely on Sui. Implementation finished.

“People using our platform expect fast and efficient transactions, which should be essential for any blockchain project,” said Nathan Allman, Founder and CEO of Ondo. ”. “Sui’s growth and network performance clearly confirms that the network is a great fit for his Ondo ecosystem.”

Tokenized Treasury products represent tradable tokens backed by real-world assets, and their presence on Sui is an important step toward growing DeFi across the ecosystem and industry. It becomes.

“Ondo is an amazing addition to the Sui ecosystem, creating new opportunities for Sui builders and developers, and creating a stablecoin-like offering with native yield that provides essential new functionality to users of their applications. Provide assets.” Sui Foundation. “Sui’s DeFi volume is already growing at an incredible rate, and the addition of Ondo will make that trajectory even stronger. I'm looking forward to seeing how you use it.”

contact

Sui Foundation
media@sui.io

Source: the-blockchain.com

Philadelphia Museum of Science under investigation after receiving package with two preserved fetuses

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Philadelphia police are investigating the origin of a package containing two preserved fetuses in glass bottles that was sent to the city’s Museum of Medical Sciences.

Museum staff reported receiving the package on Tuesday morning, according to a police statement.

The package was addressed to the museum curator, had no return address, and contained a letter from someone claiming to be a retired doctor, stating that the two specimens were a gift to the museum.

“There is no proper documentation, provenance or information that would allow us to accept it,” says Mütter Museum curator Anna Dodi. told NBC Philadelphia.. “Obviously they looked like human remains, so we had to call the authorities.”

of Mutter Museum It is part of the Philadelphia College of Physicians and features a collection of preserved anatomical specimens, models, and medical instruments.

The museum accepts donations, especially those involving human remains, but the process requires research and a detailed explanation of the object’s history.

Dody, who has been the museum’s curator for nearly 20 years, said the donation was “unusual, unusual and completely inappropriate procedure.” She told NBC News to discourage others from sending such “unsolicited anonymous remains.”

The fetus was handed over to the medical examiner’s office for further investigation. Philadelphia Police will provide additional information as it becomes available.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Cybercrime: Record $1.1 billion paid in ransom by hacking victims last year

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Ransomware gangs experienced a resurgence last year, with victims paying $1.1 billion to hackers, a record high according to a study.

Following a lull in 2022, cybercriminals intensified operations in 2023, targeting hospitals, schools, and major corporations worldwide.

Chainalysis, a cryptocurrency research firm, reported that ransom payments doubled compared to 2022, with $567 million paid out that year.

The report highlighted the “big game hunting” aspect of attacks last year, with a higher proportion of ransom payments exceeding $1 million as wealthier companies were targeted.

“2023 will be the year of a major resurgence in ransomware, with record payout amounts and a significant increase in the scope and complexity of attacks. This is a significant reversal from the decline observed in 2022,” Chainalysis said.

In a ransomware attack, hackers typically infiltrate a target’s computer system, infect it with malware, and encrypt files, rendering them inaccessible. New trends involve attackers extracting data such as staff and customer details from IT systems and demanding payment to unlock the files or delete stolen data copies.

Chainalysis attributed the decline in payments in 2022 to factors including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Most ransomware groups are linked to Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and Russia. Some fraudsters have been disrupted or turned ransomware into politically motivated cyberattacks.

The FBI disrupted the Hive ransomware group by obtaining their decryption keys and preventing victims from paying a $130 million ransom. Chainalysis also cited research showing a rise in the number of attackers and ransomware variants involved in attacks over the past year.

“The main thing we’re seeing is an astronomical increase in the number of attackers conducting ransomware attacks,” said Alan Liska, an analyst at cybersecurity firm Recorded Future.

According to Recorded Future, 538 new ransomware variants are expected in 2023, indicating the emergence of new and independent groups. The Clop group emerged as a key player last year by claiming responsibility for the hack of payroll provider Zellis, affecting customers like British Airways, Boots, and the BBC.

The British Library is still recovering from a ransomware attack by the rebranded group Rhysida that targeted the library in October.

The growth of ‘ransomware-as-a-service’, renting malware to criminals in exchange for a share of the profits, and the activity of ‘initial access brokers’ who sell vulnerabilities in potential targets’ networks to ransomware attackers have become trends.

Ellie Ludlum, a partner specializing in cybersecurity at British law firm Pinsent Masons, anticipates the rise in attacks to continue. “This increase is expected to continue in 2024, with continued focus on mass data exfiltration by threat actor groups, which may result in increased ransom payments by affected companies,” she stated.

Brendan Hancock’s List of the 10 Most Hilarious Internet Finds | Comedy

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

L
Last year, I was punched in the nose by a lesbian during a Monday night coed football game. It was Tim Winton’s dreamy evening. The jacarandas were fresh and blooming, and at the end of the year, that manicured fist touched my face squarely, if only by chance. People laughed, as millennials naturally do at violence that made sense to the first internet generation, who grew up on a diet of Australia’s funniest home videos and Mad TV music parodies (unfortunately, none of these make the list).

As a silly gay clown, laughter is my currency. I look forward to walking you through the order of neuroses that have plagued me for millennia. So let’s get in my brain, his broken 1993 Honda Civic, and drive around the old internet guy’s lane.

1. Actress

Every gay man has a ride-or-die diva, and mine is unashamedly Emma Stone. This SNL sketch, written by famous homos Bowen Yang and Julio Torres, is pristine. You can imagine a beautiful world by thinking about other points of view. And yes, that includes wives being cheated on with gay porn. Bravo.

2. The struggle of Amsterdam housewives

Beast. Let’s talk about her husband. These aren’t punch lines, but very well executed takedowns. The building and building drama of this scene is perfect. Private has become public. Do you realize I still have Hecs debt for my communications degree and haven’t started paying it off yet?

3. George Michaels Outside

Forget about the handsome guy in the Senate. Because George Michael’s Outside music video has the most cheek. Camp has its own unique sense of humor, and this is a masterclass in applause. Nineties outings aside, there’s a punch line that says, “I want to serve my community, and I’m already doing that,” and there’s also a bathroom disco cruising show and Tom of Finland drag. There’s no doubt that one of my favorite videos of his is about going outside.

4. Mama Makes Me Milo

I often say that tragedy and time are comedies, but it’s boring, and I don’t like being bored. I’m more of a comedy equivalent of Hot Department mixed with childhood nostalgia. If I’m laughing out loud alone in my house, most of the time it’s because of this devil. I couldn’t ask for a higher compliment. Check out this sketch to see your good constitution.

5. Kim Cattrall cheated on her husband

Not to beg, borrow, or steal from another funny list (looking at you, Madeleine Gray), but on the same day we both sat in the backyard of a gay bar in Santa Monica drinking margaritas. When I was there, I was asked to write this column. Immediately after the match, we both knew this was going to be a winner. Seriousness. “scat”. All I know is that her husband can play me like an upright bass any day. What a fuss!

6. Caleb Hearon performs the sacred art of stand-up comedy

If you follow any stand-up comedian on any platform these days, you’re likely inundated with crowd work clips. It seems like an easy way to generate content without wasting material constantly trying to exploit algorithms. They’re controversial in the community, but we’re all just shouting into the void for attention, so give them all the power. This clip by Caleb Hearon ignores all that and is just classic stand-up. Get out.

Retired employee sues bank after losing virtual currency fund in Hyperverse

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Catalina de Solieu had high hopes for a comfortable retirement. She had completed her career as a nurse, paid off the mortgage on a property in regional Victoria, and had savings in the bank.

A friend from a network marketing group introduced her to an investment opportunity called Hyperfund, with the promise of using the returns as a source of income for her retirement. After initially investing small amounts, she eventually invested $80,000.

Within a few months, the money vanished.

“I lost my home,” she says three years later. “I lost all my money. I couldn’t pay the mortgage. When I actually sold the house and paid off the rest of the mortgage, I was in a lot of debt. By that time I had no money. There wasn’t much left.”

Now 71, de Solieu says she lives on a pension that barely covers her rent.

“Right now, I don’t have a nickel in the bank or in my pocket. I can’t go to the dentist. I can’t get my car serviced properly.

“It goes on and on. I can’t get it either. [hearing] Checked out. I even had a friend deliver groceries to my door. I have nothing left. ”

This experience left de Solieu feeling depressed and suicidal.

“I became so depressed that I wanted to commit suicide. It’s a terrible thing for anyone to admit, but that’s how I felt.

“I still wake up every morning and sob. Ever since that happened, every morning I can’t get up because I don’t forgive myself and I want to beat myself up.”

After losing $70,000, Des Solieu was unable to pay his dentist fees. Photo: Steve Wormersley/The Guardian

Mr. De Solieux is one of several Australians who have suffered losses from the HyperVerse project and is taking part in a legal effort to recover the losses from the banks that oversaw the transfer of money to the project.

UK-based investment fraud law firm Wealth Recovery Solutions has identified an Australian who transferred funds to a cryptocurrency exchange to become a member of Hyperfund, later renamed Hyperverse. This person is leading Mr. Des Solieu’s legal action.

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China unveils the largest onshore wind turbine blade in the world

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Blades forming part of the world's largest onshore wind turbine

Sanichi Renewable Energy

The largest onshore wind turbine blade in world history has been manufactured in China. Each foil is 131 meters long, enough to dwarf Big Ben or the Statue of Liberty.

Once installed in central China in the coming months, each structure containing a 15-megawatt turbine and three blades will be more than 260 meters in diameter.

The SY1310A onshore wind turbine blades were manufactured by SANY Renewable Energy at its factory in Bayannur, northern China.

The company said in a statement that the longer blade length increases requirements for stiffness and strength, as well as the need for protection from extreme weather events such as lightning strikes.

“Several advanced innovations have been applied to this blade, including a high-performance airfoil with a thick, blunt trailing edge, an optimized airfoil layout, and increased overall thickness.” .

Peter Majewski Researchers at the University of South Australia say the advantage of such large wind turbines is that the larger they are, the fewer turbines are needed. “But the bigger they are, the more visible they are, so it has to be socially acceptable to build such large structures,” he says.

“These are huge structures that are expensive to build and just as expensive to remove.”

Wind turbine blades may continue to grow in size, but the logistics of transporting such huge blades make their use difficult, Majewski said. It also says manufacturers and society need to consider what will happen to these structures as they age.

Majewski is researching the issue of recycling wind turbine blades.in 2022 surveyHe and his colleagues predicted that tens of thousands of tons of wind farm blades could have to go to landfill by 2050, when existing turbines reach the end of their 20- to 30-year lifespans.

However, he welcomed the use of recycled polyurethane as part of the construction of these newly announced blades.

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Snap stock’s growth takes a hit amidst growing concerns | Technology

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Snapchat’s owner narrowly missed Wall Street’s hopes as it continues to grapple with slowing digital advertising. The social media company’s stock price fell by nearly a third.

Snap said it was “encouraged by our progress,” but cited factors such as the Middle East conflict that had hurt its business.

Snap’s revenue rose 5% to $1.36 billion in the three months ended Dec. 31, missing analysts’ expectations for $1.38 billion. Net loss narrowed from $288 million to $248 million.

Investors remained concerned about the company’s growth. The company expects revenue for the current quarter to be between $1.1 billion and $1.14 billion. Analysts had expected about $1.1 billion.

Snap shares fell 30% to $12.21 in after-hours trading in New York.

Alphabet, owner of Google and YouTube, the world’s two biggest advertisers, and Meta Platforms, owner of Facebook and Instagram, are in a better position. Smaller companies in the market continue to struggle.

Santa Monica, Calif.-based Snap expects to end 2023 with about 414 million daily active users, a number that will rise to 420 million in the first quarter.

The group told investors on Tuesday that it was “shifting our focus to user growth and deepening our engagement in our most profitable regions, including North America and Europe.”

Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap, said: “2023 was a pivotal year for Snap. We transformed our advertising business and continued to grow our global community, reaching 414 million daily active users.” We have 7 million subscribers who pay for our products.

“Snapchat strengthens our relationships with friends, family and the world, and this unique value proposition has provided a strong foundation on which to build our business for long-term growth.”

The company releases its financial results a day after announcing it would lay off about 10% of its global workforce, or about 530 people, as part of an organizational restructuring to “reduce hierarchy and increase in-person collaboration.” did. Last week, the company recalled its Pixy selfie drone due to the risk of fire due to battery overheating.

An Explanation from a Doctor on How Diabetes Can Be Effortlessly Reversed and Prevented

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Imagine your body as a big sugar bowl. At birth, the bowl is empty. Over decades of eating sugar and refined carbohydrates, your bowl gradually fills up. And the next time you eat, the bowl is already full, so the sugar comes in and spills over the sides of the bowl.

The same situation exists in your body. When you eat sugar, your body secretes the hormone insulin to move the sugar into your cells, where it is used for energy. If we don’t burn enough sugar, after a few decades our cells will be completely full and we won’t be able to process it anymore.

The next time you eat sugar, insulin can’t push any more sugar into the overflowing cells, so it floods into your bloodstream. Sugar moves through the blood in a form called glucose, and too much of it (known as hyperglycemia) is the main symptom of type 2 diabetes.

When there’s too much glucose in the blood, insulin doesn’t seem to be doing its normal job of moving sugar into cells. Then you say your body has become insulin resistant, but it’s actually not the insulin’s fault. The main problem is that the cells are flooded with glucose.

High blood sugar is only part of the problem. Not only is there too much glucose in the blood, there is too much glucose in every cell. Type 2 diabetes is an overflow phenomenon that occurs when there is too much glucose throughout the body.

In response to excess glucose in the blood, the body secretes more insulin to overcome this resistance. This forces more glucose into the flooded cells to keep blood levels normal.

This works, but the effect is only temporary because it doesn’t address the problem of excess sugar. The excess was transferred from the blood to the cells, only worsening insulin resistance. At some point, your body can no longer push glucose into your cells, no matter how much insulin you increase.

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What happens in the body if excess glucose is not removed? First, your body continues to produce more insulin to try to get more glucose into your cells. However, this only creates further insulin resistance, creating a vicious cycle.

When insulin levels can no longer keep up with the increased resistance, blood sugar levels spike. At this point the doctor is likely to diagnose her with type 2 diabetes.

Doctors may prescribe drugs such as insulin injections or a drug called metformin to lower blood sugar levels, but these drugs do not rid the body of excess glucose. Instead, they simply continue to take glucose from the blood and return it to the body.

It can then be carried to other organs such as the kidneys, nerves, eyes, and heart, where it can eventually cause other problems. Of course, the fundamental problem hasn’t changed.

Remember that bowl full of sugar? It’s still around. Insulin simply moves glucose from the visible blood into the invisible body. So the next time you eat, sugar will flood back into your bloodstream and you’ll end up injecting insulin to stuff it into your body.

The more glucose your body is willing to accept, the more insulin it needs to overcome its resistance to it. But as the cells swell more and more, this insulin only creates more resistance.

If you exceed the amount your body can produce naturally, drugs can take over. At first, you only need one type of medicine, but eventually the amount of medicine increases to two or three.

And the problem is that diabetes actually gets worse when you increase the amount of medication you take to keep your blood sugar levels at the same level.

Type 2 diabetes is reversible and preventable without drugs

Once you understand that type 2 diabetes is simply too much sugar in your body, the solution is obvious. Remove sugar. Don’t hide it. Let’s get rid of it. There are really only two ways to accomplish this.

Please add less sugar.
Burn off the remaining sugar.

that’s it. That’s all you need to do. The best part? All natural and completely free. No drugs. No surgery. No cost.

Step 1: Reduce the amount of sugar

The first step is to eliminate all sugar and refined carbohydrates from your diet. Added sugar has no nutritional value, so it’s safe to limit your intake. Complex carbohydrates, which are simply long chains of sugar, and highly refined carbohydrates, such as flour, are quickly digested into glucose.

The best strategy is to limit or eliminate bread and pasta made from white flour, as well as white rice and potatoes.

Protein intake should be kept moderate rather than high. When proteins such as meat are digested, they are broken down into amino acids. Adequate protein is necessary for good health, but excess amino acids cannot be stored in the body, so they are converted into glucose in the liver. Therefore, consuming too much protein adds sugar to your body. Therefore, highly processed and concentrated protein sources such as protein shakes, protein bars, and protein powders should be avoided.

What about dietary fat? Natural fats, found in avocados, nuts, and olive oil, which are key components of the Mediterranean diet, have little effect on blood sugar or insulin, and are well-known for their health benefits against both heart disease and diabetes. Masu. Eggs and butter are also good sources of natural fats.

It has been proven that the cholesterol contained in these foods has no negative effect on the human body. Eating dietary fat does not lead to type 2 diabetes or heart disease. In fact, it’s beneficial because it helps you feel full without adding sugar to your body.

To reduce the amount of sugar you put into your body, stick to natural, unprocessed whole foods. Eat a diet low in refined carbohydrates, moderate amounts of protein, and high in natural fats.

Step 2: Burn off the remaining sugar

Exercise (both strength training and aerobic training) has beneficial effects in type 2 diabetes, but its power to reverse the disease is much less than dietary intervention. And fasting is the easiest and surest way to force your body to burn sugar.

Fasting is just the flip side of eating. If you are not eating, you are fasting. When you eat, your body stores food energy. When you fast, your body burns food energy. And glucose is the most easily ingested food energy source. Therefore, a longer period of fasting allows you to burn stored sugar.

It may sound harsh, but fasting is literally the oldest diet known and has been practiced throughout human history without incident. If you are taking prescription medications, you should seek medical advice.

But the important question is: Will my blood sugar levels drop if I don’t eat? of course. Can you lose weight if you don’t eat? of course. So what’s the problem? I can’t see anything.

A common practice is to fast for 24 hours two to three times a week to burn off sugar. Another common approach is fasting for 16 hours five to six times a week. The secret to reversing type 2 diabetes is now in our hands.

All you need is an open mind to embrace new paradigms and the courage to challenge conventional wisdom.

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This text was extracted from Diabetes Norm: Prevent and reverse type 2 diabetes naturally by Dr. Jason Huangon sale now (£14.99, Greystone Books).

buy from Amazon, Foyles or water stones

Photo credit: Jason Huang

Understanding ImageFX: A Comprehensive Guide to Google’s New AI Image Generator

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Google is lagging behind in artificial intelligence. While OpenAI’s innovative Dall-E AI art image generator was released two years ago, Google only recently released its competing product.

The software, known as ImageFX, is backed by one of the largest technology companies and a substantial amount of data. So how is this data accumulated?

In brief, ImageFX has produced some impressive images that rival the best. But how does it work? Can it be accessed now? And have major problems in the AI art world been solved?

How to use Google ImageFX

Google ImageFX is currently available in countries like the United States, Kenya, New Zealand, and Australia.

If you attempt to access the site in a country like the UK, you’ll see a warning stating, “This tool is not yet available in your country.”

To access it from any of the currently available countries, visit Google’s AI Test Kitchen. Then create an account. Once everything is set up, your new prompt will be ready for use.

Even if you’re not in one of the listed countries, the website is still worth visiting. Google allows you to sign up for notifications about when the platform becomes available in your area.

How good is Google ImageFX?

There’s no denying that Google is late to the game. OpenAI’s Dall-E was released in January 2021, and Midjourney was released a year later. So did Google’s delay pay off in terms of quality?

Two images generated by ImageFX. On the left is a room with an art desk, and on the right is a painting of a vampire – Credit: ImageFX

The images released so far demonstrate that ImageFX is capable of producing content at a very high level. Detailed and contextual, ImageFX is an unsurprisingly capable image generator.

But that’s expected. AI art has made significant progress over the years, and Google’s main competitors are producing similarly high-quality work and have been doing so for much longer.

The significant advantage of ImageFX at the moment is that it’s free (in select countries). Both Midjourney and Dall-E are mainly behind paywalls or restricted services, so it’s worth making the most of ImageFX before any changes.

ImageFX also includes a unique feature called the “Expressive Chip.” This allows users to quickly edit the prompt and try a different search. For example, if you request a portrait of a woman, you can quickly switch this to an abstract, hand-drawn, or even oil painting.

How does it work?

Basically, Google ImageFX works like any other AI art generator. This involves several steps, starting with obtaining an image database large enough for training.

Google has not disclosed the source of its training data, but it likely includes a combination of internal sources, collaborations, and possibly web scraping and user-generated content.

Once the database is built, a model is trained on these images to learn the relationships between the words and visual concepts in the images, possibly through a diffusion model.

These models start with random noise in the image and are refined based on information from both the data and the accompanying text description. By repeating this process, you essentially learn the relationships between words, images, and context.

This training helps ImageFX and other AI image generators understand the prompts asked because it understands what words are associated with the images.

How is it linked to Google Bard?

Google Bard is probably the biggest competitor to the AI chatbot ChatGPT. Google has been working on the chatbot for some time and was released publicly in 2023.

If ImageFX is photography, Bard is understanding words and context. The goal is to combine the two to create the ultimate AI model, similar to OpenAI’s combination of ChatGPT and Dall-E (OpenAI’s image generator).

Google Bard is currently in testing but will soon be fully operational with the recently announced Google Gemini system.

This could theoretically mean a platform that asks models to create a board game and returns both the rules and lore, as well as all images, boards, and content. Or you could write a series of books with illustrations to go along with it.

Does ImageFX produce bad images?

There’s a problem with AI art…people. When trained on artwork from a human population and then utilized again by humans, less appropriate parts of the human brain tend to enter.

Previous AI art generators displayed sexist, biased, and sometimes intensely graphic images. This is a problem that all major technology companies are trying to tackle, including Google with ImageFX.

“All images generated with ImageFX are marked with SynthID, a tool developed by Google DeepMind that adds digital watermarks directly to the content we generate.” Google says:.

“SynthID watermarks are imperceptible to the human eye but can be detected for identification. Additionally, all images contain metadata, so when you encounter an AI-generated image, You can get more information.”

In addition to this, Google announced that it has improved the safety of its training data, reducing problematic output such as violent, offensive, or sexually explicit content. This extends to a reduced ability to create images of real people.

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