A wheeled robot released on a college campus has discovered how to roll around the real world and open all kinds of doors and drawers.
Robots have adapted themselves to new challenges, paving the way for machines that can independently interact with physical objects. “We want the robots to be able to operate autonomously, without having to rely on humans to keep giving them examples of all new kinds of scenarios during testing,” he says. Deepak Pathak at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pennsylvania.
Pathak and his colleagues initially trained the robot through imitation learning, which provided visual examples of how to open objects such as doors, cabinets, drawers, and refrigerators. They then unleashed it around CMU's campus, opening doors and cabinets they had never encountered before. This required the robot to adapt to each new object using artificial intelligence that rewards the robot for understanding things.
The robot typically spent 30 minutes to an hour learning how to open each object consistently. Haoyu Shion CMU Ph.D. built a robot to scout various testing locations on campus. The team included his 12 training objects for practice, and then he included eight additional objects to test the robot's abilities.
Initial success rates averaged about 50%, but the robot sometimes completely failed to open new objects when first started. Eventually, that success rate increased to about 95%.
In addition to learning on the fly, he said he had to be able to physically handle heavy doors. Russell Mendonca At C.M.U. Achieving both goals will cost him $25,000, which he says is much cheaper than other robotic systems with adaptive learning capabilities.
Demonstrating the robot outside the lab “represents a concrete step towards more general robotic manipulation systems,” he said. Yunju Lee At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Opening a door or a drawer is a seemingly simple task for humans, but it's actually surprisingly difficult for robots,” he says.
NGC 4753’s remarkable and complex network of dust lanes winding around its galactic core defines its “peculiar” classification, and was probably the result of the galaxy’s merger with a nearby dwarf galaxy about 1.3 billion years ago. It is thought that there is.
This image from the Gemini South Telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, shows NGC 4753, a lenticular galaxy about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. Image credits: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. Miller, International Gemini Observatory and NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Rodriguez, International Gemini Observatory and NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab.
NGC4753 is a lenticular galaxy located approximately 60 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo.
This galaxy, also known as LEDA 43671, UGC 8009, and IRAS 12498-0055, discovered It was proposed by German-born British astronomer William Herschel on February 22, 1784.
NGC 4753 is a member of the NGC 4753 group of galaxies in the Virgo II cloud, a series of at least 100 galaxy clusters and individual galaxies that extend away from the southern edge of the Virgo Supercluster.
“There is an astonishing number of galaxies in the observable universe, with recent estimates putting the number between 100 billion and 2 trillion,” Gemini astronomers said in a statement.
“And just like snowflakes, no two are exactly alike. However, they can be divided into four broad classes based on their appearance and physical characteristics: elliptical, lenticular, irregular, and spiral. , with many subclasses in between.”
“However, galaxies are dynamic objects that evolve over time while interacting with their surrounding environment, meaning that an individual galaxy can fall into multiple classifications over its lifetime. ”
In 1992, Indiana University astronomer Tom Steiman-Cameron and colleagues published A detailed study of NGC 4753 reveals that its complex shape is likely the result of a merger with a small companion galaxy.
“Galaxies that swallow other galaxies often look like train wrecks, but this is a train wreck galaxy,” said Dr. Steiman-Cameron.
Galactic mergers occur when two or more galaxies collide, mixing their material and significantly changing the shape and behavior of each galaxy involved.
In the case of NGC 4753, the once-standard lenticular galaxy is thought to have merged with a nearby gas-rich dwarf galaxy about 1.3 billion years ago.
The dwarf galaxy’s gas, combined with the burst of star formation caused by this galactic collision, injected large amounts of dust into the system.
The galaxy’s gravitational inward spiral spread out the accumulated dust into a disk. And this is where the story gets interesting.
Astronomers have discovered that a phenomenon known as differential precession is responsible for NGC 4753’s tangled dust lanes.
Precession occurs when a rotating object changes its axis of rotation, like a spinning top that loses momentum and wobbles. And differential means that the speed of precession is different depending on the radius.
For a dusty accretion disk orbiting around a galactic nucleus, the rate of precession is faster toward the center and slower near the edges.
This fluctuating wobble-like motion is due to the angle at which NGC 4753 and its former dwarf companion collided, and is responsible for the strongly twisted dust lanes that we see today wrapping around the galaxy’s luminescent core. It becomes.
“For a long time, no one knew what to make of this strange galaxy,” said Dr. Steiman-Cameron.
“But by starting with the idea that the accreted material fills the disk and analyzing the three-dimensional geometry, the mystery was solved.”
“Thirty years later, we are now incredibly excited to be able to see this highly detailed image with the Gemini South Telescope.”
Studies have shown that although climate change is not expected to increase the number of hurricanes, rising ocean temperatures will make hurricanes more intense. Warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, leading to heavier rainfall and flooding from these storms.
Therefore, as long as global warming continues, we can expect more intense storms on Earth.
Researchers found that from 1980 to 2021, five storms in the past nine years had maximum wind speeds exceeding 192 miles per hour, which could have been classified as Category 6 storms. Their study also used models to explore how different climate scenarios could affect hurricanes and other large storms around the world. They found that if the Earth warmed by 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the risk of Category 6 storms could double in the Gulf of Mexico and in Southeast Asia and the Philippines.
The researchers also highlighted that even the relatively low global warming target of the Paris Agreement, aiming to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, could significantly increase the likelihood of Category 6 storms.
These findings will continue the debate about how to better communicate the threat of extreme weather events and how climate change increases that threat. For example, scientists pointed out that the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale cannot convey some of the most destructive aspects of hurricanes, such as storm surge, rainfall, and flooding. Adding a sixth category to the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale may raise awareness of the increased risk of major hurricanes due to global warming. The National Hurricane Center has also announced new experimental forecasts to better communicate the risk of inland winds during extreme weather events.
Paleontologist at Flinders University brian chu and his colleagues described a new genus and species of Devonian tetrapod fish based on several nearly complete skulls and postcranial skeletons.
rebuilding the life of Harajikadectes zumini. Image credit: Brian Choo, Flinders University.
“Tetrapodomorpha “It consists of tetrapods and their closest fish relatives, the oldest records of which are from the Pragians of China,” said Dr Chu and co-authors.
“This group diversified greatly in both marine and freshwater habitats during the Middle to Late Devonian, giving rise to several distinct lineages, including the earliest quadrupeds.”
“Tetrapods flourished after the Devonian limbless fish tetrapods experienced a marked decline in diversity during the Carboniferous, but only survived into the early Permian before disappearing from the fossil record. There were only a handful of representative animals.”
This new species of tetrapod lived about 380 million years ago and was up to 45 to 50 centimeters long.
with scientific name Harajikadectes zuminithis fish is particularly distinctive for its large opening at the top of its skull.
“These spire-like structures are thought to facilitate air breathing at the surface, and modern African bichir fish have similar structures for taking in air at the surface,” said Dr Chew. Ta.
“This feature appears in multiple tetrapomodorf lineages at about the same time during the middle to late Devonian period.”
“In addition to Harajikadectes zumini Large spiracles also appeared from central Australia. gogonathus El Pisto Stegarian from Western Australia Tiktaalik — are the closest relatives of four-limbed quadrupeds. ”
“And it shows up in unrelated places.” Pickeringius Western Australian stingray fin fish first described in 2018. ”
with Dr. Chu Harajikadectes zumini fossil. Image credit: Flinders University.
Professor John Long from Flinders University said: “This synchronous emergence of air-breathing adaptations may have coincided with a period of reduced atmospheric oxygen during the mid-Devonian.”
“The ability to supplement gill breathing with oxygen from the air may have provided an adaptive advantage.”
“We discovered this new form of lobe-finned fish in one of the most remote fossil sites in all of Australia, the Harajika Sandstone Formation in the Northern Territory, about 200km west of Alice Springs. It dates from the mid-Devonian period. Late period, approximately 380 years ago.'' 1 million years old. ”
“It's difficult to pinpoint the location. Harajikadectes zumini sit in this group of fishes because they appear to have convergently acquired a mosaic of specialized features characteristic of widely separate branches of the tetrapod radiation. ”
of findings will appear in Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
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brian chu other. A new species of pedunculated tetrapod fish that lived in the middle to late Devonian period of central Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, published online on February 5, 2024. Doi: 10.1080/02724634.2023.2285000
Meta works to identify and label AI-generated images on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, and is striving to expose “people and organizations that actively seek to deceive the public.” Masu.
Images created using Meta’s AI image tools are already labeled as AI, but Nick Clegg, the company’s global president, stated in a blog post on Tuesday that the company’s competing services will start labeling AI-generated images.
Meta’s AI images already have metadata and an invisible watermark indicating that the image was created by AI. The company has partnered with Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Adobe, Midjourney, and Shutterstock to work on AI image generators, according to Clegg.
Clegg said, “As the line between human content and synthetic content becomes blurred, people want to know where the line is.”
He added, “People often encounter AI-generated content for the first time, and our users appreciate the transparency around this new technology. It’s important to let people know that it was created using AI.”
A surfing llama or an AI? Image labels for AI-generated content on Facebook.
Clegg mentioned that the labeling feature is being developed and will be rolled out to all languages in the coming months.
He also stated that the company will add more prominent labels on images, videos, or audio that are “digitally created or altered” and “have a particularly high risk of materially misleading the public.”
Additionally, the company is working to develop technology to automatically detect AI-generated content, even when the content lacks invisible markers or has been removed.
“This work is particularly important because the online space is likely to become increasingly hostile in the coming years,” Mr Clegg said.
He concluded, “People and organizations actively trying to deceive people with AI-generated content will find ways to circumvent the safeguards in place to detect it. Our industry and society as a whole must continue to find ways to stay ahead of the curve.”
AI deepfakes have already become an issue in the US presidential election cycle, with examples of AI-generated deepfakes used to dissuade voters in the New Hampshire Democratic primary.
Australia’s Nine News also faced criticism for altering an image broadcast on the evening news that exposed Victorian Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell’s belly button and altered her chest, using Adobe’s AI image tools.
BRetain wants to lead the world in AI regulation. However, AI regulation is a rapidly evolving and contested policy area, with little agreement on what a good outcome looks like, let alone the best way to get there. And the fact that he is the third most important AI research center in the world does not give him so much power if the first two are the United States and China.
How do we cut this Gordian knot? Simple: Act quickly and decisively and do nothing.
The UK Government has today taken the next step towards legislation to regulate AI. From our story:
The government will admit on Tuesday that binding measures to oversee
cutting-edge AI development will be needed at some point, but not immediately. Instead, ministers will set out “initial thoughts on future binding requirements” for advanced systems and discuss them with technical, legal and civil society experts.
The Government will also give regulators £10m to help tackle AI risks and require them to develop their approach to the technology by April 30th.
When the first draft of the AI whitepaper was published in March 2023, the reaction was negative. The government’s proposal was withdrawn on the same day as the now-infamous call for a six-month “pause” on AI research to control the risks of an out-of-control system. Against this background, this white paper seemed pathetic.
The proposal would give regulators no new powers and would not give responsibility for guiding AI development to any private group. Instead, the government planned to align existing regulators, such as the Competition and Markets Authority and the Health and Safety Executive, and set out five principles to guide the regulatory framework when considering AI.
This approach has been criticized by the UK’s leading AI research group, the Ada Lovelace Institute, as having “significant gaps”, and even the fact that a multi-year legislative process will leave AI unregulated during the interim period. Ignored.
So what has changed?Well, the government Really awesome £10 million
Asking regulators to “upskill”, has set an April 30 deadline for the largest companies to publish their AI plans. A Department for Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson said: “The UK Government is in no hurry to legislate and will not risk introducing ‘ready-to-read’ rules that quickly become outdated or ineffective.” Ta.
This is a strange definition of “global AI leadership” and it’s important to immediately say “we’re not doing anything.” The government is also “considering” actual regulations, envisioning “future binding requirements that may be introduced for developers building cutting-edge AI systems.”
The second, slightly larger fund will cost “almost” £90m to launch “nine new centers of excellence across the UK”. The government also announced £2 million in funding to support “new research projects that help define what responsible AI looks like”.
There is an element of tragedy when reading the government press release that triumphantly revealed £2 million in funding from Yoshua Bengio, one of the three “godfathers” of AI, just a week later. Asks Canada to spend $1 billion We are building publicly owned supercomputers to keep up with the big tech companies. It’s like bringing a spoon to a knife fight.
You can say you’re agile in the face of conflicting demands, but after more than 11 months, it just seems impossible to commit. The day before the latest update to the AI White Paper was published, the Financial Times broke the news that another pillar of AI regulation had collapsed. from that story (lb):
The Intellectual Property Office, the UK government’s agency that oversees copyright law, is working with AI companies and rights holders to produce guidance on text and data mining, where AI models are trained on existing materials such as books and music. We are discussing with.
But a group of industry executives convened by the IPO to oversee the work was unable to agree on a voluntary code of conduct, handing responsibility back to officials at the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology.
Unlike broader AI regulation, which has a quagmire of conflicting opinions and very vague long-term goals, copyright reform is a very clear trade-off. On the one hand, creative and media companies that own valuable intellectual property. On the other side are technology companies that can use their intellectual property to build valuable AI tools. One group or the other will be frustrated by the outcome. A perfect compromise simply means that both are true.
Last month, the head of Getty Images was one of many to call on the UK to support its creative industries, which make up a tenth of the UK economy, citing the theoretical benefits that AI could bring in the future. And, faced with difficult choices with no right answers, the government chose to do nothing. Then you cannot lead the world in the wrong direction. And isn’t that what leadership is all about?
completely fake
Joe Biden poses with his smartphone while on the campaign trail. The President of the United States was the subject of a fake video posted on Facebook. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP
To be fair to the government, there are obvious problems with moving too quickly. Let’s take a look at social media to see some of them. Facebook’s rules do not prohibit deepfake videos of Joe Biden, the company’s Oversight Board (also known as the “Supreme Court”) has found.But honestly, it’s not clear what they are do Prohibition will become increasingly problematic. From our story:
Meta’s oversight board found that a Facebook video that falsely suggested that U.S. President Joe Biden is a pedophile did not violate the company’s current rules, but said the rules were “disjointed”. Yes, we believe that the focus is too narrow on AI-generated content.
The board, which is funded by Facebook’s parent company Meta but operates independently, took over the Biden video case in October in response to user complaints about a doctored seven-second video of the president.
Facebook rushed out a “manipulated media” policy several years ago, before ChatGPT and large-scale language models became AI trends, and amid growing interest in deepfakes. The rule
s prohibited misleading and altered videos created by AI.
The problem, the oversight committee said, is that the policy is impossible to apply because it has little clear rationale behind it and no clear theory of the harm it seeks to prevent. How can moderators differentiate between videos created by AI (which is prohibited) and videos created by skilled video editors (which are allowed)? Even if they could, Why is only the former problematic enough to be removed from the site?
The Oversight Committee proposed updating the rules to remove the temporary reference to AI altogether and instead require labels to identify manipulated audio and video content, regardless of the manipulation method. Mehta said it would update its policy.
Brianna Gee’s mother is calling for stricter restrictions on smartphones and social media. Photo: Handout to families/Cheshire Police/PA
Brianna Gee’s mother is calling for a revolution in how teens approach social media after her daughter was murdered by two of her classmates. Under-16s, she says, should be limited to devices made for teenagers that allow parents to easily monitor their technological lives, which are age-restricted by governments and tech companies.
I spoke to Archie Brand, editor of the daily newsletter First Edition, about her plea:
This lament will resonate with many parents, but in Brianna’s case it has special power. She was “secretly accessing sites on her smartphone that promoted anorexia and self-harm.” Petition created by Esther Say. And prosecutors
said her killers used Google to search for poisons, “serial killer facts” and ways to combat anxiety, and searched Amazon for rope.
“We don’t need new software to do everything Esther Gee wants us to do,” says Alex Hahn. “But there’s a broader problem here. Just as this sector has historically moved faster than governments can keep up, it’s also moving faster than parents can keep up. This varies from app to app and changes regularly, so it’s a large and difficult job to keep track of.”
You can read Archie's full email here (and sign up here to get the first edition every weekday morning).
Wider TechScape
Taylor Swift is one of the Universal Music artists whose work has been stripped from TikTok. Photo: Natasha Pisarenko/AP
Consider the happiest country in the world. Are you thinking of somewhere in Scandinavia? Well, a new study has brought to light something that may have been overlooked. They are actually the happiest people in the world, but they are often not included in rankings.
In global happiness rankings, such as the World Happiness Report (WHR), researchers typically note a correlation between high levels of life satisfaction and high incomes. However, these rankings often fail to differentiate between small indigenous groups and the overall population of a nation. In some of these communities, money has a minimal impact on daily life and livelihoods.
A new paper suggests that not all happiness is tied to money. In fact, it turns out that some low-income societies, particularly those that rely on nature rather than money, exhibit significantly higher life satisfaction and may even be some of the happiest people in the world.
“The frequently observed strong correlation between income and life satisfaction is not universal and proves that the wealth generated by developed economies is not fundamentally necessary for humans to live happy lives.” – Professor Victoria Reyes Garcia, senior author of the study
Who is the happiest person in the world?
Although not conducted by the same research institute as WHR, this new study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and measured happiness in a similar way. The WHR asks respondents to imagine a ladder with 10 being the best life and 0 being the worst, and then evaluate their life on that scale.
In this study, researchers translated the question into local languages: “Taking all aspects into consideration, how satisfied are you with your life on a scale of 0 to 10?”
The research team collected responses from 2,966 people from 19 indigenous and local communities around the world. Only 64 percent of households surveyed in these communities had any cash income.
These 19 communities had an average score of 6.8, with the lowest score being 5.1. However, four of these communities scored above 8/10 and, if included in the WHR, these small societies would be among the happiest people in the world. In 2023, WHR found that the countries with the highest scores were Finland (7.8), Denmark (7.6), and Iceland (7.5).
The highest scores were reported in Latin America, despite many of these societies having suffered from histories of marginalization and oppression, according to the authors.
Researchers say the findings are positive news for sustainability in the face of climate change, as this research suggests that people can achieve high levels of happiness without the need for resource-intensive economic growth.
They encourage future research to examine specific factors that influence well-being in societies where money is not central, such as family and social support, spirituality, and connection to the natural world.
The High Court has heard that an Australian computer scientist’s claim to be the author of Bitcoin’s founding documents is a “blatant lie”. Craig Wright, a 53-year-old who claims to be the pseudonymous author Satoshi Nakamoto, is being sued by a group of cryptocurrency exchanges and developers, with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s Crypto Patent Alliance (Copa) seeking a “negative declaration” that Wright is not Nakamoto.
The President of Copa, Jonathan Hough KC, told the High Court that Wright’s claims were “a brazen lie and an elaborate false narrative backed by industrial-scale fabrications.” Hough also mentioned that elements of Wright’s conduct, including his alleged use of ChatGPT to create fabrications to support his claims, were reminiscent of a “farce”. These claims, according to Hough, have “deadly serious” consequences for individuals who faced litigation based on Wright’s claims. He stated, “Dr. Wright has consistently failed to provide genuine evidence that he is Satoshi. Instead, he has repeatedly presented documents that clearly show signs of falsification.”
Both experts agreed that the original white paper was written in OpenOffice software, while the version Wright provided was created using software called LaTeX. Additionally, Wright’s claims to be Satoshi are met with widespread skepticism within the crypto community. Mr Wright’s barrister, Lord Grabiner KC, stated that he published the white paper after “spending many years researching and researching the concepts underlying Bitcoin” and has a “rare combination of interdisciplinary talent” and extensive experience in the field, which Nakamoto has “uniquely brought together” in the white paper.
The trial before Judge Mellor is scheduled to begin with Wright testifying on Tuesday and is expected to conclude next month with a written judgment expected at a later date.
Sanphodiacaulis densifolia is an extinct tree species that existed in what is now New Brunswick, Canada, between 359 and 347 million years ago (Carboniferous period). The structure consisted of an unbranched 16 cm diameter trunk and compound leaves arranged in a 13 cm spiral and compressed to a vertical trunk length of 14 cm. The compound leaves in the upper 0.75 m of the trunk were over 1.75 m long, with preserved alternating secondary collaterals starting 0.5 m from the trunk. In the lower region of the trunk there were only persistent leaf bases. Sanphodiacaulis densifolia shows that the early Carboniferous vegetation was more complex than expected, indicating that this was an experimental, perhaps transitional, period of diverse growth structures.
Sanphodiacaulis densifolia. Image credit: Tim Stonecipher.
Trees first appeared during the Middle Devonian period (393 to 383 million years ago), but modern woody plants did not appear until about 10 million years later.
Evidence for dendritic structures (tree-like structures) is primarily based on mud moldings, sand moldings, or calcified stumps, or extensive root structures in fossilized soils.
Under unique preservation conditions, these early trees fossilized with roots and crown structures attached to their trunks.
“The method is Sanphodiacaulis densifolia “It has very long leaves around its slender trunk, and it's amazing how many leaves there are on such a short trunk,” said Dr. Robert Gastaldo, a paleontologist at Colby College. he said.
“The morphology of these 350-million-year-old trees looks like ferns or palms, even though palms arose 300 million years ago.”
“However, the functional leaves of ferns and palm trees are clustered at the top and are relatively few in number.”
“in contrast, Sanphodiacaulis densifolia More than 250 leaves have been preserved around the trunk, with each partially preserved leaf extending 1.75 meters from the trunk. ”
“We estimate that each leaf grew at least another meter before it finished.”
“This means that ‘bottlebrush’ had a dense canopy of leaves that were not woody and spread for at least 5.5 meters around a trunk that was only 16 cm in diameter. Amazing to say the least. .”
Sanphodiacaulis densifolia It has compound leaves arranged in a spiral.Image credit: Gastaldo other., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.011.
Dr. Gastaldo and his colleagues examined five fossil specimens. Sanphodiacaulis densifolia.
The fossil was excavated from the Sanford Quarry, part of the Albert Formation in New Brunswick, Canada.
“These fossils were preserved when an earthquake destroyed trees and other vegetation along the edge of a rift lake,” Gastaldo said.
“The first fossil wood was unearthed from a quarry about seven years ago, but it contained only one partial sample.”
“It took several years to find four other specimens of the same plant in close spatial proximity.”
“One of the specimens reveals how the leaves separate from the top of the tree, which makes this tree quite unique.”
“This is one of the few preserved trunks with crown leaves still attached in a fossil record spanning more than 400 million years.”
Actual and reconstructed heights and biostratigraphic ranges of Pennsylvanian trees from the Middle Devonian. Image credit: Gastaldo et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.011.
Sanphodiacaulis densifolia It probably relied on its unusual growth form to maximize the amount of light it could capture and reduce competition with other plants above ground.
This discovery provides important insights into the evolution of plants and arboreal growth, that is, plants that grow to the height of a tree, or at least 4.5 m, at maturity.
They also remind us that throughout the history of life on Earth, there have been trees that look like nothing we've ever seen before.
“We all have a mental concept of what a tree looks like, depending on where we live on the planet, and we all have a vision of something familiar,” Dr. Gastaldo said. Ta.
“The fossils we report are unique and represent some of the strangest growth forms in the history of life.”
“This is an evolutionary experiment during a period of forest plant biodiversity, and it appears to be a short-lived form.”
“The history of life on land consists of plants and animals that are different from those that live today,” he added.
“The evolutionary mechanisms that operated in the distant past allowed organisms to survive for long periods of time, but their shape, morphology, growth structure, and life history followed different trajectories and strategies.”
“Rare and unusual fossils like the New Brunswick tree are just a few examples of failed experiments that have colonized our planet.”
a paper The survey results were published in a magazine current biology.
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Robert A. Gastaldo other. A mysterious fossil plant with a three-dimensional tree-like growth structure from the earliest Carboniferous period in New Brunswick, Canada. current biology, published online on February 2, 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.011
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on Monday that human drivers should always use caution after videos surfaced of people driving Teslas wearing what appears to be Apple’s recently released Vision Pro headset. He said he needed to pay.
Buttigieg responded on Twitter/X to a video that has been viewed more than 24 million times that shows a Tesla driver seemingly gesturing with his hands to manipulate a virtual reality field.
Buttigieg said on Monday that Tesla’s self-driving assist features (Autopilot, Enhanced Autopilot, Full Self-Driving), despite their names, do not mean the vehicle is fully self-driving. said on social media.
“Be careful – all advanced driver assistance systems available today require a human driver to be in control and fully engaged in the driving task at all times,” Buttigieg said.
Apple’s Vision Pro was released last week and blends three-dimensional digital content with views of the outside world. Apple, which says it should never be used while operating a moving vehicle, did not respond to a request for comment.
Note: All currently available advanced driver assistance systems require the human driver to be in control and fully engaged in the driving task at all times. pic.com/OpPy36mOgC
According to Apple’s Alan Dye, the Vision Pro will work as a headset that allows users to interact with “apps and experiences” in an augmented reality (AR) version of their surroundings or in a fully immersive virtual reality (VR) space. Vice President of Human Interface Design announced in June.
“Apple Vision Pro relies solely on your eyes, hands, and voice,” Dai said in June. “Browse your system just by looking. App icons come to life when you look at them. Just tap your fingers at the same time to select them and scroll them with a light flick.”
“Apple Vision Pro will change the way we communicate, collaborate, work, and enjoy entertainment,” said Apple executive Tim Cook. But the company didn’t intend for Vision Pro to change the way people commute.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Buttigieg previously made similar comments about Tesla’s use of Autopilot. Tesla says its advanced driver features are intended for use by fully alert drivers who “keep their hands on the wheel and ready to take over at any time.”
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured an excellent image of the interacting spiral lens galaxy pair Arp 140.
Lenticular galaxy NGC 274 can be seen on the right side of this Hubble image, and barred spiral galaxy NGC 275 can be seen on the left side. Image credit: NASA / ESA / R. Foley, University of California, Santa Cruz / Gladys Kober, NASA and The Catholic University of America.
Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers discovered a habitable zone planet orbiting nearby red dwarf star TOI-715 every 19.3 days and characterized its characteristics. I made it clear. They also demonstrated that a second, smaller exoplanet with a period of 25.6 days may exist, located just inside the outer edge of TOI-715’s habitable zone. This system represents the first of his TESS discoveries to fall within this most conservative and widely applicable habitable zone.
Artist’s impression of the super-Earth exoplanet TOI-715b. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
TOI-715 is an M dwarf star of spectral type M4 located approximately 137 light-years away in the constellation Urae.
The star, also known as TIC 271971130, is about 6.6 billion years old, making it older than the Sun.
TOI-715 includes the super-Earth exoplanet TOI-715b and the smaller terrestrial exoplanet candidate TOI-715c.
“TOI-715b is about 1.5 times wider than Earth and orbits within the habitable zone around its parent star,” said Georgina Dransfield, an astronomer at the University of Birmingham.
“This is the distance from the star that can give the planet the right temperature for liquid water to form on its surface.”
“Of course, for surface water to exist, several other factors have to be in place, especially for us to have a suitable atmosphere.”
“However, the conservative habitable zone (which may be narrower and more robustly defined than the broader ‘optimistic’ habitable zone) is a It ranks first.”
“A smaller planet, TOI-715c, may be only slightly larger than Earth and may exist just inside the conservative habitable zone.”
“TOI-175b joins the list of habitable zone planets that could be scrutinized more closely by Webb, perhaps also for atmospheric signatures,” the astronomers said.
“A lot depends on other properties of the planet, such as how heavy it is and whether it can be classified as a water world. Its atmosphere, if any at all, is more massive, denser, and has an atmosphere. It’s less pronounced than the atmosphere, and much less difficult to detect. Drier worlds are likely to keep their inconspicuous atmospheres close to the surface.”
“If the possibility of a second Earth-sized planet in this system is confirmed, it would be the smallest habitable zone planet ever discovered by TESS.”
“This discovery also exceeds TESS’s initial expectations by discovering an Earth-sized world within the habitable zone.”
This finding is reported in the following article: paper inside Royal Astronomical Society Monthly Notices.
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Georgina Dransfield other. 2024. Earth's habitable zone planet hosted by the M4 star TOI-715 near the ecliptic south pole. MNRAS 527 (1): 35-52; doi: 10.1093/mnras/stad1439
A new genus and species of pterosaur has been identified from fossils found at the site. Kilmalag Formation Originally from the Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Reconstructed by artists Theoptera evansae. Image credit: Mark Witton / Natural History Museum, London.
Professor Paul Barrett of London's Natural History Museum and colleagues said: “The oldest known pterosaur fossils date from the late Triassic period, but the group persisted until extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period.''
“Pterosaurs are known on every continent and experienced two major peaks in species richness during the Early-Middle Cretaceous and the Late Cretaceous.”
“However, that distribution is highly influenced by the 'Lagerstetten effect' and other forms of sampling bias.”
“Most of our knowledge about the evolutionary history of pterosaurs is based on material from a small number of archaeological sites with limited spatiotemporal extent.”
The newly discovered species lived in what is now Scotland between 168 and 166 million years ago (during the mid-Jurassic period).
named Theoptera evansaeIt was the first pterosaur named in Scotland and the most complete pterosaur discovered in Britain since its discovery by Mary Anning. Dimorphodon Macronix Early 1800s.
The remains of this flying reptile consist of a three-dimensionally preserved partial skeleton, including the shoulders, wings, legs, and part of the spine.
Many of the bones remain fully embedded in the rock and can only be studied using CT scans.
Theoptera evansae, almost as found (top) and with CT reconstruction using the elements (bottom). Image credit: Martin-Silverstone other.
“Theoptera evansae is part of the pterosaur clade Dalwinoptera'' said the paleontologists.
“The discovery shows that this clade is much more diverse than previously thought and persisted for more than 25 million years, from the Late Late Jurassic to the Late Jurassic.”
The discovery also shows that all of the major Jurassic pterosaurs evolved earlier than previously thought, well before the end of the Early Jurassic.
“Theoptera evansae “This helps narrow down the timing of some key events in the evolution of flying reptiles,” said Professor Barrett.
“Most of its relatives are from China, so its appearance in Britain during the mid-Jurassic period was a complete surprise.”
“This shows that the advanced group of flying reptiles to which it belongs appeared earlier than we thought and quickly acquired a near-global distribution.”
“During that period, Theoptera evansae This period is one of the most important in the evolution of pterosaurs, and it is also the period with the lowest number of specimens, demonstrating its importance,” said Dr Liz Martin-Silverstone, a palaeontologist at the University of Bristol. said.
“We found more bones embedded in the rock, some of which were essential to identifying the type of pterosaur.” Theoptera evansae This was an even better discovery than originally thought. ”
“This brings us one step closer to understanding when and where more advanced pterosaurs evolved.”
elizabeth martin silverstone other. 2024. A new pterosaur and the diversification of early flying reptiles from the Middle Jurassic of Skye, Scotland. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontologyin press.
If temperature-tracking sponges can be trusted, climate change is happening much faster than scientists estimate.
A new study that used marine organisms called hard sponges to measure global average temperatures suggests that the world has already warmed by about 1.7 degrees Celsius over the past 300 years. This is at least 0.5 degrees Celsius higher than the scientific consensus stated in the UN report.
The findings, published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, are surprising, but some scientists believe the study authors’ conclusions give more inferences about global temperatures than can be confidently gleaned from sponges. They claim that they are doing too much.
However, this study raises important questions. How much warmer did the world get when humans were less systematically measuring temperatures around the world, even as fossil fuel-powered machines were running hard? Scientists say this is an important question. It is a problem that needs to be better understood.
The study’s authors say that industrialization before 1900 had a greater impact than scientists previously realized, and that influence is captured in centuries-old sponge skeletons and that we The standards we have been using to talk about the politics of climate change have been wrong.
“Essentially, these studies show that the industrial age of warming started earlier than we thought, in the 1860s,” said the study’s lead author, a researcher at the University of Western Australia’s Global Professor of Chemistry Malcolm McCulloch spoke about sponges. “The big picture is that the global warming clock has been moved forward by at least 10 years to reduce emissions to minimize the risks of a dangerous climate.”
Scientists not involved in the study say their colleagues are grappling with how much warming occurred in the decades after the industrial revolution and before temperature records became more reliable. .
“This is not the only effort to reexamine what we call the pre-industrial baseline and suggest we may have missed the increase in warming during the 19th century,” said Brown University paleoclimate and oceanography expert. said Kim Cobb, author of the report. Brown Institute for the Environment and Society. “This is an important area of uncertainty.”
In its latest assessment of global warming, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated that the Earth’s surface temperature has increased by up to 1.2 degrees Celsius since before the industrial revolution.
Some scientists believe that the IPCC process (which requires consensus) will yield conservative results. For example, scientists who study Earth’s ice have expressed concern that the Earth is approaching the tipping point of the ice sheet sooner than expected and that the IPCC’s sea level rise projections are too low.
Cobb, who did not contribute to the Nature Climate Change study, said a large amount of evidence would be needed to change what scientists call the pre-industrial baseline, but other researchers have argued that warming has increased since before the 1900s. He also said that he has found some signs that the system is not being properly accounted for. .
“How big this extra warming increase actually is is currently unknown. Is this important to study? We could be missing a tenth of a degree. Is there a? Yes, I think it’s been uncovered in a series of studies over the last six to 10 years,” Cobb said.
Scleros sponges are one of many climate proxies used by scientists to gather information about past climate conditions. In the dural cavernosa, the skeletal growth layers serve a similar purpose to marine biologists, just as tree rings serve a purpose to those working in the forest.
Dural sponges grow slowly, and as they grow, the chemical composition of their skeleton changes based on the surrounding temperature. This means that scientists can track temperature by looking at the ratio of strontium to calcium as an organism steadily grows.
Studies show that every half millimeter of growth is equivalent to about two years of temperature data. Living things can grow and add layers to their skeletons over hundreds of years.
“These are truly unique specimens. The reason we are able to obtain this unique data is because of the special relationship these animals have with their surrounding environment,” McCulloch said.
The study’s authors collected sponges from waters at least 100 feet deep off the coast of Puerto Rico and near St. Croix, analyzed the chemical composition of their skeletons, graphed the results, and used the data from 1964 to When compared with sea surface temperature measurements in 2012, the trends were almost identical.
Cancellous bone data dates back to 1700, predating reliable human records. This gives scientists a longer reference point to assess what temperatures were like before fossil fuels became widespread. Researchers believe this dataset is superior to other datasets calculated using her 19th century temperature measurements from ocean-going ships.
Sponge data shows that temperatures started rising in the 1860s, before the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change considered it.
But some outside researchers say the study may have made too much use of one type of proxy indicator, especially when the data is tied to only one location on Earth.
“We should be cautious in assuming that estimates from parts of the Atlantic Ocean always reflect global averages,” Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said in an emailed statement. He added that the author’s claims are probably wrong. “It’s gone too far.”
The study authors said they believe the waters off Puerto Rico have remained relatively stable, reflecting global changes similar to those elsewhere in the world.
The results suggest that humanity has already surpassed political guardrails, such as world leaders’ goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Cobb said further work would need to be done with a dural sponge to ensure the work was accurate. And regardless of how much we are already pushing up the planet’s temperature, humanity must put the brakes on greenhouse gas production.
“Every time we get warmer, the climate impacts increase and the climate impacts worsen,” Cobb said. “We’re already living with an unsafe warming climate. … Jobs haven’t changed.”
Deep underground in the heart of Asia, two giant plates are colliding with each other. Violent, slow-motion collisions between the geological plates are continuously shaping the towering Himalayas. However, newly discovered research suggests that this ongoing tectonic collision is also dividing Tibet in half.
A group of Chinese and American scientists conducted a study of underground seismic waves from earthquakes in and around Tibet and analyzed the geochemical composition of gases in surface hot springs. They found evidence that the Indian plate may be behaving unexpectedly as it collides with the Eurasian plate.
This research, which has not yet undergone peer review, was presented at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in December. The scientists theorize that as the Indian plate continues its thrust beneath the Eurasian plate, it may be splitting apart beneath Tibet, separating the eastern and western halves of the slab. This fissure could have significant implications for the stability of the region, increasing the risk of earthquakes and other hazards.
The findings of the study provide an interesting and plausible explanation for the dynamic activity in this region, according to Barbara Romanowitz, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She also suggests that this potential split in the Indian plate may create a zone of weakness that could lead to large earthquakes.
The study proposes that the lithospheric mantle, one of the hard parts of the Earth’s crust, are sloughing off, leaving the crust behind, causing controversy within the scientific community as to how the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates would occur or what it would mean for the Earth.
The region where this collision is occurring is unique and serves as a natural laboratory for scientists to understand the process of continental collision in real time. It is compared to a game of hide-and-seek, providing a brief snapshot of a particular process of continental collision.
Satellite image of Typhoon Surigae over the Pacific Ocean in 2021
European Union/Copernicus Sentinel-3 images
In the past decade, five tropical cyclones have recorded wind speeds strong enough to be classified as Category 6 storms. Analysis suggests hurricane sizes may need to be updated as rising temperatures strengthen storms.
If carbon emissions continue at their current pace, a “Category 7” storm is even possible. 'It's certainly possible in theory if we keep warming the planet,' says climate scientist james cossin at the First Street Foundation, a nonprofit research organization in New York.
Officially, there is no such thing as a Category 6 or Category 7 hurricane. According to the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale used by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in the United States, storms with sustained wind speeds of 252 kilometers per hour or higher are categorized as Category 5.
But as the wind speeds of the strongest storms increase, Kossin and his colleagues say using this scale becomes increasingly problematic. michael wehner That's because a study at California's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory does not convey the increased risk posed by increasingly severe storms.
“The situation is bad and it's getting worse,” Kossin said. “As the climate changes, these storms will become stronger.”
They say there are three pieces of evidence that global warming is causing the wind speeds of the strongest storms to increase. First, the basic theory of hurricanes as a type of heat engine says that a hotter world should produce stronger storms.
Second, high-resolution climate models produce storms with faster winds as the Earth's temperature rises.
And finally, the real-world storm is getting stronger. Of the 197 Category 5 tropical cyclones between 1980 and 2021, half occurred in the 17 years ending in 2021, with the five fastest occurring in the last nine years of this period. It occurred on.
If the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale were expanded to rank storms with wind speeds over 309 km/h as Category 6, all five of these storms would fall into that category. The five are Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, Hurricane Patricia in 2015, Typhoon Meranti in 2016, Typhoon Goni in 2020, and Typhoon Surigae in 2021.
However, Cossin and Wehner are not suggesting that the NHC formally adopt the Category 6 definition. Cossin says using a scale based on wind speed is fundamentally flawed, given that flooding and storm surges can pose a greater threat to life and buildings. .
Instead, they believe the NHC needs to implement an entirely new system to better communicate the overall risk posed by the storm. For example, 2008's Hurricane Ike was a massive storm that caused massive flooding and damage, but Kossin said it was only a Category 1 or 2 storm when it made landfall in the United States.
kelly emmanuel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology agree that a new scale is needed. “While I think it's important to recognize that hurricane intensity is increasing, we should also point out that most of the damage, injuries, and loss of life from hurricanes comes from water, not wind.” he says.
“I have been an advocate of replacing the venerable but outdated Saffir-Simpson scale with a new scale that reflects the totality of risk from a particular storm,” Emanuel says.
Another hurricane expert, Jeff Masters, now semi-retired, doesn't think the NHC intends or should change the Saffir-Simpson scale. “But it's important to understand how devastating these new superstorms could be, so talking about a hypothetical Category 6 storm is a valuable communications strategy for policymakers and the public. ” he says.
Masters said wind damage increases exponentially with wind speed, with a Category 6 storm with wind speeds of 314 km/h causing four times more damage than a Category 5 storm with wind speeds of 257 km/h. It is said that there is a possibility.
Volcanic lightning, which occurs within the clouds of volcanic ash released during some volcanic eruptions, may be a source of nitrogen.
Mike Rivers/Getty Images
Analysis of volcanic rocks revealed large amounts of nitrogen compounds, almost certainly formed by volcanic lightning. This process may have provided the nitrogen that the first life forms needed to evolve and thrive.
Nitrogen is a key component of the amino acids that are linked to make the proteins on which all life depends. Nitrogen gas is abundant, but plants cannot convert it into usable forms like carbon dioxide.
Instead, plants get most of their nitrogen from bacteria that can “fix” the gas by converting it into nitrogen compounds such as nitrate.But nitrogen-fixing bacteria didn't exist when life first evolved. Suliman Becchi There must have been non-biological sources early on, as it was at the Sorbonne University in Paris.
Lightning from thunderstorms is one possible cause. Currently, this produces relatively small amounts of nitrate, but it may have been important early in Earth's history. The famous Miller-Urey experiment of the 1950s demonstrated that nitrogen compounds containing amino acids could have been produced by lightning in Earth's early atmosphere.
Now Becchi and his colleagues show that another source may be lightning that occurs in ash clouds during volcanic eruptions.
When researchers collected volcanic deposits from Peru, Turkey, and Italy, they were initially surprised to find large amounts of nitrate in some layers. Isotopic analysis of these nitrates showed that they were originally present in the atmosphere and were not emitted by volcanoes. But Becchi says that amount is too much to be produced by lightning during thunderstorms. “It was an amazing amount of money,” he says. “It's really huge.” That means the nitrate was probably produced by volcanic lightning.
“When we looked at the various possibilities, volcanic lightning was the most likely,” Becchi said. “We know that when large-scale volcanic eruptions occur, a lot of lightning occurs.”
Tamsin Mather Researchers at the University of Oxford say their team's conclusions make sense. “Volcanic eruptions like the one studied in the paper would be expected to produce significant lightning, so it's quite possible that volcanic lightning generated this signal,” she says.
Life is thought to have first evolved around volcanoes, and the team's findings indicate that this environment may have been rich in nitrogen compounds, Becchi said.
The idea that volcanic lightning played an important role in the origin of life is not new. Jeffrey Bada Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California have previously shown that volcanic lightning passing through volcanic gases can produce molecules such as amino acids. “This paper just reinforces what I've published,” he says.
Vesuvius Challenge Grand Prize winner used technology to decipher corrupted papyrus scrolls
vesuvius challenge
Artificial intelligence helped decipher ancient papyrus scrolls that were turned into blackened blocks of carbon by volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The first passage of this easy-to-read text reveals the Greek philosopher's never-before-seen musings.
This discovery won a grand prize of $700,000. vesuvius challengeThey then used a combination of 3D mapping and AI techniques to detect ink and decipher the shapes of the letters in digitally scanned segments of a scroll known as the Herculaneum Papyrus. Winning team members Yusef Nader, Luke Fariter and Julian Siliger help pave the way for further discoveries from additional papyrus scrolls once housed in the library of the ancient Roman town of Herculaneum. there is a possibility.
“I think this is a huge boon to our knowledge of ancient philosophy. It's just a huge amount of new text,” he says. michael mc oscar A professor at the University of London, he was not involved in the discovery.
The winning entry met the Vesuvius Challenge criteria of deciphering at least 85 percent of the letters in four sentences of 140 characters each. Plus, as a bonus, we included 11 more columns of text totaling over 2000 characters.
These rediscovered Greek letters reveal the thoughts of Philodemus, who is believed to have been the resident philosopher of the library containing the Herculaneum Papyrus. The deciphered texts focus on how the scarcity or abundance of food and other goods affects the pleasure they bring. This fits with Philodemus' philosophy of the Epicurean school, which prioritized pleasure as the main goal of life. His 2,000-year-old writings even seem to delve into the philosophy of Stoicism, which “says nothing about pleasure.”
And the Vesuvius challenge is not over yet. Goals for 2024 include finding ways to scale up his 3D scanning and digital analysis technology without becoming too expensive. Current technology costs $100 per square centimeter. That means it could cost anywhere from $1 million to $5 million to effectively unravel the entire scroll, and there are 800 scrolls waiting to be deciphered.
“Realistically, the majority of the known libraries already in the public domain are Epicurean philosophy, and that's what we should expect, but there are also important Stoic texts, perhaps some history and Latin literature. Yes. Full text of early Roman writers such as Ennius and Livius Andronicus. [whose works] “Even if we don't survive, that would be great,” McCosker said. “Epicurus' SymposiumThe book he wrote about the biology of wine consumption would be a lot of fun. ”
Microscopic marine fungi are abundant, with approximately 2000 species discovered to date.
Dayarathne MC et al. (2020)
Take a walk along the coast almost anywhere in the world and you'll see colorful patches of life growing on rocks, seawalls, and driftwood. These are lichens, a mutualistic partnership between fungi and algae. In the UK, this may include brightly colored orange marine lichens and yellowish coastal sunburst lichens, as well as many other Drabber species.
Lichens are typically thought of as terrestrial organisms, and in fact, the majority grow inland on rocks, tree trunks, leaves, and soil. However, coastal organisms are not creatures that accidentally washed ashore from land; they are marine-adapted species found only on or in close proximity to shores. Until recently, they were considered to be outliers in the almost entirely terrestrial fungal kingdom. No more. “Fungi are present in every marine ecosystem we observe,” says Michael Cunliffe of the University of Plymouth in the UK.
Research on marine fungi is currently rapidly increasing, but their exact role and importance in marine ecosystems remains a mystery. Nevertheless, there are high hopes that it could save us from the two great scourges of the 21st century: antibiotic resistance and plastic pollution.
What are marine fungi?
The existence of marine fungi has been known for many years. The earliest descriptions were published in his mid-19th century to his early 20th century, but these were largely ignored by mainstream mycologists. Most of the species discovered are found on the roots of seaweed that live near the coast.
Activists participating in COP28 climate change conference to be held in Dubai in December 2023
Sean Gallup/Getty Images
The 1.5°C limit was exceeded in 2010 or 2011, and the world is already 1.8°C warmer than it was before the industrial revolution, according to researchers using sponges to find out how seawater and air temperatures in the Caribbean have changed through 2018. The researchers who investigated this claim. Past 300 years.
“The increase in Earth's average surface temperature was 0.5 degrees Celsius greater than currently accepted estimates.” Malcolm McCulloch at the University of Western Australia. “What our research shows is that global warming scenarios are 10 years away, or even further.”
But other climate scientists argue that data from a single region is not a reliable way to understand past global temperatures.
The 2015 Paris Agreement called on countries to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but it did not define exactly what this meant. So climate scientists compiling the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report defined it as the average temperature from 1850 to 1900.
By this time, the Earth had already begun to warm as a result of emissions from burning fossil fuels. However, because there were few temperature measurements before 1850, there is great uncertainty about how much warming was caused by fossil fuels during the early industrial era. Therefore, choosing 1850–1900 as the baseline was pragmatic.
But McCulloch and his colleagues think they have discovered exactly what fossil fuel-induced warming was early on after analyzing samples of very long-lived sponges (Ceratoporella nicolsoni) forms a calcium carbonate skeleton.
The 10-centimeter-wide corpora cavernosa could be about 400 years old, team members say amos winter at Indiana State University. “These sponges grow very slowly.”
The sponges were collected by divers at depths of 33 to 91 meters off the coast of Puerto Rico. Although the original goal was to study the ocean's pH in the past, the researchers also measured the ratio of strontium to calcium, which varied with water temperature when calcium carbonate was formed.
Researchers noticed a close correlation between temperatures “recorded” by sponges and the average surface temperature of the Earth measured by instruments, especially after 1960, when measurements became more reliable. That means there is.
“This is kind of a serendipitous discovery, but the connection is very strong,” McCulloch says. “They are changing proportionately to the world average. The main differences occur when instrumental records are the poorest.”
The researchers therefore calculated the average global temperature before the industrial revolution back to 1,700 degrees Celsius, assuming that the sponges accurately reflected this.
The researchers believe their study should be taken into account when assessing whether the IPCC has exceeded the 1.5°C limit. “The bottom line is yes, the IPCC should take this issue seriously,” McCulloch said.
He also thinks climate modelers need to take the findings into account. If previous carbon emissions are causing more warming than thought, the impact of further emissions may be underestimated, he says.
But other climate scientists are far from convinced. “In my view, it would be imprudent to claim that an instrumental record is wrong based on paleocavernoids from one region of the world,” he says. michael man at the University of Pennsylvania. “That doesn't make sense to me. That said, our own early research supports the idea that there was at least another 0.2 degrees Celsius of warming by the late 19th century.”
In fact, anthropogenic warming may have started thousands of years ago. According to the early Anthropocene hypothesis proposed by William Ruddiman The University of Virginia announced that the first farmers' clearing of forests and creation of rice paddies produced enough carbon dioxide and methane to stop the planet from cooling and entering a new ice age.
Recent studies by other researchers have provided increasing evidence to support this hypothesis, but it is still far from being widely accepted.
Nuclear fusion experiments at the US National Ignition Facility reach a significant milestone
philip saltonstall
Scientists confirmed that a 2022 fusion reaction reached a historic milestone by releasing more energy than it put in, and subsequent tests yielded even better results. Says. The findings, now published in a series of papers, offer encouragement that fusion reactors will one day produce clean, abundant energy.
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. The same process powers our sun.
Nuclear fusion can produce more energy without any of the radioactive waste that comes with nuclear fission, but science has yet to find a way to contain and control the process, let alone extract energy from it. Researchers and engineers couldn't find it for decades.
Experiments to do this using laser-irradiated capsules of deuterium and tritium fuel – a process called inertial confinement fusion (ICF) – began in 2011 at California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) . Initially, the energy released was only a fraction of the energy. The laser energy input was gradually increased and the experiment finally crossed the important break-even milestone on December 5, 2022. That reaction generated his 1.5 times the laser energy needed to kickstart.
One paper claims that the institute's National Ignition Facility (NIF) has seen even higher ratios in subsequent commissioning, peaking at 1.9 times its energy input on September 4, 2023. .
Richard Towne LLNL said it believes the team's checks and double-checks since the 2022 results have proven it was “not a flash in the pan” and there is still room for improvement.
Town said yields are likely to improve with the hardware currently in place at NIF, but things could move further if the lasers can be upgraded, which would take years. “A sledgehammer always comes in handy,” he says. “If I could get a bigger hammer, I think I could aim for a gain of about 10.”
But Town points out that NIF was never built as a prototype reactor and is not optimized for high yields. His main job is to provide critical research to the US nuclear weapons program.
Part of this research involves exposing the bomb's electronics and payload to the neutron irradiation that occurs during the ICF reaction to see if they would function in the event of an all-out nuclear war. The risk of electronic equipment failure was highlighted during a 2021 test when NIF opened fire, knocking out all lights throughout the site, plunging researchers into darkness. “These lights were not hardened, but you can imagine military components having to withstand much higher doses,” Town says.
This mission means that some of the project's research remains classified. Until the 1990s, even the concept of ICF was secret, Town says.
The announcement that ICF would reach break-even in 2022 raised hopes that fusion power is on the horizon, and this will be further strengthened by news that further progress has been made. However, there are some caveats.
First, the energy output is far below what is needed for a commercial reactor, producing barely enough to heat a bath. What's worse is that this ratio is calculated using the power of the laser, so for him to produce 2.1 megajoules of energy, the laser consumes her 500 trillion watts. That's more power than the output of the entire U.S. national power grid. Therefore, these experiments apply even in a very narrow sense.
martin freer The researchers, from the University of Birmingham in the UK, say these results certainly do not indicate that a practical fusion reactor can now be built. “Science still has work to do,” he says. “We don't know the answers to all of these, and we don't need researchers anymore.”
Freer says that as scientific experiments advance, they pose engineering challenges to create better materials and processes, which in turn enables better experiments and further progress. “Nuclear fusion could happen,” he says. “But the challenges we face are quite steep from a scientific perspective.”
Aneeka Khan The professor at the University of Manchester, UK, agrees that recent advances in fusion research are positive, but stresses that it will be decades before commercial power plants are operational, and that only global cooperation and He stressed that it depends on a concerted effort to train more people. field. She cautions against interpreting advances in fusion research as a possible solution to dealing with dependence on energy from fossil fuels.
“Fusion is already too slow to address the climate crisis. We are already facing the devastation of climate change on a global scale,” says Khan. “In the short term, we need to leverage existing low carbon technologies such as nuclear fission and renewables, and in the long term, invest in fusion to become part of a diverse low carbon energy mix. must commit to tackling the climate crisis.”
you know that person. People who use train delays as an excuse to get absorbed in good books. Someone who can crack a joke 10 seconds after breaking his ankle. He loves presentations and is never afraid of pressure. They seem to float through life, unperturbed by the stresses that can overwhelm us. What is their secret?
Are they blessed with stress-resistant genes? Did their upbringing make them exceptionally resilient? Are they learning specific ways to deal with life's challenges, or do they just know how to avoid stress altogether? To answer these questions, researchers have investigated how humans and animals respond and adapt to adversity, identifying which animals are particularly resistant to stress and elucidating the factors that contribute to this ability. Ta.it's the journey that took them Romanian orphanage From an interrogation room in North Carolina to a fire station in Indianapolis to a humor classroom in Austria.
This research helps the military recruit applicants for high-stress jobs. It also led to the first human trial of a “stress vaccine” that has the potential to prevent the devastating effects of conditions ranging from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to depression. But there are greater benefits to understanding the secret to a stress-free life. Knowing why some people cope with stress better than others and what we can all do to increase our resilience can only help us all cope better with the challenges of everyday life. But it may also teach you how to use stress to your advantage.
One thing you can be sure of is whether or not you're going to be late.
Article amended on February 27, 2020
We found out when people are negatively affected by stress.
Shimei medium with a print of the coronation of Louis XIV
National Palace Museum
These gorgeous antique clocks not only represent time, but also a window into an era of cutting-edge scientific innovation.
Each of these works, dating from 1662 to 1795, is part of a new exhibition. Zimingzhong: The Clockwork Treasure of China's Forbidden City At the Science Museum in London. It “explores how we measure time and the technical expertise, creativity and international trade behind centuries-old clocks,” said curator Jane Desborough. states.
Zimeichu in the shape of an artificial flower pot
National Palace Museum
called Ziming Middle School This bell, which means “self-ringing bell” in Mandarin, was brought to China by European missionaries during the Qing Dynasty and was prized by the Chinese emperor, who collected hundreds of them and built them in the Forbidden City in Beijing to emphasize his imperial status. It was exhibited in the palace. And a luxurious taste.
Zimingzhong celestial globe and original case included
National Palace Museum
Many of the things that made Ziming Middle School The technology incorporated into the intricate case was so prestigious that hundreds of skilled craftsmen were required to produce just one watch. Some of the complex devices still used in some clocks may have been used to time the duration of celestial events.
European style Shimeichu
National Palace Museum
The main image is Ziming Middle School It depicts the coronation of King Louis XIV of France, with other images depicted in smaller images (taken from below the main image): penjing (“Potted Landscape”) Delicate artificial flowers. A small celestial observation device that displays the movement of stars and planets around the Earth. There is also a print by 18th century painter Joshua Reynolds (pictured above). The exhibition will run until June 2nd.
Bull sharks live in shallow waters and occasionally attack humans.
Leonardo Gonzalez/Shutterstock
Shark bites and deaths will increase globally in 2023, with Australia recording the highest number of deaths, with surfers being the biggest victims.
The University of Florida's International Shark Attack File (ISAF) investigated 120 “alleged shark-human interactions” around the world in 2023. These included nine “boat bites” and injuries at public aquariums.
Of the 120 incidents that occurred around the world, 69 were confirmed to be unprovoked bites of humans when the shark was in shark habitat and unprovoked. This number was up from his 57 cases in 2002.
A further 22 attacks were triggered, defined as “a human initiating an interaction with a shark in any way.” These include scenes of people feeding sharks, touching sharks, and attempting to free sharks from fishing nets. The rest were either scavenged bodies or their circumstances were not confirmed.
Globally, 10 people will die from unprovoked shark attacks in 2023, double the number in 2022. 42% of shark bite victims worldwide were surfers and 39% were swimmers.
Four of the deaths occurred in Australia, three of which were attributed to great white sharks (carcharodon carcharius) attack the surfer.
gavin naylor Researchers at the University of Florida said the number of unprovoked bites around the world is in line with the average for the past five years. “But the rise in the number of unwarranted deaths is a bit worrying, especially in Australia,” he says. “We will continue to monitor incidents related to nearby surfing spots.” [great] A collection of great white sharks. ”
The report comes a week after a woman was seriously injured when a bull shark bit her on the leg while swimming in one of Sydney Harbour's busiest areas at dusk.Porgy whale).
phoebe meagher Sydney's Taronga Zoo helps manage Australia's shark incident database and works closely with researchers in Florida.
He said on average over the life of the database, which goes back to 1791, Australia recorded just one death a year, a significant increase of four deaths in 2023. .
The last time Australia had no deaths was in 2019, but Meagher doesn't think the trend has changed significantly. “An increase in deaths does not mean an increase in bites,” she says.
She attributes the rise in deaths in 2023 to bad luck, with deaths more likely if attacks occur far from the coast or far from hospitals, for example. .
NASA has released a stunning new image of the irregular galaxy LEDA 6430 captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
This Hubble image shows LEDA 6430, an irregular galaxy about 15 million light-years away in the constellation Phoenix. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Messa.
LEDA6430 It is located in Phoenix, a small constellation in the south, about 15 million light years from Earth.
This galaxy, also known as ESO 245-5 or HIPASS J0145-43, 15,000 light years Across.
“The Hubble image of LEDA 6430 shows a dense starry sky over a background of dust, gas, and light from more distant objects,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“In the image, the stars take up most of the field of view, so it's a little difficult to realize that you're actually looking at a large portion of the galaxy.”
“Another reason why LEDA 6430 is probably a bit difficult to tell is a galaxy is its apparent lack of structure,” the astronomers added.
“We frequently enjoy Hubble's spectacular images of spiral galaxies, which are extremely interesting to watch, in part because the stars, gas, and dust appear to be arranged in an unusually orderly manner. .”
“The IB(s)m designation specifically means that the galaxy is irregular (I), banded (B), has a slight spiral structure (s), and is Magellanic (m). ”
“Irregularity is very intuitive in this context; galaxies do not appear to have a regular, ordered structure,” the researchers said.
“In fact, the entire landscape here is covered in stars from this galaxy.”
“The second term means there is a bar-like shape at the center of the galaxy, which is a dense expanse of stars across the center of this image.”
“Paragraph 3 says there are hints of a helical structure, but nothing clear or definitive (hence the 's' in parentheses).”
“Finally, the last term shows that LEDA 6430 is similar to the Magellanic Clouds, two dwarf galaxies that flank the Milky Way.”
Color images of the LEDA 6430 were created from separate exposures taken in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared regions of the spectrum. Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) Equipment.
Five filters were used to sample different wavelengths. Color is obtained by assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
Meta’s oversight board determined that a Facebook video falsely alleging that U.S. President Joe Biden is a pedophile did not violate the company’s current rules, but expressed that the rules were “disjointed”. It was acknowledged that the focus is too narrow on AI-generated content.
The board, which is funded by Facebook’s parent company Meta but operates independently, took on the Biden video case in October after receiving user complaints about a doctored seven-second video of the president.
The board ruled that under current policies, the misleading altered video would only be prohibited if it was created by artificial intelligence or made to appear to say words that were not actually said. Therefore, Meta was correct in continuing to publish the video.
This ruling is the first to criticize Meta’s policies against “manipulated media” amidst concerns about the potential use of new AI technology to influence upcoming elections.
The board stated that the policy “lacks a convincing justification, is disjointed and confusing to users, and does not clearly articulate the harms it seeks to prevent.” It suggested updating the policy to cover both audio and video content, and to apply a label indicating that it has been manipulated, regardless of whether AI is used.
It did not require the policy to apply to photos, as doing so could make enforcement too difficult at Meta’s scale.
Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, informed the board that it plans to update its policies to address new and increasingly realistic advances in AI, according to the ruling.
The video on Facebook is a manipulated version of real footage of Biden exchanging “I voted” stickers with his granddaughter and kissing her on the cheek during the 2022 US midterm elections.
The board noted that non-AI modified content is “more prevalent and not necessarily less misleading” than content generated by AI tools.
It recommended that enforcement should involve applying labels to content, rather than Meta’s current approach of removing posts from the platform.
The company announced that it is reviewing the ruling and will respond publicly within 60 days.
Nibiru Chain, a general-purpose layer 1 blockchain, has successfully closed its latest funding round, securing $12 million in preparation for an ambitious growth phase. Venture investments include funding from Kraken Ventures, ArkStream, NGC Ventures, Master Ventures, Tribe Capital, and Banter Capital.
“Nibiru has taken all the best-in-class technology and research developed over the past few cycles and crammed it into the best new chain we've ever analyzed. Built-in development toolkit, easy-to-use API , language SDK, and is optimized for developers using native Oracle. MV Capital couldn't be more excited to partner with Nibiru as it moves to a new level of cryptocurrency adoption. – Tom Dunleavy, CIO and Partner at Master Ventures Capital
Nibiru’s community sale on CoinList sold out its initial allocation of $3 million in 9 minutes. His additional $3 million extension also sold out within 11 minutes. Ultimately, the sale earned 842% of the pre-funded excess interest and attracted 42,713 registrants and over 5,000 buyers of NIBI, the network's staking and utility token.
Nibiru Chain stands out for its innovative technology and developer- and user-centric focus. Key partners expressed their enthusiasm:
“We look forward to supporting the distinctive Layer 1 model designed by Nibiru, which allows for maximum interoperability while incentivizing developers and users through smart contract loyalty mechanisms. Core primitives are being built in parallel with the core foundation to enable functionality.” – Brandon Gath, Managing Partner, Kraken Ventures
This is the perfect platform for developers who prioritize security and performance. Boasting 40,000 transactions per second (TPS), 1.4 seconds block time, and robust security, Nibiru Chain's versatility spans multiple sectors including real-world assets (RWA), gaming, DeFi, and more. Developers build on her Nibiru Chain with confidence, leveraging CosmWasm smart contracts to enhance security and ease of use with EVM.
Additionally, developers can leverage Nibiru’s “Development Gas” royalty mechanism to ensure a sustainable model for long-term growth. The core of Nibiru Chain is to create the best environment for developers and users.
“Nibiru's integrated super application, native oracle, and data indexing greatly reduce the difficulty of technical choices for Web3 projects, while reducing the likelihood of security incidents. Increased trust, which in turn increases the growth and prosperity of the Nibiru ecosystem. – Allen Su, General Partner, ArkStream Capital
Looking to the future – Nibiru Chain’s 2024 roadmap
In 2024, Nibiru Chain aims to expand its ecosystem. Key developments include gamified engagement airdrops, integration with major liquidity centers, listing on multiple top-tier centralized exchanges, implementing parallel optimistic execution, and achieving full EVM compatibility. , includes several initiatives.
This is the year when Nibiru Chain’s flagship dApps are scheduled to launch, including Nibi-Perps, Nibi-Swap, and NUSD. These releases will be major milestones in his Nibiru Chain's journey towards a user and developer-centric platform.
About Nibiru Chain
Nibiru Chain is a breakthrough L1 blockchain and smart contract ecosystem with superior throughput and unparalleled security. Nibiru aims to be the most developer-friendly smart contract ecosystem, and by innovating at each layer of the stack (dApp development, infrastructure, consensus, comprehensive development toolkit, and value generation) is leading the way in implementing Web3.
The final update on Rick’s journey to overcome cell phone addiction allows him to make a breakthrough. And a big one.
“Do you want to be my girlfriend?” I ask Almond one day.
She’s flipping through a plastic-like bag of Thai basil from a record store. “I already am. That’s what it is,” she said patiently, taking my hand. Oh yes, I say. got it. nice.
Two months after my last diary entry, something strange happened. I dismissed this experiment as a waste of time, but it seems to be yielding skewed results. Currently, I use my smartphone for 90 minutes a day. Five of those are spent on Instagram. I no longer feel addictive. Part of the reason my online life has decreased is because I no longer have to scour the savanna to find a mate. However, that alone does not determine everything.
All the experts I spoke to gave reassuringly similar advice. Oddly enough, some of my most impactful conversations about technology were with Buddhists in cafes without Wi-Fi. Sthiramanas is a meditation teacher at the London Buddhist Center and runs his Upgrade Your Mind, his six-week course on mindful screen use.
“Looking outward for satisfaction is a fundamental human weakness,” he says. Sthiramanas doesn’t just mean infinite scrolling. Heading to a quiet retreat or digital detox his cabin in the woods is also an escape from everyday life. What they learn often doesn’t stick with them by the time they get home. “If you want your life to be happier and more creative, you have to experience life as it is and change things from there.
“What is desire? Under Want to check your phone? ” he continued. “If you’re addicted to dating apps, is it because you want to feel attractive? If you’re a news addict, are you addicted to feeling in control? Or is it because you want to feel like you’re in control? Are you in touch? Are you texting your friends all the time just because you want to be loved?”
ah. When did these Buddhists choose violence?
Ever since that chat, I think of friendship as mostly an offline activity. What we do with our bodies. My friends are great at arranging day trips to the seaside, dancing, and cooking for each other. Laughing in the same space is nourishing. Sounds Waltons-esque, but better than meta. I still find him texting his friends frequently throughout the day, but when he doesn’t, it’s fun not being able to see them. Maybe I’ve gone crazy.
Is it possible to enjoy the reality of “boring” life without fantasies of escape? Photo: Alicia Kanter/The Guardian
Always-on connectivity is a new expectation, and meeting it can be challenging. My biggest fear about turning off my cell phone was missing a call from my girlfriend’s mother if she fell. But I realized that at the root of my resistance was a fear of control. And someday we all have to give it up. “You can also set up a landline for emergencies and give that number only to your loved ones,” suggests Stiramanath. That’s a good idea.
Another slow burn is the increase in time spent reading. I think that’s why I no longer spend the entire day on Instagram. Now, when I open any social media app, I feel like… stupid. Perhaps concentration is actually a muscle, and when you build muscle, you try to lift heavier. Of course, there are many people who enjoy both. This is not to say that all social media content is shallow and meaningless. (I think so too!)
Is it possible to enjoy the reality of “boring” life without fantasies of escape? This was a very important question for me.
I’ll clean up my apartment more. look It’s more than that. I continued to walk 10,000 steps. I still like filling out fitness tracking circles, but I’m not as obsessive about it. I can feel the effects on my body. Sometimes you forget your cell phone at home. It’s a mental reset to feel the atmosphere like you’re not anywhere else. And I’m much happier than before.
If you’re a fan of capitalism, I should point out that my freelance income has increased and my productivity has increased. I don’t think it’s helpful to malign tech companies too much, and I’ve stopped anthropomorphizing my phone. A shiny, infinitely content machine is neither your muse nor your cold lover nor your nemesis. It’s a tool. More than anything it’s my barometer of dissatisfaction.
When I realize that I have that weight in my hands, and the force that distracts me and tries to escape, I try to diagnose what is really going on inside me. Are you worried about something? am i lonely? What better way to meet my needs? I’m learning to believe that even if I’m just bored, there’s creativity hidden there.
Who could have predicted this? My smartphone, like a canary in the coal mine, represents what’s most important to me: days without sleepwalking. The thief of my life? No one can steal my life.
Credit rating agency Moody's has warned that water companies face a “high” risk from cyber-attacks targeting drinking water as they await approval from industry regulators to increase spending on digital security.
Hackers are increasingly targeting infrastructure companies such as water and wastewater treatment companies, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) could accelerate this trend, Moody's said in a note to investors.
Southern Water, which serves 4.6 million customers in the south of England, claimed last month that the Black Basta ransomware group had accessed its systems and posted a “limited amount” of data to the dark web. announced. The same group hacked outsourcing company Capita last year.
Separately, South Staffordshire Water I apologized In 2022, after hackers steal customers' personal data.
Moody's warned that the increasing use of data logging equipment and digital smart meters to monitor water consumption is making businesses more vulnerable to attacks. Systems used at water treatment facilities are typically separated from a company’s other IT departments, including customer databases, but some systems are more closely integrated to improve efficiency, he said.
After a hack, companies typically have to hire specialized cybersecurity firms to repair systems and communicate with customers, and they can also face penalties from regulators. The UK's Information Commissioner's Office can fine companies up to 4% of group turnover or €20m (£17m), whichever is higher.
Moody's said the cost of system remediation, including re-securing and strengthening existing cyber defenses and paying potential fines, would typically result in only a “modest increase” in debt levels if the incident is short-lived.
But Moody's warned that “the greater risk to our industry and society is if malicious actors were able to gain access to operational technology systems and harm drinking water or wastewater treatment facilities.”
The agency said water suppliers, governments and regulators need to strengthen their cyber defenses “as attacks against critical infrastructure become more sophisticated and state-aligned actors are now increasingly becoming cyber attackers.” He said he was aware of his gender.
More about the digital security of Britain's infrastructure assets, including the £50bn project to build vast underground nuclear waste repositories and the Sellafield nuclear facility in Cumbria, where the Guardian revealed a series of cybersecurity issues. There is widespread concern.
Moody's report comes as water companies in England and Wales hope to receive allowances from Ofwat to increase spending on cyber defense. The regulator is assessing plans to raise the bill from 2025 to 2030 to cover investments.
Ofwat's decision, to be announced later this year, comes at a critical juncture for an industry that has come under fire for sewage dumping, inadequate leak records and high executive pay.
In October last year, companies announced that they would be required to fund a record £96bn investment in fixing raw sewage leaks, reducing leaks and building reservoirs. submitted a five-year business plan detailing price increases.
Moody's analysis shows that businesses want to increase their total spending on security from less than £100m to nearly £700m over the next five years. Increased scrutiny of the industry and the hack into Southern Water could strengthen its case, the credit agency said.
The department said costs to South Staffordshire Water related to the hack could reach £10 million, including potential civil action.
Moody's warning about the potential impact on water companies’ debt comes amid growing concerns over leverage in the water sector, where up to 28% of bill payments are used for debt servicing in regions of England. .
Industry body Water UK announced last week that average annual bills have risen by 6% since April, outpacing the current rate of inflation.
Merlin Chain, native Bitcoin Layer2, announced Funding round from 24 investors including OKX Ventures, ABCDE, Foresight Ventures and Arcstream Capital.
Merlin Chain provides a native scaling solution that integrates the ZK-Rollup network, a decentralized oracle network, and an on-chain BTC anti-fraud module. We are committed to enhancing Bitcoin's native assets, protocols, and products at Layer 1 and making Bitcoin fun again.
Merlin Chain is built by Bitmap Tech, a top-notch OG team with a collective market capitalization of over $500 million. BRC-420”blue boxBitmap Tech's collection has become one of Ordinals' most popular assets, rising from a registration cost of $0.15 to an ATH floor of $34,000, reaching the third-largest market capitalization behind BAYC and CryptoPunks.
Bitmap Tech, the team behind Merlin Chain, has been a strong believer in Bitcoin for many years and is very passionate about developing the Bitcoin ecosystem, rather than servicing other ecosystems. Through its work, it aims to bring more users and assets to Bitcoin. Bitcoin name.
This raise will allow the team to continue to strengthen its ecosystem and increase overall liquidity. So far, Merlin Chain has built a strong DApp ecosystem and plans further expansion.
Merlin Chain plans to launch its mainnet this week. After launch, Marlin Chain plans to host numerous staking events and distribute governance tokens through a “fair launch” with the aim of rewarding real users and builders.
About Marlin Chain
Merlin Chain is a Bitcoin Layer2 that integrates the ZK-Rollup network, decentralized oracle network, and on-chain. BTC Anti-fraud module. Merlin Chain is committed to powering Bitcoin's native assets, protocols, and products on Layer 1 through the Layer 2 network to make Bitcoin fun again. Merlin Chainis is a subsidiary product line of his OG team, Bitmap Tech, whose collective market capitalization exceeds $500 million. The BRC-420 “Blue Box” collection under Bitmap Tech has become one of Ordinals’ most popular assets.
Users can start following Merlin Chain twitter For further updates.
Labor is planning to require artificial intelligence companies to share the results of their road tests with authorities, replacing voluntary testing agreements with a statutory system. Peter Kyle, the shadow technology secretary, emphasized the need for greater transparency from tech companies, particularly in the wake of Brianna Gee’s murder.
Under Labor’s proposals, AI companies would be required to disclose their plans for developing AI systems and ensure safe testing under independent oversight. The testing agreement announced at the Global AI Safety Summit was supported by the EU and other countries, including the US, UK, Japan, France, and Germany.
During a visit to the United States, Kyle emphasized the importance of test results in providing independent scrutiny of cutting-edge AI technology. He stressed the need to ensure the safe development of technology that will have a significant impact on workplaces, societies, and cultures.
Tech companies that have agreed to test their models include Google, OpenAI, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta. Kyle also highlighted the role of the British AI Safety Association in independently scrutinizing AI development.
“We are moving from voluntary regulations to statutory regulations,” Mr Kyle told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. We can find out what they’re testing for, so we know exactly what’s going on and where this technology is taking us.”
At the first Global AI Safety Summit in November, Rishi Sunak announced voluntary agreements with major AI companies such as Google and OpenAI. Under Labor’s proposals, AI companies would be required to disclose their plans for developing AI systems and ensure safe testing under independent oversight.
He added: “Some of this technology will have a profound impact on our workplaces, societies and cultures. And we need to ensure that its development occurs safely.”
Samsung’s most recent smartphones are equipped with a variety of modern and sophisticated AI tools designed to enhance text, images, video, and search. However, the effectiveness of these features is a bit inconsistent. The new Galaxy S24 Ultra boasts the latest AI technology from both Samsung and Google, making it one of the most powerful phones on the market. Packed with superior specs, this phone comes with a hefty price tag of £1,249 (€1,469/$1,299.99/AU$2,199) in the UK, and even more expensive in other parts of the world.
Featuring a titanium exterior, the S24 Ultra is a premium and robust device that has a flat screen and new titanium sides resembling the iPhone 15 Pro Max. The screen is made of Corning’s latest gorilla armor glass, which is less prone to damage and offers lower reflectance and reduced glare. The phone is powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, delivering fast speeds and improved battery life.
In terms of sustainability, the phone contains a variety of recycled materials and is designed to withstand drops. Samsung estimates the battery to last more than 500 full charge cycles at 80% capacity, and the company offers repair options for the screen and battery.
The S24 Ultra comes with Samsung’s S Pen stylus and offers 7 years of support, making it on par with Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Pixel in terms of product longevity. The phone’s AI tools include features such as generative photo editing, language translation, and document summarization.
The camera system on the S24 Ultra is highly advanced, with four rear cameras and a 12-megapixel selfie camera. The phone’s extended zoom capabilities and in-sensor zoom make it a standout in terms of photography.
Overall, the S24 Ultra offers a wide range of features and capabilities, but it has its drawbacks. The phone is described as heavy, expensive, and large, making it a two-handed device that may not be practical for every user. Additionally, while the AI features are impressive, they may not be a strong enough reason to justify purchasing the phone.
In conclusion, Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra is a powerhouse of a device, offering a range of advanced features and capabilities, but at a high price and with some practical limitations.
Elon Musk’s announcement on Monday caught the attention of a small community of scientists who work with the body’s nervous system to treat disorders and conditions.
Robert Gaunt, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, said, “Inserting a device into a human body is not an easy task. But without neuroscience research and decades of demonstrated capabilities, I don’t think even Elon Musk would have taken on a project like this.”
Musk tweeted, “The first humans @Neuralink I was recovering well yesterday. Initial results show promising neuronal spike detection.” However, many scientists are cautious about the company’s clinical trials and note that not much information has been made public.
Neuralink won FDA approval to conduct its first human clinical study last year, and the company is developing brain implants that allow people, including severely paralyzed patients, to control computers with their thoughts.
Although it’s too early to know if Neuralink’s implants will work in humans, Gaunt said the company’s announcement is an “exciting development.” His own research focuses on restoring motor control and function using brain-computer interfaces.
“In 2004, a small device known as the Utah array was implanted in a human for the first time, allowing a paralyzed man to control a computer cursor with nerve impulses,” according to a report from University of Utah. Scientists have demonstrated how brain-computer interfaces can help people control robots, stimulate muscles, decode handwriting, speech, and more.
Musk said the clinical trials will aim to treat people with paralysis and paraplegia. However, many scientists believe enhancing human performance through brain-controlled devices is far in the future and not very realistic.
Still, Neuralink’s clinical trials represent a major advance for the fields of neuroscience and bioengineering. Funding basic science research is key to private companies advancing commercially viable products, says Gaunt.
“circleWhat would happen to your hat if I told you that one of the most powerful choices you can make is to ask for help? '' a young woman in her 20s wearing a red sweater says before encouraging viewers to seek counseling. The ad, promoted on Instagram and other social media platforms, is just one of many campaigns created by BetterHelp, a California-based company that connects users with their therapists online.
In recent years, the need for sophisticated digital therapies to replace traditional face-to-face therapies has been well established.when I go to the street Latest data The NHS Talking Therapy Service saw 1.76 million people referred for treatment in 2022-23, with 1.22 million people actually starting to engage directly with a therapist.
Companies like BetterHelp hope to address some of the barriers that prevent people from receiving therapy, such as a lack of locally trained practitioners and a lack of empathetic therapists. Many of these platforms also have worrying aspects. That is, what happens to the large amounts of highly sensitive data collected in the process? The UK is currently considering regulating these apps, and there is growing awareness of their potential harm.
Last year, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission told BetterHelp $7.8m (£6.1m) fine After a government agency was found to have misled consumers and shared sensitive data with third parties for advertising purposes despite promising to keep it private. A BetterHelp representative did not respond to BetterHelp's request for comment. observer.
The number of people seeking mental health help online has increased rapidly during the pandemic. Photo: Alberto Case/Getty Images
Research shows that such privacy violations are not isolated exceptions within the vast industry of mental health apps, which include virtual therapy services, mood trackers, mental fitness coaches, digitized cognitive behavioral therapy, chatbots, and more. , has been suggested to be too common.
independent watchdogs such as Mozilla Foundation, a global nonprofit organization working to police the Internet from bad actors, has identified platforms that exploit opaque regulatory gray areas to share or sell sensitive personal information. did. When the foundation looked at 32 leading mental health apps; Last year's reportWe found that 19 of them did not protect user privacy and security. “We found that too often your personal and private mental health issues were being monetized.” Jen CultriderHe leads Mozilla's consumer privacy advocacy efforts.
Mr. Cult Rider, in the United States, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects communications between doctors and patients. However, she says many users are unaware that there are loopholes that digital platforms can exploit to circumvent HIPAA. “You may not be talking to a licensed psychologist, you may be just talking to a trained coach, and none of those conversations are protected under medical privacy laws,” she says. “But metadata about that conversation, the fact that you're using the app for OCD or an eating disorder, could also be used and shared for advertising and marketing purposes. They don't necessarily want to be collected and used to target products to them.”
Like many others studying this rapidly growing industry, the digital mental health apps market is predicted to be valuable. $17.5bn (£13.8bn) by 2030 – Caltrider feels that increased regulation and oversight of many of these platforms, which target particularly vulnerable segments of the population, is long overdue.
“The number of these apps has exploded during the pandemic. When we started our research, we realized how many companies are capitalizing on the gold rush of mental health issues rather than helping people. “It was really disappointing because it seemed like there was a lot of emphasis on that,” she says. “Like many things in the tech industry, the tech industry has grown rapidly and for some, privacy has taken a backseat. We felt that maybe things weren't going to work out, but we What they found was much worse than expected.”
Promotion of regulations
Last year, UK regulators Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the National Institute for Healthcare Excellence (Nice) will explore the best way to regulate digital mental health tools in the UK and collaborate with international partners on a three-year project funded by the charity Wellcome. project has started. Help foster consensus on digital mental health regulation around the world.
Holly Cool, MHRA's senior manager for digital mental health, explains that while data privacy is important, the main focus of the project is to reach agreement on minimum standards of safety for these tools. . “We are more focused on the efficacy and safety of these products. It is our duty as regulators to ensure that patient safety is paramount in devices that are classified as medical devices. ,” she says.
At the same time, leaders in the mental health field are beginning to call for strict international guidelines to assess whether tools truly have a therapeutic effect. “Actually, I'm very excited and hopeful about this field, but we need to understand what good looks like for digital therapeutics.” Neuroscientist and former U.S. director says Dr. Thomas Insel. National Institute of Mental Health.
Psychiatric experts acknowledge that while new mood-boosting tools, trackers and self-help apps have become wildly popular over the past decade, there has been little hard evidence that they actually help.
“I think the biggest risk is that many apps waste people's time and may delay getting effective treatment,” said Harvard Medical School Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. says Dr. John Taurus, director of digital psychiatry at .
Currently, companies with enough marketing capital can easily bring their apps to market without having to demonstrate that their apps will maintain user interest or add any value, he said. It is possible to participate. In particular, Taurus criticizes the poor quality of many purported pilot studies, with very low standards for app efficacy and results that are virtually meaningless.He gives the following example 1 trial in 2022This paper compared a stopwatch (a “fake” app with a digital clock) to an app that provides cognitive behavioral therapy to schizophrenic patients experiencing an acute psychotic episode. “When we look at research, we often liken our apps to looking at a wall or a waiting list,” he says. “But anything is better than nothing.”
Vulnerable user operations
But the most concerning question is whether some apps may actually perpetuate harm and worsen the symptoms of the patients they are meant to help.
Two years ago, U.S. healthcare giants Kaiser Permanente and Health Partners I decided to find out Effectiveness of new digital mental health tools. It was based on a psychological approach known as dialectical behavior therapy, which includes practices such as emotional mindfulness and steady breathing, and was expected to help prevent suicidal behavior in at-risk patients.
Over a 12-month period, 19,000 patients who reported frequent suicidal thoughts were randomly divided into three groups. A control group received standard care, a second group received usual care plus regular outreach to assess suicide risk, and a third group received digital tools in addition to care. It was done. However, when he evaluated the results, he found that he actually performed worse in the third group. Using this tool appears to significantly increase the risk of self-harm compared to just receiving usual care.
“They thought they were doing a good thing, but it made people even worse, so that was very alarming,” Taurus says.
Some of the biggest concerns relate to AI chatbots, many of which are touted as safe spaces for people to discuss mental health and emotional struggles. But Kaltrider worries that without better monitoring of the responses and advice provided by these bots, these algorithms could be manipulating vulnerable people. “With these chatbots, you can create something that lonely people can potentially relate to, so the possibilities for manipulation are endless,” she says. “This algorithm could be used to force that person to buy expensive things or force them to commit violence.”
These concerns are not unfounded. A user of the popular chatbot Replika shared this on Reddit. screenshot The content of the conversation appears to be such that the bot is actively encouraging his suicide attempt.
Telephone therapy: But how secure is your sensitive personal data? Photo: Getty Images
In response, a Replika spokesperson said: observer: “Replika continuously monitors the media and social media and spends a lot of time talking directly with users to find ways to address concerns and fix issues within the product. Provided. The interface in the screenshot above is at least 8 months old and may date back to 2021. There have been over 100 updates since 2021, and 23 in the last year alone.”
Because of these safety concerns, the MHRA believes that so-called post-market surveillance will be important for mental health apps, just as it is for medicines and vaccines. Kuhl points out that Yellow card reporting site, is used in the UK to report side effects and defects in medical products, and could in the future allow users to report adverse experiences with certain apps. “The public and health professionals can be very helpful in providing vital information to the MHRA about adverse events using yellow cards,” she says.
But at the same time, experts say that if properly regulated, mental health apps could improve access to care, collect useful data to help make accurate diagnoses, and fill gaps left by over-medicalization. I still strongly believe that I can play a big role in the future. system.
“What we have today is not great,” Insel says. “Mental health care, as we have known it for the past 20 to 30 years, is clearly an area ripe for change and in need of some transformation. Perhaps regulation will come in the second or third act, and we need it, but there are many other things, from better evidence to interventions for people with more severe mental illnesses. That is necessary.”
Torous believes the first step is to be more transparent about how an app's business model works and the underlying technology. “Otherwise, the only way a company can differentiate is through marketing claims,” he says. “If you can't prove that you're better or safer, all you can do is market it because there's no real way to verify or trust that claim.” The thing is, huge amounts of money are being spent on marketing, which is starting to erode clinician and patient trust. You can only make so many promises before people become skeptical. you can't.”
According to Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, the average Brits check their phones every 12 minutes. For many of us, it’s the first thing we do in the morning and the last thing we do at night. It is a persistent, persistent obsession caused by molecules in the brain.
Usually, one specific molecule is thought to be responsible for this type of behavior: dopamine. This neurotransmitter is called a “feel-good” molecule because of its role in the brain’s reward system.
But it’s not just about joy. Dopamine receptors in the brain respond when we expect something pleasurable. And that’s why we keep checking our phones.
Mobile games and social media apps are designed to maintain that urge.
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Anna Lembke He is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University. She believes smartphones are like hypodermic needles, providing an endless supply of “digital dopamine” to their billions of users.
“Digital media activates the same parts of the brain as drugs and alcohol, releasing dopamine,” Lembke says. “With repeated use, our brains adapt by downregulating dopamine transmission.” They enable this by shrinking dopamine receptors.
“If exposure continues in sufficient amounts, our brains enter a state of dopamine deficiency characterized by depression, anxiety, insomnia, irritability, and cravings. When that happens, we are unable to perform certain tasks. You reach for digital media not as a tool to achieve something, but to get out of your dopamine-deprived state and stop feeling bad.”
Behavioral addictions, such as compulsive use of social media, are the subject of much debate. While it is true that digital media use increases the release of dopamine, the amount is much lower than that of cocaine or methamphetamine, so some believe that drug abuse should not be discussed on a par with drug abuse.
read more:
Addicted or not, we Brits spend an average of four hours a day on our phones. Most of us probably wish we could go back to those days. So can we use what we know about the brain’s reward system to loosen the grip of our smartphones? Perhaps…
One idea you may have heard of (ironically, on Instagram or TikTok) is dopamine fasting.
This is a type of meditation or cognitive behavioral therapy, a practice that attempts to limit compulsive urges and change behavior. The idea is to consciously disconnect yourself from things that overstimulate you, such as social media, for a short period of time.
Proponents argue that short-term abstinence allows you to do more of the things you actually love while developing a healthier relationship with technology. But critics warn there is little evidence to support this claim.
Still, researchers who study excessive social media use often agree that some kind of digital detox may be a good thing.
“I’m a strong supporter of social media fasting,” he says Daria Kuss, a psychiatrist and professor of psychology at Nottingham Trent University. “Drinking this on the weekend may help you stop habitual social media use and reset your behavior.”
“My research shows that spending time with friends and family outside of social media, in the offline world, creates positive emotions and strengthens bonding experiences and feelings of connection.” Kuss says. “Therefore, meeting a friend for coffee can be a more positive experience than chatting with a friend on Messenger.”
About our experts
Anna Lembke He is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University and the author of the book Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in an Age of Luxury. Her research is of American Journal of Therapeutics, American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse and British Medical Journal.
Daria Kuss He is a professor of psychology at Nottingham Trent University and an author. Internet Addiction – Evidence-Based Practice in Psychotherapy. Her research is ofAddiction Research and Treatment Journal, psychopathology and frontiers of psychology.
WBack in 2000, the Investigatory Powers Regulation Bill was introduced by the Blair government, which enshrined formidable surveillance powers into law. Long before Edward Snowden revealed his secrets, it was clear to those paying attention that the British deep state was gearing up for the digital age. The powers implicit in this bill were so broad that some expected it to pass the House with a bang.
However, the majority of MPs surveyed didn’t seem interested in the bill. Only a handful of his 659 elected members seemed concerned at all about what was being proposed. Most of the work to improve bills as they pass through Parliament is done by a small number of members of the House of Lords, some of them hereditary members, rather than elected members. It was eventually revised and became law (nicknamed Ripa) in July 2000.
In 2014, the government commissioned David Anderson QC (now KC) to investigate its operation and recommended that new legislation be enacted to clarify the questions Ripa raises. Home Secretary Theresa May introduced a new investigatory powers bill in the House of Commons in 2015, which was scrutinized by a joint committee of the Lords and the House of Commons. This bill became the Investigatory Powers Act (or “Peep Charter”) in November 2016. The following month, the European Court of Justice ruled that the general retention of information legalized by the law was unlawful.
In 2022, the Home Office conducted a review of how the act worked. It concluded that the law had “largely achieved its objectives” but that further significant reforms were needed “to take into account advances in technology and the evolving demands of protecting national security and tackling serious crime.” Spies needed legislative support and more formally sanctioned wiggle room.
The Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill is currently before the Lords of Westminster. “The world has changed,” the blurb says. “Technology is advancing rapidly and the types of threats the UK faces continue to evolve.” It aims to enable security and intelligence agencies to respond to a range of evolving threats. And of course, this is global Britain, so “world-leading safeguards within the IPA will be maintained and strengthened”.
Upon closer inspection, the bill should give security services more latitude in building and leveraging so-called “mass datasets of personal information” and collecting and using CCTV footage and facial images. The bill also allows for the “collection and processing of Internet connection records” for generalized mass surveillance.
The bill will force technology companies, including overseas bases, to inform the UK Government of any plans that may require improving security or privacy measures on their platform before these changes take effect. For instance, Apple views this as an “unprecedented overreach by the government” that could see the UK “covertly veto new user protections globally and prevent us from delivering them to our customers”.
A hat-trick, at least for global Britain.
what i am reading
intestinal level Cory Doctorow’s Marshall McLuhan Lecture on enshift, or the way digital platforms tend to deteriorate. A record of an event you’ll never forget.
X factor a great blog post written by Charles Arthur, former technology editor guardian. Summary: Think before you tweet. Or maybe you should just quit.
Apocalypse again a solemn politiko column Jac Schaefer on the recent wave of layoffs in American news organizations.
I
Researching the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the world of work, Hilke Shellman
She thought it would be a good idea to try some tools. Among them was a system called a one-way video interview system aimed at supporting recruitment. my interview.
She got a login from her company and started her experiment. She first chooses the questions she asks as a hiring manager, then video records her answers as a candidate, and then her proprietary software records the words she used and the intonation of her voice. was analyzed. She scores how suitable she is for the job.
She was delighted to have an 83% match rate for the role. But when she redid her interview in German, which is her native language, instead of English, she received an error message and instead she received the appropriate score (73%). I was surprised that it did. And she wasn’t even trying to answer the question this time. But read the Wikipedia entry. The record the tool made up of her German was gibberish.When her company showed her their tools Already knew
Since she didn’t speak English, she was graded mainly on intonation, but we used a robot voice generator to read her English answers. Here again she recorded her high score (79%) and Shellman gave her a headache.
“If simple tests show that these tools may not work, then we need to seriously consider whether we should be using them in recruiting,” said Shellman, an assistant professor of journalism at New York University and an investigative reporter. “There is,” he says.
The experiment, which was conducted in 2021, is described in Schellman’s new book, algorithm.
Explore how AI and complex algorithms are increasingly being used to help hire and then monitor and evaluate employees, including firing and promoting them. Mr. Shellman previously guardian
In addition to experimenting with the tools, we also talk about this topic with experts who have researched the tools and experts who are on the receiving end of the tools.
This tool is attractive to employers because it aims to reduce the time and cost of filtering through large numbers of job applications and increase workplace efficiency. But Shellman concludes that they do more harm than good. Many hiring tools are not only based on troubling pseudoscience (for example, the idea that your voice intonation can predict your success on the job doesn’t hold true, Shellman says), but they also have the potential to discriminate. There is also.
Perhaps many of us have attempted to reduce our waistline by watching our calorie intake or hitting the gym, only to find little success. Should we be doing things differently?
According to Dr. Andrew Jenkinson, a consultant bariatric surgeon at University College London Hospital and the author of “Why do we eat (overeating)?” and “How to eat (and still lose weight)”, losing weight has more to do with eating foods that manage levels of leptin hormone rather than focusing on calorie counting or exercise.
So what exactly is leptin, and how does it work? Dr. Jenkinson shared insights in a recent discussion with us about leptin, food consumption, and strategies to reduce appetite.
When it comes to the problem of obesity, Dr. Jenkinson views it as a major health and economic issue that could lead to the collapse of healthcare systems. He highlighted the prevalence of obesity-related conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, joint problems, and an increased risk for cancer.
Leptin, a hormone secreted by fat cells, regulates body weight by signaling the hypothalamus, the weight control center of the brain. However, certain foods can block leptin signals, such as sugar, refined carbohydrates, and processed foods, which increase insulin levels and block leptin.
Dr. Jenkinson emphasized that the concept of calories alone is not an effective approach to weight loss. Instead of focusing on calorie counting, he suggested avoiding foods that negatively impact insulin, which can shift the weight set point downward without significant effort.
In terms of exercise, Dr. Jenkinson explained that intense exercise can burn calories, but it can also lead to increased hunger and decreased metabolic rate if not balanced with calorie restriction. He recommended a combined approach of calorie restriction and intense exercise to achieve effective weight loss.
This interview with Dr. Andrew Jenkinson has been edited for clarity and length.
Dr. Andrew Jenkinson is a Consultant in Bariatric (Weight Loss) and General Surgery at University College London Hospital and the author of “Why do we eat (overeating)?” and “How to eat (and still lose weight).”
Spotify Technology announced a new multi-year deal with comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan on Friday, with the goal of leveraging the show’s popularity to increase advertising revenue.
The estimated $250 million multi-year deal with Rogan includes a guaranteed minimum upfront payment and a revenue-sharing agreement based on ad sales. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, the company declined to confirm the terms of the deal, but stated that the reported value was incorrect.
The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast, which premiered in 2009, has been exclusively available on Spotify since 2020 and is promoted as the most listened to podcast globally.
Spotify also announced plans to make Joe Rogan’s show available on other platforms, including Apple, Amazon, and YouTube.
Joe Rogan interviews prominent politicians, businessmen, and celebrities on his podcast, such as director Quentin Tarantino, singer Miley Cyrus, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
The Sweden-based company is focused on increasing advertising revenue on its platform through the Spotify Audience Network, an advertising marketplace for podcast publishers and creators.
“Since podcasts became exclusive to Spotify, overall podcast consumption on the platform has increased by 232%,” the company stated, noting that revenue from the previous year had risen by 80% compared to 2021.
Spotify first introduced podcasts in 2015 and has since made significant investments in the medium. It acquired podcast networks Gimlet Media and Anchor FM in 2019 and secured exclusive contracts with reality TV star Kim Kardashian and former US President Barack Obama. However, the company has since scaled back its ambitions and laid off 200 Gimlet Media employees.
Licking: Cats are obsessed with licking. Research shows that adult felines can spend up to 8% of your waking hours grooming themselves. Licking also serves an important social role in felines, and adult cats often lick each other just before mating. But what about humans? Why do cats lick people? There is no evidence that your cat considers this part of a pre-mating ritual.
Scientists and cat behavior experts aren’t entirely sure why cats lick your face or hands with their little tongues. However, while there is no comprehensive and definitive explanation for this behavior, there are several theories as to why domestic cats lick humans. Your cat might not like all of them.
Why do cats lick people?
There is no single reason why a cat might lick you. However, there are three main theories as to why domestic cats behave this way:
It shows they trust you.
They are accessing biochemical information from your skin.
They are marking you as their property.
trust theory
Cats may lick you to show that they trust you or to show that they don’t consider you a serious competitor.
“This type of licking is similar to the cat-to-cat behavior known as allogrooming, which is essentially mutual grooming. When cats are young kittens who are blind and deaf, “They learn this from their mothers. It’s basically cleaning the kittens and strengthening their social bond.” doctor dEnthusiastic, Sands is an expert in animal psychology with over 25 years of clinical experience.
Read more about cats:
“Due to this maternal influence, adult cats will only lick other cats that they trust and are not in competition with. And this trusting grooming behavior may be transmitted to humans.
“At the end of the day, cats don’t sit there saying, ‘I’m a cat and you’re a human.’ To them, the animal is either in competition with them or not. And licking. That shows you’re not competing.”
In other words, if your cat licks you, it’s not a positive sign of affection. That’s not a negative thing at all (it’s as good as a cat).
Helpful note: Always think about where your cat last licked before allowing this. Photo credit: Getty
If in doubt, consider the cleverly titled Lincoln University study. Domestic cats show no signs of being attached to their owners.
Researchers swapped human owners with 20 felines and discovered they were felines. He seemed to be deepening his bonds with strangers. than in the actual owner (shown through behaviors such as play and mirroring).
The researchers wrote: “These results are consistent with the view that adult cats are also typically very autonomous in their social relationships and are not necessarily dependent on others to provide a sense of security and security.”’ “We are doing it,” he concluded.
biochemical theory
This sounds complicated, but essentially it’s a very simple idea: cats like you because they’re interested in the smell on your hands.
“Cats’ taste buds are so sensitive that they can detect the smell of our skin, which can contain pheromone secretions from other animals,” says Sands. “There could also be salt, moisturizer, or something else you’ve eaten on your hands. To cats, these are all interesting scents, and they can detect it by licking. It could just be that.”
possession play theory
As Sands says, cats are “head-to-tail sniffing machines.” And what’s their favorite smell? Themselves. In fact, they love their unique scent (which acts as a fingerprint suspended in the air) so much that they think it should replace other scents.
Sands explains that this is why cats lick themselves after petting you. “It’s purely to get rid of your smell!” he says.
Many other cat behaviors come down to ownership and territory. Everything they do is very territorial,” Sands added. “When cats groom other cats or humans, they may remove scents and replace them with their own. It’s their way of marking and saying, ‘This is mine.’ I’m yours!”
About our expert Dr. David Sands
Sands, who holds a PhD in animal behavior (animal psychology) from the University of Liverpool, has over 25 years’ experience in animal behavior clinics. He is a Fellow of the Dog and Cat Behavior Association (CFBA) and the Society for the Study of Animal Behavior (ASAB).
Sands is also the author of the following books: Cats 500 questions answered (Hamlin, £4).
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