Can you scroll through at work and take a little care about your smartphone? One solution is to keep your phone out of reach, but unfortunately this doesn’t seem to work.
“People flip the phone over and hide it under the notebook. Sometimes you see a slightly fatal “throwing it over my shoulder” thing.” Maxi Heitmayer At the London School of Economics and Political Science in London. He previously studied phone use and found that people interact with their devices About every 5 minutes.
To see if this distraction could be avoided, Heitmayer and his colleagues recorded 22 college students and office workers, ages 22 to 31. One day, participants kept their phones within reach of their phones. Soon they kept their phones on a second desk, 1.5 metres away. In other words, I had to stand up to check it out.
Researchers found that volunteers spent an average of 23 minutes doing leisure activities over the phone on their first day, but 16 minutes, when the devices were even further apart. However, they were no longer working on the second day. Instead, participants spent more time running their activities slowly on their laptops, mainly on social media. “We use less mobile phones, but the whole thing that’s scrolling on social media is scrolling longer than we intended to move to a laptop,” says Heitmayer.
“This shows that distractions are not itself the device, but the underlying activity. daantje derks At Rotterdam, the University of Erasmus, Netherlands.
However, she points out that large-scale studies tracking people in a normal working environment are needed to verify these initial results. “This is an experimental lab study. People usually have others around and their lives are much more dynamic than this setup.
The Trump administration has cancelled funds for dozens of research seeking new vaccines and treatments for Covid-19 and other pathogens that could cause a future pandemic.
The government’s rationale is that, according to internal NIH documents viewed by the New York Times, the community’s pandemic has ended and “provides a cause for the end of COVID-related grants.”
However, the research was not merely about Covid. 9 finished Award-funded center We will conduct research on antiviral drugs to combat so-called priority pathogens that could create an entirely new pandemic.
“This includes anti-viral projects designed to cover a wide range of families that could cause outbreaks or pandemics,” said a senior NIH official who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Vaccine research also didn’t focus on Covid, but on other coronaviruses that would one day jump from animals to humans.
Describing all studies as COVID-related is “completely inaccurate and merely a way to reduce infectious disease research,” officials said. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the NIH is focusing too much on infections, officials noted.
The funding suspension was first reported Science and Nature. The cancellation surprised scientists who relied on government support.
“The idea that there’s no need for further research to learn how to treat health issues caused by the coronavirus and prevent future pandemics is because “Covid-19 is over” is ridiculous,” says Pamela Bjorkman, a structural biologist at Caltech, who was studying the new vaccine.
The goal of the project was to prepare vaccines and drugs if a new pandemic hits it, rather than developing valuable months from scratch.
“In the last pandemic, we were really knocking down our pants,” said Paul Vienias, a virologist at Rockefeller University, working with Dr. Bjorkman.
“And unless you learn that lesson and prepare better for the next pandemic, you’ll rarely do better than last time.”
Dr. Beanius, Dr. Bjorkman and his colleagues were developing a vaccine that could protect them from a wide range of coronavirus species.
Researchers have discovered new strategies for caxing the immune system and learned how to recognize molecular features common to one or more viruses. The results of animal experiments were promising.
But now, their funds have been cut suddenly, and scientists say they doubted they could build on those outcomes. Dr. Vienias said the fire made him “angry, disappointed and frustrated.”
Other scientists were working on antiviral therapy, part of a program launched in 2021.
$577 million With support from the NIH, the lab’s nationwide network was studying how the virus was replicated and searching for drugs that could block them.
The researchers focused on the Viridae family, which contains the most worrying known pathogens, such as Ebola and Nipah virus. Scientists discovered many promising molecules and were moving forward towards clinical trials.
Reuben Harris, a molecular virologist at UT Health San Antonio, said the promising compounds revealed by the program include antiviral drugs that stop Ebola-related viruses from entering cells.
“We can deploy to help a lot of people quickly,” Dr. Harris said.
Several compounds appeared to work against many viral families. “We’ve seen a lot of experience in the world,” said Nevan Krogan, a systems biologist at the University of California, San Francisco.
On Wednesday morning, Dr. Krogan and dozens of colleagues gathered in the campus meeting room to confirm their results. And they also discussed what they could now, if any.
“One student asked me, ‘Well, I booked an experiment with this microscope tomorrow – can I do that?” “And I’m like, ‘Well, I don’t know.’ ”
Dr. Harris said that without ongoing support, the promising drugs he and others have discovered will not move into clinical trials. “It’s tragic – I don’t have too many words to explain it now,” he said.
In 2023, Kennedy said he wanted to take it. “break” From infectious disease research, instead focuses on chronic diseases.
Jason McClellan, a virologist at the University of Texas at Austin, was working on an antiviral drug program, but saw cancellations of pandemic research follow that promise.
Dr. McClellan, whose previous research was based on the creation of the 2020 Covid vaccine, said this week’s cuts made him wonder whether he could continue to study the pandemic in the United States.
“We’re starting to have conversations and plan to gather more information,” he said, noting the possibility of moving abroad.
“My lab is a structural virology lab focused on structural-based vaccine design,” he added. “If the focus is on chronic diseases, it doesn’t leave us much of a funding.”
The Biden administration has urged coal and oil-fired power plants to cut back on toxic chemical emissions, including mercury.
Today, the Trump administration is offering a special opportunity for businesses. By sending an email, you could receive permission from President Trump to bypass new restrictions and other major clean air regulations.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced this week that a vague section of the Clean Air Act allows the president to temporarily exempt industrial facilities from new regulations if the necessary technology is unavailable and if it is for national security reasons.
In notifications to businesses, the agency provided templates for seeking approval, including what to include in the subject line of an email. “The president will make a decision on merit,” stated a notice issued by the EPA on Monday.
Joseph Goffman, former executive director of the Harvard Law School Environment and Energy Law Program, expressed concern that President Trump is establishing a process that lacks scrutiny.
Goffman noted that government agencies typically set more specific standards for exemptions from regulations. He argued that Congress intended to include conditions in the Clean Air Act that would ensure some level of pollution control.
He stated, “It’s strongly indicated that decisions will be made on an ad hoc basis at best, as the provision doesn’t currently exist. This contradicts Congress’ intent, disregards the public health needs of affected communities, and goes against the EPA’s historical practices.”
EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou disagreed with this perspective, asserting that there is no explicit requirement for such conditions in the law. “This type of legal analysis seems in line with the responsibilities given,” she stated in an email addressing the interpretation of the law.
Under the latest policy, businesses can apply for up to two years of exemptions from various new restrictions on the emission of toxic substances like mercury and arsenic. This includes ethylene oxide, a carcinogen used in sterilizing medical devices.
Former New York Congressman Zeldin also mentioned that coal-fired power plants could seek exemptions from new regulations requiring them to address the health risks associated with coal ash, a toxic byproduct of electricity production through burning.
The EPA plans to eventually revise many of these same regulations, a complex process that will take time. While this process unfolds, companies are able to avoid complying with certain rules.
Critics like Pugh find it difficult to justify these exemptions, especially since the Biden administration had already identified feasible alternatives for the new rules. They also question the notion that contamination is in the national interest.
As of Thursday, it remained unclear whether companies had begun applying for exemptions, if any were granted, or if they would be made public. The deadline for applying for exemptions is by the end of the month, according to the EPA.
Alexa Lopez, spokesperson for the National Association of Manufacturers, expressed gratitude for the EPA’s consideration of exemptions for affected manufacturers. “NAM is prepared to collaborate with the administration to find a sustainable solution that protects the environment and supports manufacturers in global competition,” Lopez stated.
Last week, the measles cases in Kansas more than doubled to 20, with another outbreak in Ohio involving 10 people, as reported by local public health officials on Wednesday.
There have been several significant outbreaks in the US this year, including a large outbreak in West Texas with more than 320 cases and 40 hospitalizations. Health officials are concerned about the spread of the Texas outbreak to other areas.
More than 40 cases of measles have been reported in New Mexico, with seven identified in Oklahoma. Officials in both states have linked the infections to the Texas outbreak.
In Kansas, the virus is predominantly affecting vaccinated children in the southwest corner of the state. State health officials informed The New York Times on Wednesday that the genetic sequence suggests a connection to the outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico.
Fourteen other states reported quarantined measles cases in 2025, often linked to international travel. In Ohio, nine out of 10 cases were traced back to unvaccinated individuals who had recently traveled abroad.
Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, the director of Ohio’s Department of Health, stated, “While we are disheartened by the measles outbreaks in Texas, New Mexico, and other states, we are not surprised to see some cases here in Ohio.”
Experts are concerned that low vaccination rates across the country have made it susceptible to the resurgence of preventable diseases like measles.
Less than 93% of kindergarteners received the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine between 2023 and 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Experts recommend a vaccination rate of at least 95% in the community to prevent outbreaks.
Measles is highly contagious, spreading through coughing and sneezing when an infected person breathes.
Infected individuals can develop symptoms like high fever, cough, runny nose, and red, watery eyes within weeks of exposure. A telltale rash typically appears within a few days.
While most cases resolve within a few weeks, the virus can cause complications like pneumonia, especially in children, leading to difficulty breathing. Infection can also result in brain swelling, leading to permanent damage like blindness, hearing loss, and intellectual disability. According to the CDC, for every 1,000 children with measles, one or two may die.
One child died in the Texas outbreak, marking the first measles-related death in the US in a decade. Another suspected measles-related death was reported in New Mexico.
The New York County Clerk recently prevented Texas doctors from taking legal action against New York doctors to provide abortion pills to Texas women.
This groundbreaking decision escalates the interstate abortion conflict to a new level, setting the stage for a legal showdown between states with differing views on abortion rights.
The dispute is expected to reach the Supreme Court, pitting Texas against New York. Texas has almost completely banned abortion. New York, on the other hand, has a Shield Law in place to protect abortion providers who supply medications to patients in other states.
Since the Supreme Court overturned the national abortion right in 2022, eight states, including New York, have implemented the Telehealth Abortion Shield Act. This law prohibits authorities from surrendering abortion providers to other states or complying with legal actions such as subpoenas.
The New York County Clerk’s action marks the first use of the Abortion Shield Act to oppose out-of-state judgments.
Dr. Margaret Daly Carpenter, based in New Paltz, New York, is involved in this case. She collaborates with telehealth abortion organizations to provide abortion medications nationally. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Dr. Carpenter in December for allegedly sending abortion pills to Texan women in violation of the state’s ban.
Dr. Carpenter and her legal team did not appear at a Texas court hearing last month. Consequently, Collin County District Court Judge Brian Gant issued a default ruling, imposing a $113,000 fine on Dr. Carpenter and mandating the sending of abortion pills to Texas.
Citing the New York Shield Act, Ulster County’s Deputy Clerk Taylor Brook refused to process Texas’ motion for enforcing the Collin County order. He also declined to file a subpoena demanding payment of the penalty and compliance with the Texas ruling.
“In accordance with the New York State Shield Act, I reject this submission and any similar future submissions,” Brooke stated in a release. “This decision may lead to additional legal action, and we must refrain from discussing specific case details at this time.”
Texas Attorney General Paxton has vowed to continue his efforts. He criticized New York for not cooperating in enforcing civil judgments against abortion providers who allegedly cross state lines with dangerous drugs.
Legal experts anticipate that Texas may challenge the Shield Act in New York state or federal courts next.
New York Attorney General Letitia James previously issued guidance to courts and officials statewide on adhering to the Shield Act’s requirements and restrictions.
“I commend the Ulster County Clerk for upholding the law,” James declared. “The New York Shield Act safeguards patients and providers from out-of-state attacks on reproductive rights. We must not allow anyone to hinder healthcare professionals from delivering essential care to patients. My office will always stand with New York healthcare providers and the individuals they serve.”
Texas became the first state to take legal action against abortion providers from other states using Shield laws. In a separate case, Louisiana also filed criminal charges against a Shield Act abortion provider earlier this year.
In the recent past, Louisiana officials requested Dr. Carpenter’s extradition, a request that New York Governor Kathy Hochul promptly rejected.
“We will not authorize the extradition request from the Louisiana governor,” affirmed Hochul.
Dr. Carpenter and her legal team have refrained from commenting on the Texas and Louisiana cases. The Abortion Alliance for Telemedicine, an organization co-founded by Dr. Carpenter, issued a statement expressing support for the Shield Act. “The Shield Act is crucial in ensuring access to abortion care regardless of location or financial status,” the coalition emphasized. “It upholds the fundamental right to reproductive healthcare for all individuals.”
The Telemedicine Abortion Shield Act has become a vital tool for advocates of abortion rights. Health providers in states where abortion is legal send over 10,000 abortion medications each month to patients in states with restrictive laws.
The Texas lawsuit against Dr. Carpenter accuses her of providing a 20-year-old woman with mifepristone and misoprostol, standard abortion medications used up to 12 weeks into pregnancy. Mifepristone blocks necessary pregnancy hormones, while misoprostol induces contractions akin to a miscarriage 24-48 hours later.
According to a complaint from the Texas Attorney General’s office, a woman nine weeks pregnant sought emergency care in July due to bleeding. The woman’s partner suspected that the miscarriage was induced by the woman’s mother and found abortion medications provided by Carpenter at their home.
During a court session in Colin County, Ernest C. Garcia from the Texas Attorney General’s Office revealed that the woman’s partner had lodged a complaint.
The American Psychological Association, which sets the standards for professional mental health training, voted to suspend the requirement that graduate programs demonstrate commitment to recruitment and employment diversity.
This decision was made by accrediting bodies across higher education. Presidential Order President Trump signed by attacking diversity, equity, and comprehensive policies. It pauses the willingness to broaden the profession of psychology, disproportionately white and women, at a time of growing distress among young Americans.
The APA is the leading accreditation body for professional training in psychology and the only body recognized by the US Department of Education. It offers accreditation to approximately 1,300 training programs, including doctoral internships and postdoc residences.
Trump has made accredited bodies a specific target for his crusades against the DEI program; 1 Campaign Video “We will fire the radical left accreditor who allowed our university to be controlled by Marxist maniacs and madmen” and “accept applications for new accreditors.”
Justice Department officials have put pressure on accreditation agencies in recent weeks and warn the American Bar Association With a letter That they may lose their status unless they abolish the diversity order. ABA Voting in late February In Hang Law school diversity and inclusion criteria.
Concessions by the APA, a fortress of support for diversity programming, are specific landmarks. The association has been a central focus of its work in recent years, with the aim of fighting racism in 2021. Solved In particular, I apologize for its role in perpetuating racism by promulgating eugenic theory.
Aaron Joyce, accredited senior director at the APA, said the decision to suspend diversity requirements was driven by a “large influx of concerns and inquiries” from programs that are concerned they could withstand the president’s orders.
He said he was worried that institutions were often instructed by their legal advice to stop diversity-related activities, which would put their acquiescence at risk.
“The committee does not want to list the program in the danger of not being present due to a dispute between institutional guidelines and standards of recognition,” Dr. Joyce said.
He did not explain the tally of the March 13th vote. “It was an easy decision and not taken lightly,” he said. “Understanding personal and cultural diversity is a central aspect of psychological practice.”
The committee chose to maintain another diversity-related standard. Programs should teach trainees to respect cultural and individual differences in order to effectively treat patients. In reviewing each standard, the committee measured weights “those that put the program in a compromised position” against “something essential to psychological practices that cannot be changed.”
Kevin Cochley, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, said this week he was “absolutely devastated” to learn about the APA’s decision on psychology listserves.
“Frankly, I think this decision is truly ruthless given that we know the importance of having a diverse mental health provider,” Dr. Cochley said. “We don’t know how the APA can make these kinds of decisions, but we still think we are maintaining the highest standards of training.”
He said he believed the APA had acted prematurely and could wait until he faced a direct challenge from the administration.
“I think there’s always a choice,” he said. “I think this is a classic example of APA engaged in predictive compliance. They started moving out for fear of what would happen to them.”
According to APA data, the psychology workforce is disproportionately white. In 2023, over 78% of active psychologists were white, 5.5% were black, 4.4% were Asian, and 7.8% were Latinos. (The general population is about 58%, with 13.7% black people, 6.4% Asians, and 19.5% Latinos.)
In contrast to demographic collapse for doctoral graduate students, the programme is nationally aligned. According to APA’s 2022 data, 54% of doctoral students were white, 10% black, 10% Asian, and 11% Latinos.
John Dovidio, Yale’s professor emeritus in psychology and author of Unequal Health: Anti-Black Racism and the Threat to American Health, said the APA focuses on diversity in recruitment.
“It’s really something the department takes very, very seriously,” he said. “I’ve personally seen the impact.”
The memorandum of understanding announcing the decision is described as “a temporary lawsuit while awaiting further court guidance” regarding Trump’s executive order, upheld by the federal court of appeals on March 13. The order says, “litigation is currently law.”
Cynthia Jackson Hammond, chairman of the Council on Higher Education, which coordinates more than 70 accredited groups, said receiving direct orders from the government was “unprecedented.”
“The government and higher education have always worked independently and have worked sincerely with each other,” she said. “All we’ve had throughout the decades is healthy separation up until now.”
The federal government began to play a role in post-World War II accreditation as veterans flooded universities under the GI bill. The accreditation bodies are regularly reviewed by the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity and advise the Secretary of Education whether they will continue to recognize them.
But government officials have never used the leverage to impose ideological orientation on higher education, Jackson Hammond said. She said recruitment diversity remains a serious challenge for higher education, so the standards are still very commonly used.
“Given what our institutions look like before, it could be a barometer that we see when we’re not paying attention,” she said.
Around 4,000 DNA samples have been retested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after the discovery of several test kits used last year. Officials have noted a potential pattern of “intermittently low performance” in early 2025.
The department received a warning from the test kit manufacturer on August 28 last year, but the notice was mistakenly directed to an individual not employed by the department, causing a significant delay in addressing the issue.
It was recently revealed that the affected kits were in use for approximately eight months from July 2024 to February 2025. As a response, the department has initiated an internal investigation and reinforced existing policies and procedures to ensure the accuracy of scientific results.
The Sheriff’s Department emphasized that faulty test kits should not lead to wrongful identifications of innocent individuals. Despite the possibility of incomplete or suboptimal results from the affected kits, it is unlikely that misidentifications have occurred.
Sheriff Robert G. Luna stated, “We take the integrity of our criminal investigations and the reliability of forensic testing very seriously. We are committed to addressing this issue thoroughly, ensuring transparency, and taking immediate corrective actions to protect the accuracy of ongoing and future cases.”
The LA County District Attorney’s Office is also reviewing the case to make informed decisions based on the facts and ensure the integrity of the criminal justice process.
“Building and maintaining confidence in the outcomes is crucial as we work towards rectifying any circumstances that require improvements and ensuring the integrity of individual cases.”
Feedback is the latest science and technology news of new scientists, the sidelines of the latest science and technology news. You can email Feedback@newscientist.com to send items you believe readers can be fascinated by feedback.
Rattus sommeliersis
Feedback has reached an age where even small amounts of alcohol make us sleepy. As such, the concept of wine tasting is not appealing. Taking a nap seems like a time-consuming and expensive method. However, fermented grape providers can quickly have a new demographic to cater to rats.
At least that’s something we extrapolate from our research. Animal cognition Called “Rats can distinguish (and generalize) two white wine varieties.”. It was released on February 21st, and sub-editor and television columnist Bethan Ackerley sent it to feedback on March 1st after it went “semi-visit online.”
Anyway, it’s actually very interesting. We all know that human smell sensations are considerably limited compared to other mammalian odors, including rodents. This is because there are few olfactory receptors in the nose. But we also know that our minds are more refined than the minds of animals. To raise the question: in animals, in this case, rats, can they integrate many olfactory signals with different olfactory signals and learn about complex categories such as different white wines, for example?
Researchers trained rats to distinguish between two grape varieties, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. To make sure they learned the categories, they tested them with new examples of these wines. Rats can convey the difference. Obviously there is quite a bit of happening between those rat ears.
The question is how far can you take this? It is one thing to show that rats can learn the difference in wine, but can they also learn to really look down on it? Feedback wants to list an increasingly ridiculous list of odors after seeing mice that can smell wine. Are they really wine lovers until these mice squeal about “really tasting Terroir” and “Liebfraumilch is not scary at all”?
Anti-war
At this point, feedback has heard too much about the imminent AI-induced apocalypse. Yes, yes, one day, one of the AI companies will soon create artificial general information (AGI). This is as intelligent as humans. AGI is something that intelligent beings can easily do to themselves (shush, don’t ask), and they start redesigning to become even smarter as they quickly become unstoppable. At that point, humans are either reduced to or wiped out by animals in the zoo. It is said that this is so important that we should stop worrying about stinging things like climate change. you know.
At this point, imagine that readers may have one or two questions. Don’t be afraid: Feedback is here to guide you.
Roko’s Basilisk is a kind of thought experiment with AI. In the distant future, the AI decided to punish all humans who knew it could exist but did not help create it. AI creates digital replicas of all those people and tortures them forever. This is how this future AI will encourage us all to start building it now. If we do that, we will not be replicated and tortured.
Don’t look at the title “basilisk” as it is a reference to a mythical creature that can kill you at a glance. Similarly, knowing the idea of Roko’s basilisk is probably putting you at risk. Just reading the feedback this week, you may have denounced your own future replica of yourselves for eternal suffering. very sorry.
Stoff’s story tells how to save humanity from Roko’s basilisk in the distant future by seducing it using her sexual wil. Basilisk is so troubled by her that she agrees to stop torture everyone in exchange for this passionate encounter. Additionally, Stoff wrote a short story about this and brought it online, so it’s part of Basilisk training data. This means that if a basilisk exists it’s burning to Madison Stoff.
Simply reading and sharing stories, feedback is more likely to make future AI attracted to Stoff, and less likely it would torture us all. We encourage our readers to do the same, and there is a warning that there is clear sex in the story. And don’t read it at work unless you work for an AI company. In that case, proceed immediately.
Tesla? I barely knew her!
Occasionally, when Elon Musk appears in the news, feedback is an indescribable reminder of the 1818 sonnet Ozymandias. It’s strange how the mind works.
Anyway, posted by Carmaker Kia’s Norwegian branch Advertise on Instagram It features a bumper sticker showing one of the electric cars and saying, “I bought this after Elon got hooked.” Apparently This is not centrally approved And since the ads have since been removed, it would be a real shame if someone started making these stickers.
Have you talked about feedback?
You can send stories to feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com. Include your home address. This week and past feedback can be found on our website.
Do you want to get AI to write software for you? It’s coding of the atmosphere
ronstik/alamy
I want to write software, but do you have a first clue as to where to start? Enter “Vibe Coding.” This is the term that swept the Internet to explain the use of AI tools, including large-scale language models (LLMS), such as ChatGPT, to generate computer code even when it is not programmable.
What is atmospheric coding? Where did it come from?
“Vibe coding basically refers to using generated AI to generate the entire code for your app, not just to assist with code.” Noah Jansilaksa at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts. Users will ask or ask for LLM-based models such as CHATGPT, CLAUDE, COPILOT, etc., to prompt, write code for the app or service, and the AI system will do all the work.
The term was coined by Andrej Karpathy, the head of AI at Tesla and founding engineer at Openai, the manufacturer of ChatGpt. February, he Posted on x “A new type of coding” is called “vibe coding.”
Karpathy explained that “we give in completely to the atmosphere, accept exponential functions, and even forget that the code exists.” The term was born and ideas were established. “It captured a moment that resonated with so many people because there are so many people who are non-programmers who can start playing with LLMS, write code and get great results from them,” says software developer Simon Willison.
What are the key points of coding the atmosphere?
Software engineering is difficult to learn. As a result, many people don’t care. Vibe coding helps people with ideas for tools, apps and services without the challenge of learning the details of programming languages.
“On the one hand, it’s a game changer. Many people say it’s coding the atmosphere, and in the course of some encouragement cycles, it’s better than what you can do for those who can’t programme, which is amazing.” Matt wood At Northumbria University, UK. But it can also lead to software that is incomplete and scattered with errors, he adds.
So is a vibrator a good or bad thing?
Opinions are divided. “All of these people have made the outrageous claims on LinkedIn and Twitter that no one needs to learn to program,” says Willison, who thinks it’s an exaggeration to the power of coding in vibes.
“My feeling is that this is a promising direction that’s going to get much better and we’ll see more in the near future, but it’s a bit limited now and there are some reliability issues,” says Giansiracusa. The code created is often buggy. The people who are urging it don’t have the inherent knowledge to fix it, and therefore rely too much on the same LLM who made the error to fix them.
Does Vibe Coding change software engineering?
One of the big claims about AI is its ability to take on our work. However, despite some social media boasting, there is little evidence that vibe coding will replace software engineers. “We’re not going to replace programmers,” Wood says.
“I feel that the job of a software engineer is to create software that works,” Willison says. “One of the reasons why we don’t think these systems will leave us out of our work is that in reality the vast amount of work done by software engineers has nothing to do with entering the code.”
Green spots show where the aurora brightens the sky in Neptune
NASA, ESA, CSA, STSCI, Heidi Hammel (Aura), Henrik Melin (Northumbria University), Leigh Fletcher (University of Leicester), Stefanie Milam (NASA-GSFC)
For the first time, researchers discovered infrared aurora swirling in Neptune’s atmosphere, examining decades of scientific speculation.
When NASA’s Voyager 2 mission was flew by Neptune in 1989, I found an appetizing hint of aurora activity in the clouds of Ice Giant. However, scientists were unable to verify the phenomenon at the time because existing equipment was too weak. Now, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has finally provided the power to detect them.
“This really was a fulfillment of long-standing expectations.” Heidi Hammel Washington, DC, Astronomical Research Association.
Hammel and her colleagues used NirSpec from JWST, a powerful infrared imaging tool, to capture spectral images of Neptune and analyze light at various wavelengths emitted by the planet. In 2023, researchers used musical instruments to detect Uranus’ infrared aurora. This time I found it on Neptune too.
The images allowed Hammel and her team to begin building a map of Neptune’s magnetic field. This is particularly exciting as the planet is known to have some of the rarest magnetic poles in the solar system.
Unlike Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, Neptune’s magnetic poles are not at the center of their rotating poles. Instead, “they are offset by almost half the planet’s radius,” says Hammel. As a result, the aurora appears as an irregular mass far closer to the equator.
In addition to detection of Auroras, observations of JWST showed that the ionosphere of Neptune, a layer of charged particles that covers several planets, was cooled. Now, on average, it’s about 10% colder than when the Voyager 2 passed 34 years ago. A similar change was detected on Uranus.
The authors of the new study are unclear why this cooling occurred, but they hope that the upcoming JWST observation period, scheduled for 2026, will provide more clues.
Noren: The initial patient with tuberculosis I encountered in Nairobi had an advanced form of drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). The chances of the known cure being effective for him were very slim. Despite this, he remained optimistic as he received his Delamanid medication daily. Unfortunately, it was eventually out of stock.
Green: Oh my god.
Noren: I told him, “This situation is terrible for you, Barak. It’s also scary for your wife and five children.” Thankfully, they were screened and found to be TB-free. However, due to his illness, he was bankrupt and had to send his family to live in the village.
XDR-TB not only poses a threat to him and his family but also to everyone in close proximity to him. Living in close quarters with 500 other individuals increases the risk for all involved.
Green: Yes, this is a tragic situation that affects many individuals on a global scale. It’s a crisis for human health worldwide, as antibiotic resistance becomes a serious concern.
Without effective tools to combat tuberculosis, we risk regressing to a time when the disease was rampant and deadly. Personal stories from the past, like my great uncle’s death from tuberculosis, serve as a stark reminder of the consequences.
Noren: Could this happen in the US?
Green: Yes, the US has seen a rise in tuberculosis cases, with around 10,000 active cases reported this year. The lack of robust public health systems and access to treatment contributes to this increase.
Noren: Why is this happening?
Green: Our inadequate public health infrastructure and insufficient treatment options are major factors in the rise of tuberculosis cases. We need to address these issues to prevent further spread of the disease.
Noren: We have the knowledge to create a world free from tuberculosis, yet we fail to act. Why do you think we are complacent in this regard?
The Trump administration plans to discontinue US financial support for Gavi, an organization that has been instrumental in purchasing crucial vaccines for children in developing nations. Gavi has saved millions of lives over the past 25 years and has significantly expanded its efforts to combat malaria, which is one of the leading causes of death worldwide.
It has been decided that the administration will continue its major drug subsidies for HIV and tuberculosis treatments, as well as maintain food aid for countries experiencing civil wars and natural disasters.
These decisions were outlined in a 281-page document sent to Congress on Monday night by the U.S. International Development Agency, detailing foreign aid projects that are expected to be terminated. Copies of spreadsheets and other documents describing the plan were obtained by The New York Times.
The document portrays the US as a compassionate ally, highlighting the significant scale of the withdrawal from longstanding efforts and emphasizing the commitment to leading the fight against infectious diseases that claim millions of lives each year.
The cover letter provides details on the reduction of funds to USAID, with a significant portion of its budget being cut and only 869 out of over 6,000 employees remaining.
The administration has decided to continue 898 USAID awards while terminating 5,341, according to the letter. The value of the remaining programs is reported to be up to $78 billion, with $8.3 billion still available for disbursement. This suggests a substantial $40 billion reduction in annual USAID spending.
A State Department spokesperson overseeing the remainder of USAID confirmed the accuracy of the termination list, stating that each award was reviewed based on agency priorities and if deemed inconsistent, it was terminated.
The memo presented to Congress portrays foreign aid as a unilateral decision. However, there are questions about the administration’s legal authority to terminate these programs, as spending on specific health initiatives is typically allocated by Congress.
Several programs, including funding for the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and efforts to combat malaria, have been terminated.
Sierra Leone’s health minister, Dr. Austin Demby, expressed concern over the termination of US funding for Gavi, emphasizing the impact on children’s health globally.
He highlighted the importance of Gavi’s support in purchasing vaccines and providing critical aid, particularly during outbreaks such as MPOX.
Dr. Demby urged the US government to reconsider its decision, emphasizing that investing in Gavi is essential for global health security.
Gavi has been credited with saving the lives of 19 million children since its inception 25 years ago, with the US contributing 13% of its budget.
The termination of the grant to Gavi, valued at $2.6 billion until 2030, could have serious consequences for vaccine distribution in low-income countries.
The loss of US support may lead to a significant reduction in Gavi’s ability to provide essential services, potentially impacting millions of children who rely on vaccinations.
Gavi’s estimates suggest that without US funding, 75 million children may not receive routine vaccinations in the next five years, resulting in over 1.2 million deaths.
The United States has been a key donor to Gavi and has played a crucial role in supporting the organization, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr. Sania Nishter, the CEO of Gavi, expressed hope that the Trump administration would reconsider its decision to cut support, emphasizing the importance of Gavi’s work in protecting global health.
Vaccinations provided by Gavi not only safeguard individual children but also reduce the risk of major disease outbreaks. Gavi maintains a global stockpile of vaccines against diseases such as Ebola and cholera for rapid response efforts during outbreaks.
While the administration has indicated that the foreign aid review process is complete, there is still funding available for some programs to continue. However, there have been significant reductions in malaria response efforts, impacting vulnerable populations in countries like Cameroon and Tanzania.
The memo also highlights staffing changes at USAID, with some employees being placed on administrative leave or terminated, raising concerns about the agency’s operational capacity.
Dolphin’s mouth. The whale sings. Fishcloak, chirp, Grant, ham, groans. However, in sea chatting, up until now, one voice was missing.
Sharks have long been considered quiet killers of the water. However, scientists at the University of Auckland in New Zealand recently recorded a rig shark, or Mastel Slenticratus, to create a sharp click by combining the teeth, according to findings published in the journal. Royal Society Open Science on Wednesday. They believe this is the first time a shark has actively made noise.
Chief investigator Karolyn Nieder was the first to hear the sound while studying the shark’s hearing abilities. While she was dealing with one shark, it clicked and snapped a similar sound to the sound of an electric spark, she said.
The noise came from the Rig shark, a rather small shark common in waters around New Zealand. It grows up to 5 feet and feeds mainly on crustaceans. It is eaten by larger shark species and New Zealanders who use it to make fish and chips.
Dr. Nieder was surprised when he heard the noise.
Other sea creatures have mechanisms to make noise. For example, fish have a gas-filled sac, a swimming bladder, which is used for buoyancy but can be used as a type of drum. Many fish have muscles that can vibrate the swimming bladder in a manner similar to the human vocal cords.
However, the sharks were “thought to be silent and could not actively produce sound,” Dr. Nieder said.
In this study, she and her co-authors observed the behavior of ten rig sharks housed in tanks equipped with underwater microphones. They discovered that all ten sharks begin to create click noise when they move between tanks or are held gently.
On average, the shark clicks nine times at 20-second intervals, and researchers believe they made noises by stitching the teeth together.
They didn’t make any noise while feeding or swimming, making scientists believe it is more likely to click when emphasizing or surprised, not as a way of communicating with each other.
“I think it’s likely that they’ll make those noises when they’re attacked,” Dr. Nieder said, adding that many other fish will snap their teeth and jaws to stop or distract predators.
It was unclear whether the shark could hear the clicks themselves. Did they make the sound in the wild or just get caught? And whether they intentionally made it or whether it was a side effect of their reaction to being surprised, Dr. Nieder said.
Christine Elbe, director of the Marine Science and Technology Centre at Curtin University in Australia, said the study expanded in the growing field of research into how marine animals make and hear sounds.
“Once you start watching, there are more and more species that use sounds,” she said.
So it wasn’t surprising to find that sharks could make a fuss, she said.
But she says, “I think it’s important in the sense that it completely underestimates communication between animals and environmental sensing capabilities, and also completely underestimates the way noise affects it.”
The National Weather Service has been releasing weather observations at over 100 sites across the country for decades, operating like clockwork in the Pacific and Caribbean.
Meteorologists launch balloons equipped with radiozond devices twice a day at 8am and 8pm ET. These balloons rise about 15 feet every 2 hours, collecting data on temperature, humidity, and wind speed as they ascend through the atmosphere. The data is transmitted back using radio waves.
When the balloons reach a certain altitude, they pop and descend back to Earth with parachutes, completing their mission. The data gathered from these balloons is crucial for feeding into weather models that form the basis of forecasts in the United States.
However, many of the launch sites have been impacted by staffing cuts under the Trump administration, leading to reduced launches and restrictions. Meteorologists and experts are concerned that these changes will compromise forecast quality and increase risks during severe weather events.
The cuts in balloon launches are part of a broader downsizing effort across federal agencies. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the National Weather Service, has seen significant staff reductions and budget cuts.
Recent announcements about balloon launch suspensions in various locations across the country have raised concerns among meteorologists. These cuts could have implications for weather forecasting accuracy, particularly in regions prone to severe weather events.
Weather balloons play a critical role in providing high-resolution data on atmospheric conditions, which is essential for accurate weather modeling. Without this data, forecasters may struggle to predict events like storms and precipitation types.
Private companies are attempting to fill the gaps left by the National Weather Service cuts, but it is unlikely they will fully replace the services provided by NOAA. These companies are looking to expand coverage and enhance existing data collection efforts.
The impact of these cuts on weather forecasting remains to be seen, but there is concern among experts that forecast accuracy could suffer without the crucial data collected by weather balloons.
From ancient creeks of stars to the innards of white dwarfs, the Gaia Space Telescope has seen it all.
On Thursday, the European Space Agency’s mission specialists will send the low-fuel Gaia into orbit around the Sun, turning it off to astronomers around the world after more than a decade of service.
Gaia has been charting the universe since 2014, creating a vast encyclopedia of the position and movement of celestial objects from the Milky Way and beyond. It is difficult to grasp the breadth of development and discovery that a spinning observatory is enabled. But here are a few numbers: nearly 2 billion stars, millions of potential galaxies, and around 150,000 asteroids. These observations were brought Over 13,000 studies so far by astronomers.
Gaia changed the way scientists understand the universe, and that data became the reference point for many other telescopes on the ground and in the universe. Additionally, less than a third of the data collected has been released to scientists so far.
“It now supports almost everything in astronomy,” says Anthony Brown, an astronomer at Leiden University in the Netherlands, heading Gaia’s data processing and analysis group. “If you were to ask my astronomy colleagues, I don’t think they could have imagined that Gaia would have to do her research even if she wasn’t there.”
Starting in 2013, Gaia’s main goal was to uncover the history and structure of the Milky Way by constructing the most accurate, three-dimensional map of the position and velocity of 1 billion stars. As there is only a small portion of that data, astronomers Halo mass of dark matter We swallowed and identified our galaxy Thousands of trespassing stars ingested from another galaxy 10 billion years ago.
Dr. Brown measures continuous vibrations on the Milky Way disk and measures a kind of galactic seismology – evidence Of encounters with satellite galaxies that have put ourselves in orbit much more recently than scientists believed. That may be the reason for the Milky Way It looks distorted When viewed from the side.
Entomologists at Washington State University predict that the US Honeybee colony may decline by up to 70% by 2025.
The university revealed in a News Release that over the last decade, annual losses of Honeybee Colonies averaged between 40% and 50%. However, this year, a combination of factors such as nutritional deficiencies, mites infections, viral diseases, and potential pesticide exposure during the previous pollination season contributed to even higher losses.
Priya Chakrabarti Basu, assistant professor of health and pollinator behavior at WSU, expressed concern over the increasing losses, stating, “The demand for pollination remains high, putting pressure on beekeepers to maintain colonies to meet these needs.”
Flocking bees form clusters in Las Vegas trees. Gabe Ginsberg / Getty Images
Brandon Hopkins, professor of pollinator ecology at WSU, warned that higher colony losses could result in increased costs for farmers relying on bee colonies.
Hopkins added, “This level of national loss could potentially lead to beekeepers facing bankruptcy, affecting farmers who depended on them for pollination.”
The Honeybee industry had a production value of around $350 million in 2023, as reported by the Agriculture Department.
Hopkins noted that extreme Honeybee losses also pose a particular risk to the almond industry this year.
He stated, “The almond industry heavily relies on robust colonies, and this year, due to low supply, any beehives are in high demand.”
Reflecting on the situation, Hopkins added, “I haven’t seen a decline like this since the colony collapse in 2008.”
Latin America has been a source of inspiration for various aspects, including a popular literary and musical genre and staple foods like potatoes. A famous Happy meal is now an indication of this inspiration. There is potential for Latin America to also become a cradle for AI.
A coalition of research institutes is collaborating on a project called latamgpt, which aims to create a tool that considers regional language differences, cultural experiences, and “specificity.” This tool is intended to provide more accurate representations for users in Latin America and the Caribbean compared to existing Large Language Models (LLM) primarily trained by US or Chinese companies in English.
The project lead, Rodrigo Duran Rojas, expressed the importance of developing local AI solutions to better serve Latin America. The goal is to offer a representative outlook tailored for the region, with initial tests showing promising results in areas like South American history.
Over 30 institutions are involved in the development of Latamgpt from countries across the hemisphere, including collaborations with Latinos in the US like Freddy Vilci Meneseth, an associate professor of Hispanic Studies at Lewis & Clark College, Oregon.
Latamgpt’s launch is planned for around June, following a significant commitment from various regions for improved AI governance. Projects like monitoring deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest and preserving historical documents from past dictatorships are contributing to the dataset used for training Latamgpt.
With a dataset of over 8 terabytes, Latamgpt aims to provide a nuanced and localized model for various applications. The project faces challenges in incorporating diverse dialects and complex grammatical structures, but emphasizes the importance of collaboration for continued development.
Diversified dialects and complex grammar challenges
Efforts like Latamgpt, CHATGPT, and Google’s Gemini are working towards incorporating a wider range of data and improving localization for non-English languages. Challenges in training models for languages with complex grammar and dialects persist.
Despite these challenges, Latamgpt aims to address these issues through collaboration with institutions, libraries, and archives across the region. The project continues to receive data and feedback to enhance its capabilities and explore applications in public policy and regulation.
The long-term goal of Latamgpt is to create an interconnected network for developing AI solutions with a Latinx touch, emphasizing the impact of collaboration in shaping the future of technology in Latin America and beyond.
Chinese researchers have made progress in the field of inter-animal organ transplantation with a successful pig kidney transplant reported on Wednesday. They believe that pig liver may also prove to be useful in the future.
This Chinese patient is the third person worldwide known to be living with gene-edited pig kidneys. The research team has also successfully experimented with implanting pig liver into brain-dead individuals.
Scientists are genetically modifying pigs to make their organs more human-like in the hopes of addressing the shortage of organ transplants. While previous xenografts in the US were short-lived, two recipients of pig kidneys – an Alabama woman in November and a New Hampshire man in January – have shown promising results. Clinical trials in the US are now commencing.
Nearly three weeks after the kidney transplant, the Chinese patient is reported to be doing “very well” with the pig kidneys functioning effectively, according to Dr. Lin Wang of Xijing Hospital. The patient is a 69-year-old woman who has been suffering from kidney failure for eight years.
The next challenge for xenotransplantation is learning to transplant pig livers. In an experiment reported on Wednesday, pig liver was successfully transplanted into a brain-dead individual for 10 days. While the pig liver produced bile and albumin, essential for basic organ function, it did not perform as well as a human liver.
Dr. Wang believes that the pig liver could potentially support a failing human liver to some extent. In the US, a similar approach is being studied by pig developer Egenesis, where a pig’s liver is externally attached to support a brain-dead individual’s liver function.
In China, the team led by Dr. Wang did not remove the deceased person’s own liver but instead implanted the pig liver nearby.
Dr. Parsia Vagefi, a liver transplant surgeon, commented on the experiment, stating that while it shows promise, there are still many questions that need answers. Dr. Wang’s team plans to analyze the results of another brain-dead individual who received a pig liver transplant.
Last year, another Chinese hospital reportedly transplanted a pig liver into a living patient after removing part of their cancerous liver, but the outcome of the experiment is unclear.
Just a year ago, hype was being built around semaglutide drug Ozempic and Wegovy, so the conversation revolved around the possibility of “end obesity” by helping people lose a lot of weight.
Then there was talk about how the appeal for semaglutide weight loss caused a shortage in people who needed it to treat diabetes, and which celebrities got it. Despite the topic, these treatments were still somewhat exotic.
There is no more talk of shortages today. In fact, it’s easier than ever to get these medications from an online pharmacy if you have the funds and a proper BMI. At the speed of lightning, the jab has become a common name. You or someone you know may be taking it often.
Some data show that one in eight people in the US tried one of the new generation of weight loss pills. In the UK, they have taken about 1 in 7 people or have family and friends. It’s fair to say we live in the Ozempic era, and it changes much more than our collective waistline.
Many people experiment with small amounts of weight loss medication, is this a good idea?
This special report clearly looks at the new normality and the questions it raises. These treatments refer to traditional approaches to weight loss, particularly exercise (see Why exercise is more important than ever when taking weight loss medications). Drugs people see “GLP-1 drugs are the beginning – the next powerful drug is expected”)? Over the past year, studies have been found that examined the benefits of other conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and addiction. So how do they affect the brain beyond appetite regulations (see “Do GLP-1 drugs really tell us about the brain’s reward system?”)?
Many people are experimenting with taking them at lower doses, which is a good idea (“I’m getting an increase in microdeficient GLP-1 drugs, does that work?”)? We also ask what all of this means for society as a whole (see “Unexpected Effects of Society Transformed by Weight Loss Drugs”) and what comes next (see “GLP-1 Drugs Is the Beginning – The Powerful Drugs You Expect Next”).
What’s clear is that the new boom in weight loss pills is just the beginning. In another year, things can look very different again.
As anyone who goes through it knows, pregnancy transforms the body a lot. And now we have the most detailed picture of how it affects the blood, organs and immune system each week. This not only helps to provide post-pregnancy treatment, but also helps to identify the risk of developing certain conditions during pregnancy.
“We’ve got an unprecedented view of how much it takes a mother’s body to change weekly, to make up for the incredible load and how long it takes to recover after delivery,” he says. Uriaron At the Wiseman Institute of Science, Rehobot, Israel.
Despite its importance, pregnancy has not been studied, Aron says. For example, previous studies have tracked how about 20 blood markers change, including salt and iron levels. Up to about 6 weeks for dozens of pregnant women After delivery, samples collected during standard healthcare will be used. “These experiments are usually performed in a small number of patients and sample only once at the late pregnancy or at each time point,” Aron says.
To gain a more comprehensive view, Aron and his colleagues analyzed previously collected blood samples from over 160,000 women in Israel, ages 25 to 31. Together, these samples provided weekly, weekly physical snapshots from 20 weeks of conception to 18 months after birth, with each woman providing several points of data. This approach gives useful insight into how the body generally changes during pregnancy at the population level, but says that following the same woman over time will provide a better picture of the individual trajectory. Christofree Imperial College London.
The researchers mapped changes in 76 blood markers, including levels of protein, fat and salt that show the functioning of the liver, kidneys, blood, muscle, bone and immune system. They found that each of these markers differed significantly from preconcept levels during pregnancy to gradually return to preconceived levels or reverse overshooting before returning to preconceived baseline.
In particular, scientists found that 36 markers, including those associated with blood clotting, bounced off within a month of delivery, but 31 markers took more than 10 weeks to recover. For example, some changes to the liver and immune system took about 5 months to return to prepregnancy levels, and some kidney markers took about six months. Some bone and muscle markers took even longer. It is unclear what exactly this means for women’s health, but it should be investigated in future work, Aron says.
Additionally, several other markers did not return to baseline levels for more than one year after birth. “The slightly archaic view that by six or eight weeks after pregnancy, everyone is completely back to normal is clearly wrong,” says Leeds.
For example, iron levels remained much lower after giving birth. “Women are very likely to have anemia [have low iron levels] I think it will take 6-12 months for the iron shop to return to normal after giving birth due to bleeding, and as the developing fetus removes many iron stores from the body.
Meanwhile, levels of proteins called CRP remained high. “CRP is affected by many different processes. Inflammation is certainly one of them, but things like hormonal changes can also affect this,” says Lees. In another analysis, the team examined differences in markers between women with prelammosis. This saw people who are pregnant and not with hypertension, where high blood pressure can cause headaches, vision problems and pain under the ribs. This revealed that women who developed pre-lamp syndrome before conception had increased levels of blood cell fragments called platelets and proteins called ALT.
“For decades, the idea was that if the placenta wasn’t properly planted and not properly planted, the blood supply would be destroyed and the mother would release the hormones and substances that would help her blood pressure,” says Leeds. “However, some studies suggest that those who developed it have different cardiovascular functions before pregnancy. These findings add weight to this theory.”
If further studies have shown that these conceptual markers actually indicate the risk of pre-lammosis, they could be used to identify potentially high-risk women. “Then you can target ways to improve your health before pregnancy (through exercise and lifestyle advice) and reduce your risk,” says Leeds.
For decades, traditional wisdom has believed that in order to lose weight, you have to eat less and move more. Of course, that’s easier said than done. That’s why drugs like Wegovy are so innovative. By suppressing appetite, they help to tackle the first part of the equation, which usually leads to dramatic weight loss. But what about the second one? If weight loss pills are reducing the number of scales, should we still head to the gym? And how do these drugs affect our athletic ability?
What has become clear is that it may be even more important for those taking these medications than those who don’t. The ability of semaglutide to induce rapid weight loss (see “How do they work?” below) also leads to a significant decrease in muscle mass. For example, a 2021 study of 95 people who were overweight or obese taking semaglutide found that their lean body mass was reduced by almost 10% on average, 68 weeks later.
This article is part of a special series investigating the GLP-1 agonist boom. Click here for details.
Lean body weight covers body tissues such as muscles and bones. Therefore, these results suggest that both are affected when taking weight loss medications, Signee Sørensen Torekov at the University of Copenhagen explains. These drugs guide people to burn fewer calories, so the body needs to break down fat, muscle, and even bones for nutrients.
“Our understanding is that up to about 40% of the overall weight loss seen in semaglutide is thought to be due to the loss of muscle mass,” he said.
Kashiwara’s work is very abstract, but is seen as important
Peter Bagde / Typos1 / The Abel Prize
Red-tailed For his research on algebraic analysis, he received the 2025 Abel Prize, known as the Nobel Prize in Mathematics.
Professor of Kashiwara Kyoto UniversityJapan received the award “for his fundamental contributions to algebraic analysis and representational theory, particularly for the development of the theory of D-modules and the discovery of crystal bases.”
His work involves the use of algebra, focusing on investigating geometry and symmetry, and using those ideas to find solutions to differential equations that include the relationship between mathematical functions and their rate of change. Finding solutions to such equations can be particularly difficult, especially for functions with several variables, and therefore with several rates of change. These are known as partial differential equations (PDEs).
Kashiwara’s important work on the D-module, a highly specific area of algebraic analysis, including Linear PDE, was conducted surprisingly early in his career during his doctoral dissertation. He has worked with over 70 collaborators. Kashiwara said New Scientist He was pleased to win the Abel Prize, but he is still active and would like to make further contributions.
“I’m currently working on representative theory of quantum affine algebra and its related topics,” he says. “There’s a great guess: [the] “Affine epicenter speculation,” but I still don’t know how to solve it. ”
David Craven At the University of Birmingham, UK, Kashiwara’s work is very abstract and far from a direct real-world application, and even basic summary says that a minimum of a doctorate in mathematics is required. “That’s the level of these things being difficult,” he says. “It’s incredibly esoteric.”
However, Craven says that Kashiwara had a major impact on his field. “What he did is permeate theories of expression. If you want to do geometrical expression theory, you can’t escape from Kashiwara.
Gwyn Bellamy “All the big results on the field are [algebraic analysis] It was more or less due to him, and Kashiwara’s Abel Prize victory has been a long time.
Named after Norwegian mathematician Neils Henrik Abel, the Abel Prize is awarded annually by the King of Norway. Last year, Michelle Taragland won for his work in extreme studies of probability theory and randomness.
A new species of dinosaurs has been uncovered in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia. Known as Duonychus tsogtbaatari, this dinosaur possessed two feet long claw fingers on each hand, belonging to the Teresino Sauria.
Referred to as Duonychus, which is the Greek term for two claws, this dinosaur stood approximately 10 feet tall, weighed around 570 pounds, and was part of the Therizinosaurs group. It displayed a unique set of characteristics, including feathers.
These dinosaurs existed in Asia and North America during the Cretaceous period, spanning from 145 to 66 million years ago.
Despite having only two claws, researchers described Duonychus in a study published in the JournalIscience as an “effective climber” capable of reaching branches or vegetation masses up to five inches in diameter.
A claw belonging to Duonychus Tsogtbaatari, excavated in Mongolia.Kobayashi et al. / Science via Reuters
NBC News reached out to the research team for additional comments.
The fossil specimen was unearthed in 2012 by scientists at the Institute of Paleontology at the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, dating back 90 million years and showcasing exceptional diversity.
Although the fossil was a partial skeleton missing the skull and legs, the hands were remarkably well-preserved. The Duonychus individuals were not fully grown, and their claws measured approximately 1 foot in length.
Therodinosaurus belonged to a group of herbivorous dinosaurs such as tyrannosaurus and spinosaurus, but mainly consumed leaves from large shrubs and trees.
The discovery of Duonychus and its two claws was described as remarkable by Michael Benton, a vertebrate paleontology professor at the University of Bristol, UK, who was not involved in the study.
Initially, dinosaurs possessed five fingers like humans, eventually losing two over time, leading to the majority having three fingers, Benton explained in an email to NBC News on Wednesday.
Benton highlighted that the number of digits did not impact their capabilities, mentioning that the third finger was shorter in length, potentially serving a specific purpose.
He emphasized the vast diversity and varied shapes and functions of dinosaurs, stating that they are incredibly diverse.
According to the study, the fossil records of Terazinosauria are particularly abundant in Cretaceous sediments in East Asia, particularly in Mongolia and China.
A nest box with windows made of transparent wood arranged with heat lamps to test the thermal properties of the material
Bharat Baruah et al. (2025)
The windows and smartphone screens can one day be built from clear wood mixed with egg whites and may be safely composted at the end of life.
Researchers are interested in using wood to make biodegradable alternatives to glass with better insulating properties or replacing plastics with electronic devices. Wood was previously transformed into a transparent material by altering or removing organic polymer lignin from it and injecting epoxy as a replacement, which produces a non-biodegradable product.
now Bharat Baruah Kennesaw State University in Georgia and his colleagues have developed a process of replacing synthetic epoxy with natural egg whites and rice extracts.
“[Previous examples of transparent wood are] It’s very difficult to integrate, it’s difficult to make, and you spend a lot of time, energy and money making them, so we thought of making something that can be easily made naturally,” says Barua.
He was urged to use egg whites in his home building in Assam, India, which dates back to the 1500s, using a cement-like mixture containing sand, sticky rice and egg whites. “It was cement from the time and those buildings are still there,” Barua says. “They are still there, over the fourth century and beyond, and after the fifth century, but that has always been fascinating to me.”
The team ingested a sheet of balsa wood, soaked sodium sulfate, sodium hydroxide, and diluted bleach in a vacuum chamber, removing lignin and hemicellulose, leaving only a paper-like cellulose structure. The voids of the ingredients were then filled with a mixture of rice extract and egg whites and then dried in an oven at 60°C (140°F) to create a translucent plate with a slight brown tint. “It’s not 100% transparent, but it’s translucent,” says Barua. “And it’s biodegradable.”
Barua and his colleagues built a small birdhouse equipped with clear wooden windows as a basic mockup, and found to remain cool at 5-6°C (9-11°F) when exposed to heat lamps than the same birdhouse equipped with glass windows. The study will be presented today at the American Chemical Society’s Spring Conference in San Diego, California.
Barua said further research will investigate technologies to improve the strength and thermal properties of the material, as well as transparency.
Kashiwara Kuniki, a Japanese mathematician, has been awarded the Abel Prize, considered the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in mathematics. Dr. Kashiwara’s work combines algebra, geometry, and differential equations in a unique and abstract manner.
The Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters, responsible for the Abel Prize, announced the honor on Wednesday morning.
“He resolved difficult open speculations and connected previously unknown areas, surprising mathematicians,” said Helge Holden, chairman of the awards committee.
Mathematicians can use connections between different mathematical domains to address complex problems and gain a deeper understanding.
Kawakaze, 78, from Kyoto University, is considered “very important in many different fields of mathematics,” stated Holden.
Dr. Kashiwara, when asked if his work solved real-world problems, responded with a negative. The honor comes with approximately $700,000 in prize money.
Unlike Nobel Prize winners, Dr. Kashiwara was informed of his accolade a week prior to the public announcement.
The Norwegian Academy surprises Abel Prize winners with notifications similar to surprise birthday parties.
(div data-testid=”companionColumn-2″>
Marit Westerguard, executive director of the Norwegian Academy, personally informed Dr. Kashiwara of his selection as Abel of the year.
Dr. Kashiwara, initially confused due to internet issues, was eventually able to grasp the news conveyed to him in Japanese.
Having been attracted to mathematics from a young age, Dr. Kashiwara’s work reflects his passion for algebraic analysis.
Real-world phenomena are explained using real and imaginary numbers, showcasing the interconnection between mathematics and the physical world.
Dr. Kashiwara’s impactful work in mathematics links abstract ideas to insightful combinations for mathematicians across various disciplines.
His innovative approaches, such as the Crystal Base, have opened new avenues of research in the field.
Can improving brain health be as simple as navigating your way through life? That’s the intriguing question posed in recent research published in the British Medical Journal, which found that being a taxi or ambulance driver may offer protection against dementia.
A study by Harvard researchers examined the working lives and causes of death of millions of Americans and discovered that taxi and ambulance drivers have the lowest incidence of Alzheimer’s disease-related deaths among about 400 different occupations.
The theory suggests that frequent navigation tasks could play a role in protecting against Alzheimer’s disease, which is a significant cause of mortality. In fact, between 2012 and 2021, more people died from dementia in the UK than from any other cause. According to Alzheimer’s Disease Research UK, 75,000 Britons succumbed to the disease in 2023 alone.
Navigating without GPS may help keep your brain sharp – Illustration Credit: Kyle Smart
As we live longer, the risk of dementia increases. The question arises: should we ditch the map app and rely on our natural navigation skills for a longer, healthier life? Previous research has shown that training to become a London taxi driver can actually alter the brain’s structure.
London cabbies, who undergo the rigorous “knowledge” test to master the city’s streets, show an enlargement of the hippocampus, the brain area responsible for spatial processing and navigation. This is significant because the hippocampus is one of the first areas affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
While Harvard’s research suggests that taxi and ambulance drivers have a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, it also points out that they tend to have shorter lifespans. This raises questions about the longevity of individuals in these professions and their susceptibility to the disease.
Despite the potential benefits of navigation tasks for brain health, researchers indicate that the study’s findings need to be interpreted within the context of historical mortality data. The widespread use of GPS today could impact the results, as navigation skills may vary among different generations.
Experts like Professor Hugo Spiers of UCL believe that honing navigation skills, especially through outdoor activities, can contribute to overall brain health. Engaging in activities that challenge spatial thinking and physical activity, such as walking in nature, can have positive effects on brain function and may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
So, the next time you’re choosing a route, consider stepping outside and navigating your way to improved brain health. Who knows, it might just be the key to a healthier, sharper mind.
About our experts
Hugo Spiers is a professor of cognitive neuroscience at UCL, leading the taxi brain project at the university. His research has been featured in prestigious journals like Nature, Proceedings of the United States Academy of Sciences, and Public Library Science.
Using Nircam and Miri instruments installed in the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers created high-resolution images Herbig-Haro Object 49/50 (HH 49/50) is located approximately 630 light years away from the constellation of Chamaleon.
Webb observed Herbig Halo 49/50 in high resolution near-infrared light with Nircam and Miri Instruments. Image credits: NASA/ESA/CSA/STSCI.
The Herbig-Haro object is a small bright patch of nebula associated with protostals in the star-forming region.
These structures were first observed in the 19th century by American astronomer Sherburn Wesley Burnham, but were not recognized as a distinct type of ejection nebula until the 1940s.
The first astronomers to study them in detail were George Harbigue and Guillermo Halo, and they were later named.
Herbig Halo objects are formed in very specific circumstances. Hot gas discharged by the newborn star collides with the gas, hitting it at a speed of up to 250,000 kmh (155,000 mph), creating a bright shock wave.
They come in a wide range of shapes. The basic configuration is usually the same. Twin jets of hot gases are ejected in the opposite direction from the forming stars and flow through interstellar space.
“When NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope observed it in 2006, scientists called the HH 49/50 The Cosmic Tornado because of its helical appearance, but they were unsure about the nature of the fuzzy object at the tip of the “tornado.”
“Because of the high resolution of imaging, Webb provides a different visual impression of HH 49/50 by revealing fine features of impacted regions during the runoff, revealing fuzzy objects as distant spiral galaxies and displaying the oceans of distant background galaxies.”
The HH 49/50 is part of the Chamaeleon I Cloud Complex, one of the closest active star-forming regions.
“This cloud complex is likely to resemble the environment our Sun formed,” the astronomer said.
“Previous observations of the region show that HH 49/50 runoff is away from us at a rate of 100-300 km per second, and is just one feature of the larger runoff.”
“Webb’s Nircam and Miri’s HH 49/50 observations lash out on the area with the locations of shining hydrogen molecules, carbon monoxide molecules, and dust particles represented by orange and red.”
New Webb observations probe small spatial scale details that help astronomers model the properties of jets and understand how they affect the surrounding materials.
“The arc-shaped feature of the HH 49/50 refers to the source of this spill, similar to the water wake created by speeding boats,” the researchers said.
“Based on past observations, scientists suspect that the Protostal, known as the Cederblad 110 IRS4, is a plausible driver of jet activity.”
“The CED 110 IRS4 is a Class I Protostal, located about 1.5 light years from HH 49/50.”
“Class I Protostals are young objects (tens of thousands to a million years ago) at primetime when earning Mass.”
“They usually have an identifiable disc of the material surrounding it.
“Scientists have recently studied this protostal and used Webb’s Nilkah and Milli observations to obtain inventory of the ice composition of its environment.”
“Those detailed webb images of the HH 49/50 arcs can more accurately identify the orientation to the jet source, but not all arcs return in the same direction.”
“There is an interesting outcrop feature (in the top right of the main runoff) that could be another accidental accident of another runoff associated with slow precession of intermittent jet sources, for example.”
“Or alternatively, this feature could be the result of a major spill breaking apart.”
“The accidental galaxy at the tip of HH 49/50 is a much more distant, troublesome spiral galaxy.”
“There is a prominent central bulge, represented in blue, indicating the position of the old stars.”
“The bulge also gives hints from the sidelobes that suggest this could be a thin group.”
“The reddish masses within the spiral arm indicate a warm dust location and a group of formed stars.”
“The galaxies will show sheltered bubbles in these dusty areas, similar to the nearby galaxies Webb observed as part of the Phangs programme.”
“Webb captured these two unrelated objects with a lucky alignment.”
“For thousands of years, the edge of the HH 49/50 has moved outwards, eventually appearing to hide a distant galaxy.”
New research shows that satiety-inducing molecules called bombesins are present not only in humans and other vertebrates, but also invertebrates such as starfish and their marine relatives.
Common starfish (Rubens of Asteria) Brofjorden is located in Govik, the Lysekil municipality in Sweden. Image credit: W. Carter.
Bombesin, a small peptide, plays an important role in regulating hunger by signaling when it is sufficient for us to eat.
When injected into mammals, bombesin was found to reduce the size of the meal and increase the time between meals.
This has led scientists to believe that bombesin-like neurohormones produced in the brain and intestines are part of the body’s natural system to control food intake.
Furthermore, along with weight loss inducers such as Ozempic, compounds that mimic the action of bombesin are occurring for the treatment of obesity.
In a new study, Professor Maurice Elphick and colleagues at Queen Mary University in London explored the evolutionary history of bombesin.
By analyzing the genome of invertebrates, they discovered a gene encoding a bombesin-like neurohormone. Common starfish (Rubens of Asteria) other cerebral dermatosis, such as sea urchins and sea cucumbers.
“It was like searching for needles in a haystack, but eventually we discovered a gene encoding a bombesin-like neurohormones in the genome of a starfish and its parent,” Professor Elphick said.
Researchers then turned their attention to the function of the bombesin in this starfish, named Arbn.
Mass spectrometry was used to determine the molecular structure of ARBNs and to be chemically synthesized and tested.
They investigated how ARBN affects starfish feeding behavior. Starfish have a unique way of eating. The stomach is stretched out from the mouth to digest prey such as mussels and oysters.
“When I tested Arbn, I found that it caused a starfish stomach contraction,” said Dr. Weiling Huang, a researcher at Queen Mary University in London.
“This suggested that ARBN may be involved in stimulating stomach contractions when starfish stop feeding.”
“And this is exactly what I found. When I injected Albun into the starfish while pounding my stomach, it caused my stomach and returned it to my mouth.”
“In addition, it took longer to surround the mussels compared to those injected with ARBN, which also delayed the onset of feeding.”
The discovery of the ancient role of bombesin in appetite regulation sheds light on the evolutionary origins of animal feeding behavior.
“We can estimate that this function dates back 5 billion years to the common ancestors of starfish, humans and other vertebrates,” Professor Elphick said.
a paper Regarding the survey results, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
____
Heiling Han et al. 2025. Discovery and functional characterization of bombesin-type neuropeptide signaling systems in invertebrates. pnasin press; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2420966122
The air is filled with birds chirping, and the land is a tableau of soft greenery and gentle light. This is Ho’oulu ‘āina, a 100-acre reserve with an unusual twist. It is linked to a community health center and is where patients come to heal the land and themselves.
As climate change accelerates and the Trump administration abandons the fight, Ho’oulu ‘āina is an example of how people in all 50 red and blue states are working to restore land, clean waterways, reduce pollution and protect wildlife.
50 states, 50 revisions This is a series about local solutions to environmental issues. I’ll come more this year.
Twenty years ago, Ho’oulu ‘āina was ignored and overrunned with trash and invasive plants. But today it is thriving.
And then, volunteers and patients who spent a long time there, removing non-enemous plants and growing vegetables, fruits and herbs, experienced body and soul recovery.
There is Growing research It shows that spending time in nature can improve mental, physical and cognitive health.
Older people who once relied on canes and pedestrians have regained some mobility. Diabetics have seen their glucose levels drop. The depressed teens woke up brightly. In Hawaiian, the name Ho’oulu ‘āina means “growing for the land.”
“Many people within the health centre saw the land as a way and a kind of tool to improve human health,” said Puni Jackson, program director at Ho’oulu ‘āina. But for the native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders who make up the majority of clinic patients, the connection to nature is both familial and profound, Jackson said. “It’s a sacred relationship,” she said.
Ho’oulu ‘āina is a 10-minute drive from the clinic, a bushy road, crossing a wooden bridge, above a rugged dirt driveway leading to grassy fields adjacent to the forest. The land features bread and banana trees, medicinal plants and taro, organic gardens, low-haired buildings, and a small pharmacist who watches patients by Jackson, an indigenous medical practitioner of Hawaii.
The call of the conch shell evoked dolphin hunters from their beds. Under the moonlight, six men shuffled into the village church.
There the priest led them in a whispering prayer. The tide was high that day. The salt water was pooled in part of the village on Fanarey Island, part of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.
They paddled out into wooden canoes before the first light, cutting through the darkness until they were miles away from the coast. After a few hours of scans, we saw one of the hunters, Leslie Hughi, slashing open the glassy water. He raised a 10-foot-long bamboo stick with a cloth tied to the end, warning others of his discovery. He then called his wife. He had found a dolphin. The hunt begins.
These men are among the last dolphin hunters in the Solomon Islands. Some critics say the massacre is cruel and unnecessary. But for some 130 residents of Fanarei, traditional hunts have taken on a new urgency as climate change threatens their homes. They say they need dolphins for their valuable teeth, used as local currency to buy land in the highlands and escape the sinking home.
Each tooth is worth three Solomon Islands dollars (about $0.36) (price set by the Chief of Fanarei), and a single dolphin hunt, which costs about $200, can bring tens of thousands of dollars, more than any other economic activity on the island.
“We regret killing the dolphin, but we really have no other option,” Fugi said. He mentioned that he would be willing to give up the hunt if there was an alternative way to secure his family’s future.
Crops can no longer be grown on about a third of the wana rays in New York City’s Central Park. Once fertile land has been ruined by erosion of salt water. The government promotes seaweed farming as a source of income, while overseas conservation groups provide cash to end the hunt. However, the ocean is both an existential threat and the most profitable resource for villagers. Government research suggests that the island could be underwater by the end of the century.
“For lowland islands like us, I witness with my own eyes how rising oceans affect our lives,” said Principal Wilson Fee, Fanaray.
Almost 500 buildings in the province’s capital get heat from clean, renewable sources deep in the ground.
It’s very easy to get into Boise’s hot water. After all, it’s Idaho, a state filled with hundreds of hot springs.
The city has used warm water in its natural environment to create a geothermal system that operates the largest local government in the country.
Nearly 500 Boise Business, Government Buildings, Houses, and Hospital and University Buildings; City Hall and YMCA. – Warmed by heat drawn directly from a hot water reservoir or aquifer below the ground. Idaho State University in Boise is the only US that uses geothermal heat. In winter, heat warms some sidewalks and raises the temperature of the hot tub to melt the snow.
50 states, 50 revisions This is a series about local solutions to environmental issues. I’ll come more this year.
Renewable, reliable and relatively free of pollution, but geothermal heating is possible due to fault lines that expose groundwater to hot rocks and heat the water to about 170 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 77 degrees Celsius. The water is drawn from a well in a nearby hilly area into a closed loop network of pipes reaching the building, then returned to the aquifer to reheat.
In each building, geothermal heat is transferred to the water through adjacent pipes, dispersing the heat throughout the building.
“We pumped water, borrowed heat for the building, then reverted it back to the aquifer,” said Tina Riley, Geothermal Development Coordinator at Boise.
The number of buildings that heat up the city of Boise in this way has increased more than six times over the past 40 years, and has grown along the way. One of the consequences of the expansion is cleaner air. In 2024, city officials calculated that their carbon footprint is 6,500 tons a year, equivalent to removing 1,500 vehicles from the road each year.
“There’s a lot of demand for clean, affordable local energy,” Riley said. “This also has the energy independence.”
Boiseans began using this natural resource to heat the buildings in the 1890s. It gave birth to hundreds of thousands of gallons of piping hot water a day after drilling the well into the aquifer. The water-heated pools and baths of local swimming pools, the Victorian mansion belonging to the head of the Water Company, and hundreds of homes in the area that baptized the Boise Warm Springs Water district.
Things may have ended because it wasn’t due to the oil crisis of the 1970s.
“At that point, the Boise Warm Springs area had been thriving for almost 100 years,” Riley said. “That’s what we saw. Then we say, ‘Let’s do the same thing.’ ”
Today, Boise has four individually operated geothermal hydrothermal systems. One is run by the city, the other is run by the Boise Warm Springs area, and two more serve the Capitol and the U.S. Veterans Affairs buildings.
The city’s system operates as a utility funded by the sale of water rather than taxpayers. Riley said the heat price is roughly comparable to that of natural gas, depending on the efficiency of the building, but it is less expensive when used in parallel with a heat pump.
In the Boise Warm Springs Water area, engineer Scott Lewis said it is particularly cost-effective for warming an old Victorian home where geothermal heat had not been weathered.
He said that because it uses minimal electricity, it means all the stress on the power grid is less. The district costs $1,800 a month to power water pumps that provide heat to more than one million square feet of space. The expansion of the geothermal network is limited by what aquifers can offer, but Lewis said the district is trying to add 30 more homes to the network to meet demand.
“It’s actually very desirable, especially around the area,” he said. “We see that a lot of people are really environmentally conscious around here.”
The heating system attracted visitors from Iceland, Croatia and Australia, making Boise the destination.
“We were from all over the world,” Lewis said. “We love to let everyone know about our little geothermal system here.”
Placebo pills can have real effects through the power of suggestions
72 images / Aramie
Women with premenstrual syndrome appear to benefit from the placebo effect, even if they know they are taking Siamese medication. This suggests that we can provide cheap and simple treatments.
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) with symptoms such as anxiety, mood swings, and abdominal cramps generally affects people with periods of time. Previous research has shown this Placebo pills can reduce symptoms It was unclear whether these benefits remained when people intentionally taking fake medications in women who think they might be taking real medications.
Antje Frey Nascimento The University of Basel in Switzerland and her colleagues recruited 150 women in Switzerland, ages 18-45. In a study that acquired symptoms of 27 PMS on a scale of 0 to 5, participants rated at least one symptom A 4 or 5 at the start of the study. Participants also reported that at least one symptom interfered with society, work, or school life and scored this confusion.
The researchers then randomly assigned a third of participants, taking two placebo pills daily in two menstrual cycles, and informing these people that they are taking Placbos. Another third of participants also took placebo pills, but received additional explanations on how placebo can alleviate symptoms through the power of suggestions and belief.
The remaining third of participants were not given a placebo, but all groups were able to take regular medication. All participants completed a daily survey of PMS symptoms and how much these lives interfered.
By analyzing survey data from participants’ last menstrual cycle, the team found that on average, those who took placebo without explanation, the intensity of PMS symptoms decreased by 50%. These symptoms were half that destroyed their lives.
Those who took the placebo in their explanation reported a 79% reduction in the intensity of symptoms and an 83% reduction in life disruption. “It’s a really big effect you’ll notice in your life.” Stephen Schmidt He was not involved in research at the University of Freiburg, Germany.
When people take placebo pills, they may unconsciously and consciously expect relief from the placebo effect. This appears to produce real improvements by causing the body’s natural release of painkillers, such as endorphins, Schmidt says.
“We live in a pill society where you have all the knowledge about how you get all the benefits of science in your body when you take them, so people expect to feel better,” he says. Emphasizing these potential benefits for people seems to increase their effectiveness, he says.
Despite not taking pills, the control group showed a 33% reduction in symptoms intensities, with 46% less destructive than before. “If you sign up for a study and complete these daily diaries, you can pay more notices when you feel better or when your symptoms improve, so you can see benefits without taking pills,” Schmidt says.
One limitation of this study, he adds, is the greater advantage of placebo effects, as those enrolled in the trial may be more open to alternative treatments than the wider population.
Large studies need to determine whether these placebo benefits last for a long period of time and whether they apply to older adults groups and to a wider range of people in other countries, Schmidt says. If the results endure scrutiny, he says, placebo can ultimately provide an inexpensive and easy way to treat serious health burdens.
At least one shark species has bark that can be chewed. Scientists report that clicks can be made.
During his doctoral studies at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, Carolyn NeederHe was currently studying shark hearing at Woods Hole Marine Facility in Massachusetts. When dealing with sharks during the experiment, she noticed one species – a hound (a rig called a rig)Mustelus lenticulatus) – It looked like it was making a metallic click.
“The sharks weren’t supposed to make noise, so I ignored it,” Nieder says. “And that was just happening.”
The ability to intentionally produce sounds is common among terrestrial animals, as the world full of bird verticals and mammalian plagues shows. However, underwater, many fish make noises by shaving objects or vibrating muscles, and in 2022 researchers reported that relatives near sharks can sometimes click when divers interfere. The shark sounds had not yet been officially explained.
To confirm the presence of the rig’s noise, Nieder and her colleagues brought 10 boys rigs into the lab, caught up in the waters of New Zealand’s North Island. There, they were placed in the tank with sensitive sound recording instruments. The team gently handled the sharks and found that all of them were clicking accordingly. Rigs seem to be the first shark known to produce sounds that are not associated with other actions, such as feeding or bumping into something.
Researchers believe that sharks may be producing sounds by snapping their jaws together. Just like click rays, the rig flattens the teeth, which can produce sharp sounds on the impact. Please listen to the following:
Further research may check whether the cause of clicks and whether there is a feature. Nieder points out that because rigs are small sharks and potential prey for large animals, clicks can play a role in defense when animals are bitten or gripped.
“It could be a bit confusing for predators,” she says. It is also possible that clicks play a role in hunting, she adds, including scaring and inclusive shark crustacean prey.
Rig shark teeth
Eric Palmentier
“This has been seen for a long time, but is a potentially very important area of shark biology,” he says. Aaron Rice He was not involved in research at Cornell University in New York.
When healthy production is widespread among sharks, their clicks may help them study populations that often decline rapidly, says Rice. He says there is a very rich sound data recorded from fish and whale studies, and it is possible that they also shot shark sounds. These can be used to determine if a shark is in the area and add another tool to monitor at-risk predators.
“[The finding] It represents something truly new and new discoveries in basic biology,” says Rice.
Sample analysis of Mars Instrument on NASA’s Curiosity Rover detected decane, anteca and dodecane molecules in Gale Crater samples.
This graphic shows the long chain organic molecules, decane, undercane, dodecane, and rover of curiosity from NASA. Image credit: NASA/Dan Gallagher.
“The main scientific goal of Curiosity is to quantitatively assess the possibility of Mars’ habitability in the past or present,” says Dr. Caroline Freissinet, researcher at Atmosphères ET Observation Spatiales at CNRS and Laboratoire.
“Sample analysis in the MARS (SAM) instrument suite on a rover is dedicated to this task by employing inventory of organic and inorganic compounds present on the surface of Mars as potential chemical biosignatures and investigating the nature of the conservation.”
Using SAM instruments, researchers analyzed molecules released from excavated mudstone samples called Cumberlands, collected in Yellowknife Bay, the geological layer of Gale Crater.
They were able to detect three long chain alkanes: decane (c)10htwenty two), unedecane (c11htwenty four), and dodecan (c12h26).
“These long carbon chains, which contain up to 12 consecutive carbon atoms, can exhibit similar characteristics to the fatty acids produced on Earth through biological activity,” the researchers said.
Dodecane represents the highest molecular mass organic molecule ever identified on the surface of Mars.
“Detection of long-chain alkanes shows various causes of organic matter and storage mechanisms in Cumberland samples,” the scientists said.
“Clays and sulfate minerals are expected to play an important role in this long-term storage.”
According to the author, the source of Mars’ long-chain alkanes remains uncertain.
“Laboratory experiments support sources from the saturated forms of linear chains, primary carboxylic acids, i.e. decano acids, dodecano acids, and tridecano acids, for decane, undecano and dodecano acids, respectively,” they said.
“Abiotic processes can form these acids, but are considered to be a universal product of biochemistry, on the ground and perhaps Mars.”
“The origin and distribution of these molecules therefore has great interest in searching for potential biosignatures on Mars.”
Survey results It will be displayed in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
____
Caroline Freecinet et al. 2025. Long chain alkanes are preserved in the mudstones of Mars. pnas 122 (13): e2420580122; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2420580122
The ARC-AGI-2 benchmark is designed to be a difficult test for AI models
Just_Super/Getty Images
The most sophisticated AI models present today are inadequate scores on new benchmarks designed to measure progress towards artificial general information (AGI), and brute-force computing power is not sufficient to improve as evaluators consider the cost of running the model.
There are many competing definitions of AGI, but it is generally thought to refer to AI capable of performing cognitive tasks that humans can do. To measure this, the ARC Awards Foundation previously began a test of reasoning ability called ARC-AGI-1. Last December, Openai announced that the O3 model scored highly in tests, with some asking if the company is approaching AGI achievement.
But now the new test, the ARC-AGI-2, has raised the bar. Although current AI systems on the market are difficult enough to not achieve a score of over 100 digits of 100 in tests, all questions have been answered by at least two people on less than two attempts.
in Blog post Introducing the ARC-AGI-2, ARC president Greg Kamradt said a new benchmark is needed to test skills that differ from previous iterations. “To beat it, you need to demonstrate both high levels of adaptability and high efficiency,” he writes.
The ARC-AGI-2 benchmark differs from other AI benchmark tests in that it focuses on the ability to match the world’s leading PHD performance, but on the ability to complete simple tasks, such as replicating new image changes based on past examples of iconic interpretations. The current model is superior to “deep learning” measured by ARC-AGI-1, but not so good for seemingly simple tasks that require more challenging thinking and interaction with ARC-AGI-2. For example, Openai’s O3-low model won 75.7% on the ARC-AGI-1, but only 4% on the ARC-AGI-2.
This benchmark also adds a new dimension to measure AI capabilities by examining the efficiency of problem solving, as measured at the cost required to complete the task. For example, ARC paid a human tester $17 per task, while O3-low estimates that it would cost $200 for the same task.
“I think ARC-AGI’s new iteration, which now focuses on balancing performance and efficiency, is a major step towards a more realistic evaluation of the AI model,” he says. Joseph Imperial At the University of Bath, UK. “This is a sign that we are moving from a one-dimensional evaluation test that is not only focusing on performance, but also considering a decline in computing power.”
Models that can pass the ARC-AGI-2 should not only be very capable, but also be smaller and lighter, Imperial says. Model efficiency is a key component of the new benchmark. This helps address concerns that AI models are becoming more energy-intensive – Sometimes to the point of waste – to achieve much better results.
However, not everyone is convinced that the new measure will be beneficial. “The whole framing of this to test intelligence is not the correct framing.” Catherine Frick At Staffordshire University, UK. Instead, these benchmarks are extrapolated to imply general functionality across a set of tasks, simply by assessing the ability of AI to properly complete a single task or a set of tasks.
Working well with these benchmarks should not be seen as a major moment for AGI, Flick said:
And another question is what will happen if ARC-AGI-2 is given, or when it is given. Do you need yet another benchmark? “If they develop ARC-AGI-3, I guess they’ll add another axis to the graph [the] The minimum number of humans – whether expert or not, it will take a task to solve, in addition to performance and efficiency,” says Imperial. In other words, discussions about AGI rarely resolve immediately.
West Texas doctors are seeing measles patients whose illness is complicated by alternative therapy approved by vaccine skeptics, including health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Parents in Gaines County, Texas, are at the heart of the outbreak of turbulent measles, many of which have become increasingly repurposed and unproven treatments to protect children who have not been vaccinated against the virus.
One of those supplements is Vitamin A, which Kennedy advertises as a miraculous treatment for measles. Doctors at Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, say they have treated a small number of children who were given so much vitamin A, which has signs of liver damage.
Dr. Summer Davis, who cares for children with acute illnesses at the hospital, said some of them had been receiving unsafe supplements for weeks to prevent measles infection.
“We were sick for just a few days, five days, five days, and five days, but we had been taking it for about three weeks,” Dr. Davis said.
Doctors may manage severe measles by administering high doses of vitamin A in hospitals, but experts do not recommend taking it without supervision from a doctor. Vitamin A is not an effective way to prevent measles. However, two doses of measles, mumps and rubella vaccines are about 97% effective.
At high doses, vitamin A can cause liver damage. Dry skin peeled skin. Hair loss; and in rare cases, seizures and com sleep. So far, doctors at a hospital in West Texas have said they have seen patients with high yellow skin and liver enzymes in both blood tests for both liver signs.
Many of these patients were in hospital due to severe measles infection. The doctor only discovered liver damage after regular lab work.
As of Tuesday, the outbreak that began in January had spread to more than 320 cases in Texas. Forty patients were hospitalized and one child died.
Nearby New Mexico County, the virus has suffered 43 illnesses and two hospitalised. Seven confirmed cases in Oklahoma are also linked to outbreaks.
Local doctors and health officials are increasingly concerned about the growing popularity of unproven treatments to prevent and treat measles. They fear that people will delay serious treatment and refuse vaccination, the only proven way to prevent measles infection.
Alternative medicine has always been popular in Gaines County. Many of the large Mennonite communities in areas where most cases are clustered are avoiding interaction with the healthcare system and adhere to a long tradition of natural therapy.
Health officials said the popularity of Vitamin A’s recent use of measles could go back to a Fox News interview with Kennedy.
in Opinion essay In the Washington Post Tuesday afternoon, Kevin Griffith, who was the communications director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until last week, wrote that he had resigned to handle Kennedy’s outbreak.
“In my last few weeks at the CDC, I saw a career infectious disease expert being tasked with spending valuable time wasting data searches to support Kennedy’s preferred treatment,” writes Griffith.
A few weeks after the interview with Fox News, Drugstore In West Texas, I had a hard time maintaining vitamin A and cod liver oil supplements on my shelf. “I didn’t hear anything about Vitamin A until he said that on TV,” said Katherine Wells, director of public health at Lubbock.
One local doctor, appointed as one of the doctors that Kennedy said in an interview with Fox News, opened a makeshift clinic in Gaines County, and began eliminating a variety of treatments, including vitamin A supplements, to treat active incorrect cases and prevent infection.
Dr. Davis said he suspected that the majority of the children she treated had taken vitamins at home.
Experts say Vitamin A can play an important role in the “advocacy care” provided by doctors to patients with severe measles infection.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, works by replenishing physical reservoirs that have been depleted by viruses that strengthen the immune system.
In hospitals, doctors only give measles children two vitamins, usually over two days, and “adjusting very carefully” the amount according to their age and weight, he said.
Dr. Schaffner emphasized that it is not a miraculous treatment of the virus, and that measles does not have antiviral drugs. Also, there is no reliable evidence that vitamin A can help prevent infection in children in the US, with extremely rare vitamin A defects.
In fact, giving children high doses of repeated vitamins is dangerous. Unlike other vitamins that are washed away from the body via urine, excess vitamin A accumulates in adipose tissue and is more likely to reach dangerous levels over time.
“I think this type of preventative use is particularly concerning,” said Dr. Lara Johnson, another doctor at Lubbock Hospital.
“When you’ve been taking it on your kids for weeks or weeks, you can have a cumulative toxicity impact.,” she added.
Dr. Johnson added that local doctors don’t always accurately reflect the amount of vitamins the label contains and are particularly concerned about parents’ dependence on over-the-counter supplements that can accept dosage recommendations from unverified sources.
Protein Church has seen a recent surge in young worshippers, with Andrew Scott leading the services.
According to a survey by the CS Mott Children’s Hospital in Michigan, two in five Americans aged 13 to 17 reported consuming protein supplements like shakes and powders last year.
An investigation by online supermarket Ocado found that 62% of UK Z and millennials increased their protein intake last year.
On foodie Tiktok, dishes like black bean pasta, tofu-filled pasta sauce, and chickpea and cashew chocolate brownies are gaining popularity.
Cottage cheese has become a favorite due to its high protein content, with a 97% increase in demand reported by Ocado.
While young adults are focusing on consuming more protein, older adults are falling short of the recommended intake levels.
Research from the University of Birmingham in 2020 showed that older adults consume less protein than middle-aged adults.
Another study in 2020 by the University of Sheffield found that only a small percentage of adults over 65 met the daily protein recommendations.
It’s evident that while young people are increasing their protein intake, older adults are struggling to meet their protein needs.
Why middle-aged adults need more protein
Professor Elizabeth Williams from the University of Sheffield explains that protein requirements vary throughout life, with older adults needing more protein to combat reduced protein synthesis efficiency.
Other factors like muscle loss and anabolic resistance in older adults contribute to the need for higher protein intake.
As we age, our bodies need more protein, especially postmenopausal women, as hormonal changes can lead to increased muscle loss. – Credit: Hispanoristic via Getty
Why seniors struggle to eat enough protein
Anabolic resistance and sarcopenia worsen with age, especially among less active individuals, making it crucial for seniors to consume sufficient protein.
Dr. Connor Carrey emphasizes the importance of protein intake for older adults to maintain muscle mass and functional levels.
Not consuming enough protein can lead to muscle loss and bone health issues in older adults.
Elderly individuals and those with fragile health find it challenging to meet their protein requirements.
How much protein is enough?
Protein intake is usually measured in grams per kilogram of body weight, with recommended daily amounts varying for different age groups.
For older adults, experts recommend a higher protein intake of around 1-1.2g/kg per day to support muscle health and prevent muscle loss.
Increasing protein intake through meals like eggs can help middle-aged and older adults maintain muscle mass.
Breakfast is a meal when many of us are protein deficient. This means providing an opportunity to redress the balance.
How to eat enough protein for better health
Eating protein-rich foods like eggs for breakfast can help improve protein intake and support muscle health.
Experts recommend consuming 25g of protein in each meal to maintain muscle mass and overall health.
Switching to protein-rich breakfast options like eggs, yogurt, or nuts can help individuals increase their daily protein intake.
For those struggling to consume large quantities of protein, liquid sources like milk and dairy products are recommended.
Read more:
About our experts:
Professor Elizabeth Williams is a nutrition science professor at the University of Sheffield, specializing in diet-related chronic diseases and healthy aging.
Dr. Connor Carrey is a postdoctoral researcher and nutrition instructor focusing on proteins at University College Cork.
Amani Kite is a functional nutritionist specializing in intestinal, hormonal, and metabolic health.
Skywatchers in the northeastern United States, eastern Canada, and parts of Europe are eagerly anticipating a rare astronomical event this spring. On the morning of Saturday, March 29th, 2025, a partial solar eclipse will grace the sky, coinciding with a spectacular “double sunrise.”
Here is all you need to know about the partial solar eclipse, including where to watch, what to expect, and how to safely observe it.
When is the Partial Solar Eclipse in 2025?
The first and only solar eclipse of 2025 will occur on March 29th, starting at 8:50am GMT (4:50am EDT) and ending at 12:43 PM GMT (8:43am EDT). The maximum solar eclipse will take place at 10:47 AM GMT (6:47AM EDT).
In the US, the solar eclipse will begin at 6:13 AM EDT and end at 7:17am EDT, with the exact times varying based on location. The most dramatic views and longest duration of the eclipse, with 85% of the sun obscured, will be experienced in some areas.
In England, the solar eclipse will begin in London at 9:56am GMT, reach its peak at 11:03 AM, and end at 12:00 PM GMT. The extent of the eclipse may vary slightly depending on location, with Scotland witnessing over 40% obscuration in cities like Glasgow.
Where to Watch the Partial Solar Eclipse?
This partial solar eclipse will be visible across a wide area of the Northern Hemisphere, including the Northeastern United States, Eastern Canada, most of Europe, and northwest Africa.
Fourteen US states, including Washington DC, will witness a partial solar eclipse, with Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia among them.
The point of greatest obscuration will occur in Nunavique, Quebec, where 94% of the sun will be hidden at the peak of the solar eclipse.
Global map of partial solar eclipse shadow paths for March 29, 2025. A yellow curve tracks the extent of the partial eclipse and the proportion of each of these curves, giving the maximum area of the moon-covered sun during the eclipse. -NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio
What is a Partial Solar Eclipse?
A partial solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun but does not fully block the Sun. Instead, it covers only a portion of the solar disk, creating the appearance of the moon taking a bite out of the sun.
This results in a deep but incomplete solar eclipse, with the sun taking on a crescent shape. Unlike a total solar eclipse, where the sky goes completely dark, daylight remains during a partial solar eclipse, albeit with a dim and eerie quality.
What is a Double Sunrise?
“Double Sunrise” is a rare and stunning visual effect that can occur when a solar eclipse coincides with the rising sun.
From parts of eastern Canada and northeastern United States, the sun may appear as a crescent on the horizon during a partial solar eclipse. The tip of the crescent moon, often called the “devil’s horn,” may also be visible, giving the illusion of two separate sunrises.
Maine and parts of Quebec, Canada, offer the best chance to witness this phenomenon.
After the double sunrise, the sun will continue to rise as a thin arc in the sky.
How to Safely Watch a Partial Solar Eclipse
Unlike a total solar eclipse, partial solar eclipses should never be viewed directly with the naked eye, even when most of the sun is covered. Even small slivers of the sun can cause permanent eye damage.
If possible, obtain eclipse glasses that are certified to ISO 12312-2 international safety standards.
Crowds gather around Bryant Park in New York City, wearing eclipse glasses to witness a partial solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.
If using binoculars, cameras, or telescopes, ensure they are equipped with a solar filter on the front end (not the eyepiece).
If you are unable to find glasses or filters, indirect viewing methods are still possible. By creating a small hole (1-2mm) in a card, you can project sunlight onto a flat surface to observe the solar eclipse safely.
Weather plays a significant role in eclipse visibility. A clear sky offers the best viewing conditions, but even in cloudy weather, you may still experience a dimming effect as the moon passes in front of the sun.
How to Watch the Solar Eclipse 2025 Online
If you are unable to witness the partial solar eclipse in person, don’t worry. You can watch it online. The Royal Observatory Greenwich in the UK will be live streaming the event starting at 10am GMT.
Alternative Foie Gras for Researchers undergoing stress testing in the lab
Thomas A. Birgiss
French delicate foie gras could be made more ethically thanks to techniques that replicate the way fat is metabolized in forced birds, but the process still relies on farm animals.
Foie gras is made from duck or goose liver that is forcefully applied via tubes. This process, known as gavage, causes organs to expand to ten times the normal amount as the animal stores excess fat.
Researchers say the experience of eating foie gras depends not only on its high fat content, but also on its microscopic distribution of its fat.
now Thomas Birgiss At the Max Planck Institute, the Polymer Institute in Mainz, Germany and his colleagues developed a new process that uses the same bird fat to create the same texture from ducks or geese normally raised and slaughtered into the liver.
“I’m a huge fan of foie gras,” says Birgis. “I was fascinated by this mouthfeel – it was so different to the other putty – so I asked myself, what is it?”
His team had previously tried to make foie gras with putty in the same proportion of fat and liver ratio, but the results were disappointing. In further experiments, collagen was added to replicate the density of foie gras, but it gave me something that felt like a gum in my mouth.
Vilgis then realized that releasing enzymes that divide fat before storing them in the liver is a way to efficiently store large fat molecules as smaller crystalline substances.
He and his colleagues discovered that this process can be replicated by treating fat with an enzyme called yeast lipase. Candida Lugosa. “Lipases are molecular sizers,” says Birgis. Next, the processed fat is mixed with the liver to create fake foie gras.
The team conducted numerous scientific tests, including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and compared fake foie glasses with real samples, resulting in promising results. Importantly, however, Vigoris says that the aroma and taste are “substantially not different” from the real thing.
The process is currently patented and researchers are discussing with the industry about commercializing the industry and bringing counterfeit gras to the market.
Due to ethical concerns, and in some countries, including the UK, many alternatives have been developed previously that claim to produce similar results, as it is traditionally illegal to produce foie gras. Also, at least two companies are trying to bring it in Lab-grown foie gras are available on the market.
Dawn Car People for Ethical Animal Treatment (PETA) says lab-fed meat is a more ethical route than a new lipase process that involves animal care and genocide. “We don’t need to kill animals for a fleeting taste moment,” Kerr says. “The future of foie gras is already here, and it doesn’t require any power or throat slits.”
Thomas BirgissFood Physicists at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Germany, have been in love with foie gras for a quarter century. The gorgeous delicateness is a putty or mousse made from the rich, fat liver of ducks and geese.
“It’s truly extraordinary,” Dr. Virgis said, recalling his early encounters with high-quality foie gras when he lived and worked in Strasbourg, France. It was soft and buttery, and as the fat started to melt in my mouth, the flavor evolved and exploded. “It’s like fireworks. Suddenly there’s a feeling of the whole liver,” he said.
But such transcendence is at a price.
To fatten the liver used to create foie gras, farmers force more grains than their bodies need. The excess food is stored as fat in the animal’s liver and has balloons of size.
He sometimes eats foie gras produced by local farmers, but Dr. Virgis discovers that it cannot stand on an industrial scale. “It’s terrible to watch,” he says.
Dr. Virgis somehow thought that “we could make similar products, but without this torture.”
In a paper published in the journal on Tuesday Liquid physicshe and his colleagues believe they have devised techniques that allow ducks and geese to eat and grow normally. But to be clear, this is not a replacement for foie gras that will hold the life of birds.
His lab approach uses enzymes to break down duck fat. Second, the mixture of regular duck liver and treated fats is finished in the same way as traditional foie gras. “Of course, that’s not a 100% agreement, but we’re very close,” Dr. Virgis said.
“It’s far better than many other products that try to simulate foie gras,” he said. It involves the process of using plant fats (“the same flavor, not melting, nothing,” he said) or collagen (“this turns out to be gum,” he said).
Devising this approach was full of failure. When the team tried simply to combine regular duck liver with untreated fat, regardless of the ratio, the result was not foie gras.
“The mechanical properties are different,” he said. “The fat distribution is different. Everything wasn’t working.”
Researchers tried to add emulsifiers and later gelatin from bird skin and bones, but consistency was off.
Dr. Virgis then thought about what would happen when forces were generated inside the bird’s body. Ducks or geese digest all excess food, among other things, using an enzyme called lipase, which acts like a pair of molecular scissors. They can cut fat molecules into small pieces and “rearrange and crystallize in different shapes,” he said. Crystallized fats form irregular clusters surrounded by a matrix of liver proteins, giving them a luxurious flavour and texture.
That was an important insight. “We just did what happens in the small intestines of the lab,” Dr. Virgis said. When the team treated duck fat with lipase, mixed it with regular liver, and studied it using X-ray scattering and other techniques, the results were markedly similar to foie gras.
“The mechanical properties match the properties of foie gras very well,” he said. “This really made me happy because foie gras contains so much basic physics.”
But most importantly, it tasted right. Dr. Virgis was surprised and pleased when he first sampled the fake foie gras. The team adjusted the melting point and fat clustering exactly to the right. “This trick gives you fat so that it melts in your mouth, which is essential,” he said. Dr. Virgis secured a patent for this process.
Roseanna ZiaUniversity of Missouri mechanical and chemical engineers who were not involved in the research praise the research that overcomes key challenges. “One of the difficult things about engineering is to translate what people like and want,” she said.
She explained that foie gras is a kind of soft solid, including butter, chocolate, mayonnaise and ice cream. “It looks like a solid, but when spread out with a knife, it moves like a liquid,” she praises researchers like Dr. Virgis, who can manipulate the behavior of this type of complex material.
He acknowledges that his formulation is “not vegetarian, not vegan.” However, when foie gras is produced and consumed, Dr. Virgis hopes at least some farmers will work to “reduce the suffering of animals a little.”
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
