In March 2021, a 25-year-old American citizen arrived at Chicago’s Midway Airport and was detained by US Border Patrol agents. According to a recent report, the individual underwent a cheek swab for DNA collection. This person was later identified by state authorities, and their DNA was entered into the FBI’s genetic database, all without any criminal charges being filed.
This 25-year-old is among roughly 2,000 US citizens whose DNA was gathered and forwarded to the FBI by the Department of Homeland Security between 2020 and 2024, as reported by Georgetown’s Privacy and Technology Center. The report highlights that even some 14-year-old US citizens had their DNA collected by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials.
“We have witnessed a significant breach of privacy,” stated Stevie Gloverson, director of research and advocacy at Georgetown’s Privacy Center. “We contend that the absence of oversight on DHS’s collection powers renders this program unconstitutional and a violation of the Fourth Amendment.”
When immigration officials collect DNA to share it with the FBI, it is stored in the Combined DNA Index System (Codis), which is utilized nationwide by various law enforcement agencies to identify crime suspects. A 2024 report also revealed that CBP collects DNA data from the Privacy and Technology Center in Georgetown. Additionally, the data indicates that DNA was collected and shared from immigrant children, with initial estimates suggesting that approximately 133,000 teens and children have had their sensitive genetic information uploaded to this federal criminal database for permanent retention.
The recent CBP document specifically outlines the number of US citizens from whom genetic samples were collected at various entry points, including significant airports. The agency gathered data on the ages of individuals whose DNA was obtained by border agents as well as any charges associated with them. Like the 25-year-old, around 40 US citizens had their DNA collected and forwarded to the FBI, including six minors.
Under current regulations, CBP is authorized to gather DNA from all individuals, regardless of citizenship status or criminal background.
However, the law does not permit Border Patrol agents to collect DNA samples from US citizens merely for being detained. Yet, recent disclosures indicate that CBP lacks a system to verify whether there is a legal basis for collecting personal DNA.
In some atypical instances, US citizens had DNA collected for minor infractions like “failure to declare” items. In at least two documented cases, citizens were subjected to DNA swabbing, with CBP agents merely noting the accusation as “immigration officer testing.”
“This is data from CBP’s own management,” Gloverson pointed out. “What the documentation reveals is alarming. Afterward, CBP agents are isolating US citizens and swabbing their mouths without justification.”
No formal federal charges have been filed in approximately 865 of the roughly 2,000 cases of US citizens whose DNA was collected by CBP, indicating, according to Gloverson, that no legal cases have been presented before an independent authority, such as a judge.
“Many of these individuals do not go before a judge to assess the legality of their detention and arrest,” she remarked.
DNA records can disclose highly sensitive information, such as genetic relationships and lineage, regardless of an individual’s citizenship status. Information found in the criminal database, utilized for criminal investigations, could subject individuals to scrutiny that may not otherwise occur, Gloverson warned.
“If you believe your citizenship guards you against authoritarian measures, this situation is clear evidence that it does not,” she concluded.
Pre-contact Central and South American dogs (Canis Familiaris) – These are all dogs that existed prior to the arrival of European settlers, originating from a single maternal lineage that spread into North America. A recent study led by researchers at Oxford University indicates that the divergence times of dog breeds in North, Central, and South America align with the agricultural expansion occurring between 7,000 and 5,000 years ago, particularly highlighting the adoption of corn in South America.
Manin et al. Illustrating the gradual southward spread of dogs alongside early agricultural societies. Artwork by John James Audubon and John Bachman.
“Dogs traveled with the initial waves of people entering North America at least 15,000-16,000 years ago,” stated Oxford University researcher Aurely Mannin and colleagues.
“They were the only type of livestock brought to America from Eurasia before the arrival of European settlers.”
“Archaeological and physical evidence suggests that Arctic dogs were utilized for sledding, aiding groups of humans traversing the frigid tundra of Siberia.”
“Analysis of ancient DNA indicates that all dogs before contact with European settlers possess mitochondrial DNA from a lineage unique to the Americas.”
“Dogs from this lineage disseminated throughout the Americas, with the exception of the Amazon Basin, suggesting they became known only following the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century.”
In this latest study, the authors sequenced 70 complete mitochondrial genomes from both archaeological and modern dogs collected from Central Mexico to Central Chile and Argentina.
The findings indicate that all pre-contact dogs in Central and South America descended from a singular maternal lineage that diverged from North American dogs when humans initially settled the continent.
Instead of a rapid spread, dogs exhibited a slower pattern known as “segregation by distance,” gradually adapting to new environments and migrating with people between 7,000 to 5,000 years ago, coinciding with the rise of corn cultivation in early agricultural communities.
The influx of Europeans brought new dog breeds that predominantly replaced indigenous strains; however, researchers discovered that modern Chihuahuas still retain maternal DNA from pre-contact Mesoamerican ancestors.
These rare genetic traces underscore the enduring legacy of the first American dogs and the deep roots of this iconic breed.
“This research emphasizes the significant role that early agricultural communities played in the dispersal of dogs worldwide,” Dr. Manin remarked.
“In the Americas, it reveals that dogs were able to adapt slowly enough to develop genetic distinctions between North, Central, and South America.”
“This is quite unusual for livestock and unveils new avenues for research into the relationships between dogs and early agricultural societies.”
“This study contributes a new chapter to the extensive shared history of dogs and humans, influenced by migration across continents, survival, and lasting relationships,” the scientists concluded.
Survey results are set to appear in Proceedings of the Royal Society b.
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Aurely Manin et al. 2025. Ancient dog mitogenomes support the double dispersion of dogs and agriculture into South America. Proc. R. Soc. b 292 (2049): 20242443; doi: 10.1098/rspb.2024.2443
IT is a warehouse resembling the size of 12 football pitches, poised to provide essential employment and development opportunities in the city of Caucaia, northeastern Brazil. Yet, the shelves remain empty. This extensive facility is set to transform into a data center, as designated by TikTok, になったんです。 English: The first thing you can do is to find the best one to do. part of a 5.5 billion Reais (7.3 billion pounds) project aimed at expanding the global data center infrastructure.
With the increasing demand for supercomputer facilities, Brazil is attracting an array of high-tech companies, buoyed by the AI boom. The selection of Caucaia is strategic. Submarine cables carry data from Fortaleza, the nearby capital of Ceará, to various continents. Proximity to these cables enhances traffic capacity and reduces latency—the response time across the Internet network.
Additionally, Caucaia is home to the Pecém EPZ, where businesses can produce goods and services for export, benefiting from various tax incentives and streamlined bureaucratic processes.
However, data from Brazil’s disaster digital atlas and integrated disaster information system indicate that Caucaia is also prone to extreme weather events, including drought and heavy rainfall.
Between 2003 and 2024, the city experienced drought-related emergency conditions declared at least once. In 2019, around 10,000 residents were impacted by water shortages. The digital atlas of disasters shows that as reservoirs depleted, water quality diminished, leading to crop failures and challenges in access to basic food supplies.
Data centers consume vast amounts of energy and water to keep supercomputers cool. Nevertheless, public agencies are promoting green construction in drought-affected areas. Caucaia is part of a broader trend.
According to the Digital Disaster Atlas, five of the 22 planned data centers are situated in cities that have faced repeated drought and water scarcity since 2003.
So far, China’s social networks have not been mentioned in Caucaia’s permit application. However, in February, the chief of staff for the state government, Chagas Vieira, confirmed in an interview with local radio stations that discussions were ongoing with Chinese firms, and representatives from TikTok and its parent company ByteDance met with senior officials, including the Vice President and Minister of Development, Industry, Trade, and Services, Geraldo Alckmin.
ByteDance has been approached for comments.
The truck will deliver water to Caucaia, a city facing repeated problems with drinking water supply. Photo: Marília Camelo/The Guardian
The project is officially led by Casa dos Ventos, a Brazilian wind energy firm that has invested in the data center sector. Mario Araripe, the company’s founder and president, announced last year that he aims to attract major global technology companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft to fill the facility with computers.
Casa dos Ventos has already secured one of the three required licenses from the state of Ceará. According to the state’s Environmental Supervision (SEMACE), the project received a license for “30m³/day water consumption in closed circuits supplied by Artesian Well.” Specific details have been withheld for commercial confidentiality.
Casa dos Ventos claims it is “committed to transforming Porto do Pecém into a complex of technological innovation and energy transition.”
Projects requiring significant energy, such as data centers, are required to obtain special permission from the Brazilian government. As of 2024, at least seven of the 21 approvals granted by the Ministry of Mines and the Ministry of Energy were linked to data centers.
Casa dos Ventos is also responsible for another data center project currently under state review in Campo Redondo, Rio Grande do Norte, a region that has experienced drought for 14 out of the last 21 years. During the water crisis in 2022, local governments sought federal aid, and water trucks were dispatched to address the demand.
A similar situation is unfolding in Igaporanga, Bahia, where a Brazilian renewable energy company plans to establish two data centers. The city has been in a state of emergency due to drought conditions for 12 of the years between 2003 and 2022. In 2021, about 5,500 people faced rural water shortages.
Transparency regarding water usage by data centers under construction in these areas is lacking. Companies have not disclosed this information voluntarily, and the government has withheld technical documents for licensing, citing commercial confidentiality.
In early April, the National Electric Power System Operator (ONS) denied requests for access to the grid for Casa dos Ventos, citing concerns for grid stability. Consequently, the Ministry of Mines and Energy requested a recalculation to assess potential grid adjustments.
bIG tech firms acknowledge their water consumption in water-scarce areas heightened by AI requirements. The 2024 Sustainability Report details that Microsoft reported that 42% of its water usage originates in regions experiencing water stress. Similarly, Google stated that in the same year, 15% of its water consumption fell in areas marked by “high water scarcity.”
Data centers utilize a large volume of water to prevent overheating in computers and machines. However, some water may evaporate, potentially exacerbating the local climate crisis where they are located. As AI technologies evolve, the demand for processing power increases, leading to heightened energy and cooling requirements. Consequently, water and energy consumption are projected to rise.
Workers at a Data Center in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Such facilities utilize considerable amounts of water for cooling machinery. Photo: Jeff Botega
The International Energy Agency projects a significant increase in data center energy consumption to double, reaching 945,000 GWh by 2030—equivalent to Japan’s annual energy consumption. Countries like Brazil will account for approximately 5% of this growth within that timeframe.
Water consumption is expected to surge. Researchers from the University of California, Riverside, and the University of Texas at Arlington estimate that global AI demand will require between 4.2 billion and 6.6 billion cubic meters of water by 2027, surpassing half of the UK’s annual water usage.
However, Shaolei Ren, a researcher from UC Riverside and co-author of the study, highlights a crucial distinction between consumption (water extracted from the system) and loss (water evaporated).
“Residential users generally do not withdraw significant amounts of water, but data centers often consume between 60% and 80%,” notes Ren, meaning that much water is lost.
Data centers can be cooled through two approaches: one is air conditioning, a widely adopted method for various facilities, while the second is utilizing water.
The outskirts of Caucaia, where inadequate water became unsuitable for urban consumption after reservoirs were depleted in 2019. Photo: Marília Camelo/The Guardian
One method involves recycling or reusing water but incorporates fans and radiators within closed systems, resembling car engine technologies. Alternatively, a cooling tower might use evaporation to expel heat from heated water, allowing the return of cold water to the system. The final method involves misting water into the air, increasing humidity and reducing temperature.
Nonetheless, these methods are not without inefficiencies. “Both evaporation and misting lead to water loss,” asserts Emilio Franceschini, an associate professor at ABC Federal University.
A small data center with a capacity of 1MW consumes around 25.5 million liters of water annually, with an estimated 1% (255,000 liters) lost to evaporation.
In Pecém, alternatives to extracting water include purchasing desalinated seawater or recycled water from Fortaleza.
It falls upon the state government to grant water concessions to data centers as part of the environmental licensing process.
rOnildo Mastroianni, technical director at Esplar, an NGO with a 50-year presence in Ceará, argues that projects demanding high water consumption in semi-arid areas are misguided. “It’s simply pushing for increased dryness,” he asserts.
Mastroianni cautions that such projects could alter the local hydrological basin, which may weaken fragile ecosystems, like the Caatinga, and heighten food insecurity due to rural water scarcity. He indicates that representatives from local NGOs and various Kilombola and Indigenous communities were not included in project discussions.
Due to water stress, many communities have constructed reservoirs to secure water supply during drought periods. Photo: Marília Camelo/The Guardian
Other Latin American nations are also witnessing a surge in the data center industry. Chile has launched 22 data centers in the Santiago region alone. In December, the government announced a National Plan to establish 30 additional projects, projected to place the country at medium to high levels of water stress by 2040, signifying decreased water availability.
In Chile, both governmental and corporate bodies are facing escalating opposition. In 2019, Google disclosed plans for its second data center in Santiago, which sparked estimates from the activist organization MOSACAT indicating the project would extract 700 million liters of water annually.
Following a wave of protests, a Santiago court reviewed the project. By early 2024, the court halted Google’s assessments concerning environmental impacts, pending further evaluation.
Among those advocating against the project was Tania Rodriguez of MOSACAT, who lamented, “That turned into extractivism,” she said in interviews with other outlets. “We will become everyone’s backyards.”
This week, US attorneys for the District of Columbia will be reaching out to the editors of a scientific journal for chest doctors. They are implying that the journal may have a partisan bias and are asking a series of questions regarding how publications protect against misinformation, potential influences from competing perspectives, and funders and advertisers.
In a letter from US lawyer Ed Martin, it is stated, “It has come to my attention that magazines and publications like the Chest Journal may declare themselves as partisans in various scientific debates. You have a certain responsibility.”
This letter has sparked concern among revision groups and some scientists who worry about potential threats to academic and scientific freedom.
JT Morris, a senior supervising lawyer at the Foundation for Personal Rights and Expression (Fire), remarked, “It is highly unusual to see a US attorney from Columbia sending letters to publications in Illinois inquiring about editorial practices, especially those of medical journals. It appears to be an act of government officials targeting a publication due to disagreements with its content.”
Fire, a non-profit civil liberty group, criticized Martin for allegedly threatening speakers critical of the government’s efficiency department.
Scientific journals play a crucial role in the advancement of scientific knowledge and provide a platform for researchers to share new discoveries with their peers. Trusted scientific journals undergo a peer review process where submissions are scrutinized by external researchers to ensure accuracy and validity of the content.
The Trump administration has made significant cuts in funding and staffing for federal science and healthcare institutions, raising concerns that research topics may be targeted based on political considerations. These actions have raised suspicion among scientists regarding potential government influence in independent journals.
The District of Columbia’s US Attorney’s Office did not respond to requests from NBC News for comments or additional information regarding the letters they are sending.
The letter was originally shared online by Dr. Eric Reinhart, a Chicago-based clinician, political anthropologist, and social psychiatrist, who described the letter as “blackmail” and labeled it as “fascist tactics.”
Laura Dimasi, a communications specialist at the American College of Chest Physicians, publishers of Chest Journal, confirmed that they have received the letter shared by Reinhart.
Dimasi stated, “The content was posted online without our knowledge. Lawyers are currently reviewing the letter for further action.”
The American College of Chest Physicians is an organization of experts with around 22,000 members specializing in lung, critical care, and sleep medicine. Their website provides more information about the organization.
According to a Publication Website Statement, Chest Journal upholds strict peer review criteria to ensure scientific rigor.
Reinhart explained that he shared the letter online to bring together editors of science journals and the broader scientific community to resist government pressures on publishers.
NBC News reached out to former editors of science journals to inquire if they had ever received similar letters from the Department of Justice regarding their publishing practices, but none reported receiving such letters.
Jeremy Berg, a former editor of the Science Family of Journals, interpreted the letter as a signal of scrutiny.
Michael Eisen, a former editor of the biomedical journal Elife, viewed the letter as part of a broader attack by the Trump administration on academia, universities, and science.
Berg and Eisen expressed uncertainties about the intentions behind the letter, with Eisen highlighting that the Department of Justice’s involvement in editorial matters is unprecedented and raises concerns about undue influence.
There is uncertainty among scientists about the implications of the letter and whether it signifies a broader investigation into scientific journals. NBC News reached out to other scientific publications, and representatives from PLOS, the US Academy of Sciences, and the New England Journal of Medicine reported no similar investigations had taken place.
Representatives of Science, Nature, and Jama, the medical journals of the American Medical Association, did not respond to requests for comments.
Paleontologists looked at the teeth Teleoce’s major – Found in an extinct species of nasal bacteria that lived in North America from 17.5 million to 5 million years ago. Ash falling fossil bed Nebraska, USA. Here, over 100 Teleoce’s major The individual in a single hole died and was buried in ashes from the eruption of Yellowstone’s superintendent.
The flock of Teleotheras Sister. Image credit: Jay Matternes/Smithsonian Museum.
Since discovering the rhinoceros at Nebraska’s Ashwood Fossil Bed State Park in 1971, researchers have wondered what attracted so many animals in the same location.
Did they converge from afar? Perhaps they sought shelter from natural disasters that unfolded volcanic eruptions with those asphyxiation ash?
“We found out they weren’t moving much,” said Clark Ward, a researcher at the University of Minnesota.
“We found no evidence of seasonal migration or disaster response.”
Ward and colleagues looked at the ratio of strontium, oxygen and carbon isotopes Teleoce’s major Teeth tracking long, operating animal movements across the landscape.
“By studying the carbon of animals, we can reconstruct the carbon of our environment and understand what kind of vegetation lived there,” Ward said.
“You can use it to reconstruct how wet and dry the environment is.”
“And strontium tells us where the animals are forged because isotopic ratios are associated with soil and supporting bedrock.”
Teleoce’s major It was a one-horned rhino with a barrel-shaped body and sturdy hippo-like legs. Like hippos, they ate grass.
And, like hippos, researchers believe that these rhinoceros have spent a lot of time in and around the water.
Due to their vast size, they had few predators during the Miocene era.
However, their calves would have been vulnerable to predators like hyenas, known as bone-breaking dogs.
In fact, some of the specimens found on the Nebraska site have evidence that the scavenger removed some of the bodies after its death. And ancient trucks from a 45 kg (100 pound) dog are found there.
The giant Yellowstone volcano has erupted many times over the past 12 million years.
“The ashes from the eruption traveled 1,127 km (700 miles) in what is now Nebraska, where they piled up in snow, like snow,” Ward said.
“But the ashes that were blown by the wind continued to fall into Nebraska, long after the first eruption.”
“The ashes would have covered everything: grass, leaves, water.”
“Reconstructing how we equip the ancient landscapes that have disappeared provides an important context for understanding their paleoecology and sociality, and the environment in which they lived,” the scientists concluded.
Their paper Published in the journal Scientific Report.
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CT Word et al. 2025. Enamel carbon, oxygen and strontium isotopes reveal limited mobility in extinct rhinoceros in Ashford Fossil Bed, Nebraska, USA. Sci Rep 15, 11651; doi:10.1038/s41598-025-94263-z
Leonardo Augustus Patterson was born on April 15, 1942 in Limon, the Caribbean coastal town of Costa Rica. Little is known about his family history. He said his father left home when he was very young and his farmer mother died when he was a teenager.
He said he found his first ancient, ancient pottery shard in the Yam field when he was seven years old.
He moved to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, when he was 15 years old. There he found a job with a jeweller.
After selling items locally for several years, he moved to Miami, where he imported them to a local gallery. A chance encounter with a wealthy collector led to an opportunity in New York, where he had moved by the late 1970s.
Patterson kept his family’s life a lot secret. He claimed that five women had at least 13 children. The list of survivors was not available immediately.
Few people suspected that Patterson had committed a long list of crimes, but even some of his opponents have admitted that he has a loving side. They cited his gentle personality and his dry wit – a quiet charisma that appears to take on his entire career.
“He was adorable guy,” Brand said.
When he told Patterson he was planning to write a book about him, Brand recalled, and Patterson replied, “Wait until you’re dead.”
onOn Tuesday, just over a mile from the White House, classicist Mary Beard spoke to the audience about the Roman Emperor. “A dictator is the one who kills you when he is his most generous,” she said. “You go to dinner, you think, wow, this is amazing! But the generosity of a dictator is always fatal.”
On Wednesday, Donald Trump held his first full cabinet meeting. Some may say the mood is warm, cheerful and generous. Housing Secretary Scott Turner offered prayers, including “Thank you, President Trump.”
Was it just an accident that made the TV cameras assemble the scene as Day’s antithesis? Viewers could see Trump in the middle of the seven men in suits, then another row of seven men in suits sitting behind him. Almost all of them were white. (Yes, there were women and people of color at the meeting, but not many.)
Vice President JD Vance was present, but there was no doubt who appointed the emperor as consul. Trump invited Elon Musk, the tech billionaire who runs the so-called “Doctor of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), to speak in front of his cabinet secretary after all attending claimed to be supportive.
Wearing a black “make America great again” hat, Musk jokingly called it “humble tech support” – people laughed faithfully – and insisted that his unplanned efforts to steal the federal government’s chainsaw could save a trillion dollars and delve into the country from debt. “It’s not about options, it’s important,” he said. “If we don’t do this, America will go bankrupt.”
In theory it’s fine. But Doge, composed primarily of young male software engineers fueled by pizza and Red Bull, was a disaster. They fired people who oversee the nuclear weapons stockpile and quickly tried to rehire them, but found it difficult to contact them because they were unable to access their working email account. This claimed it saved $8 billion on a termination agreement that was actually worth just $8 million. Musk mistakenly stated that the US spent $50 million on Gazan condoms. And this week, Doge appeared this week. Doge quietly deleted the top five items from the suspected savings public book after it turned out they weren’t that kind of thing.
Musk brought similar unholy confusion to Twitter when he bought it – to the cabinet, Doge admitted to making a mistake, but that said it would fix them quickly. “For example, with USAID, one of the things we accidentally cancelled temporarily was Ebola prevention. So we quickly restored Ebola prevention, but there was no interruption.”
I don’t feel safe.
Then came the most dictatorial episode of the conference. The generous and deadly Trump asked his cabinet. If so, we’ll throw him out of here. ”
For crocodiles? Or through a high window, in favor of his fellow Vladimir Putin? There was a nervous laugh and applause from this fawn, flattering, this reunion.
Winning, the President assured reporters: “They have a lot of respect for Elon, he does this, and a bit opposed to some, but I think most of the time everyone is happy – I think they’re excited.”
Games respect the game. A boy who is a fan of the far-right movements across Europe, Musk showed an impressive instinctive sense of totalitarianism.
He states: This is an incredible group of people. I don’t think we’ve ever had such a talented team. I think it’s literally the best cabinet this country has ever had…”
Then came the slips that spoke from the wealthiest man in the world. [sic] We should be very grateful to the people in this room. ”
The cabinet that Musk lavished with such praise include Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News host, accused of sexual assault and alcohol abuse, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine conspiracy theorist who once abandoned a bear cub who died in New York’s Central Park. Less than Marvel’s Avengers Star Wars Cantina.
Kennedy was asked by a reporter about the outbreak of measles in Texas, where a child was reportedly killed. His inactive response: “That’s not uncommon. There’s an outbreak of measles every year.”
The entire conference worshiped authoritarianism and was another sorry to normalize bullies. Musk tried to protect government officials from emails they sent to government employees and asked them what they did last week. It’s not a “performance review,” but a “pulse check review” because some people on the government’s salary are dead.
Trump concluded the meeting with the observation that “the country is bloated, fat, disgusting, incompetent.”
Still as John Stewart It’s been attracting attention this week At Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Doge will not build fighter jets that will soon become obsolete on subsidies given to oil and gas companies, loopholes for hedge funds worth $1.3 billion a year, or $20 subsidies given to defense contractors. “This is the real place for money,” Stewart said.
Even a functioning democracy did not do much about them. Therefore, he wants a country run by aspiring Caesar and his fellow oligarchs.
If TikTok disappears from the United States, its 170 million American users won’t be the only ones who lose out.
British TikTokers and executives told the Guardian that they would lose a significant portion of their audience after the ban. The video app has become a key entry point into the U.S. for British online video creators who make a living by gaining views and securing sponsored content deals. The ban is scheduled to go into effect on Sunday, leaving a U.S.-sized hole in the global user base.
“In English-speaking markets, many creators have significant U.S. audiences following them,” says Billion Dollar Boy, a UK-based advertising agency that connects creators and influencers with blue-chip advertisers. CEO Thomas Walters said: He added that a ban would be “really sad” for creators who have “built an audience from nothing” on TikTok.
The Guardian spoke to several UK-based creators and one entrepreneur, all of whom said they would be affected by the ban.
Jay Beach, 30, London
Almost half of the users are from the United States. Beech’s 1.7 million viewers On TikTok. He said there were strong relationships between creators and users on both sides of the Atlantic, and that millions of Brits and Americans would miss this kind of digital cultural exchange.
“Seeing that gap in our feeds is going to make a big difference for all of us,” he says.
Beach, who describes her posts as “high energy fashion content”, said sponsored content from brands such as US skincare brand Kiehl’s and Sky TV makes up the bulk of her income. He also has a presence on YouTube Shorts and Instagram, but says he’s noticed that TikTok users “don’t necessarily follow you anywhere else.”
“[A ban] “It’s going to throw people into this diaspora of rediscovering their favorite creators and finding a new home on their platform of choice,” he said.
Fats Timbo, 28, Kent
Fats Timbo is a comedian and podcaster. Photo: Fats Timbo
Fats is a comedian and disability activist who posts comedy, beauty, and lifestyle content. 3 million followers on TikTok. She says the platform’s reach in the U.S. (about a quarter of her followers) is essential to her work.
“TikTok is very important to my career because it allows me to connect with an audience in the United States, where there is a lack of representation for people like me – Black women with dwarfism. “That’s often the case,” she says.
Timbo added that the United States offers creators like her the opportunity to “grow, collaborate, and get noticed on a global stage.”
“It’s not just about the numbers. It’s about the impact I can have and the representation I can give to people who rarely see people like them in the media. Losing that connection is something that I You feel like you’re losing some of your purpose,” she says.
Timbo says the US audience is “key to securing deals, collaborations and global visibility with brands.” Losing TikTok in the US would be a “major setback,” but she is also creating content on Instagram to stay connected with her US followers.
M Wallbank, 25, South Yorkshire
Approximately 40% of Em Wallbank’s audience is from the United States. The South Yorkshire-based creator said it was also thanks to her accent that her comedy skits became a hit across the Atlantic. Wallbank is best known for his posts riffing on Harry Potter characters. TikTok has 1.7 million followers.
“I think part of my popularity is because I’m from the north and my accent is a bit unusual.” [to US users]” she says.
Wallbank, who started posting skits on TikTok in 2022, said the U.S. social media market is a test of the ability for creators like the Kardashians and Nicole Richie to build broad careers.
“People who have careers outside of social media are getting more attention from American audiences,” she says.
Wallbank’s popularity in the US has led her to perform at US fan conventions and create sponsored content with multinational companies such as Disney+ in the UK. She’s concerned about aspiring creators who are using TikTok and its U.S. audience to access creative careers that might otherwise be out of reach.
“Being able to use my background to break into a creative industry is huge,” she says.
Sarah Yuma, 30, London
Uma says her American TikTok audience is essential to the growth of her business, which sells home accessories and hair accessories made from African fabrics.
“It can be difficult to build a business solely relying on a UK audience. It was the US audience that propelled my business during lockdown and took it to the next level.” she says.
Yuma has more than that 3,000 followers on TikToksaid it saw an influx of U.S. customers and followers in 2020 as the Black Lives Matter movement grew in popularity.
Sarah Yuma sells handmade products made from African fabrics from her home in London on Thursday. Photo: Martin Godwin/The Guardian
If TikTok were to disappear from the U.S., “we would be losing a huge part of our community,” Yuma said. “They helped me design it. It’s a really beautiful community I’ve created.”
She added that if TikTok were to be suspended in the U.S., it would have to rethink how it connects with U.S. audiences.
“We need to rethink our strategies on how to keep them in the community and keep them in touch,” she says. “I don’t want to isolate them. They’re really important to my business.”
Sam Cornforth, 29, London
corn force post fitness comedy sketches He has 460,000 followers, about a quarter of them in the United States. He said income from sponsored content would be protected by the fact that it was working with UK-based brands like Argos.
But he said brands could react negatively to creators losing a significant portion of their audience.
“Brands are paying attention to your entire reach. If you potentially cut 20% to 30% of that, would that impact future opportunities with those brands?” he asked.
Cornforth added that TikTok’s U.S. audience is important in establishing trends that filter down to other platforms. Without that influence, creators may lose the impetus and inspiration for their work.
“This is where the trends come from, which later narrows down to YouTube Shorts and Instagram,” he says.
Who holds the record for the world’s tallest snowman? Surprisingly, it’s a snow woman. Back in 2008, the residents of Bethel, Maine, USA built Olympia the Snow Woman, standing at an impressive height of 37.21 meters (just over 122 feet).
Science played a crucial role in creating this monumental snowman. The right type of snow is essential for such a feat. Snow that accumulates in temperatures between 0 to 2 °C (32 to 35 °F) is ideal. This temperature range allows free water to act as glue between the ice crystals, helping maintain the snowman’s shape. Snow with a moisture content of 3-8% is perfect, while anything over 15% leads to slushiness.
But why bother building a snowman if it’s just going to melt? The first known depiction of a snowman dates back to a Dutch prayer book from 1380. Unlike the cheery snowmen we’re familiar with like Frosty and Olaf, this medieval illustration shows a snowman being melted by fire, conveying a different message.
A snowman from the medieval book The Book of Hours – Photo courtesy of Wikicommons
Historian Robert Eckstein notes that snow was a form of artistic expression for people. Building snowmen was a source of entertainment and a way to creatively express oneself, much like selfies are today. People could create their own snow sculptures for fun or display. Even the renowned Michelangelo was once asked to construct a giant snowman for a clown in 1494.
Building snowmen also served as a unique method for people to express their opinions on political matters. In 1511, residents of Brussels crafted over 200 snowy scenes, many of which were satirical representations of politicians and public figures. Snow became a medium for sharing messages.
This article answers a question from Teresa Thomas: “What is the largest snowman ever built?”
To submit your queries, email questions@sciencefocus.com or message us on our Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram Page (don’t forget to include your name and location).
For more fascinating scientific facts, visit our Ultimate Fun Facts page.
Enhance the capabilities of artificial intelligence. Experts utilized this method to anticipate the scents emanating from whiskey and distinguish whether it was produced in the United States or Scotland.
This study is a crucial advancement towards a computerized system that can forecast the intricate aromas of whiskey based on its molecular makeup. Traditionally, expert panels evaluate woody, smoky, buttery, or caramel hints to ensure consistency in scent across different batches of the same product.
“One of the key advantages of AI is its unwavering consistency,” noted Dr. Andreas Glaskampf, the lead researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging in Freising, Germany.
“While trained professionals may introduce subjectivity, AI complements human olfaction by offering efficiency and consistency,” he continued.
Detecting the aroma of whiskey poses a significant challenge due to the complex chemical blends that form the dominant notes in spirits. These chemicals interact in the nose, often masking each other to produce a distinct aroma profile, making it hard to predict a whiskey’s scent from its chemical composition.
In the recent research, scientists collected data on the chemical composition and aroma of 16 American and Scottish whiskies, such as Jack Daniel’s, Maker’s Mark, Laphroaig, and Talisker, from an expert panel. This data trained an AI algorithm to predict the five primary aromas and origins of a drink based on its molecular components.
One algorithm showed over 90% accuracy in distinguishing between American and Scottish whiskies, excelling in identifying each drink’s five dominant notes compared to individual human experts. Further details can be found here.
Compounds like menthol and citronellol aided in detecting American whiskey’s caramel-like aroma, while methyl decanoate and heptanoic acid were essential in identifying Scotch’s smoky or medicinal notes.
Beyond whiskey, researchers are exploring applications in various fields, from spotting counterfeit products based on scent variations to innovating the recycling process for plastics with less noticeable odors in new products.
Dr. William Peverer, a senior lecturer in chemistry at the University of Glasgow, believes this AI-based approach could offer more reliable consistency compared to human taste panels, ensuring a stable flavor profile batch after batch.
While this study focused on a limited number of whiskies, the performance of AI with larger datasets and its adaptation to evolving flavor notes as the spirit ages in barrels remain to be seen. External factors like consumption environment may also influence flavor perception, requiring further research according to Dr. Peverer.
The Shengshan culture of the lower Yangtze region of ancient China plays a central role in understanding the origins of rice cultivation and early alcoholic fermentation. To address these questions, the researchers examined artifacts from the early stages of the Kaminoyama site, 10,000 to 9,000 years ago. By analyzing microscopic artifacts such as phytoliths, starch granules, and fungi associated with pottery vessels, the researchers found that people in the upper mountains consumed rice not only as a staple food but also as an ingredient for brewing fermented beverages. Evidence suggesting the use of alcohol fermentation technology in East Asia was also found.
Locations and relics of Shangshan culture sites: (A) Locations of Shangshan, Qiaotou, and Xiaohuangshan ruins (dots) and distribution area of Shangshan culture (red circles). (B) Selected pottery shards analyzed: 1 – Cup shard. 2 – Bottle fragments. 3 – Bottle fragments. 4 – Fragment of the rim of a sandy pot. 5 – Large basin debris. 6 – Base of the ring foot bowl. (C) Corresponding complete containers: 1 – spherical jar; 2 – ring-foot bowl; 3 – cup; 4 – flat base jar. 5 – Large basin. Image credit: Liu others., doi: 10.1073/pnas.2412274121.
The origins of rice cultivation have been the subject of extensive archaeological research and debate in recent years.
Based on existing data, archaeologists generally agree that the early stages of rice domestication occurred in the lower and middle Yangtze River regions of China.
of mountain culture Zhejiang Province represents the region where rice cultivation began in the early stages.
Although the extent of rice domestication is still being investigated, recent studies suggest that this process began early.
In a new study, Professor Leping Jiang and colleagues at the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology address questions related to the material and social mechanisms that may have played an important role in the exploitation and alcohol brewing of early Shangshan rice. is.
The researchers analyzed microfossils associated with early-stage pottery at the Kaminoyama site.
“These fragments were associated with different types of containers, including those for fermentation, serving, storage, cooking, and processing,” Professor Jiang said.
“We carried out microfossil extraction and analysis of residues from the inner surfaces of the pottery, the clay of the pottery, and the sediments of the surrounding cultural layers.”
“We focused on identifying phytoliths, starch grains, and fungi, providing insight into the uses of the pottery and food processing methods employed in the field,” said Professor Li Liu of Stanford University. .
Analysis of phytoliths revealed a significant presence of phytoliths from rice grown in the residue and clay.
“This evidence shows that rice was the main plant resource for the Shangshan people,” said Professor Zhang Jianping, a researcher at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“There is also evidence that rice husks and leaves were used to make pottery, further proving the essential role of rice in the Joshan culture.”
The researchers found a variety of starch granules in the pottery residue, including rice, grasshopper tears, barnyard grass, Triticaceae, acorns, and lilies.
Many of the starch granules showed signs of enzymatic degradation and gelatinization, which are characteristic of fermentation processes.
Scientists also discovered an abundance of fungal elements, including: Monascus It contained mold and yeast cells, some of which showed developmental stages typical of fermentation.
These fungi are closely related to liquor starters used in traditional brewing methods, such as those used to make Hongjiujiu (Hongjiujiu) in China.
The team analyzed the following distributions: Monascus Yeast also persists in many types of ceramic containers, with higher concentrations observed in spherical jars compared to crock pots and processing tubs.
This distribution suggests that vessel type is closely associated with specific functions, and that the spherical jars were intentionally manufactured for alcoholic fermentation.
This discovery suggests that the Shangyama people employed a wide range of survival strategies during the early stages of rice cultivation, using ceramic vessels, especially spherical pots, to brew cue-based rice alcoholic beverages. Masu.
The emergence of this brewing technique in the early Uyama culture was closely related to the domestication of rice and the warm and humid climate of the early Holocene.
“Domestic rice provided a stable resource for fermentation, while favorable climatic conditions supported the development of qu-based fermentation technology that relies on the growth of filamentous fungi,” Professor Liu said.
To rule out potential contamination from soil, the authors analyzed sediment control samples and found that starch and fungal residues in these samples were significantly lower than pottery residues. It became.
This finding strengthens the conclusion that residues are directly related to fermentation activity.
Modern fermentation experiments using rice, MonascusThe yeast then further validated that finding by demonstrating a morphological match with fungal remains identified on Ueyama pottery.
“These alcoholic beverages likely played a pivotal role in ceremonial feasts, highlighting their ceremonial importance as a potential driver of the intensified use and widespread cultivation of rice in Neolithic China.” Professor Liu said.
“Evidence for alcoholic fermentation of rice at Shangshan indicates that this technology arose earliest in East Asia, and suggests that the complexity between rice cultivation, alcoholic beverage production, and social formation in early Holocene China It provides new insights into the interactions between
of findings will appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Li Liu others. 2024. Rice beer dating back 10,000 years has been found in the mountains above the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China. PNAS 121 (51): e2412274121;doi: 10.1073/pnas.2412274121
Elon Musk has stated that British MPs will be summoned to the US to address issues of censorship and intimidation of American citizens, amidst rising tensions between the world’s wealthiest individual and the Labour Party.
Musk, a close associate of Donald Trump, is scheduled to testify before the House of Representatives’ Science and Technology Select Committee in the coming year. This comes in response to concerns raised by The Guardian regarding the spread of harmful content on social media following the August riots.
The committee’s chairman, Chi Onwura, seeks to understand how Musk balances freedom of expression with combating disinformation. Photo: Richard Gardner/Rex/Shutterstock
Labour MP Chi Onwura, chair of the committee, aims to scrutinize Musk’s approach on promoting freedom of speech while also preventing the dissemination of disinformation. She specifically references the hosting of controversial figures on the social media platform X.
Related: How Elon Musk became Donald Trump’s shadow vice-president
In response, Musk has called for Congress members to convene in the US for discussions. He criticizes the UK’s handling of social media posts and accuses the British Prime Minister and a government minister of labeling X as a problematic platform.
Musk further implies discontent with the UK government, likening the situation to a Stalinist regime and criticizing policies such as changes to farm inheritance tax. Despite tensions, some British officials emphasize the importance of collaboration with Musk for technological and commercial progress.
Secretary of State for Science and Technology Peter Kyle appreciates Musk’s contributions as an innovative figure, despite differing views. He advocates for constructive dialogue and identifies common goals.
Newsletter promotions contentRelated: Trump’s cabinet picks are agents of his contempt, rage and vengeance | Sidney Blumenthal
British MPs face potential summons to the US following Musk’s statements, sparking concerns over threats to American citizens. However, the nature of these threats remains ambiguous, leading to speculations among online followers.
Onwura expresses interest in hearing Musk’s perspective on misinformation and freedom of expression, given his influential role within X. She highlights the importance of gathering evidence for their investigation.
Musk has embraced the moniker “first buddy” in relation to the president-elect and holds significant sway over AI regulations through his company xAI. His actions and statements continue to garner attention and debate.
Laura Hellmuth, editor-in-chief of Scientific American, is leaving the company.
Immediately after the election, she posted several profane comments on social media posts about the results.
It is unclear whether Helmut's post or the backlash to it played a role in her resignation.
Scientific American Editor-in-Chief Laura Hellmuth is departing from the magazine soon after sharing profane posts regarding the presidential election results on the social media platform BlueSky.
“Following four and a half exhilarating years as editor-in-chief, I have opted to step down from Scientific American,” stated Hellmuth. wrote BlueSky on Thursday.. “I'm going to take some time to think about what's next (and go bird watching…)”
It remains uncertain whether Helmut's social media posts or the backlash they provoked contributed to her resignation. Helmut declined an interview request and mentioned being unable to provide a comment.
Scientific American did not directly address inquiries regarding Helmut's departure, but company president Kimberly Lau conveyed in a statement: We appreciate Laura for her exceptional leadership at Scientific American, during which time the magazine received significant science communication accolades and facilitated the establishment of a reimagined digital newsroom. We extend our best wishes to her in her future endeavors.”
Helmut became the subject of criticism from certain conservative pundits following a series of posts on Blue Sky on November 5 post-election. The post was subsequently deleted from her profile, but the screenshot went viral.
In her post, Helmut apologized to young voters and expressed regret that her Generation X was plagued by “king fascists.”
“Solidarity with all the meanest, stupidest, most bigoted high school classmates celebrating early results to fly to the moon and back,” Hellmuth wrote.
in Later Bluesky post, November 7thHelmut apologized and deleted the election night post, calling it “offensive and inappropriate.”
“I respect and value people beyond their political positions,” Helmut wrote, adding that the now-deleted post was a “misguided expression of shock and confusion over the election results.”
Under Helmut’s leadership, Scientific American began endorsing political candidates. After 175 years, the publication’s editors endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, Kamala Harris in SeptemberDonald Trump “endangers public health and safety, rejecting evidence and instead favoring nonsensical conspiracy fantasies.”
In an interview with the editorial desk before the election, Blog about writing and editing Hellmuth, the author of the book and a professor at the University of North Carolina, stated that in 2020, the editors at Scientific American felt compelled to convey, “We have a duty to share what we know,” as lives were at stake in that election.
Rather than just presenting “both sides” and letting readers decide for themselves, she advocated for informing the public of what they know to be true and how they arrived at that conclusion. She supported an approach that focuses on providing information to the public.
“There aren’t always two rational sides to every story. We know that evolution is real and creationism is not. We know that vaccines save lives and that autism We know that climate change is real,” Hellmuth expressed to the Editorial Desk. “It is inappropriate to give equal consideration to creationists, RFK Jr., or climate change deniers when reporting on these topics, except to clarify that while these topics have been politicized, the science is unambiguous.”
Helmut mentioned Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who President-elect Donald Trump has nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. President Kennedy has made misleading and false claims about vaccines, suggesting they are linked to autism, even though multiple studies have debunked the concept.
South American lungfish (Lepidosiren paradoxaImage courtesy of Katherine Seghers, Louisiana State University.
Lungfish are freshwater vertebrates belonging to the order Dipnoi (Pulmonaceae) and have existed for 400 million years, from the Devonian to the present day.
Some people consider lungfish to be “living fossils” because their morphology has changed very little over the years.
They, like all terrestrial vertebrates, have the ability to breathe air through lungs similar to our own.
Only six species of lungfish remain today: four live in Africa, one in South America, and one in Australia.
“These ancient 'living fossils' still resemble their ancestors so closely that they seem to have been forgotten during evolution,” said biologist Axel Meyer of the University of Konstanz and his colleagues.
“Since our genetic material, DNA, is made up of nucleobases and the sequence of these nucleobases contains the actual genetic information, a comparative analysis of the lungfish genome will only be possible if we know its complete sequence.”
“We already knew that the lungfish genome was large, but until now it was unclear how large it really was and what we could learn from it,” the researchers added.
“Sequencing the lungfish genome has therefore been very labor-intensive and complex, both from a technical and bioinformatics point of view.”
In a new study, scientists have sequenced the genome of African and South American lungfish.
“The South American species' DNA is 91 gigabases (or 91 billion bases), the largest of any animal genome and more than twice the size of the genome of the previous record holder, the Australian lungfish,” Dr Meyer said.
“Eighteen of the South American lungfish's 19 chromosomes are each larger than the entire human genome, about 3 billion base pairs in length.”
The largest genome sequence to date, that of the Australian lungfish, was also sequenced by the same team.
“Autonomous transposons are responsible for the large size of the lungfish genome over time,” the authors write.
“These are DNA sequences that are 'replicated' and change position in the genome, which causes the genome to grow.”
“Although similar phenomena have occurred in other organisms, our analysis shows that the South American lungfish has by far the fastest rate of genome expansion ever recorded; every 10 million years, its genome has expanded to a size equivalent to the entire human genome.”
“And it continues to grow. We now have evidence that the transposon responsible is still active.”
“We have identified a mechanism for this enormous genome growth. This extreme expansion is due, at least in part, to the very low presence of piRNAs.”
“This type of RNA is normally part of the molecular mechanism that silences transposons.”
M. Chartres othersAll lungfish genomes provide information on genome expansion and tetrapod evolution. NaturePublished online August 14, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07830-1
Sported video game releases are often low-key. New versions come out every year, but apart from character updates and gameplay tweaks, not much changes from edition to edition. Unlike Grand Theft Auto diehards, sports game fans don’t plan midnight release parties.
But EA Sports College Football 25, which launches worldwide on July 19, isn’t your typical game. It might just be the most anticipated sports video game ever in the U.S. To understand why, we need to go back to the beginning.
EA Sports has started making college football video games Released for the Sega Genesis in 1993Other studios dabbled in college football, but by the late 2000s, EA Sports’ franchise, NCAA Football, had established itself as the market leader. The games were well received critically and commercially, and the final version, NCAA 14, was released in 2013. It is reported that about 1.5 million units were sold..
But the NCAA Football franchise had a problem that had nothing to do with critics or consumers: the court. (The terminology surrounding the game can be confusing to those who aren’t fans of college sports. The NCAA is the primary governing body for college sports in the United States; the NCAA Football franchise takes its name from this organization.)
Franchises like Madden, NBA2K and EA Sports FC have negotiated rights with various athletic associations as well as professional leagues to allow their teams and athletes to feature in their games, but college students are not defined as professional athletes, and NCAA institutional policy in the 2010s prohibited players from receiving financial compensation for their abilities.
So while previous NCAA Football releases have included actual teams like the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Florida Gators, the athletes were simply known as QB #7 or RB #21 rather than by their real names.
But in NCAA Football 2009, for example, you didn’t have to be Hercule Poirot to realize that QB #15 had the same height, weight, hair color, and skill attributes as Tim Tebow, the actual quarterback for the Florida Gators.
Athletes have noticed too: In July 2009, former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon led a class action lawsuit by college athletes alleging that NCAA organizations, EA Sports, and College Licensing Companies had illegally used their likenesses without compensation.
Until now. In February 2021, EA Sports released a tweet that stunned the college football world. The game is back.
The advent of name, image and likeness rights deals has allowed EA Sports to include real-life players in the new edition. Photo: EA Sports
By 2020, it had become clear to college sports industry leaders that the NCAA’s strict policy of forbidding athletes from monetizing their name, image and likeness rights would not stand up to political and legal scrutiny. In July 2021, the NCAA officially changed its policy, allowing athletes to earn revenue by appearing in commercials, promoting products on social media and, of course, appearing in video games. With a way for athletes to earn revenue from their participation, schools quickly agreed to participate in the revamped NCAA Football series. This year’s games will feature more than 11,000 athletes, real players.
These events are meant to build bridges between the various groups that make up the College Football 25 community, from new fans to those nearing 40-year-olds who remember previous editions of the franchise. If you ever wonder why a coworker booked a last-minute vacation or was slow to respond to Slack, maybe they have their eyes on leading North Texas to new heights. Dynasty ModeThere are closeted gamers and NCAA die-hard fans who haven’t picked up a controller since the game was discontinued in 2014. But the passion for the game remains, with more than 120,000 people Fictional National Championship Streaming on Twitch during the pandemic.
That deep love for the series extends to the people making the game: EA Sports production director Christian McLeod said in June that the entire development process “has been a labor of love for the whole team.”
The project is especially rewarding for McCloud, who took an unconventional career path. A self-described “super fan” of college video games since the early 1990s, McCloud originally worked as a chemical engineer and wrote about sports video games on the side. A developer discovered his work and eventually contacted him to join the NCAA football team as a designer. Other key players on the development and design side of the project also came from outside the games industry.
“I really believe that if you’re really passionate about something, especially in the games industry, you should bring that passion to your work,” MacLeod says. “We can teach you how to be a designer. We can teach you how to be a producer. But you can’t teach passion.”
That passion is what helped bring the game back to life. When the series was canceled, a group of fans started a mod called College Football Revamped to keep the PC version of the game updated. While other game studios would have tried to sue and kill the project, EA instead hired several people from the Revamped team to help create College Football 25.
The new edition isn’t just for fans in the US: for the first time, fans outside of North America can easily play the game without worry. About region-locked hardware.
College Football 25 will be the first in the series to be released worldwide. Photo: EA Sports
One such avid fan is Ben Parker from Bishop’s Stortford, England, who told me he first discovered American football through the Madden series.
“I’ve always been a big soccer fan, but Madden showed me that American football is so much more than I ever imagined. It’s like a human version of chess and I found it fascinating,” Parker said.
While following the NFL, Parker became aware of the college game. “I decided to buy a copy of the 2006 Rose Bowl on eBay. That year, Vince Young, Reggie Bush and Keith Jackson were the announcers and the Rose Bowl was perfectly staged. Even though it had been months since the game itself, it was so incredibly dramatic to watch and I thought, ‘I want to know more about this sport.'”
Parker picked up an imported version of NCAA 2006 on eBay and played it religiously, and he and many other Europeans and South Americans I spoke to believe the video game could be another avenue to grow college football’s international audience, especially given the difficulties of watching live broadcasts outside the U.S.
Industry analysts expect the Madden series to outsell NCAA College Football 25 due to the NFL’s popularity both domestically and internationally, but schools and licensing industry sources are confident this year’s collegiate release will do well commercially.
It means a new generation of fans will be exposed to the passion of not just video games, but college football itself. And it might have been worth the wait.
New World porcupines originated in South America and dispersed into North America between 4 and 3 million years ago. Today, prehensile tail porcupines live in the tropical forests of Central and South America. In contrast, North American porcupine (Erethizon Dorsatum) It is thought to be adapted to temperate forests at higher latitudes, with a larger body, shorter tail, and a diet that includes bark. paper Published in this week's journal Current BiologyPalaeontologists have described functionally important features of the skeleton of an extinct porcupine. Erethizon PoeriThe oldest nearly complete porcupine skeleton recorded in North America, discovered in Florida from the Early Pleistocene.
North American porcupines differ from their southern counterparts in that they have more fur, a shorter tail, and a larger build.
Porcupines are a type of rodent whose ancestors probably originated in Africa more than 30 million years ago.
Their descendants subsequently migrated overland to parts of Asia and Europe, but the journey to South America is a particularly defining event in mammalian history.
They probably crossed the Atlantic Ocean on rafts at a time when Africa and South America were much closer than they are today.
They were the first rodents to set foot on the continent, where they evolved into familiar groups such as guinea pigs, chinchillas, capybaras, and porcupines.
Some were gigantic – lumbering, mouse-like creatures up to five feet long, with tiny brains and weighing less than a plum – and a close relative of the extinct capybara that grew to the size of a cow.
Porcupines have evolved to remain relatively small and adapt to life in the trees of the lush tropical rainforests of South America.
Now they move through the tree canopy using long fingers with blunt, sickle-shaped claws perfectly angled to grip branches.
Many birds have long, prehensile tails that can support their body weight and help them climb trees and pick fruit.
Despite its impressive track record of migration, South America was a dead end for millions of years.
North and South America are separated by a vast ocean passage with rapids, which most animals could not cross, with a few notable exceptions.
Beginning about 5 million years ago, the Isthmus of Panama rose above sea level, separating the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
Millions of years later, this land bridge would become the equivalent of an ancient, congested highway, allowing traffic to flow in both directions.
Prehistoric elephants, sabre-toothed tigers, jaguars, llamas, peccaries, deer, skunks and bears migrated from North America to South America.
Also joining us on the reverse journey were four species of ground sloths, an oversized armadillo, fearsome birds, capybaras and even marsupials.
The two groups had radically different fates. The mammals that migrated south did relatively well, and many successfully colonized their new tropical environments and have survived to the present day. But the lineages that moved north into colder environments almost entirely went extinct. Only three species remain today: the giant armadillo, the Virginia opossum, and the North American porcupine.
South American porcupines have a formidable coat of hollow, overlapping quills that provide considerable defense but little in the way of thermoregulation.
North American porcupines replaced this with a mixture of insulating hairs and long, needle-like hairs that they erect when they sense danger. They also had to change their diet, which led to a change in the shape of their jaws.
“When their favorite foods disappear in the winter, they'll nibble at tree bark and eat the soft tissue underneath. It's not the tastiest food, but it’s better than nothing,” says Natasha Vitek, a research scientist at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
“This type of feeding appears to have been selected for a particular jaw structure that enhances the ability to grind teeth.”
“They also lost their tails, which they used to prehensile. North American porcupines still love climbing trees, but it’s not their forte.”
“Museum specimens often show signs of healed fractures, likely caused by falls from trees.”
In the new study, Vitek and his colleagues examined an exceptionally well-preserved skeleton of an extinct species of porcupine from Florida, US.
“It's very unusual to find a fossil skeleton like this, which includes not only the skull and jaw, but also many other bones from other parts of the body,” said Dr. Jonathan Block, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History.
“This will give us a more complete picture of how extinct mammals interacted with their environment.”
“We quickly realized that it was different from modern North American porcupines in that it had a specialized tail for grasping branches.”
The researchers were confident that by comparing the fossil skeleton with modern porcupine bones they could pinpoint its identity.
“The results were surprising: the fossil lacked the reinforced jaws for gnawing at bark, but had a tail adapted for prehensile functions, making it more similar to South American porcupines,” Vitek said.
“But other features, such as the shape of the middle ear bones and the shape of the lower front and back teeth, bore stronger similarities to North American porcupines.”
When all the data was combined, the analyses consistently gave the same answer.
Fossils Erethizon Poeriis an extinct species of North American porcupine, and this group has a long history that likely began before the formation of the Isthmus of Panama.
But questions remain about how many species in this group once existed and why they became extinct.
“One of the things our study leaves unresolved is whether these extinct species were the direct ancestors of today’s living North American porcupines,” Vitek said.
“It’s possible that porcupines have invaded temperate zones twice — once along the Gulf Coast and once in the West — but we’re not there yet.”
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Natasha S. Vitek othersAn extinct North American porcupine with a South American tail. Current BiologyPublished online May 27, 2024; doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.069
Social media platform X claims to have followed an Australian Federal Court order to take down footage of the Wakeley church stabbing. However, the footage was still accessible to Australian users as it was posted right below the compliance announcement.
X stated that it complied with the law by “restricting” some posts for Australian users. They argue that the post should not have been banned in Australia and that the government shouldn’t have the power to censor content from users in other countries.
Last week, eSafety commissioners requested X to remove footage of an attack on Bishop Mar-Marie Emmanuel due to its graphic nature.
A federal court on Monday ordered X, previously known as Twitter, to hide posts with video of the Sydney church stabbing from global users. The Australian Federal Police raised concerns in court about the potential use of the video to incite terrorism.
Regulators asked X to remove 65 separate tweets containing videos of the attack.
X’s lawyers argued in court that they had already geo-blocked the posts in Australia, but the eSafety Commissioner insisted this was not sufficient.
Many tweets could still be accessed outside Australia or through VPNs within the country.
The court extended the injunction on Wednesday, ordering the posts to be hidden until May 10, 2024, pending further legal proceedings.
Late on Thursday, X’s Global Government Affairs account stated, “We feel we are complying with the eSafety notice and Australian law by restricting all relevant posts in Australia.” They also posted a statement.
However, a verified user, X, based in New Hampshire, USA, posted footage of the attack in response to X’s statement, which was visible to Australian users.
X stated on Thursday that they believe the content did not incite violence and should be considered part of public debate, arguing against global content removal demands.
The company opposes government authority to censor online content and believes in respecting each country’s laws within its jurisdiction.
The eSafety Commissioner emphasized the need to minimize harm caused by harmful content online, despite the challenges of completely eradicating it.
Posts including the video in question became inaccessible to some users after inquiries from Guardian Australia.
Federal opposition leader Peter Dutton supported X and Elon Musk, stating that Australia should not act as the internet police and federal law should not dictate global content removal.
ERon Musk suffered one of the largest legal losses in U.S. history this week when Tesla’s CEO was stripped of $56 billion in compensation in a lawsuit brought by an unlikely opponent: a former heavy metal drummer. Covered.
Richard Tornetta sued Musk in 2018, when Tornetta, a Pennsylvania resident, owned just nine Tesla shares. The case ultimately went to trial in late 2022, and on Tuesday, a judge sided with Tornetta, invalidating his massive pay deal as unfair to him and all of his Tesla shareholders.
Mr. Tornetta could not be reached for comment, and his lawyer declined to comment.
Before Mr. Tornetta’s lawsuit, Mr. Musk had won a series of lawsuits accusing him of defamation, breach of duty to shareholders and violations of securities laws.
Judging by his online presence, Mr. Tornetta appears to be more interested in creating audio equipment for car customization enthusiasts than pursuing corporate excesses and fraud.
He posts light-hearted videos about his gadgets and mishaps, such as explaining how he burned his eyebrows.
Tornetta also appears in a video playing drums at the former legendary New York club CBGB with his now-defunct metal band Dawn of Collection, describing the sound as “steel-toed.” “It sounded like a quick kick in the face with a work boot.”
On social media, fans of Tesla and Musk seem to feel the incident is a travesty of justice, speculating about Tornetta’s intentions and political affiliations and wondering how investors with such a minuscule stake could He questioned whether he could wield such power.
Delaware’s corporate case law is replete with cases naming individual investors with small stakes that ultimately shaped American corporate law.
Eric Talley, who teaches corporate law at Columbia Law School, said many law firms representing shareholders have a steady stream of investors who can work with them to litigate cases. They may be pension funds with a wide range of stocks, but they are also often individuals like Tornetta.
Talley said it’s common for plaintiffs to sign the paperwork to file a lawsuit and then walk away. Investors won’t pay law firms to take on cases on a contingency basis, as lawyers did in the Musk case.
Mr. Tornetta, like other Tesla shareholders, stands to benefit from winning the lawsuit, saving the company billions of dollars that subordinate boards paid to Mr. Musk.
Business groups have long criticized lawsuits brought by individuals as a sign of potential abuse. A decade ago, Delaware was beset by lawsuits contesting merger deals and led by private investors who owned a minority stake. Cases were often quickly resolved with nonsensical settlements, which always included payments to the lawyers who brought the cases. Delaware judges and lawmakers eventually curbed the practice.
Experts said people like Tornetta are essential to policing the boardroom. Lawmakers and judges have long wanted big investment firms to take the lead in these corporate cases because of their ability to monitor lawyers’ tactics. But experts said fund managers did not want to jeopardize their relationships on Wall Street.
Therefore, it was up to Tornetta to face Mask.
“His name is now etched in the history of corporate law,” Talley said. “My students will be reading ‘Tornetta vs. the Mask’ for the next 10 years.”
Astrobotic said the cause of the failure was likely a propulsion failure, adding that a further update would be issued once more data is acquired and analyzed.
Peregrine’s mission represents a new chapter in the commercial space industry, launching private companies into the space race and delivering to NASA and other customers.
The Pittsburgh-based company First private company to succeed in landing This is something only four countries have achieved on the moon. A Houston-based company also has a lander ready to fly and is expected to take a more direct route to the moon.
NASA provided both companies with significant funding to build and fly their own lunar landers. The space agency hopes the privately owned lander will scout the site before astronauts arrive, while also providing technical and scientific experiments for NASA and benefiting other customers. Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander contract: $108 million.
During its first flight, the Peregrine lander carried five NASA instruments. Following the technical anomaly, NASA said it would learn from the situation.
“Each success and setback is an opportunity for us to learn and grow,” Joel Kearns, deputy assistant administrator for exploration at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement Monday. “We will use these lessons to advance our efforts to advance science, exploration, and commercial development of the Moon.”
The last time the United States launched a moon landing mission was in December 1972. Apollo 17’s Gene Cernan was the last human to set foot on the moon as mission commander, and Harrison Schmidt was the 12th astronaut to walk on the moon. , concluded an era that continued to be the pinnacle of NASA.
The space agency’s new Artemis mission, named after Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology, aims to return astronauts to the moon’s surface within the next few years. first, Flight around the moon by four astronautsProbably by the end of the year.
Highlighting Monday’s moonshot was the long-delayed initial test flight of the Vulcan rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The 202-foot (61-meter) rocket is essentially an upgraded version of ULA’s highly successful flagship Atlas V, which will be phased out along with the company’s Delta IV. Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin provided his two main engines for the Vulcan.
The then-Soviet Union and the United States suspended touchdowns after a string of successful moon landings in the 1960s and 1970s. China joined the elite club in 2013, India in 2023.But I also saw it last year Landing craft from Russia and Japanese private companies crash into the moon.In 2019, an Israeli nonprofit organization's lander crashed.
Next month, SpaceX will provide lifts for the lander from Intuitive Machines.
In addition to flight experiments for NASA, Astrobotic has launched its own cargo transportation business, shipping its 6-foot-tall (1.9-meter-tall) Hayabusa lander with rock chips from Everest and toy-sized objects it catapults from Mexico. I packed everything up to my car. It will reach and cruise the moon’s surface, collecting the ashes and DNA of deceased space enthusiasts, including “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.
The Navajo Nation recently asked for the launch to be postponed because of the human remains. He said it would be a “grave desecration” of the celestial bodies worshiped by Native Americans. Thornton said the December challenge was too late, but promised to work to find a “good path forward” with the Navajo Nation for future missions.
Celestis, one of the spaceflight memorial companies that purchased space for the lander, said in a statement that no single culture or religion owns the moon and should not be able to veto the mission. There will be more debris in the rocket’s upper stage, and once released from the lander, it will orbit the sun indefinitely all the way to Mars.
Freight rates for Hayabusa range from a few hundred dollars to $1.2 million per kilogram (2.2 pounds), not enough for Astrobotic to break even. But Astrobotic CEO John Thornton says that’s not the point for this first flight.
“A lot of people’s dreams and hopes rest on this,” he said.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus sent a letter to Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su expressing concerns about the disproportionate impact high-tech layoffs could have on Black workers, according to a letter obtained by TechCrunch. expressed.
It was first reported The GrioThe letter includes steps the Department of Labor has taken to monitor the impact of technology layoffs on African Americans, regulations regarding business practices, and recent Supreme Court precedents to ensure that they are not treated unfairly. Contains a list of questions regarding Used to undermine a company’s DEI practices and budgets.
The technology industry has cut more than 240,000 jobs this year due to layoffs. The concern here is that the “last-in, first-out” approach to layoffs commonly adopted by companies may not be effective for new employees and less senior “non-essentials”, who are most likely to be in the minority. This could potentially affect employees in an emergency.
“Laying off the most recent hires directly impacts a group of people who have benefited from new diversity policies introduced in response to heightened race-based conversations in 2020,” the letter said. “have a significant impact.”
“While corporations reap billions in profits, Black, brown, and women tech workers bear the brunt of layoffs,” said Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, co-chair of the CBC. We’ve seen it happen,” Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, co-chair of the CBC, told TechCrunch. “Member of Parliament [Barbara] Lee and I as co-chairs CBC TECH2025is calling on governments to take steps to address this harmful and troubling trend. ”
The Ministry of Labor has not yet responded to the letter dated December 15th. A Ministry of Labor representative said, “We can confirm that we have received the letter and are considering it.”
The technology and venture industries have been facing a recession in recent years. In response to the 2020 killing of George Floyd, many companies pledged to support the Black community.But as the market slumps, the diversity pledge lack of fundsDEI jobs are being cut, and venture capital funding to Black founders continues to decline every quarter.
CBC is also being strengthened.Last week, it was I have written It called on Sam Altman and the OpenAI board to “quickly diversify the board to include subject matter expertise with perspectives from the African American community.” OpenAI Board of Directors I don’t have it at the moment Whether it’s women or people of color.
Updated to add comment from DoL. The headline has been updated to reflect that they are representatives, not senators.
Snap announced Wednesday that it is partnering with edtech company Inspirit to bring augmented reality to classrooms to help students better understand STEM lessons. The two companies are working together to create 25 AR lenses and his STEM curriculum that will be used by at least 50 people across the U.S. next year.
One of the AR lenses is designed to help students find the volume of a cylinder, and the other is designed to help users tap on a bubble to select the appropriate volume to pop it. Masu.
Image credits: snap
Snap says that since the pilot program began, 85% of students said AR helped them improve their memory and memory retention. The company also found that AR lessons increased his engagement by nearly 50%, and that 92% of his students found his AR content easy to understand.
“By incorporating custom-built lenses into an easy-to-use mobile application using a camera kit, Inspirit has designed an innovative curriculum that combines Snap’s AR technology with comprehensive learning guides to help teachers create dynamic learning. “We’ve empowered students to achieve their best, regardless of grade. They can learn in the classroom or at home,” the company said in a blog post. “This curriculum is designed to stimulate participation in class, increase confidence levels, and increase students’ sense of self-efficacy.”
Snap’s push into AR for education comes a month after the company shut down its AR Enterprise Services division less than a year after it launched. The initiative, announced in March, gives brands access to tools that allow him to perform AR try-on features, a 3D viewer to see products from multiple angles, fit and sizing recommendation technology, an enterprise manager, and more. became. their digital assets. The company said that ramping up its efforts would require “significant” investments and that it could not continue to fund the efforts.
Despite Snap’s declining revenue, the company’s stock rose nearly 12% yesterday. report revealed Snap Inc. could report better-than-expected results next year, according to an internal memo. The note reveals that Snap could reach more than 475 million daily active users in 2024, up from analysts’ prediction of 448 million, according to a report by It is said that it exceeds that. The Verge.
Snap is scheduled to announce its third quarter 2023 financial results on October 24th.
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