IIt's been five years since Tendershoot's wacky '90s internet simulator Hypnospace Outlaw, and this spiritual sequel was announced two years ago. In that time, as tech moguls buy up social media giants, Reddit gets monetized (and effectively censored) against the will of its user base, and AI becomes more and more prevalent, millennials' yearning for the lawless, algorithm-free days of the early internet is only getting stronger. At least, that's how creative director Jay Tholen feels.
“I knew things were bad then, but I didn't think it would get this bad,” Thoren says of the current state of the World Wide Web.
Both Hypnospace Outlaw and Dreamsettler are set in an alternate world where people browse the internet while they sleep. In the first game, you're put in the shoes of a forum moderator, helping to keep internet users safe by fighting piracy, harassment and illegal activity. In Dreamsettler, set between 2003 and 2005, players have more powers, this time playing as a private investigator looking to make a name for themselves.
It starts with players setting up their own page and choosing which part of the web they want to base themselves in, like Camp Rowdy, which Tholen describes as “kind of like Good Time Valley, but with a bit more of a country subculture.” Low-risk deals help build your reputation. Eventually, Sleepnet, the company behind Dreamsettler, will ask you to unearth something for them, and other powerful companies will start seeking your services, too.
Imagine you've been asked to investigate a murder that may be linked to a conspiracy theorist's personal web page. You'd start by skimming the news article to find the date of the accident, then look at people's pages around that date to see if they have any clues that might lead you to the crime.
After two years of development, there's still no release date in sight for Dreamsettler. “No game I've ever made has been in this situation,” Tholen says, only half-joking. “Publishers have given up on setting deadlines. They don't like to make too specific plans because it makes it very tedious, and they don't allow for iterative design.”
Besides bumping up the game's resolution from 480×270 pixels to 960×540 pixels (if you remember Windows 95, you know that was once a huge amount of screen real estate for a Web page), one of the hardest things for Tholen was pleasing everyone: He hopes Dreamsettler will appeal to both those who lived in the early days of the Internet (many of whom played Hypnospace Outlaw) and those too young to remember what a dial-up modem sounded like.
“I always have this rule implicit in my head,” he explains. “What you need to know to enjoy Dreamsettler needs to be found within the game. There's no 'you don't know what you don't know' reference. The game needs to have that information accessible somewhere so that every player can enjoy it.”
a A man in a strange, animalistic mask sits slumped in an armchair in a dingy motel room and watches you click a hand-held tally counter. He offers you $14,000 if you keep clicking until the number resets to 10,000, so you do. Occasionally he makes polite but suggestive requests: go faster, go slower, stop and try again, but he remains motionless, except for the occasional flexion of his hand.
Clicking the left mouse button, you wander around the room, admiring the paintings on the walls, the out-of-sync TV, the thermostat, etc. But as you approach the final scene, the man slowly begins to reveal bits and pieces of his life, and the atmosphere of an already dark world grows darker by the minute. This is what the game is all about.
Clickolding has been getting a lot of attention since its release on July 17th, receiving widespread coverage in the gaming press and nearly 500 reviews on PC game store Steam, most of which have been very positive. But what is it about this strange piece of interactive art that’s only 40 minutes long that has captured the hearts of critics and players alike?
That’s partly because Clickolding is a pretty obvious allegory about voyeurism and the sex trade. The man in the chair indirectly enjoys someone else’s use of his precious counter, which he describes as a lover he can no longer satisfy (“We’ve been together a long time, but I just can’t click like you do.”). The relationship between the two people in the room is deliberately left ambiguous, but we know this is no hostage situation; players are free to leave the room when they want, and opening the hotel room door ends the game. And yet, the threat hangs over the room, like a bad smell.
The player character must perform certain physical acts that clearly arouse the seated man, though not overtly explicit (“You’re clicking steadily. That’s good.”). But there’s also emotional labor, as the man reveals aspects of his tattered private life. Power dynamics shift subtly: at various times you’re a servant, a caretaker, a partner, a stranger, all with barely any dialogue.
One of Strange Scaffold’s other creations, an alien airport now run by dogs. Photo: Strange scaffolding
The game also captures a universal aspect of the experience of being confined to a hotel room for an extended period of time. While you’re there, it becomes a strange temporary home. It feels intimate (you undress there, you sleep there) yet alien and oddly fascinating. Who picked that floral wallpaper, that kitschy bedside lamp, that particular painting and why? How does the thermostat work? What’s outside the window? Visually, the room feels natural and detailed; it feels like a room from the latest Resident Evil or Call of Duty.
The clicker was born as an exploration of design principles: At this year’s San Francisco Game Developers Conference, members of studio Aggro Crab bought a clicker at a nearby thrift store, sat down with industry peers in a hotel lobby, and built a game to play with it. One of those peers was Xalavier Nelson Jr, creative director at the experimental indie studio. Strange Scaffoldingis responsible for such unique titles as Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator and An Airport for Aliens Now Run By Dogs. An evening of oral history at WiredNelson was intrigued by the clicker’s hyper-repetitive appeal and began thinking about how he could use it in a new gaming project.
Clickolding continues the tradition of parody games like Cow Clicker and Cookie Clicker, which were designed to critique first-generation social media games like FarmVille, in which players perform endlessly repetitive tasks to accumulate resources and level up their characters. But by adopting mainstream game design elements—realistic visuals and a first-person camera—Clickolding extends the parody to all games driven by fast clicking, such as shooters and real-time strategy simulations. Here, the man in the chair becomes a metaphor for compelling game mechanics, enticing the player to get faster, better, and more accurate.
As you approach 10,000 clicks it starts to get boring, but you feel compelled, even obligated, to carry on while the man in the chair gives you a glimpse into his fractured life. It’s strange and mundane, uncomfortable and oddly comforting all at the same time. Perhaps the reason this game has attracted so much attention is that the monotony of clicking buttons in a boring motel allows your own thoughts, feelings and experiences to creep into your and the masked man’s room. Rarely have games given you so much room to be scared.
What to Play
Arranger: A role-solving puzzle adventure. Photo: Furniture and mattresses
in Arranger: Role Playing Puzzle Adventureis a cutesy RPG-like game in which you play a young social misfit setting out on his first journey outside the town he grew up in. Except the entire world is a grid of sliding tiles, and as you move, rows of tiles move with you. This turns combat into a sliding-block puzzle where you have to carry your sword to monsters to defeat them, and turns the regular towns, forests, and graveyards into giant game boards. It took me a while to get to grips with it, but the unique mix of story and puzzles is far more interesting than a match-3 puzzle. You may recognize the artist from his groundbreaking 2010 indie game Braid.
Available on: Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4/5 Estimated play time: 6 hr
‘T“There’s a giant rock that fell from the sky on an island in Scotland. They call it Dragonstone,” Tears of Metal director Raphael Toulouse explains, “and the British send their general out to [a look]”
“But then the general finds the rock and goes a little rogue, a little bit like Apocalypse Now. He breaks ties with the English, takes control of the island, and the English start mining this giant rock to make weapons and armor, but it also affects their minds. So the Scots organize to take the island back. And that’s where you come in.”
In Tears of Metal, you play as the leader of a Scottish battalion, and your job is to get closer and closer to Dragonstone while cutting down breakaway English troops. But as you get closer to the supernatural meteorite, the beautiful green backdrop of the Scottish Highlands gradually transforms into a hellish world. “It gets weirder and weirder, and by the end it looks almost post-apocalyptic,” Toulouse says.
You start with around 10 soldiers, but you can recruit more, and they’ll get stronger over time. Tears of Metal is a roguelike, so if you’re defeated you’ll be sent back to the start of the game, but you’ll keep any troops you’ve gathered for your next playthrough. However, just like in the alien-fighting XCOM series, if one of your soldiers dies in battle, he’s lost forever. The stakes are high, and you may have to rush to rescue your favorite characters before they’re wiped out for good.
Sensitivity warning: imitation blood.
The game is reminiscent of Dynasty Warriors, a series in which powerful warriors mow down hundreds of enemies in fantastical re-enactments of historical battles. Toulouse acknowledges that the series was a “huge influence,” but says the game relies less on button mashing. Up to four players can play together, each with their own army.
Toulouse is CEO of Paper Cult, an indie studio he co-founded in Montreal, Canada, nearly a decade ago. Which begs the question: why a French-Canadian indie studio is making a game set in Scotland? “That’s a good question,” Toulouse says, adding that the game originally had a completely different setting. Settling on medieval Scotland was a marketing decision; they wanted something instantly recognizable. But there’s also the fact that Toulouse is partial to the movies of Mel Gibson.
“I was a huge Braveheart fan,” he says. “I would always watch the movie with my friends after school. I would watch it over and over again. I loved the action scenes, and the Braveheart soundtrack is amazing.”
Toulouse has no personal connection to Scotland, but says Paper Cult has “a lot of connections with Scottish people” and works with writers who visit friends in Scotland every year. “We’re really trying to involve Scottish people in the project,” he adds, noting that the dialogue, in particular, will be of interest to Scots who still remember the terrible tragedy. Narration of William Wallace’s election campaign Age of Empires II users will be relieved to hear this.
Paper Cult has been working on Tears of Metal for around four years, but the release date is still a long way off, slated for next year. But since the game was revealed at Summer Game Fest in early June, Toulouse has been amazed by the audience’s response. He says it has been added to wishlists on Steam more than 100,000 times. “Within the first few days, we had over 100,000 people added to wishlists,” he says. [after the announcement]we surpassed [our previous game] “This is my lifetime wish list for Bloodroots,” Toulouse says with a hint of excitement. “I’m super excited.”
TThe business casual revolution of the 1990s and the rise of the tech billionaires in the early 2000s are said to have ushered in a new era of liberating employees from the shackles of dress codes. Mark Zuckerberg transformed the hoodie and jeans into a symbol of the new economy meritocracy, the uniform of genius hackers that would shake up the traditional industrial coat-and-tie aesthetic of the East. In the digital economy, many imagined, the most successful companies would allow their talented employees to wear whatever they wanted while splashing around in colorful ball pools.
But as Facebook engineer Carlos Bueno wrote in a 2014 blog post: Inside the MiratocracyIn the 1960s, we simply replaced the rigid dress code with a slightly less rigid one. The new world is actually not so free. The cognitive dissonance is clear in the faces of recruiters who pretend that clothing is no big deal, yet are clearly disappointed when they show up to an interview in a dark worsted business suit. “You are expected to conform to the rules of your culture before you can demonstrate your true worth,” Bueno writes. “What wearing a suit actually signals, and I don't mean this as a myth, is non-conformism, one of the most serious sins.”
As the rich get fabulously rich, they seem to become even more determined to look as plain as possible.
This reality was on full display earlier this month at the Sun Valley Conference, better known as “summer camp for billionaires.” Since the tradition began in 1984, organizers have been gathering the wealthiest and most influential people for the multi-day conference. A treasure trove of top CEOs, tech entrepreneurs, billionaire investors, media moguls, and more convene at the invitation-only meeting to privately decide the future of the world.
This year's attendees included Jeff Bezos, who continues his incredible transformation from nerd to muscle man. Looking like a successful SoulCycle instructor, he strolled around the resort grounds layered with pearl grey jeans, a skin-tight black T-shirt, and a multitude of colorful bracelets (possibly from the American luxury brand David Yurman).
Jeff Bezos at Amazon's Seattle offices on May 2, 2001, and with his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez at a meeting in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 11, 2024. Composition: AP, Reuters
Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav tried to at least bring some style to the event, donning a brown corduroy trucker jacket, slim-legged blue jeans, smart white sneakers, and a white bandana around his neck. But most of the men in attendance were dressed in scruffy polos, T-shirts, and simple button-down shirts. Billionaire OpenAI CEO Sam Altman looked like he was at freshman orientation in a plain gray T-shirt, blue jeans, and a black backpack slung over each shoulder.
This is not necessarily a bad outfit – many of them are – but one wonders if something has been lost in the move away from coats and ties. A few generations ago, men of this social class would have worn something more visually interesting. In the 1930s, Apparel Arts, a leading men's fashion trade magazine that advises men on how to dress for different environments, recommended the following for resort wear: a navy double-breasted sport coat with a polka-dot scarf and high-waisted trousers in Cannes; a mocha linen beach shirt and wide-cut slacks with self-strap fastenings on the Côte d'Azur; and a white shawl-collar dinner jacket with midnight blue tropical worsted trousers and a white silk dinner shirt for semi-formal evening wear.
The advantage of these clothes is not so much about appearances or elegance, but rather the way they create a unique silhouette. The tailored jacket is particularly useful in this regard. Made from layers of haircloth, canvas, and padding, pad-stitched together and shaped with darts and expert pressing, the tailored jacket creates a flattering V-shape without having one. That silhouette is why Stacey Bendet, founder of fashion company Alice & Olivia, is always the most stylish person at these conferences (this year, she wore flared pants, a long leather coat, giant sunglasses, and a Western-wear hat, each element creating a unique shape). In contrast, Tim Cook's basic polo shirts and slim jeans did little to replicate his physical build.
To me, dressing like this, surrounded by guys in t-shirts and sloppy polo shirts, is pretty funny, and honestly, thank god people like this exist. pic.com/Jaraz4d8XB
In his book Distinction, Pierre Bourdieu correctly recognizes that the notion of “good taste” is merely a habit or taste of the ruling class. He is, of course, not the first to make this observation. In the early 20th century, German sociologist Georg Simmel noted that people often use fashion as a form of class differentiation. According to Simmel, style spreads downward as the working class imitates those deemed socially superior, at which point members of the ruling class move on to another class. But the publication of Distinction in 1979, based on Bourdieu's empirical research from 1963 to 1968, stands out, especially for its understanding of men's style. At the time, the coat and tie was in decline. By the time the book was translated into English in 1984, the suit was drawing its last breath before the rise of casual Fridays, tech entrepreneurs, and remote work would change men's dress forever.
Today's ruling class is hardly inspiring in terms of taste. The preponderance of tech vests replacing navy blazers shows that socioeconomic class still dictates dress habits, even if the style is less appealing. Ironically, while the elite are increasingly dressing like the middle class who go shopping at Whole Foods Market, wealth inequality in the United States has worsened roughly every decade since the 1980s, the last time men were still expected to wear tailored jackets.
To be honest, Jensen Huang was shining: he discovered the power of the jacket, he discovered the uniform (black leather jacket), and also, his tailoring seems pretty good. pic.com/ryjCqD1uaI
If there's a silver lining to all this, it's that the history of clothing in the 20th century is about how influences changed. As the century progressed, men began to receive dress dictates from different social classes, not just those with economic or political power: artists, musicians, and workers. Many of the more provocative fashion moments of this period were about rebellious youth taking a stance of rebellion against the establishment. These included swing kids and hip-hop, bikers, rockers, outlaws, beats and beatniks, modernists and mods, drag and dandies, hippies and bohemians. In recent years, Zuckerberg and Bezos have made an effort to move away from the fleece uniform, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang looks pretty stylish in a head-to-toe black uniform that includes a variety of leather jackets. But for the most part, today it's better to look elsewhere for dress dictates. The ruling class may shape our world, but don't let them shape your outfit.
MaAsteroids hurtling at planet-destroying speeds, glowing spheres of hot gas, black holes from which even light cannot escape: outer space can be the stuff of nightmares, but for Celine Veltman, a 28-year-old Dutch game maker who spent her childhood stargazing, it’s the stuff of dreams. She’s channeling this cosmic wonder into a video game with the most ambitious ambition: the creation of a solar system. Rocks collide with each other, chemical reactions occur, and planets and life itself are born in the depths of space.
Curiosmos’s bright, easy-to-follow visuals, more children’s picture book than Terrence Malick, express Veltman’s objectives for the project and its inception: “I want to inspire more people to become as passionate about space as I am,” she says, speaking animatedly of supernovae and protoplanetary disks.
The idea came to Veltman while she was visiting a friend with two young children in 2018. The kids begged the developer for an iPad, so Veltman came up with what she wanted them to play: a “silly” game about astronomy, one that would “make them laugh” while also teaching a lesson about the very building blocks of life.
Speaking to a backdrop of sculptures on shelves in his artist studio in Utrecht, Netherlands, Veltman explains that this whimsical space adventure relies on solid physics and programming from his colleagues Guillaume Pauli and Robin de Paeppe. Curiosmos is a game of interlocking systems that produce unpredictable outcomes: an asteroid blows off parts of the planet to expose a molten core, drifting clouds create the perfect conditions for plant life, and strange, ungainly creatures begin to waddle around. There are touches of 2008’s Spore in this primitive life simulator, but Veltman specifically references the games of renowned designer Keita Takahashi (specifically Noby Noby Boy and Wattam) for working with “goofy, unconventional concepts.”
The task of translating the universe’s almost unfathomably complex secrets into gameplay proved to be a challenge. “Sometimes I almost regret it,” says Veltman, who relied on her instincts about what key information to include, leaving out magnetic fields and including rings of debris. Ultimately, she says with a wry smile, people need to understand that “planets are fragile, and can turn into big piles of dust.”
While the subject matter might evoke a touch of existential dread, Curiosmos is designed to feel good in the player’s hands. “That was a big part of the design,” Veltman says. Hurling asteroids makes satisfying noises, and terrain explodes with satisfying sounds. Veltman, a hobbyist potter, understands the power of touch; even Curiosmos’s transforming planets look like they’re made of clay.
Curiosmos also has personal meaning for Veltman: “During development, I realized I was saddened to be an artist instead of a scientist,” she says. The game is her attempt to ease this tension and “give meaning to science by creating art.”
Veltman hopes it will have the same kind of impact, if not the same scale, as educational YouTube channels. In a nutshell“The astronomy community is a huge part of our lives,” Veltman says. “They’re the foundation of our planet. They’re the cornerstone of our planet’s astronomy.” Veltman is a scientist who translates arcane scientific concepts into videos of “optimistic nihilism” for his 22.5 million subscribers. Curious Moss has a similar energy, seeking to make the universe’s most remote, strange, and unsettling mysteries “accessible to everyone.” Perhaps this, Veltman thinks, could pique the curiosity of many new astronomy enthusiasts.
If a week is a long time in politics, five years between elections feels like an eternity in the UK. The political landscape has changed dramatically since the Conservative Party’s landslide victory in 2019, but so has the social media landscape.
In 2019, TikTok was “the video-sharing app that became phenomenally popular among teenagers,” according to a commentator at The Guardian.
Fast forward to 2023 and an Ofcom investigation has found that: 10% of people aged 16 and over The number of people saying they get their news from TikTok is higher than BBC Radio 1 and on par with the Guardian, a significant increase from 1% in 2020 after the last election.
While some say the so-called battle over TikTok has been exaggerated, the platform’s creators are well aware that there is an audience among TikTok users, young and old, who enjoys political content.
To understand how the 2024 election unfolded on TikTok, we monitored the platform for one hour per day for a week using four separate accounts, searching for the widely used tag “#ukpolitics” as well as campaign-specific hashtags and terms.
Before we begin, a few disclaimers: No one outside TikTok knows how TikTok’s algorithm works, nor do we know whether and how the algorithm can be manipulated to promote certain content.
The platform is also notoriously difficult to measure: there’s no “most popular” section, so the sample is just a snapshot of what people saw on the site for one hour each day for one week over the duration of the campaign.
Straight TikTok: “Traditional” News for a New Audience
If you think of TikTok as all dance crazes, lip-sync challenges, and make-up artist tutorials, you’d be right – but you’ll also find some familiar faces, including BBC and ITV news anchors, LBC radio presenters, and broadcast journalists.
…
Conspiracy theorist
We found very few accounts spreading conspiracy theories, at least in the sample we collected, but they do exist.
While we do not intend to help conspiracy theorists by spreading their videos more widely on this platform, topics we saw included false claims that Labour would introduce Sharia law if it came to power.
Again, it is not known why such content was served, but AI Forensics warns that such content could be amplified by a “secret recipe” hidden in the platforms’ algorithms.
“Engagement can be both good and bad, so polarized discussions around extreme views and hate speech can drive up engagement metrics,” Romano said.
At least three accounts initially identified as containing conspiracy theories were removed during the investigation, though it is unclear whether this was of the accounts’ own volition or if they were removed by TikTok.
IEven though it’s the next big game for the PlayStation 5 and it’s in Sony’s DNA, there’s still something Nintendo about Astro Bot. That’s because it’s perfectly designed for the controller it’s played on, taking advantage of all the features of the DualSense controller. The spacey aesthetic, with different planets representing different colorful worlds to jump into, is reminiscent of Super Mario Galaxy, and it’s just pure joy to play. On a console where the most well-known hits are pretty serious (like God of War and The Last of Us), Astro Bot prioritizes fun.
“I think Sony’s product design is about cool, but it also embraces playfulness,” says Nicolas Doucet, studio director at Team Asobi, the Japanese studio behind Astro Bot. “The two are not mutually exclusive or antagonistic… [PlayStation] The hardware team loved it and no one cared less about it. These are highly crafted products, so you can imagine that designers wouldn’t want them tampered with. But we were looking at PSVR and turning it into a mothership.”
The first Astro Bot game, Rescue Mission, was the best thing ever made for PlayStation’s VR headset, a clever platformer brimming with original ideas. Astro’s Playroom was a treat that came packaged with the PS5 when it launched in 2020, designed to show off the capabilities of Sony’s new console and its controller. It did so brilliantly, with levels themed around the PS5’s super-fast SSD hard drive and a singing GPU soundtrack, taking full advantage of every little gimmick in the PS5 controller, from the microphone to the haptic triggers. But Astro’s Playroom was also, unexpectedly, an interactive museum of Sony’s gaming hardware. As I played, I collected consoles, peripherals, and other knickknacks, gradually filling the lab with PlayStation history. It was fun.
A cheeky idea that will never come again… Astro Bots. Photo: Sony/Team Asobi
During the development of Astro’s Playroom, Team Asobi worked very closely with the people making the PS5 and the controller. They were even running around the building with prototypes in paper bags, Doucet said. “They gave us prototype controllers that were twice the size of a normal controller, or they put two controllers together because they needed more power. You can see how much work went into miniaturizing all that and making a controller that looks and feels good. They came up with features like adaptive triggers and haptics because they Feeling Our job is to generate as many ideas as possible about how it might be used, and then validate and sometimes deny those intuitions. After all, we’re not selling technology, we’re selling an experience, a magical experience. come “From technology.”
Now, Team Asobi was given the freedom to create a bigger, longer game (12 hours or so) as an extended tech demo, without being tied to a single piece of PlayStation hardware. That said, it’s still a clear tribute to all things Sony. It incorporates many ideas that didn’t make it into the 2020 game. Astro Bot now flies between levels in a controller-shaped spaceship whose exhaust gases are made up of PlayStation button symbols. Running around several levels as this adorable robot, I slid down a waterslide with a bunch of beach balls, jumped off a high board into a pool, took down an angry giant octopus by slingshotting myself in the face with a retractable frog-face boxing glove, used a magnet to gather pieces of metal into a ball big enough to smash things, and blew up Astro like a balloon before sending him flying with the gas that erupted.
It’s super cute, funny and full of playful details. We discovered that the flames spewing from Astro’s jetpack can cut through wooden logs, but only because it’s fun; Astro struck a confident surfing pose when he hopped onto a turtle to see if he could ride on its back; and when we tickled a sad-looking anemone to discover a secret room, we were greeted with a chorus of “Secret!” These details are inconsequential, but as Doucet points out, “They’re important, because all these little things become memories.”
The levels are like a solar system that slowly expands outwards as the challenge increases. There’s the safest one towards the middle, where a 5-year-old can have fun kicking a football, jumping through water, and punching the occasional bad guy. And then there are the hardest levels towards the edge. There are over 150 little tributes to PlayStation games, from PaRappa the Rapper to Journey, in the form of cosplay robots that you can rescue. The challenge levels will test your 90s childhood 3D platforming skills, including precision jumps across platforms suspended in time and a miniature ice rink floating in space. This is the simplest fun I’ve had playing a game in a long time.
Team Asobi is relatively small, with about 65 people, and relatively international. According to Doucet, three-quarters of the team is Japanese, and the rest are from 16 countries. Some of them have worked on past PlayStation projects, such as Shadow of the Colossus and Gravity Daze, but some are newcomers. They are all focused on making Astro Bot a true mascot for PlayStation, Doucet says. “We want to develop Astro into a really strong franchise. We want to develop this little character even more,” he says. “There are a lot of expectations to meet at PlayStation, but we never forget that we are the underdogs. That’s part of the mindset of a successful person, you always want to be in pursuit of something. If you become too satisfied, the game starts to lose its soul.”
Astro Bot certainly has a soul. It’s clear that the development team is having a lot of fun. “We’re geeky people, and I’m a PlayStation collector myself,” says Doucet. “It might sound a little corny, but it’s important that we’re happy so that our players are happy.”
Astro Bot will be available on PlayStation 5 on September 6th
It backfired Audible, weekly episodes Slow Burn, Think Twice, Fiasco – Leon Neyfakh has produced several high-quality podcasts in the past. Currently, he is focusing on e-cigarettes and his struggles to quit smoking. These podcasts narrate the journey of finding a cigarette that is less harmful. It’s interesting to note the difference in approach between the UK, where e-cigarettes are promoted as a tool to quit smoking, and the US, where there are efforts to ban flavored e-cigarettes. Hannah Verdier
A better paradise Widely available, with weekly episodes An atmospheric near-future podcast from the creators of Grand Theft Auto. Featuring a talented cast, Andrew Lincoln plays Dr. Mark Tyburn who tries to create an addictive video game but abandons the project halfway. Years later, when he is rediscovered, will the game finally see the light of day? HV
Leon Neyfakh’s “Backfired” explores the rise of e-cigarettes. Photo: Nicholas T Ansell/PA
Because the boss is ours Widely available, with weekly episodes Bruce Springsteen may not be the first person you think of when it comes to queer pop idols, but hosts Jesse Lawson and Holly Cascio, “two queer nerds” who are fans of the Boss, delve into this fun and insightful podcast to explore Springsteen’s status as a queer icon. Holly Richardson
Pulling the Thread: Wild Life Widely available, with weekly episodes This captivating series from Drake’s production company follows investigative journalist Lunako Serena and the spy known as “Wolf” as they uncover the truth about Africa’s largest wildlife trafficking ring. The journey takes them from an environmental conference in The Shard in London to infiltrating criminal networks involved in the ivory trade in Uganda. Alexi Duggins
Festival Hall Widely available, with weekly episodes A new series from the creators of the confessional-based X Account, featuring a range of content from ranking secrets of the week to insightful interviews with Philippa Perry about the psychology behind anonymous sharing of secrets. advertisement
There is a podcast
Afua Hirsch, host of “We Need to Talk About the British Empire.” Photo: Suki Dhanda/Observer
this week, Rachel Aroesti Pick the top 5 PodcastsUnited KingdomFrom Armando Iannucci’s irreverent take on Westminster to Afua Hirsch’s reflections on the complex legacy of the British Empire London Grad London is clearly a cosmopolitan city, but there are moments in this darkly fascinating podcast from Tortoise Media’s Paul Caruana Galizia that make you wonder which country has the most influence over our capital. The first series of the show focused on Russian money flowing into London through real estate and, in the case of the Lebedev family, the purchasing power of its ultra-rich investors in multiple newspapers, while in series two the focus shifted to Iran and the government-mandated “death squads” that have repeatedly attempted to assassinate London-based critics of the regime on British soil.
We need to talk about the British Empire Afua Hirsch’s 2018 book, Brit(ish), is both a deeply personal memoir and an insightful analysis of British history, making it essential reading for anyone wanting to gain a deeper understanding of black history and politics in the country. In this podcast series, the author broadens the perspective even further, using her guests’ personal stories to illuminate the legacy of colonialism from different angles. Anita Rani offers insight into Partition, the late Benjamin Zephaniah talks about the Windrush, Diana Rigg talks about growing up at the end of the British colonial era, and musician Emma Lee Moss (formerly Emmy the Great) reminisces about her childhood in Hong Kong under British rule.
Rethinking Westminster Armando Iannucci is one of Britain’s leading satirists, and he’s spent his career lampooning the country’s follies and weaknesses, from the chaos of government with The Thick of It to the banality of mid-level broadcasting via Alan Partridge. In this podcast series for the New Statesman, he and the magazine’s UK editor Anoush Chakerian (who also hosts the magazine’s flagship podcast) take a slightly less-than-modest look at Britain’s most pressing political issues. Topics range from Britain’s “ramshackle” constitution and the old, machismo energy of party politics to the shortcomings of lobby journalism and the deterioration of our supposedly special relationship with the US.
Northern News Edinburgh Award-nominated stand-up comedians Ian Smith and Amy Gledhill are northerners who moved to London but are still keen to hear news from their home town – Gledhill is originally from Hull, Smith from nearby Goole. For Northern News, the pair combine easy-going chatter with local newspaper readings, focusing on the weirdest, most ridiculous and sentimental news they can find. They also host a host of guest comedians who share their own quirky local anecdotes.
The rise and fall of Britpop The story of Britpop is much more than the tabloid-shattering rivalry between Oasis and Blur. It’s a story that has much to say about the traditions and history of British pop culture from the 1960s to the present day. Steve Lamacq and Joe Whiley, co-hosts of Radio 1’s hip show The Evening Sessions when the scene first took off 30 years ago, are perfectly suited to tell the tale. With help from guests including Stuart McOnie and Alex James, the pair take a trip down memory lane to trace Britpop’s journey from an unpopular alternative to trendy US grunge to a cultural force that redefined our national identity.
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Alexander Skarsgård’s new pod explores startups taking innovative approaches to environmental and social issues How to solve this.
From remote work to immigration, The Atlantic Good on Paper It raises the big questions behind the inevitable topics.
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I I know I’m real. And you, dear reader, know that you are the real deal. But have you ever wondered if there’s something strange about other people on the internet? Feeling like the spaces you used to frequent are a little dead? You’re not alone. The “Dead Internet Theory” first appeared on the web nearly three years ago and was catapulted into the mainstream by: Atlantic Essay by Caitlin Tiffany:
The dead internet theory suggests that the internet has been almost completely taken over by artificial intelligence. Like many other online conspiracy theories, this one’s audience has grown thanks to discussions by a mix of true believers, cynical trolls, and bored and curious chatterboxes… But unlike many other online conspiracy theories, this conspiracy theory has no morsel of truth to it. Person or Bot: Does it really matter?
At the time of writing, the deadest part of the internet was the moribund pre-Mask Twitter. The site’s active curation provides the same “relevant content” to hundreds of thousands of users, who can post things like “I hate texting, so come over here and give me a hug” on Twitter. Adjusted and reposted. The distinction between humans and bots has also been blurred by recommendation algorithms that make humans behave like bots.
Beyond that central idea, the 2021 version of the conspiracy theory has taken a strange turn. One supporter, Tiffany, suggests that “the internet died in 2016 or early 2017 and is now not just ’empty and empty’ but ‘totally barren.’ …As evidence, the Illuminati pirates say, ‘I’ve seen it.'”
This theory was not wrong. It was just too early. Talk about the internet that died in the summer in front ChatGPT’s release echoes my colleagues at the Guardian who confidently declared in the summer of 2016 that: The next few years will be quiet.”
In 2021, the internet felt like death. This is because aggressive algorithmic curation has made people behave like robots. In 2024, the opposite will happen. Robots will now post just like humans. Here are some examples:
on Twitter itself, Musk rescues the site from the frying pan, throws it into a volcano, and then a poorly thought out monetization scheme buys a blue checkmark, attaches it to a large language model, and spins it out of control in response to viral content. I was able to make a profit by doing so. This social media network is currently paying verified users a portion of the ad revenue they receive from their comment threads, turning the most viral posts on the site into low-stakes Allbots battle royales. .
Death pervades Google. Being at the top of search results is a valuable position, so valuable that companies competing for it can’t afford to actually write about it. No problem. ChatGPT can create anything in an instant. Of course, this is only worth it if the resulting visitors are people who can make you money. Bad news, because…
…all over the web, bots account for about half Percentage of all internet traffic, according to a study by cybersecurity firm Imperva. Almost a third of all traffic is what the company calls “malicious bots,” carrying out everything from ad fraud to brute force hacking attacks. But even the “good bots” struggle to fall into this category. Google’s “crawlers” were welcome when updating search entries, but less so when they just trained an AI to repeat what users wrote, without submitting users. did.
And then there’s Crab Jesus. An unholy combination of Facebook content farms, AI-generated images, and automated testing to determine what goes most viral. led to weeks of viral content It features a combination of Jesus, a crustacean, and a female flight attendant. One such image depicted Jesus wearing a jacket made of shrimp and eating shellfish. Adding to the confusion was the sight of a kind of crab centaur savior walking arm in arm with what appeared to be the entire crew of the long-distance flight on the beach. It was at least interestingly bizarre and a step up from the previously viral 122-year-old female friend who posed in front of a homemade birthday cake.
As much as I’d like to offer a ray of hope, a little tip to reinvigorate the internet, I can’t. It really feels like the consumer internet is in the late stages of a zombie apocalypse. The good news is that there is a safe haven. While “private socials” like WhatsApp and Discord servers can hide from the onslaught in secrecy, smaller communities like Bluesky and Mastodon are hidden and safe for now.
In the medium term, I expect to see large platforms returning to the wilds of their services and trying to bring some humanity back to their services through a combination of account authentication and AI detection. But whether it will be too late by then is an open question.
Musk still needs a Twitter sitter
Elon Musk in Beijing in 2023. Photo: Wang Teishu/Reuters
At least there’s still one person on the internet. It’s Elon Musk. He spent $44 billion getting obsessed with posting and being called idiots on the platforms he owns. So his latest legal defeat will hit a sore spot after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to accept his plea to be released from his court-appointed posting babysitter. . From our story:
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected Elon Musk’s appeal over a settlement with securities regulators that required him to get prior approval for some tweets related to his electric car company Tesla.
The justices did not comment on leaving the lower court’s ruling against Musk in place, but Musk complained that the requirement violated the First Amendment and constituted a “prior restraint” on his speech. . The ruling came a day after he made an unannounced visit to China to secure a deal to deploy Tesla’s driver-assistance features locally.
For those who don’t have an encyclopedic memory of Elon, Musk tweeted in 2018 that he had “secured funding” to take Tesla private. The company was never taken private, and subsequent lawsuits revealed that he had only discussed it a few times at most. To end the bill, Musk resigned as Tesla chairman, paid $20 million and agreed to have in-house lawyers pre-approve all social media posts about the electric car maker.
He has since regretted it and is fighting to overturn that part of the contract (which he entered into voluntarily to avoid an adverse trial). “The preclearance clause at issue continues to cast an unconstitutional chill on Mr. Musk’s speech whenever he considers making it publicly,” his lawyers argued.
Well, the Supreme Court of the United States doesn’t care. The government did not take up his case, tacitly deciding that no real constitutional issue was at issue.
What’s strange is that the company’s in-house lawyers already seem to be taking a very hands-off approach to Musk’s posts. On Friday, he responded to early Facebook employee Dustin Moskowitz’s claim that Tesla is “the next Enron” by posting a photo of a dog putting its testicles in another dog’s face. (Please click at your own risk.) If that’s Mr. Musk’s tweet with “unconstitutional chills,” I don’t want to know what he would send if he felt truly free.
Wider TechScape
Artwork for Everyone Knows That. Illustration: Getty; Guardian Design
“Get ready!” This immortal motto of the Scout movement will come to the mind of many readers who read the paper “Dynamics of bloodstain patterns in microgravity environment: Pilot study observations on the next frontier of forensic medicine.”
Reader Sarah Rosenbaum flagged feedback on the study’s first clearly stated purpose: “Investigating the ultimate violent criminal acts that occur outside of the global environment.”
This is the most futuristic forensic science. “It’s almost here.” The most effective approach is joint criminal investigation between the United Kingdom and the United States. The researchers are from Staffordshire University and Hull University in the UK, and the University of Louisville in Kentucky and Roswell Police in Georgia in the US.
“We hypothesize that the calculated impact angles would be more accurate if gravity were removed as a force acting on the blood droplet in flight,” they write.
They performed tests, or rather flew, aboard a parabolic flight research airplane that took off and landed at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. (Fort Lauderdale, like many cities in Florida, is no stranger to blood splatter. We see a steady increase in the number of violent crimes According to statistics reported by the local police department’s crime analysis department, it will occur between 2020 and 2023.)
In the experiment, “a 1 cc syringe containing a blood analogue was used to inject the liquid onto a flight path approximately 20 cm long, which was intercepted by a 16.5 cm x 16.5 cm target.” [made of] Fifty pound paper adhered to foam board backing.
The study found that droplets that hit paper at a 90-degree angle behaved as predicted by the traditional forensic blood droplet equation. But while this is a blood-stirring challenge for forensic scientists and true crime enthusiasts alike, someone needs to come up with a better equation for predicting what will happen from the other angle.
Thinking: Inside the box
Seeing sometimes leads to believing. Feeling, hearing, and reasoning are equally powerful when combined.
Shorey Croom, Hanbei Chow, and Chaz Firestone of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, explain this in the magazine. PNAS How did they try to answer the question “?” “Can you tell what another person is trying to learn just by observing their movements?”
They filmed a volunteer shaking an opaque box and attempting to measure i) the number of objects hidden inside, or ii) the shape of the objects inside. He then asked others to watch the video and tried to determine “who is shaking because of the numbers and who is shaking because of the shapes.” Most observers were pretty good at recognizing who was shaking and why.
Back in 2017, Milte Plesier of Delft University in the Netherlands and Jeroen Smeets of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam spoke to attendees of the IEEE World Haptics Conference in Fürstenfeldbruck, Germany, about a project they called “How many objects are in this box?”
Their method was simple. “We investigated how accurately participants could determine the number of wooden balls inside a box by shaking it.” They found that while they were able to perform the task accurately, they systematically underestimated the number of more spheres. The larger numbers they tested were 4 and 5. The situation with larger quantities remains theoretically unknown.
stick to fruit
Many scientists will not be able to determine whether the metal sticks to the fruit.
Generally speaking, if properly persuaded, they will. News about this can be found at “Reversibly attaching metals and graphite to hydrogels and tissues” by Wenhao Xu, Faraz Burni, and Srinivasa Raghavan of the University of Maryland.
writing in diary ACS Central Science “We have discovered that hard conductors (such as metals and graphite) can be bonded to soft aqueous materials (such as hydrogels, fruit, and animal tissue) without the use of adhesives.” The adhesion is caused by a low direct current electric field… [This] It can also be achieved underwater, where normal adhesives cannot be used.
“The experiment is very simple,” the study says, anticipating that many people would be surprised by such a simple, hitherto essentially unknown effect.
Accidental genital glow
Faraz Alam sent us the results of his research with colleagues at Imperial College London, published in the journal 2013. PLoS One “This is the paper on which I accidentally made my genitals glow in the dark.” The title is “Non-invasive monitoring of Streptococcus pyogenes vaccine efficacy using intravital optical imaging”. Those reproductive organs belonged to mice.
This spurred feedback that reminded me of a paper on humans published in 1950 by P. A. MacDonald and M. Sidney Margolese. Obstetrics and gynecology questionnaire. They called it “Luminous phenomenon of female external genitalia”.
These are both examples of how scientists perceive the wonders of biology.
Mark Abrahams hosted the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founded the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Previously, he was working on unusual uses of computers.his website is impossible.com.
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Given the diversity and complexity of endogenous and extrinsic processes that contribute to the maintenance of habitable conditions over geological and biological timescales, it is unclear how rocky planets become habitable and their status. Fully understanding how it is maintained is a fundamental challenge for planetary scientists and astrobiologists. In the face of this challenge, it is essential to exploit the full range of atmospheric evolution data for rocky planets within the solar system. Although Venus represents an apparent fringe member of planetary habitability, its contribution to understanding the prevalence of long-term temperate surface conditions in large rocky worlds remains poorly recognized. Upcoming missions to Venus, including NASA's VERITAS and DAVINCI, and ESA's EnVision mission, will begin to crystallize this understanding.
Kane and Byrne describe Venus as an anchor point where planetary scientists can better understand the conditions that prevent life on exoplanets. Image credit: Kane & Byrne, doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02228-5.
“We often assume that Earth is a model of habitability, but when we consider this planet in isolation, we don’t know where the boundaries and limits are. Venus gives us that. '' said Dr. Stephen Cain, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Riverside.
“Although they also feature a pressure cooker-like atmosphere that could flatten humans in an instant, Earth and Venus share some similarities.”
“They have roughly the same mass and radius. Given their proximity to the planet, it’s natural to wonder why Earth looked so different.”
Many scientists believe that solar flux, the amount of energy Venus receives from the sun, caused a runaway greenhouse effect that doomed Earth.
“If Earth receives 100% of the solar energy, Venus collects 191%. Many people think that’s why Venus looks different,” Dr. Kane said.
“But wait a minute. Venus doesn’t have a moon, but that gives Earth something like ocean tides and affects the amount of water here.”
In addition to some of the known differences, more NASA missions to Venus will also clarify some of the unknowns.
Planetary scientists have no idea how big its core is, how it arrived at its current relatively slow rotational speed, how its magnetic field has changed over time, or the chemistry of its lower atmosphere. i don’t know.
“Venus has no detectable magnetic field. That may be related to the size of its core,” Dr. Kane said.
“The size of the core also gives us information about how the planet cools. Earth has a mantle, and heat circulates through its core. What’s going on inside Venus? I don’t know.”
“The interior of a rocky planet also influences its atmosphere. That is the case for Earth, and our atmosphere is primarily the result of volcanic gas emissions.”
Schematic cross-section of Earth and Venus. Major internal and atmospheric components are shown to scale. Image credit: Kane & Byrne, doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02228-5.
NASA is planning two missions to Venus (DAVINCI and VERITAS) for the end of this decade, and Dr. Cain is supporting both.
The DAVINCI mission will explore the acid-filled atmosphere and measure noble gases and other chemical elements.
“DAVINCI measures the atmosphere from top to bottom. This is extremely useful for building new climate models and predicting this type of atmosphere elsewhere, including on Earth, as the amount of carbon dioxide continues to increase. ,” Dr. Kane said.
Although the Veritas mission will not land on the surface, it will allow scientists to reconstruct detailed 3D terrain, which could reveal whether the planet has active plate tectonics or volcanoes.
“Currently, our global map is very incomplete. Understanding how active a surface is and understanding how it has changed over time are very different. We need both types of information,” Dr. Kane said.
Ultimately, Dr. Kane and his co-author, Dr. Paul Byrne of Washington University in St. Louis, advocate such a mission to Venus for two main reasons.
One is that with better data, we can use Venus to confirm that our inferences about life on distant planets are correct.
“The somber thing about searching for life elsewhere in the universe is that we will never have in-situ data on exoplanets. We will never go there, land on them, or measure them directly. I don’t intend to,” Dr. Kane said.
“If we think there is life on the surface of another planet, we may never realize we are wrong and end up dreaming of a planet without life.” I guess.”
“We can only get it right by understanding the Earth-sized planets we can visit. Venus gives us that chance.”
Another reason to study Venus is that it can predict what Earth’s future will be.
“One of the main reasons we study Venus is because of our sacred duty as stewards of this planet to protect its future,” Dr. Kane said.
“My hope is that by studying how Venus came to be today, we can learn lessons from it, especially if it had a benign past that is now in ruins. The question is when and how.”
of review paper It was published in the magazine natural astronomy.
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Stephen R. Cain and Paul K. Byrne. 2024. Venus as an anchor point for planetary habitability. Nat Astron 8, 417-424; doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02228-5
Maddie Lane and Phoebe Colin were unaware of the cameras recording them as they strolled down a bustling street in Manchester last April.
On a warm spring day, the women sported brightly colored cycling shorts, completely oblivious to being surreptitiously filmed by a person with a device placed below waist level.
Colin expressed her discomfort upon watching the video, stating, “I don’t like it. You can see them zooming in on our butt cheeks.”
The perpetrator boldly shot a high-definition video, capturing them primarily from behind just a few meters away, before moving around to capture their faces, which were unmistakably visible.
Feeling violated, Lane mentioned, “I had no idea they were filming us. We were just wondering, ‘Why didn’t we notice them?’”
What intensified their fear was how they discovered the existence of the video. Lane received an Instagram message from an anonymous sender containing a link to the footage, insinuating, “Hi, is this you?” They proceeded to track down Colin and send her a similar message revealing the video’s online presence.
Lane shared their apprehension, saying, “The fact that they found us on social media was frightening. We still don’t know who they are.”
Despite reporting the incident to the police, there were no consequences. Colin recollected, “They informed us that there was nothing they could do and advised us to reach out if it happened again.”
The perpetrator appears to have filmed the two individuals in this video from close proximity. Photo: Joel Goodman/Guardian
This video is one among several targeting women in tight attire or short dresses, captured without their awareness in various UK towns and cities.
In response to the escalating issue, authorities urged women to report such incidents, emphasizing they would take a firm stand provided genuine victim or community reports were received.
Recent legislation has equipped the police with enhanced powers to seek stalking protection orders (SPOs) against offenders, aimed at curbing stalking behavior early on by prohibiting certain actions such as capturing images of perpetrators.
The changes announced by the Home Office on the first day of National Stalking Awareness Week enable police to apply for victim protection orders based on civil standards, simplifying the process by eliminating the need for conclusive criminal evidence.
The unsettling experience of Lane and Colin resonates with many women venturing out in Manchester on weekend nights, with similar incidents being common.
At popular venues like Printworks, incidents of secret video recordings have been reported, highlighting the urgent need for action and awareness.
The women at Deansgate, where numerous such videos circulated on social media, expressed concern over the pervasive issue of privacy invasion and objectification.
By sharing their thoughts and experiences, these women emphasized the importance of social change and actively confronting such reprehensible behavior.
Twenty years ago, scientists announced the creation of a new miracle substance that would revolutionize our lives. They named it graphene.
Graphene is made up of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern, making it one of the strongest materials ever produced. It is more resistant to electricity than copper and has excellent heat conductivity.
The potential applications of graphene seemed limitless, with predictions of ultra-fast processors, quicker battery charging, and stronger concrete. It was even proposed as a solution for potholes in roads.
Professor Andre Geim (left) and Professor Konstantin Novoselov from the University of Manchester discovered graphene. Photo: John Super/AP
The scientists behind the discovery, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 for their work. The National Graphene Institute was established at the University of Manchester.
Despite the initial hype, the graphene revolution has not materialized as expected. Challenges in scaling up production have hindered its widespread adoption.
Sir Colin Humphreys, a materials science professor at Queen Mary University of London, pointed out that the main issue lies in the difficulty of producing graphene on a large scale.
He explained that the original method of creating graphene was not conducive to mass production and that significant investments by companies like IBM, Samsung, and Intel have been made to develop scalable production methods.
Recent advancements in manufacturing techniques show promise for the resurgence of graphene technology. Companies like Paragraph are now producing graphene-based devices in large quantities.
Graphene-based devices are being used for various applications, including sensors for detecting magnetic fields and differentiating between bacterial and viral infections.
Additionally, graphene devices are expected to be more energy-efficient than current technologies, offering a promising future for the material.
While the graphene revolution may have been delayed, it holds the potential to address pressing global challenges and significantly impact modern life.
Graphene “has the potential to make a real difference to modern life,” says Sir Colin Humphreys, professor of materials science.
Photo: AddMeshCube/Alamy
The hyped science failed to make the grade.
nuclear power “Our children will have immeasurably cheap electrical energy in their homes.” – Louis Strauss, then chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, in 1954.
Sinclair C5 “This is the future of transportation” – promotional materials for the 1985 Sinclair C5 electric scooter/car. Sales in the first year were predicted to be 100,000 units, but only 5,000 units were sold. Project has been abandoned.
medical advances “The time has come to close the book on infectious diseases and declare that the war on epidemics has been won” – in the words of Dr. William H. Stewart, Surgeon General of the United States from 1965 to 1969.
Please try to imagine. I remember being on the bus or walking in the park and having an important task slip out of my mind. Maybe you were planning to send an email, catch up on a meeting, or have lunch with a friend. Without missing a beat, just say out loud what you forgot, and a small device strapped to your chest or placed on the bridge of your nose will send you a message, summarize a meeting, or remind a friend to go to lunch. Send invitations. No need to poke at your smartphone screen and the job is done.
This is the kind of utopian convenience that a growing wave of technology companies are trying to achieve through artificial intelligence. Generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT exploded in popularity last year as search engines like Google, messaging apps like Slack, and social media services like Snapchat raced to integrate the technology into their systems.
AI add-ons have become commonplace across apps and software, but as the first AI-powered consumer devices launch and compete for space with smartphones, the same generation technology is poised to enter the hardware realm.
One of the first people out of the gate was eye pin California startup Humane. It’s a wearable device that’s only slightly larger than a can of Vaseline and attaches to your shirt via a magnet. You can send texts, make calls, take photos, and play music. However, there is no app support and no screen. Instead, it uses a laser to project a simple interface onto your outstretched palm. The built-in AI chatbot can be instructed through voice commands to search the web or answer queries in much the same way you’d expect from ChatGPT.
“I plan to train Ai Pin to be my personal assistant to facilitate my writing and creative work,” said the Virginia-based company, which pre-ordered the device ahead of its initial U.S. launch in April, says Tiffany Jana, a consultant with Since she travels a lot, she thinks it would be nice to have a photographer and translator to accompany her. “I don’t have all the assistants and large teams that supported me in the past. I’ve always been a tech guy and enjoy ChatGPT.”
Meanwhile, Facebook’s parent company Meta has already Smart glasses equipped with AI Partnering with Ray-Ban and Chinese companies TCL and Oppo Companies followed suit with their own AI glasses. All of these have pretty much the same functionality as Ai Pin and are sold in a way that connects to an AI chatbot that responds to voice commands.
It’s a way to curb smartphone overuse by providing the same essential functionality without addictive apps.
If all of this sounds a lot like what your smartphone’s voice assistant or your living room’s Alexa already does, that’s because that’s essentially what it does. “Using AI in new devices is still the norm today,” says David Lindlbauer, an assistant professor at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. “Everyone uses Google Suggestions, Apple Siri to navigate their phones, or smart suggestions in apps on their phones.” The difference, he says, is that these new and upcoming devices will, which aims to embed AI capabilities in a “less obtrusive and more ubiquitous way.”
Its design intent is most evident in future products pendant From US startup Rewind and software developer Tab AI Avi Shiffman. These small devices hang around your neck and passively record everything you hear and say during the day, then transcribe the most important parts so you can read them back at your convenience later. Designed to summarize. These are essentially productivity tools that bundle the kinds of generative AI capabilities found elsewhere into standalone devices.
But why would you want a device that does more than what your smartphone already has? Partly to free yourself from the less-than-welcome elements. Humane is pitching Ai Pin as a way to curb smartphone overuse by offering the same important functionality without the addictive apps that make you scroll compulsively. “An alcoholic is not dependent on the bottle, but on the contents,” says Christian Montag, chair of molecular psychology at the University of Ulm in Germany, by analogy. He says social media platforms in particular are often interested in intentionally extending screen time in order to show more ads or collect personal data. say. Experiments show that when you use your smartphone in grayscale mode, Reduce user retentionremoving the screen completely can have even more severe effects.
While this may seem counterintuitive to the tech industry’s ever-increasing appetite for new features and gadgets, it’s probably not as alien as it first seems. “Many people wear headphones all day long,” says Lindlbauer. “Therefore, it is entirely possible to move away from the temptation of scrolling through doom and move towards technology that allows us to access the digital world constantly, but unobtrusively.”
However, discussions about their broader applications are beginning to take place. For some, the future of this technology lies not in how it can be integrated into existing platforms, but in whether it can fundamentally change the way platforms are accessed. “There will be no need to use different apps for different tasks,” former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates said in an article. Blog post outlining his vision. “Simply tell your device, in everyday language, what you want to do.” Then, leave it to your device to figure out what apps, platforms, and information it needs to complete the task you set.
This is an idea that will be put into preliminary practice in the next stage. R1. Developed by Rabbit, a Californian AI startup, the R1 is a handheld device that looks a bit like a portable gaming console and operates like a powerful voice assistant. However, it is designed to interact directly with an app on your phone on your behalf, rather than simply connecting to an AI chatbot that generates passive responses to your commands (like other wearable gadgets). Masu. The idea is that R1 acts as an all-in-one interface for your device, a kind of central app that can control everything else.
“We’re not building products for new use cases. We’re developing better, more intuitive ways to address existing use cases.” said Jesse Lyu, Chief Executive Officer of Rabbit. He describes the R1 as a “digital companion” that doesn’t replace your smartphone, but makes it easier to use.
The value of that approach will become clear when R1 launches later this year. However, similar experimental devices are expected to follow. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT, is reportedly already in talks with former Apple chief designer Jony Ive to explore hardware ideas. And a group of startups and Silicon Valley powerhouses are now racing to develop the chips and processors these new devices will need to power their AI models.
Whatever form these AI devices end up taking, they will be hard to compete with the globally connected, highly capable, and intuitively controlled glass rectangles that are in most of our pockets. You’re going to have to work. However, as ubiquitous as smartphones seem, they too have an expiration date. “Smartphones have only been with us for about 15 years,” says Lindlbauer. “I don’t want to believe that smartphones are the pinnacle of technology or that we’ll ever use them the way we do now. [another] 15 years.”
I love how games keep me so occupied that I think about them all day long while living my real life. This doesn’t happen a lot these days because I’ve played so many games over the past 30 years. It happens when a game does something I’ve never seen before. For example, last year’s The Legend of Zelda: Kingdom of Tears featured a reckless gimmick. Or sometimes it’s because of something I do, like Dragon’s Dogma 2, which I’m still playing after reviewing last week. We’ve seen it before, but not for very long.
In the 12 years between the original Dragon’s Dogma and this sequel, Elden Ring is the only game that has come close to recapturing that brand of fantasy action role-playing with its chaotic, stubborn idiosyncrasies. This is a game where you can ruin a quest by fooling around for too long before pursuing the next objective. On an otherwise empty journey through the countryside, a griffin can appear and run you over to death almost instantly. The multidimensional beings who act as your companions on your journey contract a mysterious disease that unleashes the apocalypse when you save the game. You only have one save slot, so every decision counts. If you make a mistake, you have to accept it.
While some players have had disappointing reactions to the game’s inflexibility, I respect Dragon’s Dogma 2’s willingness to ruin your day at times. It will not bend to your will. You need to work around the rules, even if you don’t necessarily know what they are at first. At first, you might be annoyed that characters often tell you about interesting legends and rumors, but the game also marks them on the map to show you where they are likely to be found. And over time, when you are left out in the wilderness at night, without camping gear, and try to take shelter in a cave which leads to a crumbling mountain shrine, you may find a real Sphinx there. You realized that even if someone had marked the location on your map, you would never have done that. You must have been in awe the first time you saw those glowing eyes in the dark.
Conventional wisdom in open-world games has long held that games are structured like to-do lists. A character with an icon above their head will appear, they will give you something to do, and the game will conveniently mark the location and start checking boxes before receiving the reward. The map is full of small icons that show you where to find things you might need to upgrade your equipment or further your objectives. In recent years, games like Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Elden Ring have ditched these conventions, making their worlds feel once again mystical, realistic, and dangerous, but not Dragon’s Dogma 2.
The appeal of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is that it is less susceptible to external influences. Dragon’s Dogma 2 feels like the development team has spent the last decade or more playing only their own games. It’s appealingly free from outside influences and doesn’t adopt any of the ideas that other games have become standard for since 2012. For example, you cannot use menus to fast-traverse the map, except in a few rare cases. If you want to go somewhere, you have to walk. For many years.
You follow that path and if you stray from it, you’re very likely to run into something that will kill you. But you’ll also have adventures like when I found a haunted castle full of skeletons. By the time you and your team reach your next town as the night draws on, exhausted and full of trinkets you picked up along the way, you’ll feel like you’ve actually accomplished something. One way to get around on foot is by riding an oxcart. This takes even more time than incredible walking, unless the character falls asleep and wakes up at the destination. Also, during your journey, you may be attacked by monsters, destroy your entire cart, and end up stranded in a strange land in the middle of the night. It’s like a cruel joke.
What all of this gives the player is what I would describe as a feeling of being fully awake. You can’t switch off your brain when playing games like this. With no minimap or quest markers to tell you where to go, you have to remember what people say, use your eyes to read your way, and find things in the distance. You must be ready to fight when called upon, and be ready to run for your life when cornered. I keep seeing things I’ve never seen before.
Games like this have periodically pulled me out of my funk over the decades, reminding me that they can still be exciting and unpredictable. Regular reader Iain wrote the question last week that was part of the impetus for this issue. “As a gamer in my late 70s, I’ve been playing games since 1985. I think I’ve reached a point where I’ve seen it all before. Are there truly innovative titles, or do they stick to the ongoing series (some of which reach double digits)?” Well, Ian, for me Dragon’s Dogma 2 is one of those games that restores my faith. It may be a sequel, but it hasn’t been this great yet.
TFor a kid growing up in Britain in the 1980s, the Atari 400 and 800 machines seemed incredibly appealing. Most of my friends had a Commodore 64 or ZX Spectrum (occasionally he also used an Amstrad or Acorn Electron), but I only saw Atari computers in cool TV shows and movies like Videodrome and Police Story. That never happened. These two models, released in 1979, featured an Antic video processor that provided excellent graphics for the time, and a sound chip named Pokey to improve audio. These, like the Apple II, were seminal machines for young game programmers looking to create new types of experiences beyond simple arcade conversions.
Opening up the new Atari 400 Mini was a strangely emotional experience. The latest nostalgic release from Retro Games is an exquisitely detailed recreation of the original computer, featuring a non-functional version of the famous membrane keyboard in luscious 1970s beige, orange, and brown. It has 4 joystick ports (currently rather USB) (from the original Atari joystick port standard). The console comes with a new version of the classic Atari CX40 joystick, with the subtle addition of eight buttons that can now summon the keyboard to provide additional input options in Atari 400/800 games. Masu.
It includes 25 games that show the range of what was being produced on the 400 and 800 (the 800 was a higher-end model with more memory and a better keyboard) in the early 1980s. There are quaint home versions of classic arcade titles like “Asteroids,” “Millipede,” and “Battlezone,” which are, after all, what home console and computer developers had to do at the time. It’s a fascinating reminder of the compromises that weren’t made. And there are many more to come, including Capture the Flag, Paul Allen Edelstein’s two-player first-person tracking game, and his MULE, a multiplayer colonial strategy game that influenced the entire management simulation industry. You can get a glimpse of the genre.
There’s also some interesting experimentation in creating fast-paced 3D visuals in the form of futuristic racing sims Elektra Glide and Encounter. Written by Paul Woakes, who later went on to create one of his most fascinating 3D sci-fi adventure titles of this era, Mercenary.
Some games will be familiar to anyone who bought a C64 Mini or other retro machine, but the Atari 400 version was often the first to be released, so you get the primary source material here. Well almost. Although there is no original hardware used, the emulators that Retro Games employs to run all these games are robust and accurate, allowing them to recreate these 40-year-old gems very well.
400 Mini Millipede. Photo: Atari/Retro Game/Prion
And while they’re definitely older, many of these titles, including Boulder Dash and Lee (originally titled by Bruce Lee, whose license has probably expired), remain as truly playable relics. Saved. Either way, I’ve had many hours of fun discovering games I’ve never seen before, as well as familiar favorites in various guises. Additionally, in typical mini-console style, there is a rewind feature to fix mistakes, and the game can be saved to memory. You can also fine-tune your visual settings and choose CRT effects that mimic the display style of a traditional TV. A virtual keyboard is also available if you want to play games that require more input options. It’s not always easy to use, but it’s nice to be able to use it when necessary.
Interestingly, one of the 400 Mini’s selling points is its ability to “load your own programs.” This is a euphemism in the instruction manual for the console to play game files known as ROMs, which can be loaded via a USB stick. Most people will find these ROMs on the internet, but the legality of freely downloading game files is murky to say the least. So Retro Games leaves it up to you to figure this out. I ran a few games to test this aspect and it was a surprisingly smooth process. The emulator accepts files in many popular formats and plays both Atari 400 and 800 titles, as well as his later XL/XE variations. When you insert a USB stick with game ROMs, you’ll see a thumb drive icon in the games list on the screen, and clicking on it will show the games you’ve added. The system also supports games that originally appeared on multiple discs. Additionally, you can reconfigure the joystick buttons to suit the input requirements of most games you’re trying out.
Lee (formerly Bruce Lee) riding a 400 Mini. Photo: Atari/Retro Game/Prion
At £100, the 400 Mini isn’t cheap, and the game is a great choice for new players who prefer their Mega Drive or PC Engine Mini machines with their attractive 16-bit visuals and familiar series. It may not be appealing. But as an accessible museum piece, it’s a fascinating and well-made device that reveals games you’ve never played in its original form, as well as an entirely fresh retro experience. This industry has always failed to protect its heritage and history. Official archives are often exposed and inaccessible. The Mini Console is a small attempt to address this issue in an intuitive and well-chosen format.
I’m a long way from that kid growing up in the 1980s now, but finally playing these Atari 400 gems reminded me of him and what he was fascinated by. That in itself gives value to this little machine.
If you think a regular tornado is scary, fasten your seatbelts. Scientists have created a tornado so powerful that it resembles a black hole. why? This giant vortex closely mimics a black hole, so it could offer great potential for black hole research.
It was published in the magazine Nature experimental study We created something never seen before: a quantum tornado. Basically, while a normal tornado circulates by tearing apart trees and houses, a quantum tornado circulates atoms and particles.
To make the tornado mimic a black hole, the researchers needed to use helium in a “superfluid” state, meaning it has a low viscosity and can flow without resistance. These properties allow scientists to closely observe how helium interacts with its surroundings.
This led to the discovery that small waves on the liquid surface simulate the gravitational conditions around a rotating black hole.
So how did they do it? First, the team led by the University of Nottingham needed to achieve the right properties for the liquid. This involved cooling several liters of superfluid helium to the lowest possible temperature, below -271°C.
Normally, tiny objects called “quantum vortices” in liquid helium spread apart from each other. But at this new, ultra-low temperature, liquid helium takes on quantum properties and stabilizes.
Helium “quantum tornado” experimental equipment at the black hole laboratory. – Photo credit: Leonardo Solidoro
Using a new cryogenic device, researchers were able to trap tens of thousands of these tiny objects, creating a “vortex” similar to a tornado.
The success of this experiment will allow researchers to compare the interactions inside a simulated black hole with their own theoretical projections, giving scientists a new way to simulate theories of curved spacetime and gravity. Possibilities will be unlocked.
“When we first observed clear signs of black hole physics in our first analog experiments in 2017, it was a discovery of some strange phenomena that are often difficult, if not impossible, to study in other ways.” It was a breakthrough moment for understanding the phenomenon.” Professor Silke Weinfurtneris leading the research at the Black Hole Institute, where this experiment was developed.
“Now, with more sophisticated experiments, we have taken this research to the next level. This may lead to predictions of what will happen.”
Nvidia, a chipmaker, has once again solidified its position in artificial intelligence by introducing a new “superchip,” a quantum computing service, and a set of tools to assist in the development of general-purpose humanoid robots. Let’s delve into what the company is up to and the implications of their advancements.
What is NVIDIA doing?
At their annual development conference, Nvidia unveiled the latest generation of AI chips, known as the “Blackwell” series, used to power high-end data centers for training cutting-edge AI models like GPT, Claude, and Gemini. Among them is the Blackwell B200, an upgrade to the existing H100 AI chip. Using this new chip, training large AI models like GPT-4 would require significantly fewer chips and less power, potentially leading to more efficient power usage in the AI industry.
What makes a chip “super”?
In addition to the B200, Nvidia introduced the GB200 “superchip,” which combines two B200 chips on one board to enhance processing efficiency. This setup can significantly reduce energy consumption and improve overall performance, making it an attractive option for running advanced AI models like chatbots.
What if I want it to be bigger?
For those looking for even more power, Nvidia offers the GB200 NVL72, which can be configured with multiple B200 chips to create a powerful AI data center capable of handling complex tasks. Despite the high cost of these advanced chips, they provide significant capabilities for AI development.
What about my robot?
Nvidia’s Project GR00T aims to create foundational models for controlling humanoid robots, enabling them to understand natural language, mimic human behavior, and interact with the real world. Combined with technologies like Jetson Thor, Nvidia is paving the way for autonomous machines that can perform diverse tasks efficiently.
quantum?
While Nvidia is not directly involved in quantum cloud computing, they are venturing into this realm by offering a service that simulates quantum computing using AI chips. This enables researchers to test quantum ideas without the need for expensive quantum computers, with plans to provide access to third-party quantum computers in the future.
British Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award has been won by a remarkable image of a football covered in invasive goose barnacles. Photographer Ryan Stoker’s images highlight the dangers of waste polluting our oceans and the impact on native wildlife.
“The soccer ball traveled across the Atlantic and ended up on the shores of Dorset,” Stoker explained. “Increased debris in the ocean could result in more organisms reaching our coasts, raising the risk of invasive species.”
The RSPB Young British Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024 Award was given to Max Wood for his evocative image of a coot crossing a misty lake at sunrise. This award aims to inspire young individuals to engage in wildlife conservation.
The British Wildlife Photographer of the Year showcases the diverse and stunning wildlife of Britain. The 2025 competition is now open for entries, welcoming photographers of all levels to submit their images.
Animal Behavior Category Runner-Up – Dancing in the Dark
A pair of Crested Grebes (Podiceps cristatus) Touch the beak of Killingworth, North Tyneside, England, United Kingdom.Photo credit: Matthew Glover/British Wildlife Photography Award
Coastal/Ocean Division Runner-up – Fire in the night
Fireworks anemone (Pachycerianthus mulplicatus) shows fluorescence in Loch Fyne, Scotland, UK. These sea anemones live in very still water and are sensitive to the slightest movement. When disturbed, they quickly withdraw.Photo by Dan Bolt/British Wildlife Photography Award
Black and White Category Winner – Raven on Alan
A crow flies high over the top of Goatfell, the highest mountain on the Isle of Arran in Scotland, UK.Photo by Robin Dodd/British Wildlife Photography Award
Winner of Botanical Britain – Little Forest Balloons
A group of slime molds (comatrica nigra) Photographed in Essex, England, United Kingdom. The width of each head of these fruiting bodies is approximately 1 mm.Photo by Jason McCombe/British Wildlife Photography Award
Habitat Category Winner – Tightrope Walker
Red fox (Vulpes Vulpes Vulpes) walks across tree branches in Sherwood Pines Forest Park, Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom.Photo by Daniel Valverde Fernandes/British Wildlife Photography Award
Runner-up in the urban wildlife category – what’s all the fuss about?
In this photo, the Arctic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) is resting on a dock in the port of Scarborough, England, after landing.Photo by Will Palmer/British Wildlife Photography Award
Hidden UK Winner – Three’s a crowd
Three common blue butterflies (Polyommatus icarus) Photographed at Beeland Farm, Devon, England, United Kingdom.Photo by: Ross Hoddinott/British Wildlife Photography Award
Winner of the 12-14 year old category – Mother and Fawn
Mother and young roe deer (capreolus capreolus) Forest, Sherfield-on-London, England, United Kingdom.Photo credit: Felix Walker-Nix/British Wildlife Photography Award
Wild Forest Category Winner – Empty Beech
Beech crown (Beech) in East Lothian, Scotland, UK.Photo credit: Graham Niven/British Wildlife Photography Awards
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Urban Wildlife Category Winner – Day Walker
This bitch (Vulpes Vulpes Vulpes) began living in an electrical substation after being evicted from their parent’s territory of Bristol, England.Photo by Simon Withyman/British Wildlife Photography Awards
11 years old and under division winner Spring Treasure
pheasant(Fasianus colchicus) I’m sitting on a fence on a cold, foggy morning in Mid Wales, England.Photo by Jamie Smart/British Wildlife Photography Award
Habitat Category Runner-up – Crop Thief
brown rabbit (lepus europe) munching on crops in the evening in Nantwich, Cheshire, UK.Photo by Steven Allcock/British Wildlife Photography Awards
Botanical Bulletin Category Runner-up – Rainbow at Dawn
A type of bushy seaweed known as rainbow rack (Cystoseira Tamarisfolia) is below the water’s surface and photographed as the sun rises. Photographed in Falmouth, Cornwall, England.Photo by Martin Stevens/British Wildlife Photography Award
Hidden Britain runner-up – Daisy Danger
Flower crab spider (Mismena Vatia) and bees (Western honey bee) are very close together and both live in oxeye daisy flowers. This photo was taken on his A30 property in Devon, England, which has remained untouched for many years. This makes it a paradise for wildflowers and the wildlife that lives there.Photo credit: Lucien Harris/British Wildlife Photography Award
Winner of Animal Behavior Category – Three Frogs in amplexus
A trio of ordinary frogs (Lana Temporaria) floats on the surface of the water with its abdomen open. In this mating position, the male frog uses his legs to grab the female from behind. Photographed in Perthshire, Scotland, England.Photo by Ian Mason/British Wildlife Photography Award
Youth Division Overall Winner – Water Running
coot(Furika Atlas)Skip-fly over Frensham Little Pond in Surrey, England, United Kingdom.Photo by Max Wood/British Wildlife Photography Award
brown rabbit (lepus europe) looking straight into the camera in Nottinghamshire, England, United Kingdom.Photo by Spencer Burrows/British Wildlife Photography Award
Black and white category runner-up – squirrel silhouette
red squirrel (vulgaris ciirus) Taken during a jump in Cumbria, England, United Kingdom.Photo by Rosamund MacFarlane/British Wildlife Photography Award
Animal Portrait Winner – Starling at Night
Starling (vulgaris vulgaris) Garden, Solihull, West Midlands, England, UK.Photo credit: Mark Williams/British Wildlife Photography Award
Overall Winner – Ocean Drifter
Soccer ball covered with goose barnacles (chest) below the waterline. A soccer ball washed up on the coast of Dorset, England, after a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Barnacles are not native to the UK, but can be washed up on beaches during strong Atlantic storms.Photo credit: Ryan Stalker/British Wildlife Photography Award
Kneeling in the snow outside the King’s house with a man named Harald and an electric car, imitating a heartthrob from the 1980s is quite an unconventional situation that definitely needs some explanation.
The King of Norway is also named Harald, but the man with me outside the monarch’s mansion in Stavanger is not a king. I’m here to explore Norway’s prominence in adopting electric cars as a solution to combat CO2 emissions from transportation. Norway has emerged as a global leader in this field with a significant percentage of electric cars being sold in recent years.
On the other hand, the UK has extended its ban on new petrol and diesel cars, while the situation in the EU regarding electric car sales remains below par. Stavanger, Norway’s third-largest city, stands out as an oil hub that has made significant strides towards zero-emission transport through initiatives like electric buses and vehicles.
The man accompanying me, Harald Nils Rostvik, an architect and urban planning professor, has been a driving force behind Norway’s electric vehicle revolution for decades. His pioneering efforts date back to the introduction of one of Norway’s first electric cars in 1989, marking the beginning of a journey towards sustainable transportation.
IIn 1983, former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland spearheaded the Brundtland Commission, which laid the foundation for sustainable development and environmental awareness. Rostvik’s advocacy for electric vehicles and civil disobedience campaigns with environmental activists like Morten Halkett and Mags Furholmen, members of the iconic pop group a-ha, reshaped the narrative around electric cars in Norway.
Their efforts, including importing one of the country’s first electric cars, paved the way for a shift towards greener transportation methods. Despite facing challenges and fines for their activism, their perseverance and innovative spirit contributed to Norway’s evolving landscape of electric mobility.
(from left) Morten Halkett, Harald Nils Rostvik, Frederik Hauge, Mags Furholmen.
The legacy of their early advocacy continues to shape Norway’s EV landscape, with ambitious goals of achieving 100% electric car sales by next year. The collaborative efforts of individuals like Rostvik and prominent figures like Halkett have been instrumental in driving Norway towards a sustainable future of zero-emission transport.
Until February 28th and March 1st In 2021, I sent the following text as an email attachment to others: 30 people I thought were closest friend. The subject was: : “It's a bomb.” I grinned at the unintentional pun and wondered if there were other people out there who would do the same. The title was simply “Lucy”.
TOn February 16th, when I downloaded FaceApp for a laugh, he burst out. I tried this application a few years ago, but something went wrong and it returned images that failed horribly. But I had a new phone, so I was curious. The gender swap feature was the biggest takeaway for me, and the first photo I used this feature on was one I had tried before. This time, it gave me a frontal portrait of a middle-aged woman who is strong, healthy, and living a clean life. She also had beautiful flowing chestnut hair and very subtle makeup. And her face was mine. There's no question about it – her nose, mouth, eyes, forehead, chin. she was me When I saw her, I felt something melt in her core. It shook from her shoulders to her crotch. I thought I had finally arrived at my calculation.
Soon, I was entering all my portraits, snapshots, and ID card photos into the magical gender portal. The first archival photo I tried was a studio portrait of an anxious, awkward teenage girl, around the same time as my first memory of gazing into the mirror and having my hair and expression styled like a girl's. The result of the transformation was the revelation of a happy girl. Other than her long black hair, little was done to transform her into Lucy. The biggest difference was how relaxed she looked.
And that's pretty much how it turned out. I was having a lot of fun as a girl in that parallel life. I passed through every era through the machine and experienced one shock of recognition after another. That would have been exactly me. Oddly enough, the app seemed to be guessing at my hairstyle and fashion choices at the time. And the less the images changed, the deeper they drove the dagger into my heart. It could be me! Fifty years are underwater, and I can't get them back.
My high school graduation portrait turned out to be an incredibly delicate almond-eyed fawn (admittedly 17 years old was the pinnacle of my beauty, perhaps that's why my male incubus soon That's probably why he grew a beard). Ten or twelve years later (unfortunately, there are very few photos of me in my 20s; I've always been camera-shy), I was a Lower East Side post-punk radical with a Dutch-boy bob and a pout. I'm a lesbian feminist.here i am sports illustrated Junkett, 33, of Arizona, looked modest in a red polka dot dress and white sweater.
There are many reasons why I suppressed my lifelong desire to become a woman. First of all, it was impossible. My parents would have called a priest and sent me to some convent. And of course the culture wasn't ready.I knew about Christine Jorgensen. [the first person widely known in the US for having gender reassignment therapy] When I was quite young, however, she seemed to be an isolated case. Most of the time, what you encountered were raunchy jokes by Las Vegas comedians and the occasional provocative tabloid article. I kept searching for images and stories of girls like me, but without much success.
Over the years, I have consumed a tremendous amount of material on transgender issues, from clinical research to personal reports, journalistic exposure, and pornography. However, there isn't much porn. It disgusted me. I researched this topic in depth, just like I did for the other books, but I had to keep all my notes in my head.
I immediately got rid of all the materials because I was afraid people would see them. Before browsers allowed anonymous searches, I used to clear the search memory on my computer every day. You may be wondering why I felt the need to go so far. Long story short, my mother regularly raided my room, read my handwriting, and scrutinized every print for possible sexual innuendos. I relayed that warning to my friends, who were also left with the idea that women would be disgusted and repulsed by my transgender identity. Most of them would probably have been sympathetic. where did you get that? This may be because as an only child of orphaned immigrants, I didn't have many female friends until my late teens, and I didn't have any female friends until I was 17.
Needless to say, I was terrible at sex. I didn't know how to act like a man in bed. I wanted to see myself as a woman in the act of love, but I had to suppress that desire while at the same time trying seriously to please my partner (because, at least at first, I almost never slept with someone I didn't love).
I was never attracted to men, but I spent enough time in gay environments in the 70s to convince me of that. During adolescence and beyond, I didn't know how to construct a masculine identity. I hated sports, stupid jokes, chugging beer, and men talking about women. My image of hell was a night with a bunch of guys. Over the years, by necessity, I have come across as saturnine, intelligent, a little aloof, a little wolfish, perhaps “eccentric” and, despite my best intentions, very close to asexual. I created a male persona.
Another reason for my repression was the feeling that if I changed my gender, it would erase everything else I wanted to do in life. I wanted to be an important writer and I didn't want to be pigeonholed into a category. If I were transgender, that fact would be the only thing anyone would know about me. Over the years, transgender people have become increasingly visible in the media, and coverage has become a little less cruel. I lived in New York City, so I saw a lot of transgender people. I had been friends with photographer Nan Goldin for a while, but he never spoke to me, even though I'm sure he would have understood what I was saying.
Sometimes I would hear rumors about this or that person being “dressed up,” and as a result, I became forever uncomfortable in their presence – out of envy, of course. My office in the late '80s and early '90s was located a block away from Tompkins Square Park in the East Village, where I attended Wigstock, the annual Labor Day drag festival. I never looked into it. It was also half a block away from the Pyramid Club, which was the epicenter of New York's drug scene at the time, but I've never been there either. At the time, there was a black menu board on the sidewalk outside the club that read, “Drink and Be Merry.” I shivered every time I passed there.
I was scared to face what I was facing now. I wanted to be a woman with every fiber of my being, and even though that thought was pasted on my windshield, I still trained myself to do it and see through it. Now that the floodgates have opened, I’m falling in love with the idea in a new way. The first time I uploaded a photo to her FaceApp, I felt my core melt into liquid. Now I feel a pillar of fire.
But that shouldn't mean steely determination. The idea of transition is both infinitely fascinating and infinitely frightening. If you take and edit at least one selfie every day, your photos will feel more and more true to life. With a little makeup, some estrogen, and a really nice wig, I could probably look exactly like that. But will the fact that I can't grow my hair make me feel like a fake forever? And he will be 67 years old soon. What if I look grotesque? Or am I just pathetic?
It's a big decision that affects every aspect of my life. As a result, will you accidentally destroy something important in your life? I'm hoping that some situation will force me to migrate. Maybe my therapist is saying it's important for my sanity. Anyway, I'm going to start here by writing it down – something I've never done before – and sending it to a very small number of people I trust and think will understand. My name is Lucy Marie Santé, just one letter added to my dead name. February 26, 2021
Luc Santé before the transition, photographed in New York in 2015. Photo: Courtesy of Lucie Santé.Tim Knox/The Guardian
TThe hat was written in a whirlwind. Every time I think about the chronology, I am amazed again. The first manifestation of her FaceApp occurred on his February 16th. Ten days later, I came out to my therapist, Dr. G, and he didn't blink, just told me he thought transitioning was a logical and good idea. The next evening, after I finished writing the letter, I came out to my partner Mimi, which was the hardest thing
for them to do. And the next day I came out to his son Rafael. The secret fortress I had spent nearly 60 years building and fortifying fell to pieces in a little over a week.
The response was immediate: emails, phone calls, text messages. There was a range, but everyone was kind. Some people said, “It's unexpected, but not surprising,'' “I'm surprised, but not surprising,'' and “It's shocking, but not.'' On the other side, there were several people who reacted as if they had been hit by a train. there was. Other method. They tend to be primarily men who, over the course of years of friendship, have come to think of me as a kind of mirror or double, and that reevaluating me means they need to reevaluate themselves. Did. All of the
people on the “not surprised” side were women, as were the three people who wrote that they had tears of happiness in their eyes after reading my letter.
Of course, I was prepared for some sort of backlash, expressed calmly and thoughtfully, but it never really came, either then or later. Most reactions were, “Yay, go for it, you'll do it.”
Well, as I write this article, I am about to enter my 18th month of hormone replacement therapy. I am legally Lucy, I identify as a woman, and I have feelings for everyone in my life, no matter how far away. I'm completely normal and the same person I've always been, but I'm also a completely different person. I feel more socially secure than ever before. I've gotten a lot of stares, but I've never felt any aggression. Because I'm not a threat. I'm old, white, and reasonably privileged.
I can honestly say I have never been happier. The shadow of me that once hid under the floorboards has finally taken up residence within myself. In fact, I feel free from the neuroses that have been bothering me all this time. Of course, you can and will get sad for a variety of reasons, but at least depression has been avoided for now. Of course, I wish I could have transitioned in my teens, twenties, or at an earlier age than I did, but in return I was left in peace and able to embrace my changes within the life I had already constructed. It has survived all eras. censorious
elders. I really like myself the way I am. I turned out better than I ever imagined, better than I feared.
I am more aware of others and find it much easier to take out emotional issues on others. In various situations, I often experience a kind of calmness, a general sense of correctness about the world. I no longer hate myself or feel sorry for who I am. I walk with pride. Thank you for using whatever force you had to crack my egg before it was too late. I was saved from drowning.
In March 2024, early risers should be able to view comet C/2021 S3 (PanSTARRS) through binoculars as it approaches Earth.
Comets, often referred to as “dirty snowballs,” are icy objects that travel through space, leaving behind a trail of dust and gas as they approach the Sun.
C/2021 S3 was discovered in September 2021 by one of the PanSTARS telescopes on Mount Haleakala (Hawaii) and is predicted to reach a magnitude between 7 and 9 (the lower the magnitude, the more powerful the comet is). (looks bright).
You can’t see it with the naked eye, but you should be able to spot it with a decent pair of binoculars. However, predicting a comet’s final brightness is somewhat difficult. Comets are difficult to handle and prefer to act independently.
But don’t worry, Comet C/2021 S3 poses no danger to Earth and will pass us safely.
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When can we see Comet Panstars tonight?
A comet is approaching Earth on March 14, 2024. It reached perihelion, the closest point to the Sun in its orbit, on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, when it became visible from the United States and the United Kingdom.
During the second half of the month, around March 18th to March 29th, the Moon begins to interfere as it approaches the full moon on March 25th. Starting on the opposite side of the sky, the moon gradually approaches the comet towards the end of the month.
In late March, especially if you want to spot the comet passing through the Coat Hanger star map (more on how to find the Coat Hanger below), look up around 3 a.m. GMT. Basically, as soon as the comet is above the horizon. As dawn approaches, an interfering moon will spoil the progress.
How to see a comet
Comet C/2021 S3 is heading northeast, passing roughly between the large constellation of Ophiuchus above and the small constellations Scutum and Aquila below. Ophiuchus and Aquila both straddle the celestial equator, while Scutum lies just south of it.
Until about March 18, look to the southeast early in the morning as the sky begins to lighten. By this point, the comet is visible above the horizon and the Moon appears relatively out of the way.
The best time to see the views is around 3am in late March. Also, at this time, Comet C/2021 S3 will pass over the Coathanger Cluster, a small star group. And yes, it’s exactly like the name! Here’s how to find it:
Find the Summer Triangle. Let’s start by identifying the Summer Triangle. This is an easily recognizable asterism, formed by the bright stars Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in Lyra, and Altair in Aquila.
Find the constellation Little Vulgar. Once you find the Summer Triangle, look for the constellation Little Bitis. It is located between Cygnus and Sagittarius and is shaped like an extended M. It can be found by drawing an imaginary line north from the star Altair in the Summer Triangle.
Move to coat hanger. Once you find Vulpecula, look for the Coathanger Asterism. This is very distinctive and looks like a coat hanger or an upside down question mark. The Coathanger is an asterism within Vulpecula and is easy to find once you enter the right area.
If you’re star hopping and having trouble finding the star on your coat hanger, downloading a stargazing app can help. Here are all the best astronomy apps.
Here’s what you can do to help astronomers discover moreComet
Photos from amateur astronomers help researchers improve space weather predictions and influence solar wind technology.
Comet tails, also known as “cosmic windsocks,” can tell us a lot about the strength and direction of the solar wind. For example, if the tail peels off or wobbles, you can infer that there is increased activity.
Please send images, including date, time and location, to researcher Sarah Watson at srwatson@pgr.reading.ac.uk. The research team is particularly interested in observing the broken tail.
The comet is not expected to be bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, so if you want to photograph it you’ll need a small telescope or a camera with a large lens.
Why do comets get brighter when they get closer to the sun?
Comets become more active as they get closer to the sun. Intense heat from the sun and solar radiation can evaporate ice cores and suddenly release dust and gas. This process forms a glowing coma (a cloud of gas and dust) around the nucleus and a bright tail that reflects sunlight.
This tail can span millions of kilometers and is influenced by a combination of different processes. For example, the solar wind, which is made up of charged particles, can interact with these gases to produce ion tails that point away from the sun.
In addition, the sun’s radiation pressure develops and displaces the dust particles. This can lead to the formation of a separate dust tail, which often lags behind the ion tail. A combination of sublimation (the transformation of solid ice directly into gas), ionization, and radiation pressure all affect the appearance of comet tails as they orbit the Sun.
And the closer the comet is to the Sun, the more intense this activity becomes, and the brighter it appears in the night sky.
the current, 3,922 known comets (and its fragments) of our solar system.
But it can also get dark…
However, this is not always the case. When a comet runs out of volatile matter, it may lose its ability to produce a bright coma and tail. Therefore, comets appear darker as they get closer to the Sun. In addition, comets can develop a crust that makes it completely impossible for material to escape.
Scientists hypothesize that comet C/2021 S3 may already have a mineral crust forming on its surface. If this were the case, the comet’s albedo (reflectance) would be much lower because the crust would protect its volatile-rich interior from the sun. In other words, it won’t be as bright as other comets this year. But if the underlying material continues to evaporate and creates enough pressure to break through the Earth’s crust, a flare can occur. That would be fun.
When is the next comet?
Comet C/2021 S3 is one of the few bright comets we’re watching this year. Next up is Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, also known as the “Devil’s Comet” thanks to its distinctive “horns” that began to widen towards the end of 2023.
It can be easily seen with a telescope or binoculars, and will begin to brighten towards the end of March 2024, so it could be the first comet of 2024 to be visible to the naked eye.
BRetain wants to lead the world in AI regulation. However, AI regulation is a rapidly evolving and contested policy area, with little agreement on what a good outcome looks like, let alone the best way to get there. And the fact that he is the third most important AI research center in the world does not give him so much power if the first two are the United States and China.
How do we cut this Gordian knot? Simple: Act quickly and decisively and do nothing.
The UK Government has today taken the next step towards legislation to regulate AI. From our story:
The government will admit on Tuesday that binding measures to oversee
cutting-edge AI development will be needed at some point, but not immediately. Instead, ministers will set out “initial thoughts on future binding requirements” for advanced systems and discuss them with technical, legal and civil society experts.
The Government will also give regulators £10m to help tackle AI risks and require them to develop their approach to the technology by April 30th.
When the first draft of the AI whitepaper was published in March 2023, the reaction was negative. The government’s proposal was withdrawn on the same day as the now-infamous call for a six-month “pause” on AI research to control the risks of an out-of-control system. Against this background, this white paper seemed pathetic.
The proposal would give regulators no new powers and would not give responsibility for guiding AI development to any private group. Instead, the government planned to align existing regulators, such as the Competition and Markets Authority and the Health and Safety Executive, and set out five principles to guide the regulatory framework when considering AI.
This approach has been criticized by the UK’s leading AI research group, the Ada Lovelace Institute, as having “significant gaps”, and even the fact that a multi-year legislative process will leave AI unregulated during the interim period. Ignored.
So what has changed?Well, the government Really awesome £10 million
Asking regulators to “upskill”, has set an April 30 deadline for the largest companies to publish their AI plans. A Department for Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson said: “The UK Government is in no hurry to legislate and will not risk introducing ‘ready-to-read’ rules that quickly become outdated or ineffective.” Ta.
This is a strange definition of “global AI leadership” and it’s important to immediately say “we’re not doing anything.” The government is also “considering” actual regulations, envisioning “future binding requirements that may be introduced for developers building cutting-edge AI systems.”
The second, slightly larger fund will cost “almost” £90m to launch “nine new centers of excellence across the UK”. The government also announced £2 million in funding to support “new research projects that help define what responsible AI looks like”.
There is an element of tragedy when reading the government press release that triumphantly revealed £2 million in funding from Yoshua Bengio, one of the three “godfathers” of AI, just a week later. Asks Canada to spend $1 billion We are building publicly owned supercomputers to keep up with the big tech companies. It’s like bringing a spoon to a knife fight.
You can say you’re agile in the face of conflicting demands, but after more than 11 months, it just seems impossible to commit. The day before the latest update to the AI White Paper was published, the Financial Times broke the news that another pillar of AI regulation had collapsed. from that story (lb):
The Intellectual Property Office, the UK government’s agency that oversees copyright law, is working with AI companies and rights holders to produce guidance on text and data mining, where AI models are trained on existing materials such as books and music. We are discussing with.
But a group of industry executives convened by the IPO to oversee the work was unable to agree on a voluntary code of conduct, handing responsibility back to officials at the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology.
Unlike broader AI regulation, which has a quagmire of conflicting opinions and very vague long-term goals, copyright reform is a very clear trade-off. On the one hand, creative and media companies that own valuable intellectual property. On the other side are technology companies that can use their intellectual property to build valuable AI tools. One group or the other will be frustrated by the outcome. A perfect compromise simply means that both are true.
Last month, the head of Getty Images was one of many to call on the UK to support its creative industries, which make up a tenth of the UK economy, citing the theoretical benefits that AI could bring in the future. And, faced with difficult choices with no right answers, the government chose to do nothing. Then you cannot lead the world in the wrong direction. And isn’t that what leadership is all about?
completely fake
Joe Biden poses with his smartphone while on the campaign trail. The President of the United States was the subject of a fake video posted on Facebook. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP
To be fair to the government, there are obvious problems with moving too quickly. Let’s take a look at social media to see some of them. Facebook’s rules do not prohibit deepfake videos of Joe Biden, the company’s Oversight Board (also known as the “Supreme Court”) has found.But honestly, it’s not clear what they are do Prohibition will become increasingly problematic. From our story:
Meta’s oversight board found that a Facebook video that falsely suggested that U.S. President Joe Biden is a pedophile did not violate the company’s current rules, but said the rules were “disjointed”. Yes, we believe that the focus is too narrow on AI-generated content.
The board, which is funded by Facebook’s parent company Meta but operates independently, took over the Biden video case in October in response to user complaints about a doctored seven-second video of the president.
Facebook rushed out a “manipulated media” policy several years ago, before ChatGPT and large-scale language models became AI trends, and amid growing interest in deepfakes. The rule
s prohibited misleading and altered videos created by AI.
The problem, the oversight committee said, is that the policy is impossible to apply because it has little clear rationale behind it and no clear theory of the harm it seeks to prevent. How can moderators differentiate between videos created by AI (which is prohibited) and videos created by skilled video editors (which are allowed)? Even if they could, Why is only the former problematic enough to be removed from the site?
The Oversight Committee proposed updating the rules to remove the temporary reference to AI altogether and instead require labels to identify manipulated audio and video content, regardless of the manipulation method. Mehta said it would update its policy.
Brianna Gee’s mother is calling for stricter restrictions on smartphones and social media. Photo: Handout to families/Cheshire Police/PA
Brianna Gee’s mother is calling for a revolution in how teens approach social media after her daughter was murdered by two of her classmates. Under-16s, she says, should be limited to devices made for teenagers that allow parents to easily monitor their technological lives, which are age-restricted by governments and tech companies.
I spoke to Archie Brand, editor of the daily newsletter First Edition, about her plea:
This lament will resonate with many parents, but in Brianna’s case it has special power. She was “secretly accessing sites on her smartphone that promoted anorexia and self-harm.” Petition created by Esther Say. And prosecutors
said her killers used Google to search for poisons, “serial killer facts” and ways to combat anxiety, and searched Amazon for rope.
“We don’t need new software to do everything Esther Gee wants us to do,” says Alex Hahn. “But there’s a broader problem here. Just as this sector has historically moved faster than governments can keep up, it’s also moving faster than parents can keep up. This varies from app to app and changes regularly, so it’s a large and difficult job to keep track of.”
You can read Archie's full email here (and sign up here to get the first edition every weekday morning).
Wider TechScape
Taylor Swift is one of the Universal Music artists whose work has been stripped from TikTok. Photo: Natasha Pisarenko/AP
Thank you, I hate it. However, he has 135 million (!) views, so more information is needed.
Are you okay. “Skibidi Toilet” is an ongoing YouTube animated web series by Georgian content creator Alexei Gerasimov. Since launching in February, his YouTube channel his DaFuq!?Boom! is currently just outside the top 100 of his YouTube channels in the world by number of subscribers. There are currently over 70 episodes, with new videos uploaded every few days, but as the length and quality of production has increased, the period between new episodes has grown longer.
Skibidi Toilet's popularity is primarily driven by kids 13 and under, and it's the first meme to bemoan Gen Z being too old to understand. The fact that most of Skibidi Toilet's fans are young, combined with the show's disturbing aesthetic and violence, has led to a new wave of moral panic about how the internet is poisoning children's brains. It is an excellent material.
Parenting website and TikTok influencerIndonesia in particular has already warned of the clear dangers of “skibidi toilet syndrome”, and Russian authorities are also getting involved.
Skibidi Toilet Syndrome ???? What are the symptoms? please tell me.
It is not yet recognized by DSM-V. This is an umbrella term that describes what parents believe about the behavior their children exhibit after watching the show. Parents have recorded their children becoming 'obsessed' with the Skibidi Toilet. upset or angry after viewing has been restricted or prohibited; or Sits in a basket or box and acts like a skividi pottywhich seems more cute than scary, but what do I know?
Moscow police learn about father's case asked the authorities The purpose is to investigate whether the video is having a negative impact on children.Russian lawmakers are especially likely to look for signs of moral decline in internet culture – in 2015 the State Duma said laws passed Memes that mock or satirize public figures are prohibited.
What is the show actually about?
The first few episodes depict a city and its inhabitants being steadily taken over by Skibidi Toilet. Skibidi Toilet is a scary animated head that lives in a toilet and sings a mashup of Timbaland's “Give It to Me” and Visser King's “Dom Dom Yes Yes” . Cameraheads (the series' main characters, well-dressed men with head surveillance cameras) emerge as an underground resistance movement. It soon becomes an all-out war between both increasingly powerful and destructive sides.
Oddly enough, I found myself drawn into the world of Skibidi Toilet.A clear story is unfolding There are plot twists, betrayals, humor, murderous action scenes, and some moments that probably felt more than I expected..
You mentioned “a new moral panic about how the internet is harming children's brains.” Do you feel like something like this happens once every few months?
Harsh stories about how the Internet turns children into psychopaths have become recurring themes in the modern news cycle.In recent years, social media has been accused of putting children and teens at risk. eat laundry detergent, steal items from their school, and develop symptoms About Tourette syndrome.
There's also a political element. Far-right politicians in the United States and elsewhere have made ridiculous claims that TikTok is brainwashing children into questioning their sexual and gender identities, supporting Hamas, and feeding child sex traffickers. We are raising funds and running a campaign.
None of this is new. Millennials will remember clutching their pearls at strange internet ephemera such as: slender man And as a larger cultural indicator, grand theft auto video game series. This isn't to say there isn't some of his content online that children should be protected from, such as a disturbing pirated YouTube video of Peppa Pig being beaten at the dentist. But if all the content that caused a moral panic had any value, the world's children using the internet would have become children of the corn a long time ago.
So what's the verdict on Skibidi Toilet?
It's kind of fun! There are certainly parts that young children might find scary (many episodes end with Skibidi Toilet charging towards the camera), but once you get past the red-eyed toilet monster, there's a lot of talk surrounding it. Much less creepy than that. I was able to become one.
Either way, much of the best children's entertainment is weird and dark. Roald Dahl's books are full of murderous school principals and children who are mutilated in comedic ways. Hansel and Gretel had to push the witch into the oven. If you're worried about your child suddenly acting like a singing potty, take a look at Skibidi Potty together. You may even feel guilty.
A mother manatee (pictured above) swims up to a cave diver in a flooded cave in Quintana Roo, Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Klaus ThiemannThey captured amazing photos of these endangered mammals living in unique, unexplored habitats. “Of course I think she's looking at me,” Tyman says. “But in reality, she's probably seeing what's on camera.”
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Carved into the limestone by flowing water, this cave system is thought to be up to 16,000 kilometers long and connects coastal and inland cenotes, freshwater-filled sinkholes created when cave roofs collapse. is. Timan and his fellow divers have been exploring this system (pictured above) to photograph manatees, which, unlike humans, can easily navigate passages.
Although manatees have likely lived in the area for generations, it is estimated that fewer than 250 manatees exist in the Mexican Caribbean, Tiemann said. Timan is concerned that nearby construction projects are endangering aquatic species in the area. A new railway line will further develop this popular tourist destination (pictured above). Construction can impede the flow of water through the system, starving it of oxygen and trapping manatees. Wastewater from surface runoff and sewage systems degrades the water quality of local aquifers.
Although the coastal area is protected as a manatee sanctuary, it does not extend as far inland as the manatees were photographed. So while the discovery of manatees in a relatively pristine cave system is good news, these habitats may not remain pristine for very long.
Do not panic! Disease X doesn’t exist yet, but it might someday. Disease The term, coined in 2017, can be used to mean a newly discovered pathogen or a known pathogen with newly acquired pandemic potential. According to the latter definition, covid-19 was the first disease X. However, in the future another disease may appear.
Why are people talking about it now?
The World Health Organization is warning world leaders about the risks of future pandemics at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, this week. “Some people say this could cause panic,” says WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “No. It’s happened so many times in our history that it’s better to anticipate what might happen and be prepared for it.”
What will be the next disease, X?
We don’t know – that’s why it’s called Disease X. Coronaviruses, a large group of viruses, have long been seen as prime candidates for causing new pandemics, even before the COVID-19 outbreak. That’s because the new coronavirus was not the first dangerous pathogen in this group. In 2002, another coronavirus began to spread in China. It caused a type of pneumonia called SARS, which killed about one in 10 people who contracted it, before being stopped by strict infection control measures. Another more deadly coronavirus, called MERS, occasionally occurs and causes pneumonia that kills one in three people infected. However, recent research suggests that it will be more difficult for SARS and MERS to cause new pandemics. That’s because almost everyone in the world now has antibodies to the virus that causes COVID-19, and these appear to offer partial protection against most other pathogens in the coronavirus family. It is.
Are there any other candidates with pandemic potential?
Many diseases, some well-known and some less well-known, can pose a global threat. Influenza strains have caused several global pandemics in the past, including the 1918 “Spanish Flu,” one of the deadliest diseases in history. A highly virulent avian influenza virus is currently sweeping the world, and birds can sometimes infect mammals. causing mass deaths. Just this week, he was named as the culprit behind the deaths of 17,000 baby elephant seals in Argentina last October. There are other sources of infection, including Ebola, which causes severe bleeding, and Zika, a virus transmitted by mosquitoes that can cause babies to have smaller heads if infected during pregnancy. WHO updated its report List of pathogens with the highest pandemic potential In 2022.
What can be done to stop disease X?
There’s some good news. The COVID-19 pandemic may have made it easier to stop future Disease X outbreaks. COVID-19 has spurred the development of new vaccine designs, including those that can be quickly repurposed to target new pathogens. For example, this has led to the emergence of mRNA-based vaccines. The formula contains a short piece of genetic material that causes the body’s immune cells to produce the coronavirus’s “spike” protein, but can be updated to allow the cells to mass-produce a different protein by simply rewriting the mRNA sequence. there is a possibility.
Is there anything else I can do to fight disease X?
Mr Tedros said countries needed better early warning systems for emerging diseases and health services needed to be more resilient to unexpected spikes in demand. “When hospitals exceed capacity, [with covid], we lost a lot of people because we couldn’t manage them. There wasn’t enough space and there wasn’t enough oxygen. ” Tedros said health services must be able to scale up response capacity on demand to avoid the same thing happening when Disease X occurs. Fortunately, they can make such preparations without knowing exactly what disease X will be. “Disease X is a placeholder,” he says. “You can prepare for any illness.”
football greats Wide range of weekly episodes available Was Ian Wright a better footballer than Alan Shearer? How do players communicate with foreign teams who only know the word “Bobby Charlton”? Geoff Stelling discusses these questions with guests including Paul Merson, Glenn Hoddle and Sir Geoff Hurst. In the first episode, Stelling reunites with Soccer Saturday partner Chris Kamara and relives many fond memories, including the origin of that iconic “I can’t believe it, Jeff!” Catchphrase. Hannah Verdier
Blindspot: Plague in the Shadows Wide range of weekly episodes available This podcast focuses on New York, where misinformation and misinformation were rife in the early days of the HIV epidemic. WNYC’s Kai Wright has been a reporter on the ground since 1996, and is not critical of how people in need are denied access to medical care. Dr. Anthony Fauci was among those interviewed, along with activists from the 1980s. HV
On January 6, 2021, supporters of Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol. Photo: Mandel Gunn/AFP/Getty Images
capture the kingpin BBC Sounds, weekly episodes If you enjoy a podcast filled with drug dealing, corruption, and encrypted phone networks, then this six-part show about the Metropolitan Police’s biggest organized crime bust is for you. As host Mobeen Azhar puts it, the story becomes “increasingly shocking” as we uncover inside stories from the squad that infiltrated key figures in the criminal organization. HV
less is better Episodes will be widely available weekly starting Sunday, January 14th Is it better for your health to eat high-quality meat or eat less meat? This month, promoting vegan curiosity and positive health messages, Katie Revell and Olivia Oldham explore what it’s like to raise and slaughter animals, and how culture and education influence people’s preferences. Find out whether it is easy to give and buy good things. HV
January 6: America’s Story Wide range of weekly episodes available As we mark the third anniversary of the storming of the U.S. Capitol and with Donald Trump set to become the next Republican nominee, Our Body Politics on the people of color who helped lead the committee investigation on January 6th is an insightful series. They talk about their experiences, starting with why they chose to protect a country that doesn’t always protect them. Holly Richardson
There’s a podcast for that
Oprah Winfrey speaks on Oprah’s “2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus” tour. Photo: Steve Jennings/Getty Images
this week, Rachel Aroesti Our picks for the 5 best podcasts featuring true storyfrom a chronicle of LGBT heroes to the remarkable rise of Oprah Winfrey.
unusual life Truth is always stranger than fiction, this fascinating series from the BBC World Service delicately unearths some of the most remarkable stories of human endeavor. I am amazed at the determination of Tariq Mehmood, one of the bradford 12, He was arrested as a young man for trying to protect himself from skinhead violence and became a novelist. In the drama “Prison His Break'' Jaibet uses his knowledge of Papua to escape from an inhumane immigration camp in New Guinea as he is overwhelmed by Nous of Elom. And just as amazed by the courage of Laura Dekker, who decided to travel around the world alone at the age of 13 (much to the surprise of the Dutch authorities).
making gay history Journalist Eric Marcus established himself as a leading authority on 20th century gay life with his award-winning 1992 book Making History. In this moving podcast, he revisits his extensive archive of interviews to allow key figures in the LGBT rights movement to tell their own stories. Celebrities like early transgender activist Sylvia Rivera, playwright Larry Kramer, and television host Ellen DeGeneres, as well as lesser-known figures whose activism has made the world a safer place for queer people. I’ll listen to you.
CEO diary Money can’t buy happiness. And just because you make millions doesn’t automatically mean you’re considered an inspirational person. But it’s also true that entrepreneur Stephen Bartlett’s hit interview podcast frequently serves as motivational rocket fuel. Since 2017, Bartlett has relentlessly questioned business leaders about their childhoods, work habits, and the philosophies they live by, unearthing practical, life-changing advice for his listeners. Since then, he has expanded his remit to include headline-grabbing celebrities including Davina McCall, Maisie Williams, Liam Payne, and Jesse Lingard.
hidden heroes of history From energetic secret agent Virginia Hall and her epic prison escape to Surrey banker Eric Roberts’ hunt for Nazi sympathizers, this thrilling podcast narrated by Helena Bonham Carter explores perseverance from the second world. Relive some of the most amazing feats and stories of damnation. war. Along with stories of spies, we hear about the remarkable artistic resistance of Claude Cahan and Marcel Moore, and the pioneering feminism of Major Charity Adams, the first black officer to serve in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps.
On January 8th, a Vulcan rocket carrying a lander bound for the moon will be launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Greg Newton/AFP via Getty Images
NASA's first mission to the moon since the Apollo missions of the 1970s began with the launch of a new Vulcan rocket carrying a robotic lander carrying seven scientific instruments.
The mission, which launched at 7:18 a.m. GMT on January 8 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, forms the first part of NASA's ambitious Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) program, which will launch this year. Six more launches are planned.
Unlike previous NASA missions, which were carried out almost entirely in-house, these efforts will be a public-private partnership with support from space companies. The Vulcan rocket was built by Boeing and Lockheed Martin as part of the United Launch Alliance (ULA), and the Peregrine robotic lander was built by space robotics company Astrobotic.
The lander will take 46 days to reach the moon and will attempt to land on February 23rd. If successful, it will be the first time a private spacecraft has landed on the moon.
There are several reasons why it took NASA decades to return to the moon, but the biggest one is a lack of government funding. As Cold War spending increased in the 1960s, the total federal funding NASA received peaked in 1965, and as the U.S. government made cuts, there was too little money available for further lunar exploration.
But private space companies like Elon Musk's SpaceX are now cutting the cost of space launches, allowing NASA to plan new moon missions on tighter budgets.
A successful launch could also intensify competition among private space companies. ULA was the dominant force in the U.S. space launch business before SpaceX conducted the majority of U.S. launches and dominated the launch market. Vulcan could help ULA regain lost market share.
This is especially important for ULA because it is currently on the market, with potential buyers including Jeff Bezos' spaceflight company Blue Origin.
The Peregrine lander's science instruments include lunar surface water and radiation sensors and will be essential for NASA's future human missions in the coming years as part of the CLPS program. It also carries a 2-kilogram rover designed by students at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania and five small robots built by the Mexican Space Agency.
Vulcan has two additional payloads that have caused controversy. A company called Celestis uses cremated ashes to conduct so-called “commemorative spaceflights.” Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry and actors James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols will be placed into orbit around the sun, while another capsule will contain the ashes of others bound for the moon. .
Experts answer the biggest questions facing humanity. For example, “Could we live on Mars?” Do pills really help you lose weight? Can technology save us from climate change? Will we ever cure cancer? Is it possible to stop the decline in cognitive function?
How to master your metabolism
Are you ready for a slimmer, healthier you? It's time for a metabolic transformation. By making a few simple, research-backed changes, you can significantly increase your body's calorie burn.
The best science images of 2023
A piece of rock shattered from an asteroid hurtling through space, the first human footprint in North America, and a giant meatball made from a woolly mammoth. These are just some of the images that caught our attention BBC Science Focus This year's editor, no, the last one was not a mistake. Enjoy our selection of incredible images as we rub our eyes in 2023.
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The best technology innovations of 2023: The desire to improve things drives innovation. We highlight some of the ground-breaking innovations announced last year that caught our attention as they took improvement to a whole new level.
Pain gap between men and women: The health care system is flawed and has dire consequences for women. Dr. Michelle Griffin looks at why women's pain is undertreated.
How modeling comet impacts can help find extraterrestrial life: A cosmic snowball in space may have delivered life-giving molecules to Earth.
Issue 400 will be released on December 29, 2023
don't forget that BBC Science Focus Also available on all major digital platforms. There is a version of android, Kindle Fire and Kindle e-readers, but also, iOS app For iPad and iPhone.
Its mauve, suction cup-covered arms gently unfold to grab an egg shaped like an elongated ping-pong ball. A jet of water from a siphon next to the octopus's head ensures that the unhatched cubs get enough oxygen.
From a distance, she is surrounded by hundreds of females, living up to her nickname. The pearl octopus (Muusoctopus robotus) resembles a spherical gem that sits on the ocean floor. This is the largest known assemblage of eight-armed molluscs on Earth, numbering approximately 20,000 individuals, and has been witnessed by people all over the world in astonishingly high resolution. “Oceans” episode BBC series Planet Earth III.
This view would have been amazing enough even if it were from shallow water, including tropical coral reefs and kelp forests. But these octopus mothers tend to their eggs in freezing cold and darkness, about 2 miles below the surface. of the deep sea.
“The fact that there is life there is amazing in itself,” says the producer and director. Will Ridgeon They spent two years photographing the octopus, collaborating with scientists and technicians at California's Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).
The aptly named pearl octopus rears its eggs in an octopus garden surrounded by flower-like anemones. – Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
The octopus farm, as the site is now known, is located on a hill in the eastern Pacific Ocean, 160 km (100 miles) southwest of Monterey Bay, near a giant underwater mountain called Davidson Seamount. This place was discovered during his expedition in 2018. live streamed over the internet.
It was the first time I had ever seen so many creatures in one place, let alone in the deep sea. (Octopuses are notoriously solitary animals and tend to be cannibalistic when kept together in captivity.) ).
Ridgeon watched the livestream of the discovery and immediately knew it was a story to be filmed in a new BBC series.he teamed up with Dr. Jim Barrya senior scientist at MBARI, began regularly visiting octopus farms in 2019 to learn more about why so many octopuses congregate in certain areas.
“The question is, why is it there?” Barry says. Barry and his colleagues gathered specialized tools and began a series of detailed studies. They created a photomosaic of his 2.5-hectare (about 27,000 square feet2) portion of the property and stitched together high-resolution images that allowed them to count the octopus population.
They also installed time-lapse cameras on the ocean floor, taking close-up photos every 20 minutes at a time for months to show what the octopuses were doing, and Barry's team gradually expanded the octopus park's largest began to unravel some of the mysteries.
Octopus farm location. – Image credit: MBARI
work remotely
Ridgeon took part in an expedition to an octopus farm early on. Initially, filming took place during lockdown, so he participated via live video link from his bedroom in Bristol, England (with occasional interruptions from his five-year-old daughter).
Once COVID-19 restrictions allowed, Ridgeon joined Barry and his team aboard MBARI's vessel, the research vessel Western Flyer. However, no one visited the octopus farm directly. All surveys and filming were done using a car-sized remotely operated vehicle (ROV) equipped with a camera and a robotic arm.
The dive began around 6 a.m., and the ROV was lowered into the ocean through a hole in the Western Flyer's hull called the moonpool. “It's very James Bond,” Ridgeon says. The descent to the octopus garden can take up to two hours, and the ROV will remain there all day.
The pilot controls the ROV via a cable connected to a control room on the ship on the ground, and everyone watches the video feed to see what's happening below.
Researchers survey the octopus farm from the Western Flyer's ROV control room. – Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
“You forget you're looking at a screen,” Ridgeon says. “You think you're there,” says the MBARI engineer. He worked with the BBC to find the ideal camera setup to photograph the octopus garden. It was not possible to use footage from a camera fixed to the ROV due to too much vibration.
“I think the BBC will do a little bit about that.” [shivering]“But not as much as we had,” Barry says. ROVs “shudder” not because of the cold temperatures of the deep ocean, but because the thrusters must be activated constantly to ensure they stay close to the ocean floor (ROVs are positively buoyant, so if they fail they will ). .
To get around this, Barry and Ridgeon used a separate 4K camera mounted on a specially designed stand that could be placed on the ocean floor.
“I think that's the secret behind the images,” Ridgeon says. Unlike the ROV cameras used by scientists, which can only reach within a few meters of objects on the ocean floor, the 4K camera's focal length of about 20 centimeters (7 to 8 inches) allows it to precisely navigate between octopuses. can be captured.
But it was difficult to use. It took up to 40 minutes to get into position, and the team had to hope it wouldn't fall over and the action would happen in front of it. Ridgeon operated the camera from the ship using his PlayStation controller, which MBARI engineers adapted for the job. “At first it's like trying to film him with his hands tied behind his back,” Ridgeon said.
Another challenge with deep-sea photography is light. “Put the light as far away from the camera as possible, ideally around the sides so it’s three-quarters backlit. [the scene]That way, there are no reflections from any debris in the water,” explains Ridgeon.
The octopus garden provides insight into the life and reproduction of molluscs. – Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Those “fragments” are marine snow. These are organic particles that constantly rain down from the shallow ocean above. Marine snow is made up of dead plankton and their feces stuck together by microbial glue, and is the main food source for deep-sea animals. However, it makes filming difficult as the movie can look like it was shot in a snowstorm.
To see through the snowstorm and achieve the desired three-quarters backlighting effect, the MBARI team built a lighting system that the ROV could hold on its side, away from the camera. “That's how we got some really great shots,” Barry says.
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As Barry's investigation and BBC filming progressed, the team made some surprising discoveries. First, no medium-sized octopus ever visited this location, and there were no signs of it feeding. It was only a fully grown adult octopus.
They were here to breed and for no other purpose. It may be called an octopus farm, but this place is definitely an octopus farm. The researchers also collected evidence that incubating females use on-site hot springs to speed up the development of their offspring.
For octopuses, there is a strong relationship between temperature and hatching time. The colder it is, the longer it will take and the more dangerous it will be. This is because there are scavengers that prey on unborn, unprotected octopus eggs.
Temperature studies have shown that the seawater surrounding each octopus nest can reach 10°C (50°F), much warmer than the 1.6°C (34°F) seawater just a few meters away. It was shown. By observing specific octopuses (identifiable by scratch and scar patterns) in the field, Barry and his colleagues determined that their eggs take an average of 1.8 years to hatch.
During this time, the female does not move but is constantly fighting off predators and guarding her approximately 60 eggs. “Once you plant an egg on a rock, that's it. You can't leave that spot,” Barry says. At just under two years, it's not the longest parenting period for an octopus. This record is given to another species that other MBARI scientists discovered nearby, Graneledon boreopafica, clinging to the sides of Monterey She Canyon 1.4 km (just under a mile) deep. I did.
Researchers watched one female incubate her eggs for four and a half years, longer than any other recorded animal. However, she was growing her eggs in water that was much warmer than the octopus park's ambient temperature of 1.6 degrees Celsius. Without the hot springs, the eggs in the octopus garden would take more than 10 years to hatch. When this site was discovered, biologists were surprised to find octopuses nesting there.
But geologists were fascinated by warm water seeping through the ocean floor, something they had never seen before. These springs are much cooler than the red-hot hydrothermal vents that form at the edges of tectonic plates where new molten ocean floors are created.
Although the enormous pressure will not cause the water to boil, the temperature around the vent can reach hundreds of degrees. These were first discovered in his 1970s, and plumes of hydrothermal water rise up to hundreds of meters in the water column, making them relatively easy to detect with temperature probes. In contrast, hot springs are more difficult to find because they form away from these tectonically active regions and have much cooler temperatures.
But geologists believe they could exist in the thousands and are highly stable, likely remaining in the same location for hundreds or even thousands of years. Therefore, biologists believe that more octopus farms may be established around these springs.
birth and death
In the final scene of the “Octopus Garden” episode Planet Earth III, a cluster of tiny sucker-like arms appears beneath the brooding female, then a wobbling young octopus swims away into the darkness like a mini-umbrella. More chicks follow and begin life at sea.
No one knows where they're going…yet. “That's what I want to understand next,” Barry says. The hatchlings are large for a newborn octopus, at about 6 cm (2 inches), so they have the best chance of survival. But as anyone who has seen the Octopus documentary knows, this comes at a heavy cost to mothers.
“These mothers are trying so hard to protect their bloodlines, and they're just dying out,” Barry says. Her father died a few years ago, shortly after mating. On the screen, we see the women's eyes cloudy and their bodies wrinkled. Ridgeon saw what happened next, but she decided it was not suitable for an evening television audience.
Dead octopuses are quickly attacked by scavengers such as fish, snails, sea anemones, and shrimp. For Barry, this is another important part of his discovery at the octopus farm. The nesting season is asynchronous, with octopuses hatching and mothers dying throughout the year. Approximately 9 each day. The female octopus' body nourishes the rest of the ecosystem and helps supplement the energy input from marine snow by 72 percent.
Graneledon boreopafica (a species of octopus that incubates eggs in cold water) has a 4.5 year rearing period, which holds the record for the longest rearing period of any animal. – Credit: Alamy
“This is clearly a huge food subsidy for the local ecosystem,” Barry says. “That wouldn't happen in shallow water,” he added. Because there is a lot of food around. But in the more barren depths, nothing goes to waste.
The BBC has finished filming at the octopus farm, but Barry's research continues. One of the things he wants to know is the age of the sea anemone. These are giant orange flower-like animals that make the octopus garden look like a real garden.
Barry studies sea anemones, which live for decades in shallow coastal waters, and finds that deep-sea species can survive for centuries, in contrast to octopuses, which are relatively short-lived. That's what I'm thinking.
“They're like sentinels that just sit there while the octopus cycles,” he says. There are many more questions Barry would like to answer. “Are octopuses confined to this breeding form in warm areas, or are they able to breed elsewhere with cooler ambient temperatures? Is there fidelity to specific nest sites? ?Will they return to their place of birth?'' he asks.
No one knows how far the octopuses travel before they reach the garden or how they found them, but Barry said he was surprised by the large number of dead and dying octopuses floating around. I suspect I smelled it. “We'll definitely be back,” he says.
This artist’s impression shows a gas giant exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star, represented by Kepler-1625b. Credit: NASA
The discovery of giant exomoons around the planets Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b raises questions. Since the planets orbit, it is not uncommon for these exoplanets to have moons around them. This makes them even more difficult to detect. So far, only two of the more than 5,300 known exoplanets have been discovered to have moons. New data analysis shows that scientific statements are rarely black and white, that behind every result there is more or less uncertainty, and that the path to a statement often resembles a thriller. Masu.
Introduction to Exomoon research
In observations of the planets Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b with the Kepler and Hubble Space Telescopes, researchers discovered the first traces of such moons. New research calls these previous claims into question. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research and Sonnenberg Observatory in Germany report in the same journal. natural astronomy
The “planet-only” interpretation of the observations is more definitive.
For their analysis, the researchers used Pandora, a newly developed computer algorithm that facilitates and accelerates the search for the Exum Moon. They also investigated what types of exomoons could in principle be discovered with modern space-based astronomical observations. Their answers are quite shocking.
Examoon: A rare entity in observation
In our solar system, with the exception of Mercury and Mercury, the fact that a planet orbits one or more moons is more the rule than the exception. Venus, all other planets have such companions.
For gas giants Saturn Researchers have discovered 140 natural satellites to date. Therefore, scientists believe that planets in distant star systems are also likely to have moons. But so far, there is only evidence for two such examooons: Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b. This low yield is not surprising. After all, distant satellites are naturally much smaller than their home world, and therefore much more difficult to find. And combing through observations of thousands of exoplanets for evidence of satellites is extremely time-consuming.
Pandora: Exomoon search algorithm
To make searching easier and faster, the authors of the new study utilize a search algorithm called Pandora that they developed and optimized for exomoon searches. They announced the method last year And the algorithm is available to all researchers as open source code. When applied to observational data from Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b, the results were surprising.
“We wanted to confirm the discovery of exomoons around Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b,” said MPS scientist Dr. Rene Heller, lead author of the new study. “However, unfortunately, our analysis shows that this is not the case,” he added.
In recent weeks, Apple has begun negotiations with major news and publishing organizations seeking permission to use their material in the development of its generative artificial intelligence systems, as reported by The New York Times on Friday. The iPhone maker is offering a multi-year deal worth at least $50 million to license its news article archives, the report said, citing people familiar with the discussions. Media outlets contacted by Apple include Condé Nast, publisher of Vogue and The New Yorker, NBC News, and IAC, which owns People, The Daily Beast, and Better Homes and Gardens, according to the New York Times. Tim Cook’s Apple is reportedly offering a multi-year deal worth at least $50 million to license its archives of news articles. According to reports, some publishers contacted by Apple were tepid about the proposal. Apple did not respond to Reuters‘ request for comment. Leading technology companies are actively investing in integrating generative AI. Apple, on the other hand, used this technology to improve the basic functionality of its new gadgets. Media outlets contacted by Apple include Condé Nast, Vogue, and The New Yorker. Apple also announced new MacBook Pro and iMac computers and three new chips to power them in October, making chatbots and other creations constrained by the amount of data they can hold in a computer’s memory. It was emphasized that these can be used by many artificial intelligence researchers.
This Copernicus Sentinel 2 image shows the Nueva Vizcaya province in the Philippines, highlighting its agricultural landscape and urban areas through a false color composite. The image depicts different seasons in different colors, revealing intricate details about crop growth stages, flooded rice fields, and urbanization. Credit: Contains corrected Copernicus Sentinel data (2022-23) processed by ESA. CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
This pseudocolor satellite image from Copernicus Sentinel 2 brightens the center of Nueva Vizcaya province on Luzon, the Philippines’ largest and most populous island.
The image’s color is due to it being a multitemporal composite consisting of three Copernicus Sentinel 2 images acquired in the mission’s near-infrared channel over a 10-month period. Each acquisition is assigned a different color. Red is the acquisition in May 2022 during the hot dry season, green is the acquisition in September 2022 during the rainy season, and blue is the acquisition in March 2023 during the cool dry season.
This combination highlights different characteristics such as crop type and changes that occur between acquisitions indicating different growth stages.
A patchwork of brightly colored farmland stands out from the center of the image to the bottom left. Areas of red and green shades mean that plant growth took place in May and September, respectively. The fields visible in shades of blue, which make up most of the image, indicate that plant growth occurred mainly in March, during the cool dry season.
Perhaps due to intensive rice production, there are irrigation canals between the fields, and most fields remain flooded all year round. A bright white area, such as the one in the middle of a field, indicates a zone covered with dense vegetation.
Straight lines and gray areas represent roads and urban areas. These include Nueva Vizcaya’s largest town, Solano, visible in the lower left surrounded by blue fields, and Bayombong, the provincial capital further south.
The dark curving lines represent rivers, the largest of which is the Magat River, flowing northeast through the image. If you look closely, you can see different colors along the river’s flow. This is probably due to changes in water levels and river channels at different times of the year.
Copernicus Sentinel 2 has 13 spectral channels and is designed to provide data that can be used to map and monitor agricultural land, as the mission frequently revisits the same areas and has high spatial resolution. , changes in inland waters can be closely monitored.
In January 2023, ESA and the European Commission signed an agreement to build the first Copernicus mirror site in Southeast Asia in the Philippines. This new initiative will strengthen the Philippines’ response capacity and resilience to natural and man-made disasters through the strategic use of space data.
When a strong laser pulse hits a steel alloy, the material briefly melts where it is irradiated, forming a small magnetic region.Credit: HZDR / Sander Munster
The research team has shown that ultrashort laser pulses can magnetize iron alloys. This discovery has great potential for applications in magnetic sensor technology, data storage, and spintronics.
To magnetize a steel nail, simply stroke its surface several times with a bar magnet. But there is a more unusual method. it is, Helmholtz – Zentrum Dresden – Rossendorf (HZDR) Some time ago, a certain iron was discovered. alloy It can be magnetized with ultrashort laser pulses. The researchers are currently working with the Laser Institute of Mitweida University (LHM) to further investigate this process. They found that this phenomenon also occurs in different classes of materials. This greatly expands the range of potential applications.The working group will publish its results in a scientific journal Advanced functional materials.
Groundbreaking discovery in magnetization
An unexpected discovery was made in 2018. When the HZDR team bombarded a thin layer of iron and aluminum alloy with ultrashort laser pulses, the nonmagnetic material suddenly became magnetic. Explanation: Laser pulses rearrange the atoms in the crystal so that the iron atoms are closer to each other, forming a magnet. The researchers were then able to demagnetize the layer again using a series of weaker laser pulses. This allowed them to discover how to create and erase tiny “magnetic spots” on surfaces.
However, the pilot experiment still left some questions unanswered. “It was unclear whether the effect only occurs in iron-aluminum alloys or in other materials,” explains HZDR physicist Dr. Rantei Bali. “We also wanted to track the process over time.” For further investigation, he collaborated with his Dr. Theo Pflug at LHM and colleagues at the University of Zaragoza in Spain.
Flipbook using laser pulse
Experts especially focused on iron-vanadium alloys. Unlike iron-aluminum alloys, which have a regular crystal lattice, the atoms in iron-vanadium alloys are more randomly arranged, forming an amorphous glass-like structure. To observe what happens during laser irradiation, physicists used a special method called the pump-probe method.
“First, we bombard the alloy with powerful laser pulses to magnetize the material,” explains Theo Pflug. “At the same time, he uses a second, weaker pulse that is reflected off the material surface.”
Analysis of reflected laser pulses reveals the physical properties of the material. This process is repeated several times to continually lengthen the time interval between the first “pump” pulse and subsequent “probe” pulses.
As a result, time-series reflection data are obtained, which can characterize the processes induced by laser excitation. “The whole procedure is similar to creating a flipbook,” he says Pflug. “Similarly, a series of individual images that animate when viewed in succession.”
rapid dissolution
Results: Although they have a different atomic structure than iron-aluminum compounds, iron-vanadium alloys can also be magnetized by lasers. “In both cases, the material melts for a short time at the point of irradiation,” he explains Rantej Bali. “This causes the laser to erase the previous structure and create small magnetic regions in both alloys.”
Promising results: Apparently, this phenomenon is not limited to a particular material structure and can be observed in a variety of atomic arrangements.
The team also tracks the temporal dynamics of the process. “At least we know on what time scale something will happen,” explains Theo Pflug. “Within femtoseconds, a laser pulse excites electrons in the material. After a few picoseconds, the excited electrons transfer their energy to the nucleus.”
Consequently, this energy transfer causes a rearrangement into a magnetic structure, which is then stabilized by rapid cooling. In follow-up experiments, the researchers aim to observe exactly how the atoms rearrange by examining the magnetization process with powerful X-rays.
Perspectives towards applications
Although still in its early stages, this research already provides a first idea of possible applications. For example, one could place small magnets on the chip surface via a laser. “This could be useful in producing highly sensitive magnetic sensors such as those used in vehicles,” he speculates Rantej Bali. “It could also have applications in magnetic data storage.”
Moreover, this phenomenon seems to be related to a new type of electronics: spintronics. Here, instead of electrons passing through transistors as usual, magnetic signals must be used for digital computing processes, providing a possible approach to future computer technology.
Reference: “Laser-Induced Positional and Chemical Lattice Reordering Generating Ferromagnetism” by Theo Pflug, Javier Pablo-Navarro, Md. Chabad Anwar, Markus Olbrich, César Magén, Manuel Ricardo Ibarra, Kay Potzger, Jürgen Faßbender, Jürgen Lindner, Alexander Horn. Lantei Bali, November 21, 2023, Advanced functional materials. DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202311951
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