Hubble astronomers have released a stunning new image of the dwarf irregular galaxy UGC 4879, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows irregular dwarf galaxy UGC 4879, about 3.6 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Space Telescope / K. Chiboucas, NOIRLab and Gemini North / M. Monelli, Canarian Astrophysics Institute / Gladys Kober, NASA and Catholic University.
UGC 4879 is an irregular dwarf galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major.
Also known as VV124 and LEDA 26142, this galaxy is quite isolated.
It lies 3.6 million light years from our Milky Way galaxy and 3.9 million light years from the Andromeda galaxy.
Dwarf galaxy Leo A, located about 1.6 million light-years away, is UGC 4879's closest neighbor.
This isolation makes UGC 4879 an ideal laboratory to study primordial star formation, without the complications of interactions with other galaxies.
There are only two other galaxies in the Local Group that have a similar, though slightly lower, isolation to UGC 4879: DDO 210 and SgrDIG, which are located in the opposite direction from UGC 4879.
“UGC 4879 is an isolated dwarf galaxy that lies just outside our Local Group of galaxies,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“Because of its isolation, we are studying UGC 4879 to determine whether it is an old, relatively undisturbed galaxy.”
“Theories suggest that the least massive dwarf galaxies may have formed first.”
“If UGC 4879 is a relic from the early universe, it may offer clues about the hierarchy and evolution of galaxies, galaxy clusters, and even the universe itself.”
This image of UGC 4879 combines data from two Hubble observing programs focused on learning more about how dwarf galaxies form and evolve.
Child safety experts have claimed that Apple lacks effective monitoring and scanning protocols for child sexual abuse materials on its platforms, posing concerns about addressing the increasing amount of such content associated with artificial intelligence.
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in the UK has criticized Apple for underestimating the prevalence of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its products. Data obtained by the NSPCC from the police shows that perpetrators in England and Wales use Apple’s iCloud, iMessage, and FaceTime for storing and sharing more CSAM than in all other reported countries combined.
Based on information collected through a Freedom of Information request and shared exclusively with The Guardian, child protection organizations discovered that Apple was linked to 337 cases of child abuse imagery offenses recorded in England and Wales between April 2022 and March 2023. In 2023, Apple reported only 267 suspected instances of child abuse imagery globally to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), contrasting with much higher numbers reported by other leading tech companies, with Google submitting over 1.47 million and Meta reporting more than 30.6 million, as per NCMEC reports mentioned in the Annual Report.
All US-based technology companies are mandated to report any detected cases of CSAM on their platforms to the NCMEC. Apple’s iMessage service is encrypted, preventing Apple from viewing user messages, similar to Meta’s WhatsApp, which reported about 1.4 million suspected CSAM cases to the NCMEC in 2023.
Richard Collard, head of child safety online policy at NSPCC, expressed concern over Apple’s discrepancy in handling child abuse images and urged the company to prioritize safety and comply with online safety legislation in the UK.
Apple declined to comment but referenced a statement from August where it decided against implementing a program to scan iCloud photos for CSAM, citing user privacy and security as top priorities.
In late 2022, Apple abandoned plans for an iCloud photo scanning tool called Neural Match, which would have compared uploaded images to a database of known child abuse images. This decision faced opposition from digital rights groups and child safety advocates.
Experts are worried about Apple’s AI system, Apple Intelligence, introduced in June, especially as AI-generated child abuse content poses risks to children and law enforcement’s ability to protect them.
Child safety advocates are concerned about the increase in AI-generated CSAM reports and the potential harm caused by such images to survivors and victims of child abuse.
Sarah Gardner, CEO of Heat Initiative, criticized Apple’s insufficient efforts in detecting CSAM and urged the company to enhance its safety measures.
Child safety experts worry about the implications of Apple’s AI technology on the safety of children and the prevalence of CSAM online.
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have captured new infrared images of two interacting galaxies. Alp 142.
This Webb image shows two interacting galaxies known as Arp 142. On the left is NGC 2937, nicknamed “The Egg” because of its appearance, and on the right is NGC 2936, nicknamed “The Penguin” because of its appearance. Image courtesy of NASA/ESA/CSA/Webb/STScI.
The interacting pair, Arp 142, is located about 326 million light-years away in the southern constellation Hydra.
It contains the star-forming spiral galaxy NGC 2936 and its elliptical companion galaxy NGC 2937 at the lower left, which bears a striking resemblance to a penguin guarding its eggs.
The “penguin” part of the pair, NGC 2936, was probably once a relatively ordinary-looking spiral galaxy – flat like a pancake, with smoothly symmetrical spiral arms.
Because of the abundance of newly formed, hot stars, its shape is twisted and distorted by the gravitational forces of nearby stars.
The twin “egg,” NGC 2937, is a collection of much older stars and, in contrast, is largely featureless.
The absence of glowing red dust features indicates that it long ago lost its reservoir of gas and dust from which new stars could form.
“The two asteroids first came close to each other between 25 million and 75 million years ago, triggering 'fireworks' – the formation of new stars – in the constellation of Penguin,” astronomer Webb said in a statement.
“In the most extreme cases, galaxy mergers could result in the formation of thousands of new stars every year for millions of years.”
“In the case of penguins, studies have found that they form around 100-200 stars per year. By comparison, in our own Milky Way galaxy (which is not interacting with a galaxy of a similar size), around six to seven new stars form per year.”
“This gravitational rocking also changed the penguins' appearance,” they noted.
“The spiral arms uncoiled, pulling gas and dust in different directions like confetti.”
“When galaxies interact, it's rare for individual stars to collide (the universe is huge), but the intermingling of galaxies disrupts the orbits of stars.”
“Currently, the centre of the Penguin's galaxy looks like an eye inside its head, and the galaxy has a prominent star trail in the shape of a beak, spine and fanned-out tail. A faint but noticeable dust ribbon stretches from the beak to the tail.”
“Although the Penguin Galaxy appears much larger than the Egg Galaxy, the two galaxies have roughly the same mass,” the astronomers said.
“This is one of the reasons why the tiny looking egg hasn't merged with the penguin yet.”
“Because the elliptical egg is filled with old stars and contains very little gas or dust, it doesn't emit its own 'streams' or tidal tails, and instead maintains its compact elliptical shape.”
“If you look closely, the Egg has four noticeable diffraction spikes – it's glowing because of a high concentration of stars from the galaxy.”
“Now, find the bright, edge-on galaxy in the upper right. It may look like it's crashing the party, but it’s not close by.”
Cataloging No. 1237172It lies nearly 100 million light-years from Earth. It is relatively young and not covered by dust, making it virtually invisible in Webb's mid-infrared images.”
Astronomers have used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to create a stunningly detailed image of NGC 3810, a spiral galaxy hosting a supernova.
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows NGC 3810, a spiral galaxy about 50 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. The color image is composed of infrared, visible, and ultraviolet observations from both the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instruments. Nine filters were used to sample different wavelengths. Color is achieved by assigning a different hue to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Sand / RJ Foley.
NGC 3810 It is located in the constellation Leo, about 50 million light years from Earth.
Also known as IRAS 11383+1144, LEDA 36243 and UGC 6644, the galaxy has a diameter of 60,000 light years.
NGC 3810 discovered It was discovered on March 15, 1784 by German-born British astronomer William Herschel.
The galaxy belongs to a small group of galaxies called the NGC 3810 group.
The bright central region of NGC 3810 thought Many new stars are forming and outshining the outer regions of the galaxy by a significant amount.
Even more distant galaxies show surprisingly abundant dust clouds along their spiral arms.
Far from the center, hot, young blue stars appear in huge clusters, with bright red giants scattered throughout the arms.
In 2022, a Type Ia supernova event called SN 2022zut was observed in NGC 3810.
“In early 2023, the Hubble Space Telescope will focus on this and several other galaxies to take a closer look at recent Type Ia supernovae,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“These types of supernovae are produced by the explosion of a white dwarf star, and all of them maintain a very stable brightness.”
“This allows us to measure distances. We know how bright a Type Ia supernova is, so we can tell from how faint it appears how far away it is.”
“One uncertainty with this method is that intergalactic dust between Earth and the supernova will block some of the light.”
“How do we know how much of the light reduction is due to distance and how much is due to dust?”
“With the help of Hubble, we have a clever workaround: we can image the same Type Ia supernova in ultraviolet light, which is almost completely blocked by the dust, and in infrared light, which passes through the dust almost unaffected.”
“By carefully recording how much light is transmitted at each wavelength, we can calibrate the relationship between the supernova's brightness and distance, and take dust into account.”
“Hubble can observe both of these wavelengths of light in incredible detail with the same instrument.”
“That makes it the perfect tool for this experiment. In fact, some of the data used to create this beautiful image of NGC 3810 was focused on the SN 2022zut supernova, which you can see as a point of light just below the galactic nucleus.”
Serpens Nebula: A row of jets appears as red streaks in the upper left corner
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (NASA-JPL), Joel Green (STScI)
Astronomers have captured a star alignment: New images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) show jets emanating from a young star lining up in a straight line, finally proving a phenomenon that has long been suspected but never before been observed.
As a giant gas cloud collapses and begins to form stars, its rotation accelerates — similar to how an ice skater pulls their arms in closer to their body to spin faster. This rotation causes a disk of dust and gas to form around the young star at the cloud's center, feeding the cloud itself.
Strong magnetic fields in the disk send jets of material along the star's rotation axis, which can be used to measure the young star's rotation direction. The JWST image of the Serpens Nebula, about 1,400 light-years away, shows 12 baby stellar clumps. All the jets are pointing in roughly the same direction..
“Astronomers have long assumed that when clouds collapse and stars form, the stars tend to rotate in the same direction,” he said. Klaus Pontoppidan At NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California statement“But we've never seen it so directly before.”
The new observations suggest that these stars all inherit their rotation from the same long string of gas. Over time, this rotation may change as the stars interact with each other and other space objects. This is evident from the fact that another group of younger, possibly older, stars in the same image of the Ophiuchus Nebula do not have aligned jets.
A silent colossus lurks off the Pacific coast, threatening hundreds of miles of coastline with tsunamis and devastating earthquakes.
For decades, scientists have been warning about the possibility of a major fault line breaking off from the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a megathrust fault that runs offshore along the coast from northern Vancouver Island to Cape Mendocino in California. The next time this fault, or parts of it, breaks, it could upend life in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California.
Of particular concern are signs of great earthquakes in the region’s geological history. Many researchers have been pursuing clues about the last “big quake,” a magnitude 8.7 earthquake that occurred in 1700. They have pieced together this history using centuries-old tsunami records, Native American oral histories, physical evidence of saltwater-flooded ghost forests, and limited maps of faults.
But no one had ever comprehensively mapped the fault structure until now. The study published Friday A paper published in the journal Science Advances describes the data collected during a 41-day research voyage, in which the ship dragged a mile-long cable along the fault, listening to the ocean floor and piecing together images.
The team completed a detailed map of the subduction zone, stretching more than 550 miles to the Oregon-California border.
Their work will give modelers a clearer picture of the impact of a megaquake in the region — a megaquake that occurs in a subduction zone, where one plate pushes under another — and give planners a more detailed, localized view of the risks to Pacific Northwest communities, which could help redefine earthquake-resistant building codes.
“It’s like wearing Coke-bottle glasses, and when you take them off, they give you the correct prescription,” said lead author Suzanne Calbott, a marine geophysicist and research professor at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “Before, we only got very blurry, low-resolution images.”
Scientists have discovered that subduction zones are much more complex than previously thought. They are divided into four segments, and researchers believe each segment could rupture independently or simultaneously. Each segment has different rock types and different seismic properties, which means some segments may be more hazardous than others.
Earthquake and tsunami modelers are beginning to assess how the new data might affect earthquake scenarios in the Pacific Northwest.
Kelin Wang, a research scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada who was not involved in the study, said her team, which focuses on earthquake hazards and tsunami risk, is already using the data to make predictions.
“The accuracy and resolution is truly unprecedented, and this is an incredible dataset,” said Wang, who is also an adjunct professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. “This will allow us to better assess risk and inform building codes and zoning.”
Harold Tobin, co-author of the paper and director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, said the data will help fine-tune predictions, but it won’t change the untenable reality of life in the Pacific Northwest.
“It could potentially produce earthquakes and tsunamis that are comparable in magnitude to the largest earthquakes and tsunamis the Earth has ever seen,” said Tobin, who is also a professor at the University of Washington. “It looks like Cascadia could produce an earthquake of magnitude 9 or a little less or a little more.”
A quake of that magnitude could cause shaking for about five minutes and generate a tsunami up to 80 feet high, damaging more than 500,000 buildings. According to emergency planning documents:.
Neither Oregon nor Washington are adequately prepared.
To map the subduction zone, researchers at sea used active seismic imaging, a technique that sends sound waves into the ocean floor and processes the returning echoes, a method often used in oil and gas exploration.
They towed more than nine miles of cables called streamers behind the ship and used 1,200 hydrophones to capture the returning sounds.
“This will give us an idea of what the conditions are like underground,” Calbot said.
The research vessel Marcus Langes docked in Seattle after a 41-day survey along the Pacific coast that allowed researchers to map the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Courtesy of Harold Tobin
Trained marine mammal spotters would alert the crew to any signs of whales or other animals. Sounds produced by this type of technology could be disruptive and potentially harmful to marine life.
Calbot said the new research makes it even clearer that the entire Cascadia Fault won’t rupture all at once.
“The next earthquake in Cascadia could rupture just one of these segments, or it could rupture the entire boundary,” Calbot said, adding that some individual segments are thought to have the potential to produce a quake of at least magnitude 8.
Over the past century, scientists have observed only five earthquakes of magnitude 9.0 or higher, all of which were the kind of giant quakes predicted in the Cascadia subduction zone.
Scientists have compiled the latest insights into the 1700 Cascadia earthquake, based on records of an unusual orphan tsunami that was not preceded by any shaking in Japan.
“It would take a magnitude 8.7 earthquake to send a tsunami all the way to Japan,” Tobin said.
Those in Japan who recorded the event had no idea that the earthquake occurred across the ocean in what is now the United States.
Right now, the Cascadia subduction zone is eerily quiet. At other subduction zones, Calbot says, scientists often observe small, frequent earthquakes that make it easier to map the region. But that’s not the case here.
Scientists have a few hypotheses as to why. Wang said the region could be getting quieter as stress builds on the fault, and that time may be approaching.
“The interval between big earthquakes in this subduction zone is about 500 years,” Wang said. “It’s hard to know exactly when it will happen, but it’s certainly quite late compared to other subduction zones.”
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured sharp images of NGC 4689, a jewel-bright spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma.
This Hubble image shows spiral galaxy NGC 4689 located 52 million light-years away in the constellation of Coma. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Tilker / J. Lee / PHANGS-HST Team.
NGC 4689 It is located approximately 52 million light-years away in the constellation Kamina.
“Of the 88 constellations officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), Coma has the distinction of being the only constellation named after a historical figure. Queen Berenice II of Egypt” explained the Hubble astronomer.
“The Latin word ‘coma’ refers to her hair, meaning that NGC 4689 can be said to be present in the Queen’s hair.”
“Some of Berenice’s contemporaries may have meant this quite literally; her court astronomer believed that Berenice’s lost locks had been destroyed by God (“among the stars”). It was given this name because there is a story that it was thought to have been placed in It is the constellation of Coma. ”
NGC 4689 is discovered It was proposed by German-born British astronomer William Herschel on April 12, 1784.
Also known as LEDA 43186 or UGC 7965, this galaxy is a member of the Virgo Cluster, a group of more than 2,000 galaxies.
NGC 4689 is tilted 36 degrees and can be viewed almost head-on.
The new images of the galaxy were created from separate exposures taken in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared spectral regions. Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).
This is based on data obtained through a gender filter. Color is obtained by assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
“This image was created using two sets of observations taken in 2019 and 2024, both as part of a program to observe multiple ‘nearby’ galaxies.” Astronomy said the people.
The 2024 observing program is an interesting example of how Hubble, a relatively old but highly productive telescope, can support the work of the technologically cutting-edge Webb Telescope. ”
“Observations collected by Webb change our understanding of how galaxies change and evolve over time by providing data of unprecedented detail and clarity. It will be.”
“But thanks to their complementary capabilities, new observations from Hubble (such as those used to create new images) can aid the work being done using the Web.”
“In this case, the Hubble data were collected to better understand the stellar populations of nearby galaxies, which is critical to understanding the evolution of galaxies.”
“NGC 4689 therefore plays an important role in advancing our understanding of how all galaxies evolve.”
Messier 76also known as M76, NGC 650/651, or the Little Dumbbell Nebula, is a planetary nebula located approximately 3,400 light-years away in the northern constellation of Perseus.
This Hubble image shows Messier 76, a planetary nebula about 3,400 light-years away in the constellation Perseus. Image credit: NASA/ESA/STScI.
Since its launch in 1990, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has made 1.6 million observations of more than 53,000 celestial objects.
To date, the Space Telescope Science Institute's Mikulski Space Telescope Archive contains 184 terabytes of processed data.
Since 1990, 44,000 scientific papers have been published from Hubble observations.
Hubble is the most scientifically productive space astrophysics mission in NASA history.
Demand for the use of Hubble is so high that it is currently oversubscribed by a factor of 6 to 1.
Most of Hubble's discoveries, such as supermassive black holes, exoplanet atmospheres, gravitational lensing by dark matter, the presence of dark energy, and the abundance of interstellar planet formation, were not anticipated before launch.
To commemorate the 34th anniversary of Hubble's launch, astronomers took a snapshot of the planetary nebula Messier 76.
“Messier 76 is located approximately 3,400 light-years away in the northern constellation of Perseus,” Hubble astronomers said.
“It is classified as a planetary nebula, an expanding shell of glowing gas ejected from a dying red giant star. The star will eventually collapse into a super-dense, hot white dwarf.”
“Although planetary nebulae are not related to planets, they got their name because astronomers in the 1700s using low-power telescopes thought these types of objects resembled planets.”
“Messier 76 consists of a ring that is visible head-on as a central bar structure and two lobes located at openings on either side of the ring. Before burning out, the star ejected a ring of gas and dust. ”
“This ring was probably formed by the influence of a star that once had a binary companion.”
“This sloughed off material formed a thick disk of dust and gas along the orbital plane of the companion star.”
“The hypothetical companion star is not seen in the Hubble image, so it may have been later swallowed by the central star.”
“The host star has collapsed to form a white dwarf,” the researchers said.
“It is one of the hottest stellar remnants known, at a scorching 139,000 degrees Celsius (250,000 degrees Fahrenheit), 24 times the surface temperature of the Sun.”
“The blazing white dwarf is visible pinpointed in the center of the nebula. The stars visible projected beneath it are not part of the nebula.”
“Sandwiched by the disk, two clumps of hot gas escape from above and below the 'belt' along the star's axis of rotation perpendicular to the disk.”
“They are propelled by hurricane-like outflows of material from dying stars, tearing apart space at 2 million miles per hour.”
“That's fast enough to travel from Earth to the Moon in just over seven minutes.”
“This intense stellar wind is channeling cooler, slower-moving gas that was ejected during the star's early stages of life, when it was a red giant.”
“Intense ultraviolet radiation from superhot stars makes the gas glow. The red color is due to nitrogen, and the blue color is due to oxygen.”
“Given that our solar system is 4.6 billion years old, according to cosmological timekeeping, the entire nebula is a fleeting event. It will disappear in about 15,000 years.”
An organization dedicated to fighting child abuse has reported that pedophiles are being encouraged to utilize artificial intelligence to generate nude images of children and coerce them into producing more explicit content.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) stated that a manual discovered on the dark web included a section advising criminals to use a “denuding” tool to strip clothing from photos sent by children. These photos could then be used for blackmail purposes to obtain further graphic material.
The IWF expressed concern over the fact that perpetrators are now discussing and promoting the use of AI technologies for these malicious purposes.
The charity, known for identifying and removing child sexual abuse content online, initiated an investigation into cases of sextortion last year. They observed a rise in incidents where victims were coerced into sharing explicit images under threat of exposure. Additionally, the use of AI to create highly realistic abusive content was noted.
The author of the online manual, who remains anonymous, claimed to have successfully coerced 13-year-old girls into sharing nude images online. The IWF reported the document to the UK National Crime Agency.
Recent reports by The Guardian suggested that there were discussions within the Labour party about banning tools that create nude imagery.
According to the IWF, 2023 witnessed a record number of extreme cases of child sexual abuse. Over 275,000 web pages containing such material, including content depicting rape, sadism, and bestiality, were identified, marking the highest number on record. This included a significant amount of Category A content, the most severe form containing explicit and harmful images.
The IWF further discovered 2,401 images of self-produced child sexual abuse material involving children aged three to six, where victims were manipulated or threatened to record their own abuse. The incidents were observed in domestic settings like bedrooms and kitchens.
Susie Hargreaves, the CEO of IWF, emphasized the urgent need to educate children on recognizing danger and safeguarding themselves against manipulative criminals. She stressed the importance of the recently passed Online Safety Act to protect children on social media platforms.
Security Minister Tom Tugendhat advised parents to engage in conversations with their children about safe internet usage. He emphasized the responsibility of tech companies to implement stronger safeguards against abuse.
Research published by Ofcom revealed that a significant percentage of young children own mobile phones and engage in social media. The government is considering measures such as raising the minimum age for social media use and restricting smartphone sales to minors.
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured an excellent image of the spiral galaxy ESO 422-41 in the constellation Columba.
This Hubble image shows ESO 422-41, a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Columba, about 34 million light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick.
ESO 422-41 It is located in the constellation Columba, about 34 million light years away.
DDO 230, LEDA 16864, or UGCA 103, the diameter of this spiral galaxy is 30,000 light years.
“The name ESO 422-41 comes from its appearance in the European Southern Observatory (B) Atlas of the Southern Sky,” Hubble astronomers said.
“In the era before automated sky surveys by space observatories such as ESA's Gaia satellite, large-scale photographic surveys discovered many stars, galaxies, and nebulae.”
“Astronomers used the then most advanced large telescopes to create hundreds of photographs covering parts of the sky.”
“They then studied the resulting photographs and attempted to catalog all the new objects revealed.”
“In the 1970s, a new telescope at ESO's La Silla facility in Chile probed the southern sky, which had not yet been explored as deeply as the northern sky,” they added.
“At that time, the primary technology for recording images was glass plates treated with chemicals.”
“The resulting collection of photographic plates became the ESO (B) Atlas of the Southern Sky.”
“Astronomers from ESO and Uppsala, Sweden, worked together to study the plates and recorded hundreds of galaxies (ESO 422-41 is just one of them), star clusters and nebulae. I was a beginner.”
“Since then, astronomical sky surveys have progressed from digital, computer-aided surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Legacy Survey to surveys performed by space telescopes such as Gaia and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). It has transitioned to
“Nonetheless, photographic sky surveys have made significant contributions to astronomical knowledge over the decades, and the glass plate archive serves as an important historical reference for a wide range of skies. .”
“Some of them are still actively used, for example, to study variable stars over time,” the researchers pointed out.
“And the objects revealed by these surveys, including ESO 422-41, can now be studied in detail with telescopes like Hubble.”
The new images of ESO 422-41 consist of observations from Hubble's advanced survey camera (ACS) in the near-infrared and optical portions of the spectrum.
Two filters were used to sample different wavelengths. Color is obtained by assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
New research has discovered that despite restrictions on advertising campaigns targeting young people, children are being inundated with gambling promotions and content that resembles gambling while browsing the internet.
The study, commissioned by charity GambleAware and funded by donations from gambling companies, highlights the blurred line between gambling advertising and online casino-style games, leading to a rise in online gambling with children unaware of the associated risks. It warns that gambling advertisements featuring cartoon graphics can strongly attract children. Recently, a gambling company promoted a new online slot game on social media using a cartoon of three frogs to entice players.
GambleAware is recommending new regulations to limit the exposure of young people to advertising. Research conducted by the charity revealed that children struggle to differentiate between actual gambling products and gambling-like content, such as mobile games with in-app purchases.
Zoe Osmond, CEO of GambleAware, emphasized the need for immediate action to protect children from being exposed to gambling ads and content, stating, “This research demonstrates that gambling content has become a part of many children’s lives.”
GambleAware chief executive Zoe Osmond said urgent action on internet promotions was needed to protect children. Photo: Doug Peters/Pennsylvania
The report also points out that excessive engagement in online games with gambling elements, like loot boxes bought with virtual or real money, can fall under a broader definition of gambling. It calls for stricter regulation on platforms offering such games to children.
Businesses are cautioned against using cartoon characters in gambling promotions, as they may appeal to children. However, there is no outright ban on using such characters. Online casino 32Red, for instance, recently advertised its Fat Frog online slot game on social media with a cartoon frog theme.
Dr. Raffaello Rossi, a marketing lecturer focused on the impact of gambling advertising on youth, criticized regulators for not acting swiftly enough to address the proliferation of online promotions enticing children. He called for new advertising codes to regulate social media promotions effectively.
The Gambling and Gambling Council assured that their members strictly verify ages for all products and have implemented new age restriction rules for social media advertising.
Recent data from the Gambling Commission indicates that young people are now less exposed to gambling ads compared to previous years. While no direct link between problem gambling development and advertising has been established.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) stated that it regulates gambling advertising to safeguard children and monitors online gambling ads through various tools and methods.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport affirmed its focus on monitoring new forms of gambling and gambling-like products, including social casino games, to ensure appropriate regulations are in place.
Kindred Group, the owner of the 32Red brand, was reached out to for comment.
Child sexual exploitation is increasing online, with artificial intelligence generating new forms such as images and videos related to child sexual abuse.
Reports of online child abuse to NCMEC increased by more than 12% from the previous year to over 36.2 million in 2023, as announced in the organization’s annual CyberTipline report. Most reports were related to the distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), including photos and videos. Online criminals are also enticing children to send nude images and videos for financial gain, with increased reports of blackmail and extortion.
NCMEC has reported instances where children and families have been targeted for financial gain through blackmail using AI-generated CSAM.
The center has received 4,700 reports of child sexual exploitation images and videos created by generative AI, although tracking in this category only began in 2023, according to a spokesperson.
NCMEC is alarmed by the growing trend of malicious actors using artificial intelligence to produce deepfaked sexually explicit images and videos based on real children’s photos, stating that it is devastating for the victims and their families.
The group emphasizes that AI-generated child abuse content hinders the identification of actual child victims and is illegal in the United States, where production of such material is a federal crime.
In 2023, CyberTipline received over 35.9 million reports of suspected CSAM incidents, with most uploads originating outside the US. There was also a significant rise in online solicitation reports and exploitation cases involving communication with children for sexual purposes or abduction.
Top platforms for cybertips included Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Google, Snapchat, TikTok, and Twitter.
Out of 1,600 global companies registered for the CyberTip Reporting Program, 245 submitted reports to NCMEC, including US-based internet service providers required by law to report CSAM incidents to CyberTipline.
NCMEC highlights the importance of quality reports, as some automated reports may not be actionable without human involvement, potentially hindering law enforcement in detecting child abuse cases.
NCMEC’s report stresses the need for continued action by Congress and the tech community to address reporting issues.
The Ministry of Justice has declared that the creation of sexually explicit “deepfake” images will soon be considered a criminal offense under new legislation.
Those found guilty of producing such images without consent could face a criminal record, an unlimited fine, and possible imprisonment if these images are distributed widely.
The ministry stipulates that creating a deepfake image will be punishable, irrespective of the creator’s intentions for sharing it. Last year’s online safety laws already criminalize the dissemination of intimate deepfakes, made easier by advancements in artificial intelligence technology.
The offense is anticipated to be added to the Criminal Justice Bill currently under parliamentary review. Minister Laura Farris affirmed that the creation of deepfake sexual content is unacceptable under any circumstances.
“This reprehensible act of degrading and dehumanizing individuals, particularly women, will not be tolerated. The potential repercussions of widespread sharing of such material can be devastating. This government is unwavering in its stance against it.”
Yvette Cooper, the Shadow Home Secretary, voiced support for the new law, stating: “It is imperative to criminalize the production of deepfake pornography. Imposing someone’s image onto explicit content violates their autonomy and privacy, posing significant harm and must be condemned.
Law enforcement must be equipped with the necessary training and resources to enforce these laws rigorously and dissuade offenders from acting with impunity,” added Cooper.
Deborah Joseph, editor-in-chief of Glamor UK, lauded the proposed amendments, citing a survey revealing that 91% of readers perceive deepfake technology as a threat to women’s safety. Personal accounts from victims emphasized the severe impact of this activity.
“While this marks a crucial initial step, there remains a considerable journey ahead for ensuring women feel completely safeguarded from this atrocious practice,” asserted Joseph.
It has been close to two years since the world was first introduced to Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole residing at the center of the Milky Way.
A true behemoth, Sgr A* boasts a mass equivalent to 4 million suns and is encircled by hot pockets of swirling gas. Despite its immense size, it sits about 27,000 light-years away from Earth, appearing in the sky only as large as a donut on the moon’s surface.
In a recent study published in the Astrophysics Journal Letter and released by the event horizon telescope (EHT), Sgr A* was captured in polarized light for the first time.
Similar to how sunglasses can filter polarized light from the sun, astronomers utilize polarized light to unveil concealed magnetic fields.
The lines within the image indicate the direction of polarization, which correlates with the structure of the magnetic field surrounding the black hole.
“The spiral pattern observed swirling around the black hole signifies that the magnetic field must also be swirling, indicating a very strong and ordered field,” stated Dr. Sarah Isaun, an Einstein Fellow and co-leader of the project in the NASA Hubble Fellowship Program, as quoted in BBC Science Focus.
A comparison between the supermassive black holes M87* and Sagittarius A*, depicted in polarized light, reveals similar magnetic field structures, suggesting a universal feature among supermassive black holes. – Image credit: EHT Collaboration
The first-ever image of a black hole was unveiled by EHT in 2019, featuring a much grander black hole at the core of the Messier 87 galaxy (M87*).
M87* is approximately 1,000 times heavier than Sgr A*, leading to a slower rotation making it easier to image.
Further developments include astronomers releasing images of the magnetic field encompassing M87* in 2021. Overcoming the challenge of capturing our own supermassive black hole in polarized light took an additional three years.
In a surprising revelation, despite the contrasting sizes of the two black holes, the new images demonstrate strikingly similar magnetic field structures, emphasizing the prevalence of strong magnetic fields in both. This highlights a fundamental feature of supermassive black holes.
Isaun emphasized, “Sgr A* now holds a polarization structure remarkably akin to the larger, more potent M87* black hole, supporting the significance of a robust, well-ordered magnetic field in these entities.”
A comparison of the sizes of two black holes imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration: M87* at the core of the galaxy Messier 87 and Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) at the center of the Milky Way. – Image credit: EHT Collaboration (Acknowledgment: Lia Medeiros, xkcd)
Previous investigations on M87* disclosed that the encircling magnetic field generates potent jets of energy and matter extending far beyond the galaxy. While astronomers have visualized the jet around M87*, it has remained elusive around Sgr A*. However, recent images unveil remarkable similarities between the two black holes, suggesting the potential existence of jets in both.
Isaun highlighted, “The jets within the host galaxy can stimulate or counteract star formation, exhibiting a fascinating interplay between the dynamics of these emanating jets from these black holes and the evolvement of the host galaxy. There exists a connection.”
“I believe we can extract valuable insights into our galaxy’s history from this connection.”
Upon the release of this image in 2022 by the EHT collaboration, it served as the premier visual evidence of a supermassive black hole residing at the heart of our galaxy, Sagittarius A*. – Image credit: EHT Collaboration
The upgraded EHT is set to observe Sgr A* once more next month, with astronomers hopeful of uncovering concealed jets and other facets of the galaxy’s central region.
Anticipate further groundbreaking revelations from EHT, potentially including more awe-inspiring images and even real-time video footage in years to come.
About our experts
Sarah Isaun is an observational astronomer and member of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration. Her research focuses on aggregating, calibrating, and visualizing millimeter-wave radio observations of supermassive black holes. She led a project to produce new images of Sagittarius A* in polarized light.
This mesmerizing shot of the perfect alignment of the sun and full moon over Utah's Valley of the Gods last October is raising expectations for next month's total solar eclipse in North America.
This image, a collaboration between photographers Andrew McCarthy and Daniel Stein, shows an annular solar eclipse in which an outer “ring of fire” forms because the moon is too far from Earth to completely cover the sun. I am. The shot is the result of digitally stitching together thousands of images, combining Stein's landscape photography skills with McCarthy's experience capturing images of the sun.
After months of planning, the pair set up cameras and telescopes at carefully selected desert locations to capture the key shots, taking into account weather patterns, eclipse duration, and terrain features. did.
The image was published by Social media March 8th, exactly one month before a total solar eclipse, in which the moon completely covers the sun, will pass over North America. It will blanket much of the continent in darkness or completely, from Canada to the United States and Mexico. The path of the total eclipse will be much wider than the last similar solar eclipse in the region, covering almost 200 kilometers compared to about 115 kilometers in 2017.
“It’s easy to take the sun for granted, but [sun and moon] When combined during a solar eclipse, they are breathtakingly beautiful. I feel that incorporating landscape elements adds a sense of grounding to the images and allows the viewer to connect more deeply with the work,” says Stein.
Photographing a solar eclipse takes a little practice
Sebastian Kennerknecht/Minden Pictures/Alamy
Although some people spend years planning trips to see a total solar eclipse, the moment itself lasts only a few minutes at most. A well-taken photo will help you remember the moment years later.
Fortunately, with a little practice, even beginners can capture great images. Learn how to photograph a solar eclipse without any prior experience or fancy camera equipment.
location, location, location
Of course, you can’t photograph a solar eclipse unless you’re in its path. On April 8, everyone in North America will see at least a partial solar eclipse. A partial solar eclipse must be viewed through eclipse glasses and photographed using a solar filter (see details below).
Only those who have entered the path of totality can see the total solar eclipse. Much of the experience will be the same, with partial stages requiring eclipse glasses and eclipse filters, but midway through totality, where the moon completely blocks the sun for several minutes. Only during this period will the eclipse glasses and solar filters come off, allowing you to see and photograph the sun’s corona with the naked eye. This is the shot everyone wants.
How to photograph a total solar eclipse using a smartphone
If you’re in the middle of a totality, forget about handheld video or zooming in on the eclipse sun. The results of using a smartphone will be disappointingly bleak. Instead, focus on taking wide-angle shots that use silhouettes of people and objects to show off their overall beauty.
solar eclipse 2024
On April 8th, a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Our special series covers everything you need to know, from how and when to see a solar eclipse to the strangest solar eclipse experience of all time.
Just before dark, put your phone into wide-angle mode. Focus on something in the middle distance and press and hold your finger on the screen to lock focus. Burst mode allows you to capture images continuously as soon as totality begins. That way, you can catch the “diamond ring,” the last and first beads of sunlight peeking around the moon just before and after totality.
How to photograph a total solar eclipse with a camera
If you have a manual DSLR or mirrorless camera and a variety of lenses, you can choose to shoot wide-angle or close-up of the eclipse. In partial phases, solar filters should be used.
Just before totality, make sure the partially eclipsed Sun is in focus and set your camera to bracketing mode (if you want to take three different exposures of the same image). “Make sure your camera is shooting at a low ISO (200-400) before and after totality to reduce noise,” he says. Mike Mezur, nature photographer. Remember to remove the solar filter during the diamond ring, take a bracket shot during totality, and put the solar filter back on as soon as he sees the second diamond ring at the end of totality.
How to take photos of a partial solar eclipse
To capture impressive shots of a partially eclipsed sun with your smartphone, you need to use a solar filter and keep your smartphone still. The latter can be done by using a tripod and delaying the shutter for a few seconds. There is no problem if you use solar eclipse glasses for the filter. If you have a spare lens, try cutting out one lens and taping it to your phone’s camera lens. Another option is to purchase a smartphone eclipse filter from a company such as: solar snap or business solar.
Smartphones aren’t prone to damage when pointed at the sun, but don’t point your manual camera at a partially chipped sun unless the lens is protected by a solar filter. You can purchase expensive glass solar filters or make your own using inexpensive Baader AstroSolar safety film.
The steps required to take a photo of a partial solar eclipse are a little more involved than taking a standard selfie, but you can practice ahead of time whenever the sun is clearly visible. “Adjust focus and set exposure manually” Karl Heilman, a New York-based photographer who teaches solar eclipse photography workshops. He recommends using an aperture of f/8-11, a shutter speed of 1/800, and ISO 100.
Also, be careful not to spend all your time fiddling with your camera. “As much as you want to photograph the event, put down your camera and take the time to take it in, because this is one of the most amazing things you’ll ever see,” says Mezur.
Louise* thought she had been honest with her two children about the risks of the internet. However, last year, at 6 a.m., the police knocked on her door looking for her 17-year-old son.
“Five or six police officers came up my stairs,” she recalled. She exclaimed, “When they informed her they were searching for her son due to indecent images, she felt like she was going to pass out.
“I said, ‘Oh my god, he’s autistic. Has he been taught?’ They confiscated all his devices and took him away. I was so stunned that I almost vomited after they left.”
Louise’s son is just one of many under-18s accused by law enforcement of viewing or sharing indecent images of children in the past year.
the study Published in February Some individuals who consume child sexual abuse material (CSAM) admit to becoming desensitized to adult pornography and are now in search of more extreme or violent content. It appears that there are people.
In December, an investigation by The Guardian revealed that in certain areas, the majority of individuals identified by authorities as viewing or sharing indecent images of children were under 18.
Experts argue that this is part of a larger crisis caused by predators grooming children through chat apps and social media platforms.
In January, the Internet Watch Foundation cautioned that over 90% of child abuse images online are self-produced, meaning they are generated and distributed by children themselves.
Louise attributes her son’s natural teenage curiosity about pornography to steering him towards a dangerous path of interacting with strangers and sharing explicit images. Alex* was convicted of viewing and distributing a small number of child abuse images, some falling under Category A (rape and abuse of young children). Categories B and C.
While Louise acknowledges that her son, who received an 18-month community sentence and is now on the sex offenders register for five years, committed a serious offense and must face the consequences. But she also wants other parents to comprehend the sequence of events.
“It all began with an obsession common among many young people with autism,” she explained. “He adored manga and anime. I can’t even count how many miles he traveled to buy manga for himself.
“This interest led him from innocent cartoons to sexualized images, eventually leading him to join a group where teenagers exchange pornography.”
Alex has since admitted to his mother that he had an interest in pornography and was part of online groups with names like “Sex Images 13 to 17.” “What teenager isn’t curious?” Louise pondered.
It was on these popular sites and chat apps that adults were waiting to exploit vulnerable young individuals like him.
“He was bombarded with messages,” Louise shared. “Literally thousands of messages from individuals attempting to manipulate him. This boy has struggled for years to fit in as an autistic kid at school. He’s been a victim of bullying. And all of a sudden, he felt accepted. He felt a sense of excitement.
“Adults coerced him into sharing images of abuse. If he hadn’t been caught, who knows where it could have led?”
Louise questioned Alex why he didn’t show the images he received to an adult.
“I even asked him, ‘Why didn’t you tell me immediately when you saw the image?'” And he replied, “Mom, I know it’s difficult to do that. Did you know?” to describe the months I’ve been online in these spaces. ” His actual words when the police arrived were, “Oh, thank God.” That was a relief to him. ”
She mentioned that the lockdown has shifted the dynamics for young people like her son, with their lives increasingly reliant on the internet. “They were instructed, ‘Just go online and do everything there.”
Both Alex and his mother are receiving assistance from the Lucy Faithful Foundation, a charity aiding online sex offenders. Last year, 217,889 people expressed concern about their own or someone else’s sexual thoughts or actions and have reached out to seek help.
The organization recently launched a website called coast, targeting young individuals anxious about their own sexual thoughts and behaviors. Following the lifting of lockdown restrictions, calls to support hotlines for under-18s rose by 32%.
Alex also reflected on the precarious position he found himself in. “I was in my final year of sixth form, at home while my friends were heading off to university, so I felt anxious and fearful about our friendship drifting apart.
“Here, I made the fateful decision to use multiple chat platforms to try to build friendships. Although I had no intention of sexual involvement, I approached my friend in a natural sexual interest, experience. The fear of delay, combined with the powerful effect of anonymity, has made it very easy to engage in these matters.”
He cautions that his generation’s utilization of the online realm demands novel approaches to safeguard children better.
“This issue cannot be resolved by simply advising against talking to strangers on the internet. That information is outdated,” he remarked.
“Many people believe that this content can only be found on the dark web, when in fact it can be found in the shallowest parts of the internet without any effort. It was so scary that I might have thought about it, but unfortunately I was in too deep and it was too late.”
*Name has been changed
If you have concerns about images your child may have shared themselves, you can report them through the joint Childline and Internet Watch Foundation service. Delete report. You can also report images of child sexual abuse from the same website. If you are concerned about the sexual behavior of young people, please visit: shorespace.org.uk
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
The new Hubble images taken on January 5 and 6, 2024 show many large storms and small white clouds in Jupiter’s atmosphere, indicating a lot of activity.
Jupiter is revisited by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in these images taken on January 5 and 6, 2024, capturing both sides of the giant planet. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / Amy Simon, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Jupiter’s colorful clouds create a constantly changing display of shapes and colors in its atmosphere.
The planet experiences various stormy weather patterns, including low-pressure systems, high-pressure systems, wind shear, and the Great Red Spot, the largest storm in the solar system.
Jupiter is covered by a cloud of ammonia ice crystals, about 48 km thick in an atmosphere that is tens of thousands of kilometers deep, resulting in the planet’s distinctive stripes.
The banding effect is caused by air moving at different latitudes and speeds of up to 563 km per hour.
The zones, where the atmosphere rises, are brightly colored, while the belts, where the air falls, are darker. Storms and turbulence occur when these opposing flows interact.
“The left Hubble image shows the iconic Great Red Spot prominently in Jupiter’s atmosphere,” stated Hubble astronomers.
“To the lower right is a feature known as Red Spot Junior, a high-pressure system resulting from storms in previous years.”
“This year, it appears to be turning red again, possibly due to compounds like sulfur and phosphorus.”
“In the right image, storm activity is visible in the opposite hemisphere, with two distinct storm systems rotating in opposite directions.”
These storms are expected to pass each other as they repel through their rotations.
“The presence of many storms and clouds in Jupiter’s atmosphere indicates a high level of activity,” said Dr. Amy Simon, OPAL project leader and astronomer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
“Despite its small size, Jupiter’s moon Io shows volcanic activity, visible through Hubble’s sensitivity to blue and violet wavelengths.”
Astronomers harness powerful energy dark energy camera The Victor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope (DECam) at Cerro Tororo Inter-American Observatory, a program of NSF's NOIRLab, Huge 1.3 gigapixel image The Vela supernova remnant is the remains of a giant star that exploded in the constellation Vela about 11,000 years ago.
This DECam image shows the Vela supernova remnant, the remnant of a supernova explosion 800 light-years away in the southern constellation of Vela. Image credits: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / TA University of Alaska Anchorage Chancellor and NSF's NOIRLab / M. Zamani and D. de Martin, NSF's NOIRLab.
of Bella supernova remnantVela SNR for short, is one of the most well-studied supernova remnants in the sky and one of the closest supernova remnants to Earth.
Its progenitor star exploded 11,000 to 12,300 years ago south of the constellation Vore.
The association of this supernova remnant with the bella pulsar, made by Australian astronomers in 1968, provided direct observational evidence that supernovae form neutron stars.
“When this star exploded 11,000 years ago, its outer layer was violently stripped away and splattered around, creating a shock wave that can still be seen today,” the astronomers said in a statement.
“As the shock wave spreads into the surrounding region, hot, energetic gas flies away from the point of explosion, becomes compressed and interacts with the interstellar medium, producing the blue and yellow thread-like filaments seen in the image. .”
“Vela SNR is a gigantic structure, almost 100 light-years long and 20 times the diameter of a full moon in the night sky.”
“Although the star's final moments were dramatic, he did not completely disappear.”
“After the outer layers were shed, the star's core collapsed into a neutron star, an ultra-dense ball of protons and electrons that collided with each other to form neutrons.”
“The neutron star, named Bela pulsar, is now a supercondensed object containing the mass of a Sun-like star in a sphere just a few kilometers in diameter.”
“The Bela pulsar, located in the lower left region of this image, is a relatively faint star and indistinguishable from the thousands of objects next to it.”
Vela SNR's new image is the largest DECam image ever published, containing an astonishing 1.3 gigapixels.
“The striking reds, yellows, and blues in this image were achieved by using three DECam filters, each collecting a specific color of light,” the researchers said.
“Separate images were taken with each filter and stacked on top of each other to produce this high-resolution color image showing the intricate web-like filaments snaking throughout the expanding gas cloud.”
Francesa Mani returned home from school in suburban New Jersey last October and shared shocking news with her mother, Dorota.
At Westfield High School, a 14-year-old girl and her friends were targeted with abuse through the distribution of fake nude images created using artificial intelligence.
Dorota, aware of the power of this technology, was surprised by how easily the images were generated.
She expressed her disbelief, stating, “With just a single image, I didn’t anticipate how quickly this could happen. It’s a risk for anyone at the simple click of a button.”
An investigation by The Guardian’s Black Box podcast series revealed the origins and operators of an app called ClothOff, which was used to create the explicit images at Westfield High School.
Francesca and Dorota decided to take action after feeling dissatisfied with the school board’s response to the incident. They began advocating for new legislation at both the state and federal levels to hold creators of non-consensual, sexually explicit deepfakes accountable.
The growing number of cases like the one at Westfield High School has highlighted the gaps in existing laws and the urgent need for stronger protections, especially for minors.
NCMEC is collaborating with the Mani family to investigate the further spread of the images generated at the school.
While the school district initiated an investigation and offered counseling to affected students, the lack of criminal repercussions for the perpetrators due to current laws is a major concern for the victims’ families.
ClothOff denied involvement in the incident and suggested that a competing app may have been responsible.
Francesca and Dorota’s efforts have led to the introduction of bills in Congress to criminalize the sharing of AI-generated images without consent and provide victims with legal recourse.
Despite bipartisan support for these bills, progress has been slow due to other pressing issues in government, but efforts to address the misuse of AI technology continue at both the state and federal levels.
A bipartisan push to create deterrents against the creation and dissemination of deepfakes is gaining momentum as more states consider legislation to address the issue.
Incidents similar to the one at Westfield High School have occurred across the country, highlighting the urgent need for comprehensive laws to combat the misuse of AI technology.
Francesca and Dorota, along with other affected families, are committed to ensuring accountability for those responsible for creating and distributing deepfake images.
Their advocacy has drawn attention to the need for stronger legal protections against AI-generated deepfakes, emphasizing the importance of preventing further harm to vulnerable individuals.
NGC604 is comparable to renowned star-forming regions in the Milky Way, like the Orion Nebula, but is significantly larger and contains more recently created stars.
This image from the NIRCam instrument in Webb’s star-forming region NGC 604 shows how stellar winds from bright, hot young stars form cavities in the surrounding gas and dust. Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI.
NGC 604 is a star-forming region situated 2.73 million light-years away in the Triangulum Galaxy.
Also identified as RX J0134.5+3047. discovered It was discovered by German-born British astronomer William Herschel on September 11, 1784.
NGC 604 is believed to be approximately 3.5 million years old and spans about 1,300 light years in diameter.
In the recent image, near infrared camera (NIRCam) and Mid-infrared measuring instrument The (MIRI) experiment aboard NASA/ESA/CSA’s NGC 604 James Webb Space Telescope reveals cavernous bubbles and elongated filaments of gas that reveal a more detailed and complete representation of a star than ever seen before. Etched birth tapestry.
Sheltered within NGC 604’s dusty gases are more than 200 of the hottest and most massive types of stars, all in the early stages of their lives.
These types of stars include type B and type O, the latter of which can have a mass more than 100 times that of the Sun.
It is extremely rare to find such a large concentration of them in nearby space. In fact, there is no similar region within our Milky Way galaxy.
This concentration of massive stars, combined with its relatively close distance, means that NGC 604 offers astronomers the opportunity to study these objects early in their lives.
This image from NGC 604’s Webb MIRI instrument shows how large clouds of cooler gas and dust glow at mid-infrared wavelengths. Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI.
“The most striking features in Webb’s near-infrared NIRCam images are bright red-appearing tendrils or clumps of luminescence extending from areas that appear to be open spaces or large bubbles in the nebula,” Webb astronomers said. Ta.
“Stellar winds from the brightest and hottest young stars carve out these cavities, and ultraviolet light ionizes the surrounding gas. This ionized hydrogen appears as a ghostly glow of white and blue.”
“The bright orange streaks in Webb’s near-infrared images indicate the presence of carbon-based molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).”
“This material plays an important role in the interstellar medium and in the formation of stars and planets, but its origin is a mystery.”
“If you move away from where the dust was immediately removed, a deeper red color represents hydrogen molecules. This cooler gas is the perfect environment for star formation.”
“Webb’s superior resolution also provides insight into functionality previously thought to be irrelevant to the main cloud,” they added.
“For example, the Webb image shows two bright, young stars burrowing into the dust above the central nebula, connected by a diffuse red gas.”
“These appeared as separate spots in visible-light images taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.”
Webb’s observations at mid-infrared wavelengths also offer new perspectives on the region’s diverse and dynamic activities.
“MIRI observations of NGC 604 show a significantly lower number of stars,” the astronomers said.
“This is because hot stars emit much less light at these wavelengths, while large clouds of cooler gas and dust glow.”
“Some of the stars seen in this image belong to surrounding galaxies and are red supergiants. These stars are cold but very large, hundreds of times the diameter of the Sun.”
“Additionally, some of the background galaxies that appeared in the NIRCam images have also dimmed.”
“In the MIRI image, blue tendrils of material indicate the presence of PAHs.”
NASA/ESA/CSA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured new images of barred spiral galaxy NGC 1559.
This Webb image shows barred spiral galaxy NGC 1559, located approximately 32 million light-years away in the constellation Reticulata. Image credits: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / A. Leroy / J. Lee / PHANGS Team.
NGC 1559 is situated about 32 million light-years away in the southern constellation Rechi.
Also known as LEDA 14814, ESO 84-10, and IRAS 04170-6253, this galaxy was first observed in 1826 by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop.
NGC 1559 features extensive spiral arms filled with star formation and is receding from us at a speed of approximately 1,300 km/s.
It has a mass of around 10 billion solar masses, which may seem substantial, but it’s almost 100 times less than the mass of our Milky Way galaxy.
“NGC 1559 exhibits a massive spiral arm of active star formation moving away from us at 1,300 kilometers per second,” explained the Webb astronomers.
“Although NGC 1559 appears to be close to the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the nearest clouds in the sky, this is merely a perspective illusion.”
“In reality, NGC 1559 is not physically near the Large Magellanic Cloud in space. It is actually isolated, lacking any nearby galactic companions or members of galaxy clusters.”
“MIRI captures the glow of interstellar dust particles that trace the interstellar medium fueling future star formation,” the astronomers elaborated.
“NIRCam reflects starlight and reveals young stars hidden behind vast amounts of dust.”
“This instrument also detects emission from ionizing nebulae around young stars.”
The image of NGC 1559 was taken by the PHANGS team as part of Webb’s observation of 55 galaxies using instruments such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
“By combining Webb’s unique view of dust and stars with data from these other facilities, we can delve into the detailed processes of star birth, life, and death in galaxies across the universe. Our goal is to gain new insights into this phenomenon,” stated the researchers.
“This program is also part of a Treasury Department initiative, allowing immediate access to the data for the scientific community and the general public,” they added.
“This enables us to conduct more research at a faster pace.”
A privately built spacecraft on the moon has sent back new photos from the lunar surface. The images captured the spacecraft’s much-lauded descent and the moment it rolled over shortly after landing.
The Odysseus lander, built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, touched down on the moon on February 22, making it the first commercial ship to reach the moon’s surface and the first U.S. ship to reach the moon in more than 50 years. It made history as a spaceship.
The Odysseus Lunar Module took this image about 35 seconds after it rolled over on its approach to the landing site. Intuitive machine via AP
The next day, Intuitive Machines announced that Odysseus had rolled over as it landed near a crater called Malapart A near the moon’s south pole. Company officials said the 14-foot-tall lander was operational, but part of the rover’s antenna was pointing toward the ground, limiting its ability to communicate with flight controllers on Earth. Ta.
with updateMondayIntuitive Machines said it was continuing to communicate with the spacecraft, adding that flight controllers “will collect data until the lander’s solar panels are no longer exposed to light.”
Company officials said they expect to be able to communicate with Odysseus until Tuesday morning, based on the positions of the Earth and the moon. The lander was originally expected to spend about a week collecting data on the lunar surface before the lunar night begins and the spacecraft powers down.
In its latest update, the company announced that Odysseus’ instruments detected nine safe landing sites within the target zone near the moon’s south pole. The moon’s south pole region has long intrigued scientists because water ice is thought to be relatively abundant in permanently shadowed craters.
Google has temporarily blocked a new artificial intelligence model that generates images of people after it depicted World War II German soldiers and Vikings as people of color.
The company announced that its Gemini model would be used to create images of people after social media users posted examples of images generated by the tool depicting historical figures of different ethnicities and genders, such as the Pope and the Founding Fathers of the United States. announced that it would cease production.
“We are already working to address recent issues with Gemini's image generation functionality. While we do this, we will pause human image generation and re-release an improved version soon. “We plan to do so,” Google said in a statement.
Google did not mention specific images in its statement, but examples of Gemini's image results are widely available on X, along with commentary on issues surrounding AI accuracy and bias. 1 former Google employee “It was difficult to get Google Gemini to acknowledge the existence of white people,” he said.
1943 illustration of German soldier Gemini. Photo: Gemini AI/Google
Jack Krawczyk, a senior director on Google's Gemini team, acknowledged Wednesday that the model's image generator (not available in the UK and Europe) needs tweaking.
“We are working to improve this type of depiction immediately,” he said. “His AI image generation in Gemini generates a variety of people, which is generally a good thing since people all over the world are using it. But here it misses the point.”
We are already working to address recent issues with Gemini's image generation capabilities. While we do this, we will pause human image generation and plan to re-release an improved version soon. https://t.co/SLxYPGoqOZ
In a statement on X, Krawczyk added that Google's AI principles ensure that its image generation tools “reflect our global user base.” He added that Google would continue to do so for “open-ended” image requests such as “dog walker,” but added that response prompts have a historical trend. He acknowledged that efforts are needed.
“There's more nuance in the historical context, and we'll make further adjustments to accommodate that,” he said.
We are aware that Gemini introduces inaccuracies in the depiction of some historical image generation and are working to correct this immediately.
As part of the AI principles https://t.co/BK786xbkeywe design our image generation capabilities to reflect our global user base and…
Reports on AI bias are filled with examples of negative impacts on people of color.a Last year's Washington Post investigation I showed multiple examples of image generators show prejudice Not just against people of color, but also against sexism. Although 63% of U.S. food stamp recipients are white, the image generation tool Stable Diffusion XL shows that food stamp recipients are primarily non-white or dark-skinned. It turned out that there was. Requesting images of people “participating in social work” yielded similar results.
Andrew Rogoiski, from the University of Surrey's Institute for Human-Centered AI, said this is “a difficult problem to reduce bias in most areas of deep learning and generative AI”, and as a result there is a high likelihood of mistakes. said.
“There is a lot of research and different approaches to eliminating bias, from curating training datasets to introducing guardrails for trained models,” he said. “AI and LLM are probably [large language models] There will still be mistakes, but it is also likely that they will improve over time. ”
“Whale Bones was photographed in the most extreme conditions,” explains jury chair and renowned photographer Alex Mustard. “A breath-holding diver descends below the Greenland ice sheet to witness a carcass. This composition invites us to think about the impact we have on the great creatures on this planet. Since the advent of humans, wild animals were reduced by his 85%.
“Currently, only 4 percent of mammals are wild animals, and the remaining 96 percent are humans and livestock. We need to change the way we do things to find a balance with nature.”
Portuguese photographer Nuno Sa has been named the Save Our Seas Foundation’s 2024 Marine Conservation Photographer of the Year. His photo, dubbed “Saving Goliath,” depicts a beachgoer’s futile efforts to save a stranded sperm whale off the coast of Portugal.
Underwater Photographer of the Year is an annual competition that celebrates the best underwater photography since 1965.
Today’s competition attracts entries from all over the world, with 13 categories testing photographers in themes such as macro, wide-angle, action photography, and shipwreck photography, as well as four categories specifically for photographs taken in British waters.
Below are the winners of this year’s contest and our favorite ranked images.
Winner – Macro Category
Pot-bellied seahorse (ventral hippocampus) Pictured surrounded by bright green corals with interesting patterns. Photographed on Bear Island, Australia. Photo credit: Talia Grace/UPY2024
astronomer using NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope We captured a vivid image of IRAS 16562-3959, a beautiful star-forming region in the constellation Scorpius.
This Hubble image shows IRAS 16562-3959, a star-forming region about 5,900 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Fedriani / J. Tan.
IRAS 16562-3959The star, also known as 2MASX J16594225-4003451, is located 5,900 light-years away in the constellation Scorpius.
“At the center of the image, IRAS 16562-3959 is thought to contain a massive star with a mass approximately 30 times that of the Sun, which is still in the process of formation,” Hubble team members said in a statement. Ta.
“At the near-infrared wavelengths that Hubble detects, the central region appears dark because there is so much dust in the way.”
“Near-infrared light, however, primarily leaks out from two sides, the top left and bottom right, where powerful jets from massive protostars are removing dust.”
“The multi-wavelength images containing this amazing Hubble scene will help us better understand how the largest and brightest stars in the Milky Way are born.”
The new image of IRAS 16562-3959 was created from separate exposures taken in the near-infrared region of the spectrum. Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).
Four filters were used to sample different wavelengths. Color is obtained by assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
“A filter is a thin piece of highly specialized material that only allows light at very specific wavelengths to pass through,” the astronomer explained.
“We can slide them in front of the light-sensing part of the telescope, allowing us to control which wavelengths of light the telescope collects for each observation.”
“This is useful not only for certain scientific studies, but also for creating images like this.”
“Regardless of which filter was used, raw telescopic observations are always monochrome,” they added.
“However, specially trained artists and image professionals can choose colors that match the wavelength range covered by individual filters.”
“Alternatively, if a direct match is not possible, for example the data used in this image is all in the infrared range, to which the human eye is not sensitive, so the artist has chosen colors that are wisely representative of what they are trying to represent.” You can. It’s happening.”
“For example, shorter wavelengths might be assigned a bluer color and longer wavelengths a redder color, as is the case with the visible light range.”
“The data from multiple filters can then be combined to build multicolor images that look beautiful and have scientific meaning.”
On February 3, 2024, NASA's Juno spacecraft made its second close approach to Io, the fifth and third largest of Jupiter's moons. Like the previous flyby on December 30, 2023, this second pass was approximately 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away. During the twins' flyby, the spacecraft's JunoCam instrument returned stunning high-resolution images and raw data. The flyby is designed to provide new insights into how Io's volcanic engines work and whether a global magma ocean exists beneath the volcanic moon's rocky, mountainous surface. has been done.
The JunoCam instrument aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft imaged Io, the most geologically active object in the solar system, on February 3, 2024, from a distance of approximately 7,904 km (4,911 miles) . Image credit: NASA/SwRI/MSSS.
Io is the innermost of Jupiter's four Galilean moons and the fourth largest moon in the solar system.
Its diameter is about 3,630 km (2,556 miles), making it only slightly larger than our moon.
It is the only place in the solar system other than Earth that is known to have volcanoes spewing hot lava like those on Earth.
Io has over 400 active volcanoes, which are caused by tidal heating. This is the result of a gravitational tug of war between Jupiter's gravity and the small but precisely timed gravitational pulls from Europa and Ganymede.
The moon's yellow, white, orange, and red colors are produced by sulfur dioxide, frost on its surface, elemental sulfur, and various sulfur allotropes.
The volcano was first discovered on the island of Io in 1979, and since then studies using NASA's Galileo spacecraft and ground-based telescopes have shown that eruptions and lava fountains occur constantly, forming rivers and lakes of lava. Masu.
Only 13 large eruptions were observed between 1978 and 2006, in part because fewer astronomers were scanning the moon on a regular basis.
The JunoCam instrument aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft imaged Io on December 30, 2023, from a distance of approximately 5,857 km (3,639 miles). Image credit: NASA/SwRI/MSSS.
NASA's Juno spacecraft has been monitoring Io's volcanic activity from distances ranging from about 11,000 km (6,830 miles) to more than 100,000 km (62,100 miles), providing the first view of the moon's north and south poles .
On December 30, 2023, Juno came within approximately 1,500 km of Io's surface. The orbiter made her second close flyby of the Moon on February 3, 2024.
The second flyby mainly flew over Io's southern hemisphere, but previous flybys flew over Io's northern hemisphere.
Juno captured two plumes rising above Io's horizon on February 3, 2024. These plumes were emitted from two vents from one giant volcano, or from two volcanoes located close to each other. The JunoCam instrument photographed the plume from a distance of approximately 3,800 km (2,400 miles). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Andrea Luck.
“We investigate the source of Io's massive volcanic activity, whether there is a magma ocean beneath its crust, and the importance of tidal forces from Jupiter that are relentlessly squeezing this beleaguered moon. doing.”
“There are active plumes, high mountain peaks with distinct shadows, and evidence of lava lakes, some of which look like islands.”
Starting in April 2024, Juno will conduct a series of occultation experiments that will use Juno's gravity science experiments to investigate the composition of Jupiter's upper atmosphere. This provides important information about the planet's shape and internal structure.
Meta works to identify and label AI-generated images on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, and is striving to expose “people and organizations that actively seek to deceive the public.” Masu.
Images created using Meta’s AI image tools are already labeled as AI, but Nick Clegg, the company’s global president, stated in a blog post on Tuesday that the company’s competing services will start labeling AI-generated images.
Meta’s AI images already have metadata and an invisible watermark indicating that the image was created by AI. The company has partnered with Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Adobe, Midjourney, and Shutterstock to work on AI image generators, according to Clegg.
Clegg said, “As the line between human content and synthetic content becomes blurred, people want to know where the line is.”
He added, “People often encounter AI-generated content for the first time, and our users appreciate the transparency around this new technology. It’s important to let people know that it was created using AI.”
A surfing llama or an AI? Image labels for AI-generated content on Facebook.
Clegg mentioned that the labeling feature is being developed and will be rolled out to all languages in the coming months.
He also stated that the company will add more prominent labels on images, videos, or audio that are “digitally created or altered” and “have a particularly high risk of materially misleading the public.”
Additionally, the company is working to develop technology to automatically detect AI-generated content, even when the content lacks invisible markers or has been removed.
“This work is particularly important because the online space is likely to become increasingly hostile in the coming years,” Mr Clegg said.
He concluded, “People and organizations actively trying to deceive people with AI-generated content will find ways to circumvent the safeguards in place to detect it. Our industry and society as a whole must continue to find ways to stay ahead of the curve.”
AI deepfakes have already become an issue in the US presidential election cycle, with examples of AI-generated deepfakes used to dissuade voters in the New Hampshire Democratic primary.
Australia’s Nine News also faced criticism for altering an image broadcast on the evening news that exposed Victorian Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell’s belly button and altered her chest, using Adobe’s AI image tools.
NASA has released a stunning new image of the irregular galaxy LEDA 6430 captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
This Hubble image shows LEDA 6430, an irregular galaxy about 15 million light-years away in the constellation Phoenix. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Messa.
LEDA6430 It is located in Phoenix, a small constellation in the south, about 15 million light years from Earth.
This galaxy, also known as ESO 245-5 or HIPASS J0145-43, 15,000 light years Across.
“The Hubble image of LEDA 6430 shows a dense starry sky over a background of dust, gas, and light from more distant objects,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“In the image, the stars take up most of the field of view, so it's a little difficult to realize that you're actually looking at a large portion of the galaxy.”
“Another reason why LEDA 6430 is probably a bit difficult to tell is a galaxy is its apparent lack of structure,” the astronomers added.
“We frequently enjoy Hubble's spectacular images of spiral galaxies, which are extremely interesting to watch, in part because the stars, gas, and dust appear to be arranged in an unusually orderly manner. .”
“The IB(s)m designation specifically means that the galaxy is irregular (I), banded (B), has a slight spiral structure (s), and is Magellanic (m). ”
“Irregularity is very intuitive in this context; galaxies do not appear to have a regular, ordered structure,” the researchers said.
“In fact, the entire landscape here is covered in stars from this galaxy.”
“The second term means there is a bar-like shape at the center of the galaxy, which is a dense expanse of stars across the center of this image.”
“Paragraph 3 says there are hints of a helical structure, but nothing clear or definitive (hence the 's' in parentheses).”
“Finally, the last term shows that LEDA 6430 is similar to the Magellanic Clouds, two dwarf galaxies that flank the Milky Way.”
Color images of the LEDA 6430 were created from separate exposures taken in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared regions of the spectrum. Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) Equipment.
Five filters were used to sample different wavelengths. Color is obtained by assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter.
Rishi Sunak needs to decide whether to support Britain’s creative industries or bet everything on the artificial intelligence boom, Getty Images’ chief executive has said.
Craig Peters, who has led Image Library since 2019, made the comments amid growing anger in the creative and media sectors over the material being collected as “training data” for AI companies. His company is suing a number of AI image generators for copyright infringement in the UK and US.
“If you look at the UK, probably about 10% of GDP is made up of creative industries like film, music and television. I think it’s dangerous to make that trade-off. It’s a bit of a complicated trade-off to bet on AI, which is less than a quarter of the country’s GDP, much less than the creative industries.”
In 2023, the government, in response to consultation from the Intellectual Property Office, set a goal to “overcome the barriers currently faced by AI companies and users” when using copyrighted material, and promised to “support access to copyrighted works.” input to the model.”
This was already a step back from previous proposals for broad copyright exceptions for text and data mining. In a response to a House of Commons committee on Thursday, Viscount Camrose, a hereditary peer and under-secretary of state for artificial intelligence and intellectual property, said: This will help secure the UK’s place as a world leader in AI, while supporting the UK’s thriving creative sector.”
The role of copyrighted material in AI training is under increasing pressure. In the US, the New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft, the creators of ChatGPT, for using news articles as part of training data for their AI system. OpenAI said in a court filing that it is impossible to build an AI system without using copyrighted material.
Peters disagrees. Getty Images collaborated with Nvidia to create its own image generation AI that is trained using only licensed images.
The tide is changing within the industry as well. A dataset of pirated e-books, called Books3, is hosted by an AI group whose copyright takedown policy at one point even includes a costumed person pretending to masturbate with an imaginary penis while singing. Similar to the lawsuit by Getty and the New York Times, a number of other legal actions are underway against AI companies over potential training data breaches.
Ultimately, whether courts or even governments decide how to regulate the use of copyrighted material to train AI systems may not be the final word on this issue. Peters is optimistic that this result is not a foregone conclusion.
For the first time, physicists have directly imaged small clusters of noble gas atoms at room temperature. This result opens up exciting possibilities for fundamental research in condensed matter physics and applications in quantum information technology.
Xenon nanoclusters between two graphene layers. Sizes range from 2 to 10 atoms. Image credit: Manuel L'Engle.
“When I was researching the use of ion irradiation to modify the properties of graphene and other two-dimensional materials, I noticed something unusual. They can become trapped between the sheets,” the University of Vienna said. Dr. Jani Kotaski and his colleagues.
“This happens when noble gas ions pass through the first graphene layer fast enough to pass through, but not the second graphene layer.”
“Once trapped between the layers, the noble gases are free to move because they do not form chemical bonds.”
“But to accommodate the noble gas atoms, the graphene bends to form tiny pockets.”
“Here, two or more noble gas atoms can meet and form two-dimensional noble gas nanoclusters that are ordered and densely packed.”
The researchers' method overcomes the difficulty that noble gases do not form stable structures under experimental conditions at ambient temperatures.
“We observed these clusters using a scanning transmission electron microscope, and they are really fascinating and very fun to look at,” said Dr. Manuel L'Engle, a physicist at the University of Vienna.
“They rotate, jump, grow, and shrink as we imagine them.”
“Getting the atoms between the layers was the most difficult part of the job.”
“Achieving this gives us a simple system to study fundamental processes related to the growth and behavior of materials.”
“The next step is to study the properties of clusters containing different noble gases and how they behave at low and high temperatures,” Dr Kotasky added.
“With the use of noble gases in light sources and lasers, these new structures may enable future applications such as quantum information technology.”
a paper The findings were published in this week's magazine Natural materials.
_____
M. Langre other. Two-dimensional few atomic noble gas clusters within a graphene sandwich. nut.meter, published online on January 11, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41563-023-01780-1
Ever wanted to visit another world? Mars, one of our closest celestial neighbors, is an astonishing 225 million kilometers from Earth, a distance that would take over 1,000 years to walk.
But guess what? Many things on Earth look exactly like Mars; that’s what this year’s winner of the Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition proved. Although this photo looks like a snapshot of an extraterrestrial plant, it actually shows a group of Smile mold growing in a lush garden in the UK.
But the other pictures in the collection are equally amazing. From a crystal forest to a temporary rift and jellyfish elevator, the images capture strange scientific phenomena.
Ecology Category Runner-Up – Postwar Chamois
The image shows an Alps chamois (Lupikapra Lupikapra) Licking the walls of a World War II air raid shelter in the mountains of Val Valaita in the Western Alps. Photo credit: Filippo Calgati
Micro-imaging category runner-up – Crystal lighthouse in the wild forest
The image shows microcrystals of beta-alanine and L-glutamine, showing the evolution of the crystal pattern during the crystallization process. Photo credit: Shyam Ulhas
Astronomy Category Winner – Western Veil Nebula
The Veil Nebula, a spectacular supernova remnant, discovered in the constellation Cygnus, about 10,000 to 20,000 years ago, has gained attention. The horn of the nebula in our sky is several times the size of the Moon. Photo provided by Imran Sultan
Overall Winner – Mars Landscape
The photo shows a specimen lamproderma scintillance, a microorganism that grows on the autumn leaves of Somerset, England. The slime mold exhibits a range of hues, from earthy browns to glossy bronzes to steel-blue iridescent hues of the surrounding deciduous trees. Photo credit: Irina Petrova Adamatsky
See robot dogs perform alongside models at Paris Fashion Week
François Durand/Getty Images
While the majority of robots have remained in labs, there were indications that robots will be more commonplace in 2023. These images display some of the most attention-grabbing machines from the past year, illustrating the growing presence of technology in our daily lives.
Spot, the robotic dog, makes its appearance on the runway. Originally unveiled in 2016, Boston Dynamics’ Spot has become more prevalent in real-world settings since its commercial release in 2019. The New York City Police Department has even acquired two Spot robots to use in various scenarios. Additionally, Spot was witnessed removing jackets from models during a Paris Fashion Week show.
Joining actors and writers at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, the robot dog Gato partook in a demonstration against artificial intelligence. The SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strike highlighted concerns about the potential threat of advanced AI, ultimately leading to an agreement between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
Adam, the robotic barista and bartender, was showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, exhibiting the growing automation in the food and beverage industry. While the prospect of automated food and beverage service looms, the closure of a San Francisco-based automated pizza truck company indicates that this shift is not inevitable.
At the World Robotics Conference in Beijing, humanoid robots displayed their emotional range, showcasing the advancements in technology that are narrowing the gap between humans and robots. Despite the existence of the “uncanny valley,” in which minor differences between humans and human-like robots can evoke uneasiness, there has been progress in refining details such as skin, facial expressions, and eyes.
The humanoid robot Amy, created as a visual artwork by Dutch artist Dries Verhoeven, represents the increasing prevalence of humanoid robots aimed at assisting individuals in coping with challenging realities. Though pharmacists may not have much to fear at the moment, the emergence of robots like Amy indicates a growing trend of humanoid robots being utilized to support those facing difficult circumstances.
Fact-checkers highlighted some notorious examples of AI-generated images that went viral this year, such as Prince William and Prince Harry embracing at the royal coronation.
Midjourney OpenAIWith DALL-E 3, you can now create realistic images faster and easier than ever using only text prompts.
While being a proponent of the technology known as generative; artificial intelligence,please tell me can empower artistsleading to concerns. Possibility of spreading false information.
Charity Full Fact has selected eight examples from 2023 that have been shared thousands of times.
They have since been marked as AI-generated or removed by social media platforms.
Prince William and Prince Harry reunite
Slideshow of 8 images showing prince of wales and the Duke of Sussex king’s coronation spread widely to Facebookover 78,000 likes!
In one of the photos, they appear to be hugging each other with teary eyes, but none of the photos are real.
According to a Full Fact investigation, these photos were originally published in a blog post in which the author explained how to use Midjourney’s image generator to “imagine a heartfelt reconciliation” between two people.
Julian Assange goes to prison
Photo of WikiLeaks founder The scenes at Belmarsh Prison were created using Midjourney.
The creator confirmed as much in an interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper, but not until the image was shared on Facebook and reposted 29,000 times. X.
Donald Trump’s portrait
Before the former US president posted a photo of his real face on Xmany fake versions were circulating.
Some of them have been viewed more than a million times, even though the jumble of letters behind him is a major feature. AI generators often have a hard time recreating text within images.
Mr Trump He had previously been the subject of an AI-generated image that appeared to show the moment of his arrest.
President Emmanuel Macron during the French riots
meanwhile riots in franceThe photo of has become a hot topic Emmanuel Macron He was sitting in the street as garbage burned behind him.
The image was widely shared, with one post garnering more than 55,000 views and comments suggesting the media was ignoring the story, according to Full Fact.
Pope Francis’ large audience
Photo of pope His speech to a large crowd in Lisbon was viewed tens of thousands of times on social media.
But a closer look revealed that it wasn’t real. One hand of the Pope had three fingers.
It comes months after an eerily convincing AI image of the Pope wearing a down jacket went viral.
Elon Musk’s “Robot Wife”
SpaceX Billionaire He makes no secret of his desire to create humanoid robots.but not “The Robot Wife.”
A post featuring an image of him kissing one such model was created by a digital artist and shared on Facebook and X.
Titanic submarine wreckage
While searching for titan submersibleMidjourney was used to create an image purporting to show debris.
It showed a game controller floating in the water, with the caption: “Breaking news: Exploded Titanic submarine controller found floating near the surface.”
The submarine is controlled using a modified controller and has been reported to have been sighted over 300,000 times on the X.
Rishi Sunak’s Bad Pint
image: Image posted by Karl Turner MP (L) and original photo posted to Number 10’s Flickr account (R)
critic of prime minister The shot of him pouring out bad beer was an example of how he was portrayed as an out-of-touch person.
This image is a compilation of photos from the beer festival in August. Pint’s appearance worsened and onlookers looked confused.
It received over 78,000 views on X. The fact that Labor MP Karl Turner shared it also didn’t help.
Full Fact said the government and regulator Ofcom must prioritize public media literacy ahead of the next election, helping them recognize fake images and question what they see online. Ta.
Chief Executive Chris Morris added: “Failure to take action risks reducing people’s trust in what they see online. This risks undermining democracy, particularly during elections. Yes,” he added.
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