Tag Archives: led

My Sister’s Death Led Me to Uncover Her Search History and Online Life

Posted on by
Reply

a
Dele Zeynep Walton sensed something was off when she emerged from a caravan in New Forest at 8 am, camping with her boyfriend. Initially frustrated by the early start, she quickly realized the car was off course, and upon approaching, found her mother appeared “hysterical.” “Right away,” she recalls, “I thought, ‘That’s Amy.'”

Amy, Walton’s younger sister, was 21 and had been struggling with mental health issues for several months. She had a passion for music technology and art, with her stunning self-portraits adorning their family home in Southampton. A big fan of Pharrell Williams, she once received five calls to join him on stage at a concert. However, as her mental health declined, she became increasingly unreachable. “For two months, I had no idea where she was or what she was doing,” Walton says.

That October morning in 2022, Walton uncovered a devastating truth. Amy was found dead in a hotel room in Slough, Berkshire, presumed to have taken her own life. In the following days, Walton and her family would begin to understand Amy’s path—a journey facilitated by a complex web of online connections.




She loved music and art… some of Amy’s self-portraits in her family home. Photo: Peter Fluid/Guardian

Walton, a 25-year-old journalist, pieced together that Amy had engaged with a suicidal promotion forum that the Guardian opted not to name. This site is
linked to at least 50 deaths
in the UK and is currently
under investigation by Ofcom, a regulator under the online safety law. Police investigating Amy’s death revealed that at this forum, Amy learned how to obtain the substance that ended her life and met the man who flew to Heathrow to accompany her at the end. (He was initially charged with assisting suicide, but no further action was taken.)

Sitting in the garden of her parents’ house in Southampton, Walton describes how she came to write about the events that transpired. Her book,
Logoff: Human costs in the digital world
is partly a tribute to her sister and partly an exploration of the implications of everyday web browsing, fate, and the digital world that can perpetuate harm.

“I thought: I need to dedicate myself to uncovering this. Why is the public unaware of these ongoing harms? Because they are constant.” She references Vlad Nikolin-Caisley from Southampton, saying that earlier this month,
a woman was arrested
on suspicion of aiding his suicide.

With a review of Aimee’s death in June, Walton hopes that online factors will be included in the investigation and that “online harm” will be acknowledged as a cause or contributing factor in her sister’s death.

This phrase has become familiar to her. “Until I lost Amy, I didn’t understand what ‘online harm’ meant,” she reflects. She first heard the term from
Ian Russell, Molly’s father and a campaigner for online safety. Molly Russell was 14 when she took her life after being exposed to images and videos of self-harm. Uniquely, the coroner stated that online activity “had contributed to her death in a minimal way.” Walton hopes a similar perspective will be taken in her sister’s case, believing that calling it “suicide” alone fails to account for the impact of the digital world and places unfair blame on Amy while leaving it unregulated.




“We can become vulnerable at any time in our lives”… Amy’s photo. Photo: Peter Fluid/Guardian

Initially labeling her sister’s death a “suicide,” Walton now feels this term no longer adequately reflects Amy’s situation. When suicide is seen as a voluntary action, how much choice does a person really have when influenced by an intentional online community? And if individuals are genuinely free to choose, Walton questions, how does the algorithm continuously presenting Amy with self-harm content shape her experience? “That’s where it becomes hard for me to label it a suicide,” Walton asserts. “My intuition tells me Amy was groomed and that her decision was not entirely hers.”

Her deep dive into these issues has transformed Walton into an activist. She collaborates with
Bereaved Families for Online Safety
and serves as a young people’s ambassador for
People vs Big Technology. “We must address these issues head-on,” she emphasizes. “If we don’t, it fosters the belief that online safety is solely a personal responsibility.”

Walton recounts how police indicated that the man who accompanied Amy at the hotel had shared the room for 11 days prior to her passing. The room contained Amy’s notes, but Walton mentioned they were so filled with pain that they were unreadable. He later told police that he was “working.” She reveals that the man called 999 after Amy ingested the toxic substance but declined to administer CPR. Amy has since been linked to 88 deaths in the UK and the toxic substances are purportedly sourced from Kenneth Law, a Canadian under investigation by the National Crime Agency.

A New York Times investigation revealed the forum was established by two men. Walton visited the forum herself, wanting to trace her sister’s final interactions. “Many posts essentially say, ‘Your family doesn’t care about you; you should do this.’ They phrase it, ‘When are you getting on the bus?'”

Walton views this forum as a form of radicalization towards extreme behaviors that individuals may never have contemplated. She is alarmed by the thought that the man with Amy may have been “living a twisted fantasy as an incel, where a vulnerable young woman seeks to end her life.”

Prior to Amy’s death, Walton held a neutral stance on technology. Now, she describes, “The digital world is a distorted reflection of our offline world, amplifying its dangers.” In her book, her consideration of online harm victims spans a range of experiences, from Archie Batasby, who visited TikTok on the day he suffered a life-changing brain injury, to Meareg Amare Abrha, a university professor in Ethiopia who was killed after posting provocatively on Facebook. She also contemplates Amazon workers striving for better pay and conditions, alongside “Tony,” a 90-year-old neighbor who faced digital exclusion yet taught Walton how to use smartphones.

“For too long, the facade of technology has been equated with progress and innovation, which is a notion I challenge in my book,” she asserts. She recalls infamous public figures like Zuckerberg, Cook, Pichai, Bezos, and Musk, questioning, “Where are the engineers?” and stressing the interconnectedness of these power networks.




“The campaign allows survivors to regain control”… Amy’s bedroom in her family home. Photo: Peter Fluid/Guardian

Yet, Walton sometimes describes her experience as akin to being the digital equivalent of climate scientists from the 1970s. She acknowledges that her relationship with technology is complex, much like Amy’s. Her cherished memories of playing together revolve around their family computer in their parents’ bedroom.

“Chadwick and the Despicable Egg Thief – there’s video of us playing at 3 years old. We’ve played Color Games repeatedly. I’ve been taking photos with a ‘Digicam’ since I was 8, not to mention Xbox, Nintendo, computers—all just for fun!”

In a way, Walton describes her existence as a “double life.” Her book critically examines her own habits. While writing it, she lived in tracksuits, yet none of her
Instagram
posts reveal this journey. She uses the app to limit her screen time and shares
TikToks about “logoff.” Video calls have also allowed her family to “grieve together” after her sister’s passing, many of whom reside in Türkiye.

Promoting her book has made it tough to detach from screens. “I feel like a hypocrite!” she admits. “My screen time this week is nine and a half hours.”
A day? “I don’t like it,” she replies, “I typically average six hours.”

Ultimately, she doesn’t aim for perfection, stating, “I’m in control of it all, guys.”


In her book, Walton notes, “The campaign allows survivors to reclaim the control that was taken from them,” a sentiment that resonates with her as the process seems exhausting. “Did I say that?” she questions, surprised. “But if I hadn’t engaged in this, where would that anger go? It would consume me and make me unwell.”

She has also engaged local MPs (first Royston Smith, then Darren Puffy), and Secretary of State Peter Kyle to seek answers about what occurred with Amy. “When we discuss online safety, it’s often framed in terms of protecting children. While that’s crucial, I also represent Amy; it’s about all of us. We can become vulnerable at any stage in our lives. If we focus solely on children’s safety, we become 18 and still don’t know how to navigate a healthy digital life,” she explains.

“I feel it’s my duty to Amy since I wish I could have shielded her.” Her eyes glisten with unshed tears.

Balancing her grief with activism has proven challenging. “Some days I genuinely can’t handle it, or I just need a day in bed, as my body struggles to keep pace with all the emotional weight.”

“But this is my mission. Those in power only act if they feel the weight of this pain. If Mark Zuckerberg experienced the loss of a child due to online harm, perhaps he would finally understand, ‘Oh my God, I need to pay attention.'”


Logoff: Human costs in the digital world Adele Zeynep Walton will be published by Trapeze on June 5th (£20). To support the Guardian, consider ordering a copy at
Guardianbookshop.com. Shipping fees may apply.


In the UK and Ireland, contact
Samaritans at Freephone 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, call or text
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, chat at
988lifeline.org, or
text HOME to reach a crisis counselor at 741741. Crisis Support Services in Australia can be reached at
Lifeline at 13 1114. Additional international helplines are available at
befrienders.org.


Source: www.theguardian.com

What Led to the Formation of Venus’ Ishtar Highlands?

Posted on by
Reply

Venus is one of the four terrestrial planets in our solar system. Geologists suggest that the geological activity on Venus today mirrors that of Earth around 4.5 billion years ago, shortly after Earth’s formation. The Ishtartera Highlands of Venus is a vast region comparable in size to Australia, marked by a rich crust and encircled by a long mountain range that reaches approximately 10 km (or 6 miles) in height, rising about 4 km (or 2.5 miles) above Venus’ surface. These highlands bear a resemblance to the Tibetan Plateau, the planet’s largest plateau, standing roughly 4.5 km (or 3 miles) high and spanning about 2.5 million square kilometers (or 1 million square miles).

While the Tibetan Plateau and the Ishtar Terra Highlands exhibit similar topographical features, researchers suspect that their formation processes differ significantly. Evidence suggests that the Tibetan Plateau emerged from the collision of tectonic plates on Earth, whereas Venus lacks a structured plate system. An examination of the geophysical aspects of the Ishtar Highlands revealed that it is underpinned by buoyant rocks. Scientists theorize that this buoyant rock could be remnants from the magmatic processes that formed the thick crust, though this remains uncertain. Understanding how Venus’ highlands formed is crucial for gaining insights into the evolution and transformation of rocky planets like Earth.

Previous research has primarily concentrated on Venus’ magmatism or structural dynamics to elucidate the development of the highlands, yet no models have effectively integrated these processes. Fabio Capitanio and his colleagues sought to create such a model. Geodynamic model.

To evaluate the large-scale processes responsible for the formation of the Ishtar Highlands, the team employed a geodynamic model that had previously simulated the formation of Earth’s thick crust. This model, known as a 3D Cartesian Model, was modified to cover an area of 3,650 x 3,650 km (or 2,268 x 2,268 miles) and extend 730 km (or 453 miles) deep, approximating the characteristics of the Ishtar Highlands.

The parameters for each model, including density and viscosity, were based on Earth’s conditions but adjusted for Venus’ higher surface temperature, which is around 450°C or 840°F. They executed 34 simulations of the Ishtar Highlands over a billion years, tracking changes in elevation, gravity characteristics, and temperature over time. This modeling successfully replicated the altitude and gravitational features observed in the Ishtar Highlands.

Subsequently, the team analyzed various model outcomes to identify how these features evolved over time. They determined that the most accurate simulations of Venus’ highlands corresponded to the outermost layer of the planet’s structure, known as the lithosphere, which is estimated to be 10 to 50 times thicker than that of Earth. In this model, extremely hot rocks from within the planet rise, resulting in a gradually thinner lithosphere.

The team clarified that as the strong lithosphere of Earth stretches, it can create slight openings, leading to the formation of volcanoes that release small amounts of lava on the surface. In contrast, as Venus’ weaker lithosphere stretches, it can fracture over much larger areas. When the lithosphere breaks apart, the rock that has accumulated pressure melts and rises to the surface, converting into magma.

The researchers proposed that this stretching and melting scenario could account for the formation of the Ishtar Highlands on Venus. Once the magma in this region solidifies, it forms a new, very thick crust. Unlike the current lithosphere, this new crust behaves like putty, making it challenging to move.

The team suggested that this scenario may clarify the presence of buoyant rocks beneath the Ishtar Highlands. The newly formed crust supports deeper rocks within the thickened Venus, resulting in a higher elevation for the crust. Meanwhile, the older lithosphere, having fractured, compresses the surface of Venus and its surrounding rocks. They postulated that the uplift associated with this process could be responsible for the long mountain range found at the periphery of the Ishtar Highlands.

In conclusion, the researchers indicated that the disintegration of the weak lithosphere and the melting of subsurface rock contributed to the formation of Venus’ highlands. Other highlands on Venus might have developed through similar processes. While the modern plateau on Earth formed differently from the Ishtar Highlands, it supports the idea that early Earth, with its hotter and weaker lithospheres, shares similarities with Venus.


Post view: 218

Source: sciworthy.com

My exploration into which tasks AI should handle led me to a surprisingly human conclusion

Posted on by
Reply

When I interviewed a nurse practitioner in California, what she valued most about nursing was the “human element” of being with other people. “I think we all just want our suffering acknowledged, even if we can't cure it or do anything about it,” she told me.

She still remembers when a homeless man came into her clinic. The man had a hunched back and his feet were gnarled and calloused from years of being on the street. She was “just sitting there tending to the wound on his leg.” This moment stood out to her. One reason for this is that clinics and hospitals have fewer opportunities to take such time, as the pursuit of efficiency imposes time constraints.

Washing her feet represented what nursing meant to her: humility, service, and witness. “To give him a moment where he says, 'I see you, I acknowledge you, this is me taking care of you,'” she said. “It was powerful for both of us.”

What value is there in being seen by people other than friends and family? What happens when people connect with each other in everyday encounters such as civic life and commerce? Why is it important? Amid efficiency campaigns, constant data collection, and the rapid proliferation of AI connecting jobs such as therapy and education, these questions have never been more urgent.

The benefits of human interaction have long been unmeasurable and often ignored, and the value of the skill of connecting with others has long been considered innately feminine. As a social scientist, I spent five years studying these connections to learn how and why they matter and how people make them in different environments.


In fact, we know that the relationship between doctor and patient is as follows: Stronger impact on medical outcomes Rather than taking aspirin every day to prevent a heart attack, a therapist's Connection with client They have more impact than the specific treatments they adhere to. Reflective and witnessing work is important enough to deserve its name. After five years of interviewing and observing numerous practitioners and clients in their workplaces, I have come to call it “joint labor.”

Bonded labor may enable the modern service economy, but it is more than a kind of lubricant to the engine for the outcomes we value, like understanding algebra, managing diabetes, and learning how to manage anxiety. is fulfilled. Rather, seeing and being seen has powerful effects for both individuals and communities.

First, when people see each other, it helps create dignity by simply communicating that they are worthy of being seen by others. I spoke with Mariah, a woman who ran a program in California where ex-prisoners met with mentors in small groups to teach them entrepreneurial skills. She said it took men a while to get used to the attention. “Like, [they ask] “So you just want to know what I think?” This program helped change men through human attention.

The power of human attention to inspire others may be a truism, but perhaps less well-known is that these effects go both ways. “It's a trusting relationship,” Jenna, a primary care physician, told me. “That trust infuses the relationship with almost a power, a sacredness. There's just something about that. I feel really honored and lucky to be able to do something like that. That trust infuses the relationship with almost a power, a sacredness. It gives me just as much.”

Finally, people help others understand themselves better. “I think every kid needs to be seen. Really I saw it,” said Bart, the school principal. “I don't think kids understand it on a deep level. I don't think they really dig into that information or content until they feel seen by the person they're learning from. ”

These outcomes – dignity, purpose and understanding – mean a lot to the individuals involved. But being seen can also have broader effects. In recent research, Formerly Incarcerated People in Chicago We found that receiving interpersonal recognition from local community leaders helps us feel like we fit in. One former prisoner said he now knew he had “something worth saying”. Who is seen and who is not seen can be politically influenced by the feeling of being ignored. stir up populist angerwhile being promoted by recognition; sense of belonging It brings communities together.

Of course humans too mistakeWe recognize each other because judgment and prejudice can poison these interactions and elicit shame in rather vulnerable moments. But as a therapist told me, if people only seek to avoid shame—for example, by choosing an AI companion or counselor—they may never find relief from shame. Shame is common in relationships, but it's something you should work through together, not run away from. Part of the power of human interaction comes from the risks we take when we reveal ourselves to each other.

Bonded labor has profound implications for individuals and our society, but it is under siege in data analytics, drowning practitioners in collection and measurement requirements, and behind automated treatments, education, etc. We are under threat from an increasingly lagging AI. Novelty. For some, AI may be better than nothing, while others believe it is better than humans. Still, both choose technology to solve problems primarily caused by insufficient staffing and a constant drive for efficiency, and both have a hard time understanding what humans actually do for each. It reflects the fact that it reflects. I don't really understand the others.

Instead, we need to preserve and protect these personal interactions. We need to strengthen the working conditions of combined labor workers so that they can better see others. We need to impose “connectivity criteria” that help us decide which AIs to encourage. For example, the kind of AI that creates new antibiotics. Decoding the language of sperm whales – and which one to apply the brakes on, i.e. intervene in human relationships. Each of us must decide how much we value human connection in our own lives and in the lives of our neighbors.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin Rocket Launches to Compete with SpaceX, led by Elon Musk

Posted on by
Reply

Blue Origin’s massive New Glenn rocket successfully launches from Florida on its inaugural space mission. This marks a significant milestone for Jeff Bezos’ space company as it ventures into Earth orbit to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the satellite-launching industry.

The 30-story New Glenn features a reusable first stage powered by liquid oxygen and methane. Despite cloudy skies, the rocket lifted off for the second time this week at around 2 a.m. ET (7 a.m. GMT) from the Blue Origin launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The first launch attempt was postponed on Monday due to ice accumulation on the propellant lines. However, on Thursday, the company confirmed a smooth launch without any issues.

The company’s live stream captured the enthusiasm of hundreds of employees gathered at Blue Origin’s headquarters in Kent, Washington, and the Cape Canaveral rocket factory in Florida for the momentous launch.

Spectators on Florida’s East Coast cheered and witnessed the launch from parks and campgrounds located miles away from the launch pad.

This mission represents a culmination of a decade-long, multibillion-dollar development effort. It included a successful landing of New Glenn’s first stage booster on a fairing barge in the Atlantic Ocean just 10 minutes after liftoff, along with efforts to propel the second stage towards orbit.

Safety secured within New Glenn’s payload bay is the first prototype of Blue Origin’s Blue Ring spacecraft—a maneuverable spacecraft designed for the Department of Defense and commercial use, set to be sold to a customer.

Achieving the deployment of a spacecraft into its intended orbit on the initial rocket launch is a rare accomplishment in the space industry.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Study finds that atmospheric lead pollution in Roman Europe led to widespread cognitive decline

Posted on by
Reply

Researchers examined records from three ice cores to determine levels of lead pollution in the Arctic from 500 BC to 600 AD. The presence of lead isotopes allowed the authors to identify mining and smelting operations across Europe as possible sources of contamination during this period. Advanced computer modeling of atmospheric movement was then used to map atmospheric lead pollution levels across Europe. Combined with studies linking lead exposure to cognitive decline, scientists also saw a 2.5 to 3 point drop in intelligence quotient across the Roman Empire.

A 4th century AD bronze and silver coin found in Lod, central Israel. Image credit: Israel Antiquities Authority.

“This is the first study to take pollution records from ice cores and calculate them backwards to get pollution concentrations in the air and assess the impact on humans,” said Desert Research Institute researcher Dr. Joe McConnell. said.

“The idea that we could do this 2,000 years ago is very novel and exciting.”

Dr Andrew Wilson, a historian at the University of Oxford, said: 'Our research uncovers precise links between records of lead pollution and historical events such as population declines associated with periodic epidemics and pandemics. , which changed our understanding of the Roman period.”

Ancient lead pollution was primarily caused by silver mining, where the lead-rich mineral galena was melted down to extract the silver.

This process produced thousands of ounces of lead for every ounce of silver, much of which was released into the atmosphere.

In adults, high levels of lead exposure have been linked to infertility, anemia, memory loss, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and decreased immune responses, among others.

In children, even low levels of exposure are associated with lower IQ, poorer concentration, and poorer academic performance.

Meanwhile, the US CDC I will consider There is no risk-free lead exposure level, as a blood lead level of 3.5 μg/dl is the point for medical intervention in children.

Dr Nathan Chellman, a researcher at the Desert Research Institute I decided to focus on that.”

“A two to three point drop in IQ doesn't seem like a big deal, but when you apply this to basically the entire European population, it becomes quite significant.”

The researchers found that atmospheric lead pollution began in the Iron Age and peaked during the height of the Roman Republic in the late 2nd century BC.

It then declined sharply in the 1st century BC during the crisis of the Roman Republic, but increased around 15 BC with the rise of the Roman Empire.

Lead contamination remained at high levels from 165 AD until the Antonine Plague of the 180s, which seriously affected the Roman Empire.

It was not until the High Middle Ages, at the beginning of the second millennium AD, that lead pollution in the Arctic exceeded the persistently high levels of the Roman Empire.

Research shows that during the height of the Roman Empire, which spanned nearly 200 years, more than 500,000 tons of lead were released into the atmosphere.

“Ice core records show that lead pollution in the Arctic was up to 40 times higher at its historic peak in the early 1970s, but the insights gained from this study show that lead pollution in the Arctic was up to 40 times higher at its historic peak in the early 1970s, but It shows how it has impacted health,” Dr. McConnell said.

of study Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

_____

Joseph R. McConnell others. 2025. Roman mining and smelting led to atmospheric lead pollution across Europe, increased blood lead levels, and decreased cognitive function. PNAS 122 (3): e2419630121;doi: 10.1073/pnas.2419630121

Source: www.sci.news

Reports show that an unprecedented failure led to the collapse of a world-famous radio telescope in Puerto Rico.

Posted on by
Reply

Four years after the radio telescope at Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory collapsed. Report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine sheds light on the unprecedented failures that led to its destruction.

A steel cable supporting the telescope’s 900-ton receiver platform came loose after a zinc-filled socket built to support it failed, according to a report released Oct. 25. That’s what it means.

The report said the failure was caused by excessive “zinc creep,” a phenomenon in which the metal used to protect the socket from corrosion and rust deforms over time and loses its grip.

The zinc gradually lost its hold on the cable suspending the telescope’s main platform above the reflector dish. This caused multiple cables to be pulled from their sockets, ultimately causing the platform to crash into a reflector more than 400 feet below, according to the report.

Roger L. McCarthy, chairman of the committee for the analysis of the causes of failure and collapse of Arecibo’s 305-meter telescope, said, “This type of failure has been the most common occurrence in more than a century, when zinc spelter sockets have been widely and successfully used. This has never been reported before.” The observatory wrote in its report:

The committee that prepared the report said there was insufficient data to definitively prove the exact cause of the acceleration of “zinc creep.” The only hypothesis the committee was able to develop based on the data was that low current electroplastic effects were responsible. In other words, the constant current flowing through the socket could have strengthened the plastic behavior of the metallic zinc and, as a result, weakened its grip.

The committee reviewed an array of documents commissioned by the University of Central Florida and the National Science Foundation, the federal agency that owns the observatory, including a forensic investigation, structural analysis, engineering plans, inspection reports, photographs, and repair proposals. Reach that conclusion. They also gathered information from Arecibo Observatory employees, other “related research” sources, and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. I mentioned this in a media advisory last month..

The commission also issued a series of recommendations in its report. These include making the remaining sockets and cable sections of the radio telescope available for further research and increasing careful monitoring of aging research facilities to detect deterioration and potential new failure modes. Included.

The telescope was used to track asteroids as they headed toward Earth, conduct research that led to Nobel Prizes, and determine whether planets were potentially habitable. It also functions as a training venue for graduate students, and is visited by approximately 90,000 people annually.

The telescope was built in the 1960s with funding from the Department of Defense during the development of ballistic missile defense. In its 57 years of operation, it has withstood hurricanes, tropical humidity, and a recent series of earthquakes.

The observatory began to collapse in August 2020 when an auxiliary cable snapped, damaging the telescope’s antenna and the receiver platform suspended above it, according to the National Science Foundation. After several other cable failures, the federal agency decided to begin a plan to decommission the telescope in November 2020.

This transition did little to stop the telescope’s complete collapse on December 1, 2020.

In 2022, the National Science Foundation says: Puerto Rico’s famous radio telescope won’t be rebuilt. Instead, it called for a $5 million education center to be established in its place to promote programs and partnerships related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

nicole acevedo

Nicole Acevedo is a reporter for NBC Latino.

Associated Press contributed.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Research: Collaboration between oceans and continents led to Mesozoic marine extinctions

Posted on by
Reply

in paper Published in the journal Nature ChemistryScientists have proposed a new explanation for a series of severe environmental crises known as marine anoxia, which occurred between 185 and 85 million years ago (during the Mesozoic era) when the amount of dissolved oxygen in the oceans became extremely low.

Oceanic anoxia was a geologically abrupt phase of extreme oxygen depletion in the oceans that disrupted marine ecosystems and led to evolutionary shifts. These events, which usually lasted about 1.5 million years, occurred frequently during the Mesozoic Era, between about 183 and 85 million years ago. One hypothesis suggests that anoxia resulted from increased chemical weathering of the Earth's surface on a greenhouse world with high volcanic carbon emissions. Gernon othersA combination of plate reconstructions, tectonic geochemical analyses and global biogeochemical modelling tested this hypothesis. Image courtesy of the University of Southampton.

“Ocean anoxia is like hitting the reset button on the Earth's ecosystems,” said Prof Tom Gernon, from the University of Southampton.

“The challenge was to understand what geological forces pushed the button.”

The researchers investigated the influence of plate tectonic forces on ocean chemistry during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, collectively known as the Mesozoic Era.

“This period in Earth's history is also known as the Age of the Dinosaurs and is well exposed along the cliffs of the Jurassic Coast on the south coast of England, Whitby in Yorkshire and Eastbourne in East Sussex,” Prof Gernon said.

Scientists have combined statistical analysis and advanced computer modelling to investigate how the ocean's chemical cycle may have responded to the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, the giant landmass once home to dinosaurs.

“During the Mesozoic Era, the continents broke apart and intense volcanic activity occurred around the world,” Prof Gernon said.

“As the plates shifted and new ocean floor was formed, phosphorus, a nutrient essential to life, was released in large quantities into the ocean from weathered volcanic rocks.”

“Importantly, we found evidence of multiple instances of chemical weathering on both the ocean floor and the continents, alternating between destroying the oceans — like a geological tag team.”

The authors find that the timing of these weathering waves coincides with most of the marine anoxic events in the rock record.

They argue that phosphorus that entered the ocean through weathering acted as a natural fertilizer, promoting the growth of marine life.

However, this fertilization phenomenon came at a great cost to marine ecosystems.

“Increased biological activity caused huge amounts of organic matter to sink to the seafloor, consuming huge amounts of oxygen,” said Prof Benjamin Mills, from the University of Leeds.

“This process ultimately left large swaths of the ocean anoxic, or 'dead zones' where oxygen was depleted and most marine life died.”

“The anoxic conditions typically lasted for one to two million years and had profound effects on marine ecosystems, the effects of which are still felt today.”

“The organic-rich rocks that accumulated during these events are the source of the world's largest commercial oil and gas reserves to date.”

The findings explain the causes of extreme biological chaos during the Mesozoic Era and highlight the devastating effects of nutrient overload on marine environments today.

“Studying geological events provides valuable insights that help us understand how Earth will respond to future climatic and environmental stresses,” Professor Gernon said.

Overall, the results reveal stronger-than-expected connections between Earth's solid interior and its surface environment and biosphere, especially during periods of tectonic and climatic upheaval.

“It is remarkable how a series of events occurring inside the Earth can have such profound, often devastating, effects on the surface,” Prof Gernon said.

“Continental breakup could have profound effects on evolutionary processes.”

_____

TM Gernon othersSolid Earth forcing of Mesozoic oceanic anoxia. National GeographyPublished online August 29, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41561-024-01496-0

This article has been adapted from an original release from the University of Southampton.

Source: www.sci.news

Heatwave has led to critical blood shortage for Red Cross

Posted on by
Reply

The American Red Cross is currently dealing with a critical shortage of blood as the nation’s blood supply has decreased by more than 25% since July 1.

Extreme heat and temperatures adversely affected almost 100 blood drives last month in almost every state where the Red Cross collects blood. This weather either decreased attendance at events or led to cancellations.

Blood donations usually decrease during the summer due to travel and seasonal activities, but the Red Cross stated that the extreme heat worsened the situation, resulting in a shortfall of over 19,000 donations in July.

As a consequence, blood is being sent to hospitals faster than donations can be collected.

Donated blood is crucial for various life-saving medical procedures such as surgery, childbirth, and treatment for patients with pregnancy complications, trauma, cancer, and blood disorders, according to the Red Cross.

Nurse Melissa Destros, who works at a Detroit hospital, emphasized the importance of blood for patients in need, particularly new moms and babies. The Red Cross said in a statement that she has witnessed moms requiring massive blood transfusions after childbirth.

The Red Cross urgently requires donors of all blood types, especially type O blood, as it is always in short supply. O-positive is the most common blood type, and O-negative is crucial for emergency transfusions.

Dr. Barry Siegfried, the medical director for the Michigan Red Cross, highlighted the importance of type O blood for emergency care. He stated that donors of all blood types are essential to ensure hospitals have sufficient blood for patient care.

Similarly, Connecticut declared a statewide blood emergency last week due to supplies dropping to less than half of what is typically needed for hospital demand. The Connecticut Blood Center specifically needs emergency donations of type O negative and type O positive blood. NBC Connecticut reported.

Both the Red Cross and the Connecticut Blood Center can help individuals locate local blood drives and donation centers. Red Cross Blood Or call 1-800-RED-CROSS.

If you donate by Aug. 31, the Red Cross will give you a $20 Amazon gift card.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Research: Extinction of dinosaurs led to swift evolution of bird genomes

Posted on by
Reply

About 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, a 10 km-wide asteroid struck Earth near what is now the town of Chicxulub in Mexico. The impact wiped out about 75% of Earth's animal and plant species, including groups such as non-avian dinosaurs and ammonites. A new study identifies key changes in bird genomes caused by the end-Cretaceous mass extinction that ultimately contributed to the remarkable diversity of modern birds.

This painting depicts an asteroid impact in the shallow tropical ocean of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is now southeastern Mexico. The impact of this massive asteroid, which occurred about 65 million years ago, is believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. The painting shows a Pterodactylus, a flying reptile with a wingspan of up to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds. Image by Donald E. Davis/NASA.

“By studying the DNA of modern birds, we can detect patterns in gene sequences that changed shortly after one of the most significant events in Earth's history,” said Dr Jake Barb, from the University of Michigan.

“The signatures of these events appear to be imprinted in the genomes of survivors in ways that are detectable tens of millions of years later.”

An organism's genome is made up of four nucleotide molecules designated by the letters A, T, G, and C. The order of these nucleotides in the genome defines the blueprint of life.

The DNA code can evolve in ways that change the overall composition of DNA nucleotides across the genome.

These changes in composition are important in determining what genetic variations are possible and contribute to an organism's evolutionary potential, or ability to evolve.

Dr. Belf and his colleagues found that the mass extinction caused a change in nucleotide composition.

The researchers also found that these changes appear to be related to the birds' development as young birds, their adult size, and their metabolism.

For example, in the approximately 3 to 5 million years following the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period, surviving bird lineages tended to decrease in body size.

The development of hatchlings has also changed, with more species becoming 'altricial'.

“This means that when they hatch they are still in a fetal state and need to be fed by their parents, and it may take several weeks for them to fledge,” Dr Barb said.

“Birds that are ready to fend for themselves immediately after hatching, like chickens and turkeys, are called 'precocious.'”

“We found that adult body size and pre-hatching developmental patterns are two important traits of bird biology that we can link to the genetic changes we are detecting.”

“One of the most important challenges in evolutionary biology and ornithology is unraveling the relationships between the major bird groups. The structure of the extant bird phylogenetic tree is difficult to determine.”

Over the past 15 years, researchers have been trying to solve this problem by applying increasingly large genomic datasets.

So far, they have used genomic data to study the evolution of bird genomes using statistical models based on strong assumptions.

These traditional models allow researchers to reconstruct the history of genetic change, but they typically assume that the makeup of DNA, i.e. the proportions of A, T, G and C nucleotides, remains constant throughout evolutionary history.

The study authors developed software tools to more closely track DNA composition over time and across different branches of the tree of life.

This tool allowed us to relax the assumption that DNA's composition is constant.

“This allows us to vary our models of DNA evolution across the evolutionary tree and identify places where there may have been changes in DNA makeup,” said Professor Steven Smith, from the University of Michigan.

“In this new study, these changes were clustered within about five million years of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction,” Dr Belff added.

This approach also allowed the team to estimate which bird traits are most closely associated with changes in DNA composition.

“This is an important type of genetic change that we think is associated with mass extinctions,” Dr Barb said.

“To our knowledge, changes in DNA composition have never before been so clearly linked to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.”

“We know that mass extinctions can have dramatic effects on biodiversity, ecosystems and the forms of life,” said Professor Daniel Field, from the University of Cambridge.

“Our study highlights that these extinction events can have even larger effects on organismal biology by altering key aspects of genome evolution.”

“This study improves our understanding of the dramatic biological impact of mass extinction events and highlights that the mass extinction that wiped out the giant dinosaurs was one of the most biologically consequential events in the entire history of the Earth.”

By relaxing typical assumptions used in evolutionary biology, the researchers are developing more nuanced insights into the sequence of events in birds' early history.

“We haven't typically thought of changes in DNA configurations and models across the tree of life as changes that indicate something interesting happened at a particular time and place,” Prof Smith said.

“This study shows that we've probably missed something.”

of study Published in the journal Scientific advances.

_____

Jacob S. Belf others2024. Genomic and life-history evolution link bird diversification and the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Scientific advances 10(31); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adp0114

This article is a version of a press release provided by the University of Michigan.

Source: www.sci.news

JD Vance’s journey through Silicon Valley led to him becoming Trump’s vice presidential running mate

Posted on by
Reply

circleJD Vance was a student at Yale Law School in 2011 when he attended a talk by conservative tech billionaire Peter Thiel. Vance didn’t know Thiel at the time, but over the next decade he became Thiel’s employee, friend, and recipient of his generosity. Thiel’s millions of dollars paved the way for Vance to become a senator.

Vance wrote that Thiel’s speech “was the defining moment of my time at Yale Law School.” Essays for 2020 Vance said Thiel’s talk about the failure of elite institutions and his Christian faith made him rethink his own faith and quickly planned a career outside of law, perhaps tinkering with technology and venture capital before entering politics.

Skip Newsletter Promotions

Vance is best known for the hardscrabble upbringing he described in his autobiography, “Hillbilly Elegy,” but in the years after graduating from Yale he developed extensive ties to Silicon Valley investors and elites. His experience as a venture capitalist combined with his status as a rags-to-riches media fixture forged the core connections that powered his political climb and helped him assemble an influential following that pushed him to become Trump’s running mate.

After graduating from Yale and briefly working in corporate law, Vance moved to San Francisco and joined Thiel’s venture firm, Mithril Capital, in 2015. After his best-selling book “Hillbilly Elegy” gained him national fame in 2016, he joined Revolution, a venture capital firm founded by former AOL CEO Steve Case.

Vance returned to Ohio and stayed in the tech venture capital world. Leaving the Revolution Vance received funding from Thiel in early 2020 to co-found a venture firm, Naria Capital, which, like Thiel’s, was named after the elven ring of power in “The Lord of the Rings.” Naria’s other notable investors include former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist who endorsed Trump last week. The avowed goal of Vance’s firm was to invest in early-stage startups in cities that Silicon Valley often overlooks.


In 2021, Naria Capital led a group of conservative investors, including Thiel, to invest in Rumble, a video streaming platform positioning itself as a less moderated, right-leaning version of YouTube. Naria co-founder Colin Greenspon touted the investment as a challenge to Big Tech companies’ control over online services, a topic conservatives have frequently discussed amid the backlash against content moderation surrounding the pandemic and the 2020 presidential election. It was also around this time that Thiel, a major financial backer of Trump during the 2016 campaign, invited Vance to meet with Trump for the first time, in a secret meeting at Mar-a-Lago in February 2021. According to the New York Times:.

Vance and Thiel’s longtime relationship also paid dividends in the 2022 Senate race, with Thiel pouring a massive $15 million into Vance’s campaign. According to the Washington Posthelped garner support for President Trump and led Vance to win the fiercely contested Republican primary and Senate elections.

While Thiel has vowed in recent years to stay away from donating to the 2024 election, Vance has since tried to ingratiate himself with Trump through other Silicon Valley connections. The Ohio senator introduced prominent venture capitalist David Sachs to Donald Trump Jr. in March. The New York Times reported.Vance attended a pro-Trump fundraiser for Sachs in June, which he co-hosted with Chamath Palihapitiya, Sachs’ co-host on the popular podcast “All In.” The event, which cost $300,000 to attend, was held at Sachs’ San Francisco mansion, where investors thanked Vance for helping make the fundraiser happen. During an informal conversation at the dinner, Sachs and Palihapitiya said Trump said: Vance as his running mate.

Sachs spoke at the Republican National Convention on Monday, days after calling Trump to endorse Vance as his running mate, along with Elon Musk and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. According to AxiosThiel also voiced his support for Vance during a private phone call with Trump, according to The New York Times. After Trump confirmed Vance would be his running mate, Sachs and Musk tweeted their congratulations, with Musk saying the victory was “ringing off.”

Many of Vance’s wealthy tech elite and venture capitalist backers now appear ready to offer even more concrete support. Investors including Musk, Andreessen, and Thiel’s Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale have Reportedly Planning a donation Huge sums of money supporting the Trump and Vance campaigns.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Bad luck, not inbreeding, led to the demise of the last mammoths on Earth

Posted on by
Reply

Artist’s impression of the last mammoth

Beth Zaiken

About 10,000 years ago, a handful of woolly mammoths washed up on an island off the Siberian coast in the Russian Arctic. Over the next few thousand years, this small group of perhaps eight animals grew into a stable population of 200-300 animals before going extinct about 4,000 years ago. These mammoths are the last known population of woolly mammals on Earth, and may have survived into modern times but for some bad luck.

The history of these mammoths has been clarified through genetic research. Love Darren A team from Stockholm University in Sweden and their colleagues looked at DNA from 14 mammoths from Wrangel Island and seven from the mainland, dating back to before melting ice sheets caused sea levels to rise and isolate them, covering a combined genetic history of 50,000 years.

The researchers’ analysis found that despite the small population, inbreeding wasn’t the cause of the mammoth’s extinction: While small genetic mutations accumulated, Dallen said, the population was good at eliminating larger, harmful ones.

“We can demonstrate that it’s unlikely that inbreeding or genetic disease caused the population to slowly decline and go extinct,” he said. “Despite the inbreeding, the population did well.”

Mammoth tusk found on Wrangel Island

Love Darren

But the team found that individual mammoths were affected by genetic diseases, and that this negative impact at the individual level had been ongoing for thousands of years. “This means that today’s endangered species, which in most cases were at risk of extinction until very recently, are likely to continue to suffer from genetic diseases for hundreds of generations to come,” says Dallen.

Dallen points to the Tasmanian devil as an example of a species that became isolated on a large island after mainland populations became extinct, leading to reduced genetic diversity. This in turn affects the immune system, Dallen says, which puts the species at greater risk of population decline when faced with new pathogens, such as the facial tumour disease that attacks Tasmanian devils.

“Natural selection appears to have been effective in eliminating potentially lethal mutations, but other, less severe mutations gradually increased,” they said. Adrian Lister At the Natural History Museum, London.

“We’re not sure whether this led to eventual extinction, but it’s possible that, combined with environmental changes, it did,” Lister said. “There are lessons here for monitoring the genetic health of endangered species today.”

The exact cause of the mammoths’ extinction is unknown, but interestingly, Wrangel Island contained freshwater lakes and rivers, which suggests that the mammoths may have been able to survive longer than similarly isolated groups that became extinct 5,600 years ago due to drought.

“Diseases, short-term weather events, tundra fires — all of these are thought to be random events,” Dallen says. “Because they’re random, they’re not inevitable. So if they hadn’t happened, the mammoths might have survived to this day, assuming humans hadn’t killed them when they arrived on Wrangel Island.”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Title: “How Banning my Daughter from Her iPhone Led to Positive Changes”

Posted on by
Reply

The signature on this essay is a pen name.

My daughter is one of the kids the U.S. Surgeon General has warned about. Our nation’s children have become “unwitting participants” in a “decades-long experiment.” Social media use poses mental health risks to young people. Young people’s “near-constant” use of social media leads to poor sleep, depression, and anxiety.

Before sixth grade, my daughter saved up her dog-walking money to buy a phone. She found a used iPhone 13 Mini on Craigslist. I set high expectations for her to get good grades, keep her room clean, take out the trash, etc. Little did I know then that the iPhone would systematically undermine her ability to accomplish these tasks and so much more.

When my daughter walked under an inflatable arch into her classroom on her first day of middle school, I took comfort in the fact that I could reach her. Like most parents, I associated my cell phone with safety, not danger. I didn’t know that social media developers were controlling her next swipe, or that her “human future” was being sold to the highest bidder, enriching the richest corporation in the history of mankind.

I learned the hard way through my daughter’s lies, manipulation, failing grades, through the “zebra stripes” scars painted on her arms.

Her school photo from sixth grade captures my daughter in her “emo” phase: feather earrings, Pink Floyd T-shirt, crooked smile. The innocence of the photo was quickly replaced by selfies: selfies with pursed lips making a peace sign; selfies with her head tilted to one side, half-face, full-body; selfies in bed. Her camera roll records her degradation: selfies of her crying, selfies with swollen eyes, selfies of her unable to leave her bedroom.

By spring semester, my daughter’s grades were slipping. I assumed she had ADHD, so I took her to a psychiatrist for a psychiatric evaluation. The afternoon sun filtered through the faux-wood blinds, casting strips of light on the black hoodie she always wore. The doctor’s questions started out predictably: Can’t concentrate in class? Can’t finish your homework? Can’t sleep? Then the interview took a scary turn. Do you feel like your life isn’t worth living? Have you ever hurt yourself? Have you ever wanted to die?

I widened my eyes at the child’s profile and answered, “Yes.” Tearing out my guts.

Doctors diagnosed her with depression and anxiety. Further testing revealed that she spent 80% of her attention on gaining the approval of her peers. No wonder she was failing math. It was a miracle she was passing her classes when only 20% of her brain was dedicated to school.

The doctor prescribed therapy and Lexapro. These helped, but he didn’t inform me of the epidemic of cell phones among middle schoolers. I later learned that my daughter is the first generation of 10-14-year-olds to actively use social media. These girls have a 151% increase in suicide rates and a 182% increase in self-harm. Her treatment assumed that her suffering was personal, not structural. In our country, we prescribe drugs to solve this societal crisis.

At the time, I was unaware of this and allowed my daughter to continue using social media. One day, I got a text message from another mother. I stared at the screen, wondering why this mother was sending me such a revealing selfie. Then I noticed a mole on the woman’s chest. It was my daughter’s.

When I showed the photo to my daughter, she gasped. She handed over her phone. I discovered she had circumvented screen limits and been on social media until the early hours of the morning. She had sent the image on Snapchat to someone named PJ. He claimed to be a 16-year-old boy, but his responses were so graphic I suspected he was older. I was horrified to learn that a cell phone is a two-way street and a platform that adults can use to abduct and traffic children.

I had a family meeting with my daughter, her father, and my mother-in-law. We agreed that my daughter would delete her social media accounts and get rid of her phone until the new school year started. After a summer of traveling, relaxing in person, and spending time with family, my daughter’s energy returned. The bags under her eyes faded, and she stopped sighing, shrugging, and rolling her eyes. She woke up and laughed. Sometimes she even wanted me to hug her.

It was hard to give my daughter’s phone back before seventh grade, but we had made a commitment. I wanted to reinforce her good behavior. I created new rules: no social media, no devices in the bedroom, turn off the phone at 8 p.m. Charge the phone on the kitchen counter. I bought an alarm clock and a sound machine. We endured a digital detox. My daughter started playing soccer. My insomnia was cured. We joined a gym and worked out together.

But within a few months, my daughter had relapsed again. Little lies, big lies. A friend’s mother sent me an email with selfies of her daughters vaping and hanging out at the mall with boys they’d never met. We had another family meeting.

“This might seem weird, but maybe my daughter doesn’t need a cell phone,” her mother-in-law said.

The words rippled through my mind. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Cell phones were destroying my daughter, but I couldn’t imagine life without them. I stayed true to the idea of the cell phone, its ideals. I had a cell phone again.

When I told her my daughter had lost her cell phone until she was in high school, she threw a tantrum. that She was the only child in her class without a cell phone, but once the tantrum subsided, she began to regain her composure. Then, within a few weeks, signs of her addictive behavior began to reappear.

I found an iPhone charger in the outlet next to her bed. She said it was to charge her AirPods. She threw herself on the ground to stop me from searching under the bed. One night, I was lying in bed thinking and it occurred to me. My daughter two Phone. I accidentally broke my Mini on a weight training machine while working out, so I bought her a new iPhone 13. I confiscated the 13, but I was able to give the Mini to her.

When I asked her the next morning, she said, “I sold it to a friend at school.” She couldn’t tell me who she sold it to or how much she paid for it.

“I’ll find it,” I said. I see you Gestures. I was distraught, but with calm confidence and a little humor, I went through backpacks and drawers, rifled through pockets, entered rooms unannounced, and tried to catch her in the act. My daughter remained calm the whole time I searched. I began to wonder if I had gone completely crazy. I bought a metal detector.

Then one night, I walked into my daughter’s room. She jumped up and pulled back the comforter. I ran to the bed and reached under the covers. The charging cord! My fingers traced its length to the plugged-in phone.

We stared at the Mini in my hands, the Snapchat app glowing beneath the cracked screen, and she looked at me, her eyes wide and filling with tears.

That night, my heart pounded against the pillow as I scrolled through her social media. Her communications were urgent and earnest. She begged one boy in particular, Damien, to get back to her. When he didn’t respond, she said she was depressed and began sexting him and sending him pictures of her breasts.

Through my sister, I found the answer in Johan Hari’s Stolen Focus. The book explores why and how our attention span is declining: “The phones we own and the programs that run on them have been purposefully designed by the smartest people in the world to capture and hold the most of our attention.” Of course. My daughter was young and vulnerable to this manipulation. She measured her self-worth within a system that was both attention-addicted and attention-starved at the same time. She had internalized an algorithm where provocative content wins. “The more outrageous something is, the more attractive it is,” Hari writes.

Our social experiment is being replicated in homes across the country. As parents, we want our kids to be safe. We want them to contact us if a shooter comes to school. But the biggest danger is At the inner Make phone calls on your cell phone, not outside.

One of the reasons our kids are addicted to their phones is because we are. My friends complain of insomnia, but they can’t imagine leaving their phones outside of their bedrooms. Addressing my kids’ phone use means addressing my own. I have to restrain myself from texting while driving. I’ve also stopped rushing to the charging station each morning to check if I’ve missed any messages.

After the seventh grade, my daughter that A child. Without a phone, she’s the kid who dribbles a soccer ball in her living room, races down the street on her skateboard, becomes an honor student and joins the track team. The kid who wags her hands while chatting with friends, braids her hair, falls asleep reading a book.

These days, we use my phone to plan outings together, listen to audiobooks, and sing along to her songs and mine (Shakira, Sade, Ice Cube, Fugees). Last weekend, we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to visit family. As the June gloom settled over the shoreline, my daughter and I bodysurfed into the crashing waves. “Again!” she said, jumping up, enthralled by the feeling of the waves rolling under her belly.

My daughter is not the only child like this. A woman I met recently confiscated her 11-year-old son’s phone after she discovered him sexting. Since schools were required to wrap their phones in rubber bands, the sick middle-schooler has built community and focused in class. The trend is spreading fast. UK children have been learning mostly in “no-phone environments” since the Department for Education ordered it.

Individuals and and Changes to the system to check cell phone usage. I’m interested to see what happens with this change when my daughter reaches high school.

I’ll hold the phone until then.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Lyft CEO takes responsibility for typo in financial results that led to 60% rise in stock price

Posted on by
Reply

Lyft performed well in the fourth quarter, exceeding profit expectations due to increased rides to stadiums and airports and significant cost savings.

However, the company’s stock price initially rose over 60% in after-hours trading, but most of those gains were erased after Lyft’s chief financial officer corrected a major error in its earnings report. The company had initially predicted growth of 500 basis points (5%) in 2024, but later announced that the actual growth rate was lower at 50 basis points (0.5%). In 2023, the stock price had risen by about 36%.

Lyft CEO David Risher acknowledged the mistake, saying in an interview the following day: bloomberg“Bad. This was a terrible error, but there was one zero.”

Lyft reported that stadium attendance increased over 35% from 2022, driven primarily by popular tours and sporting events. The company also highlighted improvements to airport transportation as contributing to its growth.

Under new leadership, Lyft implemented an aggressive restructuring plan last year, including staff cuts and the removal of management to pursue profitability. The company laid off 1,200 employees in April and reduced overall costs by 12%.

“We’re going to put more money into the bottom line because we can scale even further and keep costs flat,” Risher said.

Lyft also announced a new policy to pay drivers the difference if their income, after outside fees, is less than 70% of what a passenger pays. In addition, Lyft and Uber agreed to pay $328 million to a New York rideshare driver accused of withholding pay and benefits.

There are growing concerns about safety, job security, and the general fear of artificial intelligence with regard to self-driving cars. Lyft is addressing this by partnering with Motional to provide more than 100,000 self-driving rides across the United States.

Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 was $1.22 billion, in line with analyst expectations. The company expects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization to be between $50 million and $55 million for the quarter, exceeding expectations of $46.3 million. Lyft’s fourth-quarter adjusted core profit was $66.6 million, also beating expectations of $56.2 million.

Source: www.theguardian.com