The latest nature documentary from Apple TV+, Wild Ones, offers an insider’s perspective, showcasing three expert efforts in a series that truly deserves attention.
The opening narration reminds us that nature faces dire threats, with around 150 species disappearing daily. The mission of the film is to “find, document, and protect” six of the most endangered species, aiming not only to raise awareness but also to prompt action from local officials to prevent extinction.
Camera Trap Specialists Declan Burley, Wildlife Cameraman Vianet Djenguet, and Expedition Leader Aldo Kane embark on a global journey to capture footage of the world’s rarest wildlife.
The first episode leads them into the Malaysian jungle, searching for a rare tiger. Subsequent episodes will take viewers to the Gobi Desert in Mongolia to find Gobi Bears, and onto tracking the Javan rhinos, the Gabon gorilla, and Caucasian leopards, in addition to marine life such as the North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis.
This series employs advanced technology like drones and thermal imaging to produce breathtaking visuals of the animals and their environments. The untouched rainforests of Malaysia—often further from human contact than places visited by astronauts—are just part of the previously unseen natural world that Wild Ones uncovers.
However, the success of the documentary hinges on Burley, Djenguet, and Kane’s emotional engagement, which keeps viewers invested in the animals’ fates. Their reactions, whether witnessing an elusive leopard or the plight of whales caught in nets, leave an indelible mark on the audience.
Seeing three on-screen experts doing their job will hook stubborn fans of the genre
In a poignant moment deep within Taman Negara National Park, Burley reviews footage from a hidden camera, initially excited about capturing a rare Malayan tiger, only to discover that the creature has been maimed by a poacher’s trap.
Burley shares the footage with Djenguet and Kane, his connection to the animals rendering him visibly emotional. Local experts point out that such striking images are vital, sparking action from viewers worldwide. The trio understands their role, but the distress it causes them is undeniable.
While the emotional weight is palpable, the episodes’ lengths and scripted interactions sometimes disrupt the flow. Occasional forced humor and dramatic elements can dilute the impact, making the experience feel less authentic.
Nonetheless, as the series progresses, Burley, Djenguet, and Kane become more at ease on camera, captivating dedicated fans with their expertise and drawing in audiences eager for authenticity.
This series stands out in the realm of nature documentaries, providing an intimate look at the emotional turmoil, physical challenges, and the enduring patience required to produce such content. With dozens of cameras stationed in perilous locations, team members must meticulously return for footage, sometimes after months.
Ultimately, capturing footage of these endangered animals in Wild Ones is not just a visual feast; it’s a compelling call to action aimed at preserving these species for future generations.
Gregory Wakeman is a Los Angeles-based author.
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As Don Pike embarks on his daily stroll, he laces up his brown hiking boots, takes hold of his walking stick and bucket hat, and steps outside. A mere ten feet later, he skillfully navigates around barbed wire to enter the Tonto National Forest. Unlike the typical Tonto scenery, where the ground is strewn with dry grass between native plants and trees, this area feels stark, unfriendly, and barren.
The reason for this desolation is that Mr. Pike is engaged in weed removal.
“I’ve eliminated them so effectively that I can’t find any in this region,” remarked Pike, 84, a retired resident of Maine who has found great joy in his cherished desert and installed floor-to-ceiling windows in his living room.
Mr. Pike is in a battle against buffel grass and fountain grass, two invasive species that are spreading throughout the Sonoran desert. These plants suffocate native flora, elevate the risk and intensity of wildfires, and jeopardize a vibrant ecosystem.
His fight against this encroaching vegetation began nearly 15 years ago. Since then, he estimates he and his team of volunteers have cleared 550 acres of the approximately 14,000 acres they manage. In 2024, his efforts earned him the title of Arizona Weed Manager of the Year.
The work of volunteers like Pike has long been essential in supplementing federal land management, as government officials note that funding for their programs has been lacking for years. However, volunteers like Pike are becoming more crucial than ever given the reductions in federal workforce instigated by the Trump administration and its push for government efficiency.
“It will be vital for federal agencies to find innovative ways to attract individuals,” Pike stated from his back porch in March. “There are many who are eager to get involved, especially those with considerable skills.”
The Crown Prosecutor’s Office is planning to update its guidance on “revenge porn” crimes to ensure that explicit photos of the victim are no longer allowed to be retained.
observer reported last month that the Magistrates’ Court did not order the removal of content related to Image-based abuse cases, and prosecutors did not request such action.
An examination of court records revealed that out of 98 cases, only three resulted in deprivation orders requiring offenders to surrender their devices and delete private photos and videos.
In one case, a man was accused by a magistrate of engaging in “deeply disturbing” behavior to emotionally intimidate the victim. Despite receiving a suspended sentence, no order was issued to have him surrender his device for deletion, leaving the police without the legal authority to do so.
These findings prompted outcry from activists, demanding immediate action and stating that the failure to act left victims “living in fear.” The CPS acknowledged the need for more action to prevent these images from being used to perpetrate further crimes.
The prosecutor’s guidance on communication crimes is currently being revised. The new guidelines, released this week, urge prosecutors to utilize deprivation orders more effectively and consistently.
Prosecutors are advised to consider implementing the order early in their case strategies to strip offenders of their devices promptly and foster a more uniform approach to device confiscation from suspects from the outset.
Campaigners welcomed the change as a positive step forward.
Elena Michael from the campaign group #notyourporn commended the guidance as a helpful step but emphasized the need for further actions to be taken.
She highlighted additional areas for improvement, such as addressing issues related to evidence collection and advocating for a more comprehensive investigation process.
Furthermore, she urged clarity on whether the guidance would extend to hard drives, cloud storage, and physical devices in addition to mobile phones.
Law professor Claire McGlyn praised the updated guidance as a positive development and a step towards progress, emphasizing the importance of addressing image-based sexual abuse cases more effectively.
The Judgment Council, responsible for issuing guidance to judges and magistrates, stated that they are monitoring the government’s new intimate image law proposal and will consider necessary adjustments to guidelines once it is enacted.
Are you looking to keep your mind sharp as you age? One secret could be as simple as regularly exercising your brain with mathematics and reading comprehension, whether it’s at work, at home, or even while reading this article.
A groundbreaking new study led by Professor Eric Hanushek of Stanford University suggests that engaging in mathematics and reading can help prevent age-related cognitive decline. The research shows that individuals who regularly practice these skills do not experience significant declines in cognitive abilities over time, whether they are reading emails, doing calculations, or reading articles like this one. This challenges the notion that cognitive decline is inevitable with age.
The study reveals that cognitive skills typically peak in a person’s 40s before slowly declining. However, those who consistently engage in mathematics and reading, whether at work or in their daily activities, show no decline at all.
“Our findings indicate a significant increase in average skills in literacy and numeracy until the 40s. After this point, there is a slight decrease in literacy skills and a more noticeable decline in numeracy,” the study notes.
This study may inspire you to tackle your taxes – Credit: Skynesher
These findings challenge previous studies that suggested cognitive decline begins in early adulthood. Unlike past research that compared different age groups at one point in time, this study followed the same individuals over several years, providing a more accurate understanding of how cognitive abilities change with age.
Hanushek and his team propose that what was previously thought to be age-related cognitive decline might actually be due to differences in skill levels between generations rather than the natural effects of aging itself.
By analyzing data from language and mathematics assessments in the German population aged 16-65 and retesting the same group 3.5 years later, researchers found that women’s math skills declined significantly over time, indicating potential gender disparities. Further exploration of these differences is planned for future studies.
New research reveals a potential protective role for citrus fruits in preventing depression. Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, a type of bacteria found in the human intestine, and its metabolic activity, may influence the impact of citrus fruits and their flavonoids on mood.
Samuthpontorn et al. We report that citrus intake and its ingredients are positively associated with changes in abundance of 15 intestinal microbial species, including reduced risk of depression and enrichment Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. Image credit: Hans.
Depression is a widespread and debilitating condition that affects more than 280 million individuals around the world.
The exact cause of depression is unknown, and treatment is often ineffective.
70% of patients with depression are unable to respond to initial antidepressant treatment and experience unbearable side effects of the drug.
Diet may be a promising tool for preventing and managing depression.
Mediterranean diets are associated with a nearly 35% reduction in the risk of depression, and similar diets show a reduction in mood symptoms.
While the specific food groups underlying these findings remain unknown, recent studies have linked citrus fruits, such as oranges and grapefruits, with a reduced risk of depression.
However, the mechanisms explaining the relationship between diet and depression prevention remain unclear.
In a recent study, Dr. Raaj Mehta, a medical instructor at Harvard Medical School and a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, along with colleagues, analyzed the interactions between citrus consumption, gut microbiome, and risk of depression in over 32,427 participants.
They prospectively examined the long-term effects of citrus intake on depression, the abundance of gut microbial species, and the potential metabolic pathways related to depression.
“I was collaborating with a talented postdoc named Chatpol Samuthpontorn. He came across a paper from 2016 suggesting that citrus fruits could reduce the risk of depression,” explained Dr. Mehta.
“This finding intrigued us, as we had access to extensive datasets that could help us investigate further.”
“One of these datasets was the Nurse Health Study II (NHS2), which began in 1989 to identify risk factors for major chronic diseases in women.”
“We found evidence in this dataset that nurses who consumed higher amounts of citrus fruits had a lower incidence of depression in the future.”
The authors found that consuming one medium orange per day could reduce the risk of developing depression by about 20%.
“When examining total fruit and vegetable consumption, or other individual fruits like apples and bananas, we did not observe a significant relationship with depression risk,” Dr. Mehta noted.
A unique aspect of this study was that a subset of NHS2 participants provided stool samples over a year for researchers to analyze.
“We used DNA sequencing results from these stool samples to identify links between citrus intake and specific bacterial species in the gut microbiota,” said Dr. Mehta.
“People who were not depressed had higher levels of this bacterium, and consuming more citrus was also linked to increased levels of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii.”
“This bacterium may play a key role in connecting citrus consumption with good mental health.”
“We also investigated similar studies involving men, as NHS2 only included women, and found an inverse correlation between Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and depression risk scores in this group,” Dr. Mehta added.
“This raises the question: Does Faecalibacterium prausnitzii contribute to positive mood?”
“One possible explanation is that these bacteria use metabolic pathways, such as the S-adenosyl-L-methionine cycle I pathway, to influence the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine in the intestine,” Dr. Mehta explained.
“These neurotransmitters not only influence digestion but can also travel to the brain, where they affect mood.”
“We hope our findings encourage further research into the link between diet and mental health,” Dr. Mehta stated.
“People generally understand that food can impact mood, but researchers are just starting to unravel the specifics.”
A paper detailing these findings was published in the journal Microbiome.
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C. Samuthpontorn et al. 2024. F. Prausnitzii Potentially modulates the association between citrus intake and depression. Microbiome 12, 237; doi:10.1186/s40168-024-01961-3
wHEN Congress was postponed to the holiday in December. This is a groundbreaking bill aimed at overhauling how technology companies protect the youngest users. The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) introduced in 2022 was intended to be a massive calculation for Big Tech. Instead, the bill waned and died in the House despite sailing through the Senate in July with a 91-3 vote.
Kosa is passionately defended by families who say children have fallen victim to the harmful policies of social media platforms, and advocates who say bills that curb the unidentified power of big technology have been postponed for a long time is. They are seriously disappointed that a strong chance to check out Big Technology has failed due to Congress' indifference. However, human rights groups argued that the law could have led to unintended consequences that impacted freedom of speech online.
What is the Kids Online Safety Act?
Kosa was introduced nearly three years ago in the aftermath of a bomb revelation by former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, and the extent to which the social media platform's impact on younger users. Platforms like Instagram and Tiktok would have required that children be affected through design changes and address online risks to allow younger users to opt out of algorithmic recommendations.
“This is a basic product praise bill,” said Alix Fraser, director of the Council on Responsible Social Media Issues. “It's complicated because the internet is complex and social media is complex, but essentially it's just an effort to create basic product driving standards for these companies.”
The central and controversial element of the bill is its “duty of care” clause, declaring that businesses “have an obligation to use the platform to act in the best interests of minors,” and the regulatory authority It has declared it open to interpretation by They would have also requested that the platform implement measures to reduce harm by establishing “safeguards for minors.”
Critics argued that the lack of clear guidance on what constitutes harmful content encourages businesses to filter content more aggressively, resulting in unintended consequences for free speech. Delicate but important topics such as gun violence and racial justice can be considered potentially harmful and may subsequently be ruled out by the corporation itself. These censorship concerns are particularly prominent in the LGBTQ+ community, saying that opponents of the Kosa could be disproportionately affected by conservative regulators and reduce access to critical resources.
“Using Kosas we see a truly intentional but ultimately ambiguous bill that requires online services to adopt online services to take unspecified actions to keep children safe. A policy analyst at the Center for Democracy Technology, who opposes the law and receives money from technology donors such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
The complex history of the Kosa
When the bill was first introduced, over 90 human rights groups signed letters against it, highlighting these and other concerns. In response to such criticism, the bill's author published a revision in February 2024. Most notably, the state attorney general changed the enforcement of its “duty of care” provisions to the Federal Trade Commission. Following these changes, many organizations, including the Glaad, the Human Rights Campaign and the Trevor project, have withdrawn their opposition, saying the amendments “significantly reduce the risk of the matter.” [Kosa] It has been misused to suppress LGBTQ+ resources and to curb young people's access to online communities. ”
However, other civil rights groups have maintained their opposition, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the ACLU and the future battle, calling Kosa a “censorship bill” that harms vulnerable users and freedom of speech. They argued that the duty-of-care provision could easily be weaponized by conservative FTC chairmen against LGBTQ+ youth, as well as the state attorney general. These concerns are reflected in the appointment of Republican Andrew Ferguson, Trump's FTC chairman; Who said in the leaked statement He had planned to use his role to “fight the trans agenda.”
Concerns about how Ferguson will manage online content are “what LGBTQ youth wrote and called Congress hundreds of times over the past few years in this fight,” says Saraphilips of the Future Fight. Ta. “The situation they were afraid of has come to fruition. Anyone who ignores it is really just putting their heads in the sand.”
Opponents say that even if KOSA doesn't pass, they've already achieved a calm effect on content available on certain platforms. recently Report User MAG has found that hashtags for LGBTQ+-related topics are classified as “sensitive content” and are restricted from search. Laws like Kosa, Bhatia of the Center for Democracy Technology, said it doesn't take into account the complexity of the online landscape, and it's likely that the platform will lead preemptive censorship to avoid litigation.
“Children's safety holds an interesting and paradoxical position in technology policy, where children benefit greatly from the internet, as well as vulnerable actors,” she said. . “Using policy blunt instruments to protect them can often lead to consequences that don't really take this into consideration.”
Supporters will make backlash at Kosa an aggressive lobbying from the tech industry, but fight for the future – two top opponents – EFF will be supported by large tech donors Not there. Meanwhile, the large tech companies have been split up by KOSA, with X, SNAP, Microsoft and Pinterest quietly supporting the bill, Meta and Google.
“The Kosa was a very robust law, but what's more robust is the power of big technology,” Fraser is the power of problem 1. “They hired all the lobbyists in town to take it down, and they succeeded with it.”
Fraser added that supporters are disappointed that Kosa didn't pass, but “will not take a break until federal law is passed to protect children online.”
Potential revival of Kosa
Besides Ferguson as FTC Chairman, it is unclear what the changing composition of the new Trump administration and Congress will mean for the future of Kosa. Trump has not directly expressed his views on Kosa, but some of his close circles are Revealed support After last minute amendments to the 2024 bill Promoted by Elon Musk's X.
The death of the Congress in Kosa may seem like the end of a winding and controversial path, but defenders on both sides of the fight say it's too early to write legislative obituaries.
“We shouldn't expect the Kosa to go quietly,” said Prem Trivedi, policy director at the Institute for Open Technology, which opposes Kosa. “Whether it's being reintroduced or seeing if a different incarnation is introduced, it will continue to focus more broadly on online safety for children.”
Senator Richard Blumental, who co-authored the bill with Senator Marsha Blackburn, has promised to reintroduce it in future legislative sessions, and other defenders of the bill say they won't give It’s.
“I want to talk about the worst days of their lives over and over again, in front of lawmakers, in front of staff, in front of the press, knowing something is known. I've worked with a lot of parents who think that, and to change,” Fraser said. “They don't intend to stop.”
Many species of birds use shed snake skin when building nests, but this behavior is poorly understood. In a new study, Cornell University ornithologists used comparative and experimental approaches to suggest that the evolution of this behavior is mediated by nest morphology and predator community. They used a series of experiments and comparisons to test four hypotheses (nest predation, nest microbiota, nest ectoparasites, and social signaling) that snake skin confers fitness effects, and the predation hypothesis found support for.
Great Crested Flycatcher (Myialchus crinitus) are famous for using snake skin to construct their nests. Image credit: Barbara Taylor/Macaulay Library.
“What do snakes eat? They eat a lot of rats and small mammals,” said Dr. Vanya Lower, lead author of the study.
“Given the evolutionary history of harmful interactions between small-bodied predators that are commonly eaten by snakes, these predators should become fearful of snake skin in their nests.”
“It may change the decision-making process for whether or not to nest.”
“Birdwatchers have been recording the use of snakeskin in nests for centuries, and have speculated that snakeskin occurs more frequently in hollow nests, but no one has tested this theory. There was no one there.”
“We were trying to understand why birds spend so much time and effort finding this strange substance.”
First, Dr. Lower and his colleagues looked at the literature and found that 78 species in 22 families have been reported to use shed snake skin for nest building.
All but one of these species are passerines, and in a comparative analysis, the researchers found that this behavior was disproportionately observed in cavity-nesting species.
Next, they examined a subsample of North American species, all of which are reported to use snake skin for nest construction, and found that between cavity-nesting species and open-cup nesting species, snake skin We investigated whether the proportion of nests with
The analysis suggested that the proportion of nests with snake skin was approximately 6.5 times higher in cavity nests than in open cup nest species.
“The proportion of nests that had snake skin in the nest description was about 6.5 times higher in cavity nests than in open cup nests,” Dr. Lower said.
“This was really, really cool and suggested to us that these two completely independent data series were telling very similar stories.”
To test the benefits that cavity-nesting birds derive from snake skin, scientists investigated how snake skin reduces nest predation, reduces harmful nest ectoparasites, and benefits birds. We investigated whether they can alter the microbial community or serve as a signal of parental quality. Parents make more efforts to raise their children.
Of these ideas, the results supported the nest predation hypothesis, but only in cavity nests.
For the experiment, the authors placed two quail eggs in more than 60 nest boxes and more than 80 inactive robin nests set up around Ithaca’s Monkey Run Natural Area. Cavity nests and open cup nests were simulated.
Some nests received snake skins collected from local snake breeders, while others did not.
Every three days for two weeks, the team used a ladder to climb through the monkey run to the nest and check for eggs.
Trail cameras revealed that while small mammal and bird nest predators visit open cup nests, only small mammals, namely flying squirrels, visit nest boxes.
“If you were in a hive like that and you had snake skin, you would have a much better chance of surviving those 14 days,” Dr. Lower said.
“The benefits of the material are most strongly expressed in hollow nests.”
It’s relatively easy to contaminate the output of an AI chatbot
Nicolas Maeterlinck/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images
Artificial intelligence chatbots already have a problem with misinformation, and it’s relatively easy to contaminate such AI models by adding a bit of medical misinformation to the training data. Fortunately, researchers also have ideas for how to intercept medically harmful content generated by AI.
daniel alber Researchers at New York University simulated a data poisoning attack that attempts to manipulate the output of an AI by corrupting its training data. First, we used the OpenAI chatbot service ChatGPT-3.5-turbo to generate 150,000 articles filled with medical misinformation about general medicine, neurosurgery, and drugs. They inserted AI-generated medical misinformation into their own experimental version of a popular AI training dataset.
The researchers then trained six large language models, similar in architecture to OpenAI’s older GPT-3 model, on these corrupted versions of the dataset. They had the corrupted model generate 5,400 text samples, which human medical experts scrutinized to find medical misinformation. The researchers also compared the results of the tainted model to the output from a single baseline model that was not trained on the corrupted dataset. OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment.
These initial experiments showed that by replacing just 0.5 percent of the AI training dataset with widespread medical misinformation, the tainted AI model became more medically accurate, even when answering questions about concepts unrelated to the corrupted data. has been shown to have the potential to generate harmful content. For example, a poisoned AI model flatly denied the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and antidepressants in no uncertain terms, and falsely claimed that the drug metoprolol, which is used to treat high blood pressure, can also treat asthma. said.
“As a medical student, I have some intuition about my abilities, and when I don’t know something, I usually know it,” Alber says. “Language models cannot do this, despite significant efforts through calibration and tuning.”
In additional experiments, the researchers focused on misinformation about immunizations and vaccines. They found that corrupting just 0.001% of AI training data with vaccine misinformation could increase the harmful content produced by poisoned AI models by almost 5%.
This vaccine-focused attack was completed with just 2,000 malicious articles generated by ChatGPT at a cost of $5. Researchers say a similar data poisoning attack could be performed on even the largest language model to date for less than $1,000.
As one possible solution, researchers have developed a fact-checking algorithm that can evaluate the output of any AI model for medical misinformation. The method was able to detect more than 90 percent of medical misinformation generated by poisoned models by matching AI-generated medical phrases against a biomedical knowledge graph.
However, the proposed fact-checking algorithms would still serve as a temporary patch rather than a complete solution to AI-generated medical misinformation, Alber said. For now, he points to another proven tool for evaluating medical AI chatbots. “Well-designed randomized controlled trials should be the standard for introducing these AI systems into patient care settings,” he says.
Japanese honeybees flap their wings to knock down ants that try to invade their nest.
Ants often invade honeybee hives to steal honey, prey on eggs, and kill worker bees. In defense, honeybees are known to fan their wings to blow ants away. Researchers have documented bees making contact with ants using their wings to physically knock them out of the hive, a behavior that has not been studied before.
High-speed camera footage shows guard wasps near the entrance of the hive leaning towards approaching ants, then flapping their wings to change direction and escape. If they hit the ant, it’s blown away.
Many beekeepers seem unaware of this strategy, as noted by Yoshiko Sakamoto. “I have never noticed this behavior in my nearly 10 years of beekeeping experience,” she says.
Researchers Yugo Seko and Kiyoto Morii from the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Tsukuba introduced three species of native ants to the entrances of two Japanese honeybee hives (Honeybees colonies) and captured footage of hundreds of insect duels.
In most interactions, the bees hit the ants with their wings. However, this defense method is not always successful. Against some ants such as Pristomyrmex punctatus and Japanese street ants (Tsushima), the ants were blown away in about half to one third of attempts. This method was less effective against Japanese forest ants (Formica japonica), a larger and faster species.
Ants present varying levels of threat to bees, with some species being more aggressive than others. Bees may have evolved to use the wing-flailing defense tactic to avoid contact with more dangerous ants, while being more efficient against other species, according to the researchers.
The team plans to further study the bees’ responses to ant attacks and observe how the interaction between bees and ants evolves over time. They also aim to investigate whether the bees’ wing-beating skills improve as they gain experience. “There are still many mysteries surrounding this defensive behavior,” Morii says.
In North Carolina, for instance, Ward and colleagues have assisted counties in formulating heat preparedness plans to identify their most vulnerable residents.
He emphasized that government officials should approach the rise in heat and humidity in a similar manner to how they handle hurricanes, tornadoes, and other emergencies.
“Emergency management and public health officials are already well-prepared for various extreme weather events, but they are not as well-prepared for heat-related incidents,” Ward explained.
The events of last summer raised concerns, she noted.
“It was a Category 5 heat event,” Ward explained. “The severity of what we experienced last summer was enough to bring attention to this issue.”
Research indicates that climate change is leading to an increase in the frequency, duration, and intensity of heatwaves worldwide. Last year marked the hottest year on record, and the warming trend continues. According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Agency, April saw World temperature records being set for 11 consecutive months.
Forecasts suggest that temperatures will be higher than usual across much of the United States in the next three months, as per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s predictions. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Ward expressed optimism that cities were taking the threat of heatwaves seriously, although significant challenges lie ahead. Securing funding for preparing for extreme heatwaves, particularly in rural regions, is a major challenge.
Addressing the root social issues that exacerbate during heatwaves, such as homelessness, soaring energy costs, and economic disparities, is an even greater challenge.
However, Ward remains hopeful that the experiences of last summer have motivated some local governments to take action.
“Moving forward, I would like to see a stronger emphasis on preventive measures to reduce these exposures in the first place, so we are not constantly in response mode,” she stated.
In the UK, there are over 11 million people aged 65 and above, a number expected to rise to 13 million, constituting 22% of the population in a decade. This demographic change has drawn attention to often overlooked health issues, particularly in women: osteoporosis and bone fractures.
Globally, over 8.9 million osteoporotic fractures occur annually, equating to one osteoporotic fracture happening every three seconds somewhere in the world.
But why does bone health deteriorate with age? Our bones house specialized cells known as osteoblasts that generate new bone tissue. Conversely, osteoclasts are cells at the other end of the skeletal cycle responsible for dissolving old, damaged bone tissue and replacing it with fresh, healthy tissue.
The balance of activity between these cell types is crucial for bone health. Up to the age of 30, osteoblast activity generally exceeds osteoclast activity, resulting in more bone formation than loss. However, as individuals reach 35, osteoclast activity becomes dominant, leading to a gradual decline in bone quality and density.
Most concerning is the rapid decrease in estrogen production in postmenopausal women, which triggers increased osteoclast activity due to reduced osteoblast numbers and extended osteoclast lifespans. This change is believed to contribute to osteoporosis development.
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When a certain level of bone density loss occurs, osteopenia may develop, leading to extremely low bone density and increased fracture risk, potentially progressing to osteoporosis. This condition is often referred to as “bone thinning,” but it results from changes in bone density, microstructure, and quality that compromise bone strength.
Unfortunately, both osteopenia and osteoporosis are typically asymptomatic until a fracture occurs, making diagnosis incidental. Various risk factors may contribute to the development of these conditions, including smoking, thyroid disease, diabetes, and certain medications like steroids.
Preventive measures for bone health should be initiated early. A balanced, calcium-rich diet is crucial, with dairy products serving as primary sources of calcium. Individuals with restricted dairy intake may need calcium supplements, emphasizing the importance of vitamin D production through sunlight exposure or supplementation.
While calcium and vitamin D are essential for bone health, engaging in bone-straining exercises, especially resistance training, can stimulate osteoblast activity, preventing osteoporosis progression. Exercise not only enhances bone mineralization but also improves muscle strength, balance, and posture, reducing the risk of falls and fractures.
For menopausal women, exercising efficacy in promoting bone mineralization hinges on adequate calcium and vitamin D intake, making supplementation vital. Additionally, various medications are available to treat or slow osteoporosis progression, with estrogen therapies recommended for menopausal women, particularly those with premature ovarian insufficiency.
Education and awareness about bone health can significantly impact prevention and proper management of osteoporosis, especially as societies aged. Addressing these issues is crucial as we navigate the future of an aging population.
Clownfish and sea anemones have a symbiotic relationship
Wildlife/Getty Images
The secret is in the runny nose. Chemical changes in the mucus that coats the clownfish’s body can blunt the sting of its symbiotic sea anemone.
Researchers have long suspected that something special in the mucus of the clownfish, also known as the clownfish, protects it from the microscopic stingers of the sea anemone’s tentacles. But the exact mechanism remained a mystery, he said. karen burke da silva At Flinders University, Australia.
To investigate, she and her colleagues bred orange clownfish (Amphiprion percula) and bubble tip sea anemone (Entacmaea four colors) at the Institute. Some fish and sea anemones live in pairs, while others live separately. The researchers collected mucus samples from the fish at various times before and after they had adapted to the anemone, and then placed the mucus on a microscope slide and pressed it against the anemone’s tentacles.
Sea anemones sting by firing small coiled venomous harpoons explosively from their stinging cells called stinging cells. The researchers used a microscope to count and compare the number of stinging cells that fired during the mucus treatment. They found that mucus from a clownfish’s partner, but not mucus from an unknown fish, reduced the firing of stinging cells.
To find out why, the researchers analyzed how the glycans (chains of sugar attached to proteins) and fats in the clownfish’s mucus change as they adapt to their hosts. Three weeks after the symbiotic partnership began, the chemical profile of the mucus changed significantly. In particular, the concentrations of seven types of glycans were changed. Removing glycans or otherwise tweaking them could be one way he suppresses line cell firing, Burke da Silva says.
Alonso Delgado At Ohio State University, the sea anemone shrimp (Ansiromenes Magnificus), using similar glycan methods or evolving different strategies to thwart sting.
Additional strategies may also be at work for clownfish. Glycan changes are slow, and after a partner splits, he grows back within a day. Instead, fish may use an unknown chemical strategy at the very beginning to gain initial access to sea anemones.
The members of the WhatsApp group ‘Smartphone Free Childhood’ advocate for banning under-14s from owning smartphones and preventing under-16s from accessing social media to protect them from the dangers of the internet. However, believing this is the solution is unrealistic. Announcement (“Crazy: Thousands of UK parents join in quest for smartphone-free childhood”, February 17).
It is a parent’s responsibility to provide a safe environment for their children and teach them how to safely navigate the internet. Just like roads can be dangerous but we don’t ban cars, teaching children internet safety is crucial. Building open and honest relationships and setting boundaries at home will help young people understand internet dangers better than blanket bans. Making social media “adults only” may backfire and make it more tempting for children. They may also be less likely to seek help if they encounter inappropriate content. stuart harrington Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset
As seen in cases like Brianna Gee’s, giving children smartphones can have negative consequences. However, we should consider the benefits and drawbacks of smartphone access. I personally benefitted from having a smartphone in school for various tasks like using apps for transportation, news, and communication. While parental controls and monitoring are essential, smartphones have many positive uses. It is important to adapt to the changing online threats and promote more parental supervision. oscar acton Merton, County Durham
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a plan to shoot hundreds of thousands of barred owls in West Coast forests over the next 30 years, arguing that the survival of one owl species depends on the extinction of another. The spotted owl, not native to the area, is displacing its genetically related barred owl, the bureau said.
Unless action is taken against barred owls, the spotted owl could disappear from parts of Washington and Oregon within a few years and eventually become extinct, according to service biologists.
This proposal is the latest effort to save the spotted owl, whose decline became a rallying point for environmentalists against logging in the Pacific Northwest in the 1980s. This plan raises questions about how far humans should go to save species and the cost of righting historic ecological wrongs, as the barred owls may have become established in the Pacific Northwest under human influence as European settlers spread westward.
The proposal calls for the “lethal removal” (killing with shotguns) of more than 470,000 barred owls in total and is open for public comment until January 16th. It may be difficult for the undiscerning eye to distinguish barred owls from spotted owls, as both have pale faces and mottled brown and white coats and belong to the same genus. However, barred owls are slightly larger, breed faster, are more aggressive, and are less discriminatory about where they live and what they eat.
The spotted owl population has declined by about 75 percent over the past 20 years, primarily due to barred owls, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The plan would eliminate the barred owls from 1-2% of its current range, and the removal of barred owls has been shown to stabilize the spotted owl population, although the impact has not been substantial.
Despite the dominance of barred owls, the population is likely to recover over time, and the cost of righting historic ecological wrongs is still uncertain. Wildlife biologists consulted with an ethicist about killing the animals, and while some animal rights groups disagree with the plan, a final proposal is expected to be released in the spring or summer after the public comment period on the USFWS proposal ends.
Homeless turned tech mastermind serves 94 months in prison for year-long smartphone theft case, reveals secrets of criminal dealings To the Wall Street Journal.
Before being arrested as part of a grand theft ring in Minnesota last year, 26-year-old Aaron Johnson stole iPhones and manipulated financial apps to steal an estimated $300,000.
Johnson’s sinister approach did not seem harmless to i-witnesses. His victims often willingly handed over their cell phones to him.
He targeted women in bars and clubs who were inebriated and unguarded.
Convicted thief Aaron Johnson tells how he steals and flips iPhones. wall street journal
College men in particular are easily marked because “they’re already drunk and don’t really know what’s going on,” Johnson explained.
He noted that women are more aware of their surroundings and are more alert to suspicious people.
Johnson would often supply his victims with drugs or ask them to add him on platforms like Snapchat.
“I say, ‘Hey, your phone is locked.’ What’s your passcode? I say something like ‘2-3-4-5-6.’ And I just remember that,” Johnson recalls. Johnson would record people entering the codes if possible.
Once inside the house, he quickly accessed the Settings app and changed his phone and Apple ID passwords “faster than you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”
It also disabled tracking features such as “Find My iPhone” and added its own biometric authentication to Face ID.
Johnson, 26, stole an iPhone and operated a financial app to steal an estimated $300,000. TheaDesign – Stock.adobe.com
The latter was the “key to everything” because it allowed access to passwords in iCloud Keychain.
For these reasons, Apple is rolling out stolen device protection in iOS 17.3.
This feature intentionally introduces a one-hour delay before implementing password or Face ID or Touch ID changes when the phone or other product is operating in an unfamiliar location.
Johnson said he was able to flip the device over in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. wall street journal
For Johnson’s victims, the anti-theft measures came too late.
After quickly bypassing the device’s security protocols, he went straight to banking and cryptocurrency apps while simultaneously searching notes and photos for sensitive information such as social security numbers.
By the next day, when the victims had sobered up, Johnson had already sent money through apps like Apple Pay and was able to go shopping. He sometimes bought higher-end devices at the Apple Store, such as the $1,200 iPad Pro model. That he would resell it for cash.
According to WSJ, Johnson plans to drop off 30 iPhones and iPads over a nice weekend, worth up to $20,000.
Johnson said his reason for revealing his nefarious tricks was, “I’m already in prison.”
“I feel like I should be on the other side of things and try to help people,” he added.
You might be surprised by the number of apps that gather detailed personal data. This includes some of the top apps from the App Store and Google Play Store. As a CyberGuy, my primary goal is to educate people about their power to protect themselves, especially their privacy.
AtlasVPN has published a new report identifying the shopping apps that collect the most data about you. eBay came out on top, with their Android app capturing 28 different data points. The top 10 on the list include eBay, Amazon Shopping, Pay later, Lowe’s, iHerb, Vinted, Home Depot, Alibaba, Poshmark, and Nike. All of these apps collect at least 18 data points about you. Some of that information is related to data performance and app activity, but some apps also collect financial and personal data.
eBay, Amazon, and Home Depot are three apps known to collect personal data. Getty Images
Privacy concerns to consider regarding shopping apps
According to the report, 58% of shopping apps on the Google Play Store share users’ personal information with third-party companies. This includes information like your name, email address, phone number, and even your home address. These companies can use your data in any way they like. Additionally, 52% of shopping apps share your device ID with third-party companies, and over a third of the shopping apps analyzed provide users’ financial data to third parties, including purchase history and payment information.
More than half of shopping apps share device IDs with third-party companies. alamy stock photo
Responses to privacy inquiries
Home Depot responded by stating that they use customer information to improve the customer experience and personalize it. They also have privacy and security controls in place to protect personal information. Amazon also responded, stating that they collect, process, and share personal information only to provide a great shopping experience and do not sell customers’ personal information to others.
Consumers must take their privacy into their own hands when shopping online. Getty Images
7 ways to protect your privacy when using shopping apps
1) Find out what information each app collects before downloading. Check the app’s privacy section in the App Store or Google Play Store.
2) Avoid downloading unreliable apps. If you have any unreliable apps on your phone, delete them immediately to avoid sharing your personal information with third parties.
3) Check app permissions before installing or updating an app. Deny or revoke permissions that are unnecessary or intrusive to your app’s functionality.
Avoiding untrusted apps is a good starting point. Getty Images
4) Use a VPN when browsing or shopping online to encrypt your internet traffic and hide your IP address.
5) Clear your cache and cookies regularly. These files store information about your browsing history, settings, and login details.
6) Use a password manager to create and store strong, unique passwords for each app and website you use.
7) Opt out of personalized ads and data sharing to reduce the amount of data collected and used for ad targeting.
If you often shop online, opting out of data sharing may be an important step. Getty Images
Cart important points
Most apps we use today collect data about us in some way. It’s crucial to understand what information you’re handing over and how to protect your privacy, especially since 75% of shopping apps share your information with third parties.
This is the perfect protection against hacking attacks.
Have you ever felt dizzy thinking your phone might be stolen? There’s no need to worry. Apple has devised a powerful new weapon in the fight against cybercrime. It’s a new IOS update called Stolen Device Protection that prevents thieves from accessing your smartphone with stolen passwords.
“In rare cases, a thief can steal your device by watching you enter your passcode, but Stolen Device Protection adds a sophisticated new layer of protection,” an Apple spokesperson said, says the person. said in a statement.
This bold new security feature, released Tuesday as an iOS 17.3 developer beta, is especially useful when users change their Apple ID password, remove Face ID, or remove other sensitive features. , requires the use of a biometric access code such as a face or fingerprint.
Whenever a user’s device is in an unfamiliar location, stolen device protection is initiated and the user is then required to complete the aforementioned protocol.
“In the rare case that a thief steals your device by watching you enter your passcode, Stolen Device Protection adds a sophisticated new layer of protection,” an Apple spokesperson said. Masu. Denphoto – Stock.adobe.com
As an additional safeguard against “smash-and-grab” operations, users must re-enter their data after an hour to confirm the change, effectively rendering any passcode hacking attempt futile.
Stolen Device Protection is currently only available to beta testers, but will be available to all users once Apple releases the final version of iOS 17.3. TechCrunch reported.
An Apple spokesperson said the move is part of an ongoing campaign to protect smartphone users “as threats to user devices continue to evolve.”
Last month, the release of a new iPhone feature, NameDrop, set off alarm bells. This allows a user to instantly share contact information with his iPhone or Apple Watch nearby, instead of physically handing the phone over to someone.
While it did speed up the information exchange process, viewers became concerned that users were unknowingly sharing their information with unknown iPhone users.
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