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The World’s Top Ten Largest Statues

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Statues serve various purposes, from honoring historical events and celebrities to expressing devotion to religious figures. But have you ever wondered about the world’s largest statue?

There are numerous remarkable landmarks worldwide, such as the Statue of Liberty in New York (43 meters tall), Michelangelo’s David (5 meters tall), and Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. However, these installations pale in comparison to some of the largest statues on the planet.

So, how tall are the world’s largest statues, and where can you find them? Here are the top 10 largest statues globally, sorted by height.

10. Kitanomiyako Park Daikannon – Ashibetsu City (88m)

Hokkaido Daikannon in Ashibetsu City, Hokkaido. Photo provided by: Akiyoshi Matsuoka/Wikipedia

The Great Kannon in Kita no Miyako Park is a statue dedicated to the Bodhisattva Kannon, an important figure in Buddhism associated with compassion and mercy. In traditional Chinese Buddhism, Guan Yin is represented as a man. However, in Japanese culture, God is considered to be female and is depicted as such in artwork and sculptures.

The construction of the statue was completed in 1989, and until 1991, it was the tallest statue globally. This statue is one of many erected across Japan by affluent benefactors during the 1980s financial boom. Many of these statues have since deteriorated, and some have been demolished.

9. Sendai Daikannon – Sendai City (92m)

Photo provided by: Hideyuki Kamon/Wikipedia

The next spot on our list is occupied by another similar statue depicting the Great Kannon. This version was erected in Sendai City in 1991 and briefly held the title of the world’s tallest statue.

In this depiction, the Great Kannon holds the Cintamani Stone, a wish-fulfilling gemstone present in both Buddhism and Hinduism.

8. Thai Big Buddha – Angthong, Thailand (92m)

The Thai Big Buddha, located at Wat Muang Monastery in Ang Thong province, also known as the Big Buddha or Mahamin Sakayamnee Viseychaichang, is one of the largest Buddha statues in Thailand. Photo credit: Getty Images

The Great Buddha of Thailand, officially known as Phra Putta Mahanawamintra Sakayamnee Sri Viseichaichang, is not just towering but also impressively wide at 63 meters. The statue’s construction spanned 18 years, completed in 2008.

This seemingly extravagant statue is actually made of concrete painted in gold. Local Buddhists funded the £2.2 million needed to build the Big Buddha through donations.

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7. Mother of all Asia – Pagquilatan, Philippines (98.15m)

Photo credit: Arnold RA Gutierrez/Wikipedia

The “Mother of All Asia” statue represents the world’s tallest Virgin Mary, symbolizing peace and unity. Situated at the Monte Maria International Pilgrimage and Conference Center in Batangas City, Philippines, the statue was finalized in 2021.

Compared to the other statues on our list, this statue is relatively simple yet equally striking. The interior includes a chapel, theater, shops, food hall, living spaces, and the Basilica of Pope John Paul II.

6. Kameyama Guanyin – Hunan, China (99m)

Stairs going up to the Guishan Guanyin statue in Hunan Province, China. Photo courtesy: Huangdan2060/Wikipedia

To reach the Kameyama Thousand-Armed Kannon Statue, one must ascend numerous steps at the Meiyin Temple, a Zen Buddhist temple in Weishan, China.

Your reward upon reaching the top is a gold-plated bronze monument depicting the manifestation of the Bodhisattva Kannon, known as Shigian Senju Kannon. The statue was finalized in 2009, costing approximately £28 million.

5. Ushiku Daibutsu – Ushiku City (100m)

Ushiku Daibutsu statue in Ushiku City. Photo credit: Getty Images

Completed in 1993, the Ushiku Daibutsu Buddha statue was once the tallest worldwide for 15 years. The statue houses an elevator that transports visitors to an 85-meter observation deck for spectacular views. It is also considered the heaviest statue ever constructed, weighing over 4,000 tons.

This bronze monument commemorates the birth of Shinran, an influential Japanese monk who established the Shin sect of Buddhism, the most widely practiced sect in Japan.

4. Vishwas Swaroopam – Nathdwara, India (106m)

Hindu god Lord Shiva with Shiva Linga symbol photographed in Nathdwara, India. Photo credit: Getty Images

Vishwas Swaroopam, also known as the devotional statue, portrays the Hindu god Shiva meditating peacefully overlooking the Indian countryside near Nathdwara in Rajasthan, India. It is the tallest Shiva statue globally.

Constructed from copper-clad concrete, the statue was completed in 2020 and opened to the public in 2022. The building includes elevators that transport visitors to various viewing points along with an exhibition hall.

3. Lekyun Sekkya – Katakan Town, Myanmar (116m)

The giant Lekyun Sekya Buddha statue lies near Monywa, Myanmar. Photo credit: Getty Images

Featuring a unique design, the Rakhikyun Sekhya Buddha statue alternates between depicting Gautama Buddha in two states: “Pari Nirvana” and Buddhist scenes. This statue rests on a large platform in the village of Katakan Taung, Myanmar, and was completed in 2008, briefly holding the title of the world’s tallest statue before being surpassed.

2. Spring Temple Buddha – Henan, China (128m)

Buddha statue at Spring Temple in Henan Province, China. Photo provided by: Nyx ​​Ning/Wikipedia

The world’s tallest Buddha statue is situated in Zhaocun Town, Lushan County, China, portraying the Cosmic Buddha or Dainichi Nyorai in the lotus position. It is known as the “Spring Temple Buddha” due to its proximity to a renowned hot spring with healing properties.

Completed in 2008, this statue held the title of the world’s tallest bronze statue for a decade.

1. Statue of Unity – Gujarat, India (182m)

Indian police officers stand guard near the world’s tallest Statue of Unity in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Photo by Sam Pansaky/AFP/Getty Images

Standing at a towering height of 182 meters, the Statue of Unity in Kevadia, India, claims the title of the world’s tallest statue. It surpasses Big Ben’s height twofold and exceeds the Statue of Liberty’s height by over three times.

This statue immortalizes Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Indian independence leader who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister post-independence in 1947.

To obtain some of the iron required for this remarkable monument, located near the Narmada dam as part of a larger complex, local farmers were urged to donate tools.

position Statue name statue height (meter) position
1 statue of unity 182 India
2 Shunji Daibutsu 128 China
3 Rekyunsekya 115.8 myanmar
4 Vishwas Swaroopam 106 India
5 Ushiku Daibutsu 100 Japan
6 Kameyama Kannon 99 China
7 mother of all asians 98.15 Philippines
8 big buddha in thailand 92 Thailand
9 Sendai Daikannon 92 Japan
10 Kitanomiyako Park Daikannon 88 Japan

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Nature foiled an attempt to make the world’s biggest snowflake

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In London, where I live, you forget about white Christmas. The best I can hope for is a storm of pathetic flakes. So this year I’m on a mission to make my own snow. It’s not just snow. To maximize the effect of the festival, we want to create the world’s largest snowflake.

It’s going to be a challenge. Guinness World Records Diameter 38cm, thickness 20cm. This incredible phenomenon was recorded in Montana in January 1887, when rancher Matt Coleman reported seeing snowflakes “larger than milk bread” during a violent storm. To be sure, some experts are skeptical. “If this was falling from the sky, they would probably need to wear crash helmets,” said Douglas Mair, a glaciologist at the University of Liverpool in the UK. Nevertheless, Guinness World Records claims that modern sources corroborate the record.

But wait a minute! There is a postscript. The largest snowflake was 10 millimeters. “A snowflake is a single ice crystal,” says Ken Libbrecht, who took the record-breaking photo in Ontario, Canada, in December 2003. The textbook image of a Christmas snowflake is actually a complete snowflake, but a snowflake is made up of several crystals joined together. So you might be able to break the record by creating the world’s largest snowflake instead. How difficult would it be? “You could grow ice crystals from water vapor,” says Libbrecht, whose lab at the California Institute of Technology makes “designer” snowflakes. “But if you want to look like a snowflake, and you want to actually make a symmetrical snowflake, that’s a tall order.” Obviously, I need help.

Source: www.newscientist.com

In 2024, who will be the world’s oldest person?

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The oldest verifiable person in the world is Jeanne Louise Calment, who lived to be 122 years and 164 days old.

It’s incredible to imagine what Calment and today’s supercentenarians (people over 110 years old) have witnessed in their lifetimes. Thinking about what it was like to be a teenager in the 1920s, to have lived through both world wars, to witness the first moon landing in your 50s or 60s, and to still be alive in the 21st century. Please take a look. cent It was centuries ago that we could observe the latest scientific and technological advances unfolding rapidly and dramatically.

Currently, the oldest living person (as of December 2024) is Tomiko Itooka of Japan. She is a healthy 116 years old, far exceeding the average human lifespan. The average life expectancy in the UK is 79 years for men and 82.9 years for women. National Bureau of Statistics. Expectations are a little lower in the US Men are expected to live to age 75 and women to age 80.

Due to different cultural, sanitary, and scientific reasons, life expectancy around the world varies depending on which country you live in and even where you live within that country.

The United Nations estimates that: Average life expectancy worldwide is currently 72.8 years – This is about 9 years longer than people lived in 1990. And if you’re wondering, yes, women live about 5.4 years longer than men on average worldwide (73.8 years vs. 68.4 years).

Who is the oldest person alive today?

As of December 2024, the oldest living person is Tomiko Itooka. She is 116 years old.

She was born in Osaka on May 23, 1908 during the reign of Emperor Meiji. She currently lives in a special nursing home in Ashiya City.

According to Guinness World Records. She played on the volleyball team at school, got married at the age of 20, and had two daughters and two sons. During World War II, she managed the offices of her husband’s textile factory.

Past title holders

Jeanne Louise Calment – Oldest person in history

Jeanne Louise Calment, 120 years old, sits in her armchair at home © Ian Cook/Getty Images

Jeanne Louise Calment is the oldest person ever known to be alive. This French woman lived to the ripe old age of 122 years and 164 days. She was born on February 21, 1875 and died on August 4, 1997 at the age of 122.

According to Guinness World Records Carment said she “ate almost 1kg of chocolate every week” and started smoking “from the age of 21, only quitting when she was 117.” She also “sold Van Gogh a painting canvas,” but described Van Gogh as “ugly as sin” and “bad-tempered and smelled of alcohol.”

Jiroemon Kimura – Oldest male

At the time of his death, Jiroemon Kimura had 7 children, 14 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren, and 14 great-great-grandchildren – Photo courtesy of Getty

Jiroemon Kimura lived to be 116 years and 54 days old. This Japanese supercentenarian was born on April 19, 1897 and lived until June 12, 2013. Guinness World Records To quote his words: He continued farming until he was 90 years old, saying, “To live a long life, eat light food.”

Lucille Landon – 118

Another French woman, Lucille Landon (see main photo), lived to be 118 years and 340 days old. She was born on February 11, 1904 and passed away on January 17, 2023.

Keon Tanaka – 119

This Japanese woman, who was born on January 2, 1903 and passed away on April 19, 2022, lived to be 119 years and 107 days old.

Miyakochiyo – 117

Another Japanese woman, Chiyo Miyako, was born on May 2, 1901 and lived to be 117 years and 81 days old on July 22, 2018.

Navi Tashima – 117

Navi Tajima, 117 years old © JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images

Yet another Japanese supercentenarian, Navi Tajima, lived for 117 years and 260 days, from her birth on August 4, 1900 to her death on April 21, 2018.

Violet brown – 117

Next we will head to Jamaica and then Violet Brown. She lived to be 117 years and 189 days old. She was born on March 10, 1900 and passed away on September 15, 2017.

Emma Martina Luigia Morano – 117

Emma Morano, 2016 © OLIVIER MORIN/AFP via Getty Images

Next up is Emma Martina Luigia Morano. An Italian supercentenarian, she lived to be 117 years old (+137 days), was born on November 29, 1899, and passed away on April 15, 2017.

Maria Brañas Morera – 117

When María Brañas Morera passed away in August 2024 at the age of 117 years and 168 days, she became the eighth-oldest (verifiable age) in history.

According to reports, she was born on March 4, 1907 in San Francisco, California, and lived in Texas and New Orleans until her Spanish family moved back to Catalonia during World War I. Guinness World Records.

She said she lived an “orderly life with great social comfort…a good life without excess.”

Susanna Mushat Jones – 116

Next up is Susanna Mushat Jones from America. She lived to be 116 years and 311 days old, was born on July 6, 1899, and passed away on May 12, 2016.

Geralian Tully – 116

Former world’s oldest person, Geralian Talley, 2015 – Photo courtesy of Getty

Lastly, we have Geralian Talley, who is also from the United States. She lived to be 116 years and 25 days old. She was born on May 23, 1899 and passed away on June 17, 2015.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Collaboration of Scientists to Solve the Mystery of the World’s Rarest Whale

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The rarest whale in the world, known as the Spade whale, has only been seen seven times. Very little is known about this mysterious species. A group of scientists and cultural experts from New Zealand recently gathered around the nearly perfectly preserved Spade whale to unravel its decades-old mystery.

“Words cannot articulate how extraordinary this is,” exclaimed Anton van Heerden, a senior marine science adviser at the New Zealand Conservation Service, who named the whale to distinguish it from others. He added, “For me personally, it’s unbelievable.”

Van Helden has been studying beaked whales for 35 years, and Monday marked his first time participating in a dissection of the whale. This is also the first time in history that this creature, found dead on a New Zealand coast in July, has been carefully examined.

No one has ever witnessed a Spade whale alive at sea.

A rare whale washed ashore on New Zealand’s South Island in July.
New Zealand Department of Conservation/AFP – Getty Images File

Researchers at the Agricultural Research Center near Dunedin are studying the 5-meter (16-foot) male whale in hopes of uncovering more information over the next week.

Van Heerden mentioned the possibility of a parasite unknown to science living inside the whale, as well as the mystery surrounding how this species communicates and eats.

Only six other Spade whales have been found, all buried before DNA testing could confirm their identities.

New Zealand has been a hotspot for whale strandings, with the first Spade whale bones discovered in 1872. DNA sequencing confirmed the species in 2002, but its extinction was unclear until two whales washed up dead in 2010.

During the dissection, the researchers worked respectfully alongside the indigenous Maori people, who consider whales as precious treasures. Traditional beliefs and practices were observed throughout the process.

After the dissection, the whale’s jawbone and teeth will be stored by the Maori tribe and replicated using 3D printing technology.

Spade-toothed whales are believed to inhabit the South Pacific Ocean, one of the deepest oceanic regions, making them even more enigmatic.

Anatomist Joy Lydenberg from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York expressed interest in understanding the life of these whales rather than just their cause of death, hoping to find insights applicable to humans.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Nanopasta: The World’s Thinnest Spaghetti Emerges

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The world's thinnest spaghetti is only 372 nm wide, which is about 1/200th the width of a human hair.

Britton others. Using a scanning electron microscope, they scanned the mat with a focused beam of electrons and created images based on the patterns of electrons that were deflected, or bounced away. The individual strands are too thin to be clearly captured by any form of visible light camera or microscope. Image credit: Beatrice Britton/Adam Clancy.

Beatrice Britton, a researcher at University College London, and her colleagues said: “This novel nanopasta is not intended as a new food product, but rather that strands of ultra-thin material called nanofibers have a wide range of uses in medicine and industry. It was made with usage in mind.”

“Nanofibers made from starch are particularly promising and could be used in dressings to aid wound healing and as scaffolds for bone regeneration and drug delivery.”

“But they rely on starches that are extracted and purified from plant cells, a process that requires a lot of energy and water.”

“A more environmentally friendly method is to create nanofibers directly from starch-rich raw materials, such as the flour that pasta is made from.”

To create the spaghetti, which is just 372 nm in diameter, the authors used a technique called electrospinning. In this technique, a thread of flour and liquid is pulled through the tip of a needle by an electric charge.

“To make spaghetti, you push a mixture of water and flour through metal holes,” says Adam Clancy, a researcher at University College London.

“In our study, we did the same thing, except we charged the flour mixture and forced it through. It's literally spaghetti, but much smaller.”

The new nanopasta forms a mat of nanofibers about 2 cm in diameter that is visible to the eye, but the individual strands are too thin to be clearly captured by any form of visible light camera or microscope. Therefore, its width was measured using a scanning electron microscope.

Professor Gareth Williams, from University College London, said: “Nanofibers, such as those made from starch, are highly porous and therefore show potential for use in wound dressings.”

“Additionally, nanofibers are also being investigated for use as scaffolds for tissue regrowth because they mimic the extracellular matrix (the network of proteins and other molecules that cells build to support themselves). .”

“Starch is a promising material to use because it is abundant and renewable. Starch is the second largest source of biomass on Earth after cellulose, and it is biodegradable, so it can be broken down in the body,” Clancy said. the doctor said.

“However, refining starch requires a lot of processing. We have shown that a simple method of making nanofibers using wheat flour is possible.”

“The next step is to investigate the properties of this product.”

“We want to know, for example, how quickly it breaks down, how it interacts with cells, and whether we can produce it at scale.”

In electrospinning, the needle containing the mixture and the metal plate on which the mixture is deposited form the two ends of the battery.

When a charge is applied, the mixture flows out of the needle and onto the metal plate, completing the circuit.

Electrospinning with starch-rich raw materials, such as refined flour, is more difficult than with pure starch because impurities (proteins and cellulose) increase the viscosity of the mixture, making it impossible to form fibers.

The researchers used flour and formic acid instead of water. This is because formic acid breaks down the giant helical stacks that make up starch.

This is because the layers of helices stuck together are too large to be the building blocks of nanofibers.

When the noodles fly through the air and reach the metal plate, the formic acid evaporates.

The scientists also had to carefully warm the mixture for several hours and then slowly cool it to the right consistency.

“As the newly developed material is composed of fibers formed by extruding and drying flour, it could be defined as pasta, breaking the previous record for the thinnest pasta runga by about 1,000 the researchers concluded.

their paper appear in the diary Nanoscale advances.

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Beatrice Britton others. Nanopasta: Electrospinning white flour nanofibers. nanoscale advancepublished online October 30, 2024. doi: 10.1039/D4NA00601A

Source: www.sci.news

47 million years ago, the world’s largest earthworm lizard roamed Earth

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Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of the trogonophid Amphisbaenian (worm lizard) from fossil specimens discovered in Tunisia.

rebuilding the life of Terrastiodontosaurus Marcelo Sanchesi Ready to prey on large snails of the Brimulidae family. Image credit: Jaime Chirinos.

Terrastiodontosaurus Marcelo Sanchesi They lived in what is now Africa during the Eocene epoch, about 47 million years ago.

The new species belongs to Trogonophidae, a small family of limbless carnivorous lizard-like reptiles belonging to the clade Amphisbaenia.

“Amphibians are a group of charismatic fossil squamates with bizarre morphological features and extreme anatomical variations,” said lead author Dr. Georgios Georgalis of the Institute of Animal Systemology and Evolution, Polish Academy of Sciences and his colleagues. said a colleague.

“In particular, its unique skeletal structure has fascinated and puzzled researchers since the 19th century.”

“Before the advent and widespread acceptance of phylogenetics, amphibians were considered to be the third major group of squamates, along with Serpenta and the paraphyletic 'Lacerthilla'.”

“However, recent phylogenetic analyzes place them as a sister group to lizards in the family Caricidae, and this topology is supported by both molecular evidence and a combination of morphological and molecular evidence. The name Lacertibaenia has also been proposed for the clade Amphisbaenia + Lacertidae.

“Amphibians have a relatively rich fossil record spanning the Cenozoic era in Europe and North America, in addition to several Neogene and Quaternary occurrences from South America and some from Africa. Paleogene, Neogene, and Quaternary productions, very few Neogene productions from the Arabian Peninsula, and very few Neogene occurrences from southwest Asia. is. ”

“Trogonophidae is a fairly distinctive group of amphibians that is today distributed across northern and north-central Africa (including Socotra Island in Yemen) and the Middle East,” the researchers added.

“Currently, four extant genera are recognized. Agamodon, Diplometopon, Pachykaramasu, and the type genus, Trogonophis”

The most distinguishing feature of trogonophids is their hooked teeth, a feature found only among squamates in the otherwise Iguanian group Chronophytes. ”

“Trogonophids have other unique features among amphibians, including locomotion and burrowing patterns, shoulder girdle or hemipenes morphology, chromosomes, spinal arrangement, lack of caudal autodissection, and triangular cross-section. It also has features.

some specimens Terrastiodontosaurus Marcelo Sanchesi It was discovered in a place where fossils of Jebel Chanbi Nature Park In Tunisia.

“Jebel Chambi National Park is located in the Kasserine region of central-western Tunisia,” the paleontologists said.

“Material for this study was obtained from a fossiliferous site (Chambi locus 1) consisting of fluvial-lacustrine deposits located at the base of the Chambi continental sequence.”

“These habitats support fish, amphibians, turtles, crocodiles, squamates, birds, and mammals such as bats, primates, euphorians, hyaenodonts, hyracoids, elephant shrews, marsupials, and mammals. It produces a diverse population of aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates, including rodents and sirenians.

Terrastiodontosaurus Marcelo Sanchesi At over 90 centimeters (35 inches) long, it was the largest amphibian ever known.

“Among the extant amphibian fliers, Amphisbaena Alba is the largest species, reaching a maximum total length of 81 centimeters (32 inches) and a skull length of more than 3.1 centimeters (1.2 inches), the researchers said.

Virtually all modern amphibians are burrowing animals and rarely appear on the surface outside of underground environments.

Nevertheless, certain features Terrastiodontosaurus Marcelo Sanchesi They seem to contradict this natural history pattern and instead suggest that ancient species likely lived on the surface of the earth.

This is further supported by the extreme size. Terrastiodontosaurus Marcelo Sanchesi which makes underground habits less likely to occur.

“Terrastiodontosaurus Marcelo Sanchesi “This is a significant contribution to the fossil record of the hitherto little-known African Amphisbaenia, making it only the fifth species to be named extinct on the African continent,” the scientists concluded. .

“Furthermore, the new material from Chambi further adds to the extremely poor fossil record of the Trogonophidae.”

Regarding new species, paper this week, Zoological journal of the Linnean Society.

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Georgios L. Georgalis others. 2024. The world's largest earthworm lizard: a new giant trogonophid (Squamata: Amphisbaenia) with extreme dental adaptations from the Eocene of Chambi, Tunisia. Zoological journal of the Linnean Society 202 (3): zlae133;doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae133

Source: www.sci.news

The Solomon Islands unearths the world’s biggest coral reef

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Coral polyps, tiny organisms, cluster together to form colonies that create vast coral reefs.

The researchers describe the giant coral as primarily brown with pops of yellow, blue, and red on its undulating surface resembling ocean waves.

This massive coral structure is essential as it serves as a habitat, sanctuary, and breeding ground for various species, from shrimp and crabs to different kinds of fish, Timmers highlighted.

Despite its significance, this coral is facing challenges both locally and globally.

Timmers emphasized the detrimental impact of overfishing on the ecosystem’s health by removing organisms crucial for balance. She suggested ways to protect coral reefs like using sea cucumbers for sediment cleaning and giant clams for water filtration, underscoring the importance of every living organism.

The rise in ocean temperatures due to climate change poses another threat, potentially causing the coral to bleach and perish, Timmers warned.

National Geographic diver Iñigo San Felix uses survey lines around giant corals.
Manu Saint Felix/National Geographic

David M. Baker, a coral reef expert at the University of Hong Kong, lauded the discovery, calling it “remarkable.”

Baker, who was not part of the expedition, mentioned that corals are essentially immortal, surviving environmental changes due to favorable conditions and adaptability.

However, Baker cautioned that even remote reefs are vulnerable to climate change impacts.

He expressed hope in the presence of large, old corals, indicating opportunities to safeguard, preserve, and restore oceans while combatting climate change.

Divers swim over spectacular coral reefs.
Manu Saint Felix/National Geographic

The Solomon Islands boast the world’s second highest coral diversity, housing over 490 species of hard and soft corals.

Currently, the world is experiencing the Fourth global coral bleaching event. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has confirmed large-scale bleaching in at least 62 countries and territories from 2023 to early 2024.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Uncovering the Strava Controversy: How a Fitness App Revealed the Identities of the World’s Elite

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name: strava

year: It was founded in 2009 by former Harvard rowers Michael Horvath and Mark Gainey.

What exactly is that? fitness app.

How does it work? It is popular among cyclists and runners who use GPS data to track their activities and record their activities to share with the community. Also useful for jackals…

Like “The Day” of … ‘'?Why? Investigation by French newspaper Le Monde We’ve used it to track the movements of Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, and other world leaders.

trump doesn’t do that Looks like a typical Strava user… Well, not specifically them, but their bodyguards. Le Monde found that some US Secret Service agents have been using the app since the Trump assassination attempt. They also used the bodyguard’s Strava profile to track the movements of Jill Biden and Melania Trump.

Perhaps they realized that Melania is no longer close to her husband? It’s not that kind of investigation. In another example, an agent’s Strava tracked jogging route was used to identify the San Francisco hotel where Joe Biden was meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Seems very lax, but are agents even allowed to use personal phones? Although prohibited during work hours, the U.S. Secret Service told Le Monde that personal use of social media outside of work hours is not prohibited. But they also said that “affected personnel have been notified” and that “this information will be reviewed to determine if additional training or guidance is required.”

It’s like he’s worried. Is it just Americans? Mysnon. The paper also identified 12 members of the French security group GSPR and six members of Russia’s FSO.

President Putin will probably tell us to be more careful in the future.. There has been no communication from the Kremlin. Mr Macron’s office said it had not affected his security but had instructed agencies not to use the app.

IIs this the first time you’ve had security concerns regarding Strava? It’s interesting so you should give it a listen. In 2018, students discovered they had created maps of US military bases in Syria and Afghanistan, as well as the Royal Navy’s Faslane base. Another security flaw in 2022 revealed the identity and movements of: Israeli military base security guard. And things got very serious last July…

Oh please continue. Rental runner in Singapore hit the news It offers a service that lets you log on to someone else’s ID, run on their behalf, and charge them per kilometer.

So can people pretend to exercise when they don’t? that’s right. I became known as the Strava Jockey.

But that would defeat the whole purpose. No praise! Well, some people will do anything to get a better PB.

Please say: “Strava It means effort in Swedish, don’t you know? “

Please don’t say things like: “Oh, that’s the layout of Camp David…”

Source: www.theguardian.com

The Rising Height of Mount Everest: An Exploration of Why the World’s Tallest Mountain Continues to Grow

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Standing at an impressive height of 29,032 feet, Mount Everest surpasses the nearby Himalayas by several hundred feet.

Scientists have discovered that the world’s highest mountain is still growing, attributed in part to the merging of two nearby river systems tens of thousands of years ago.

Researchers found that Everest rose between approximately 50 feet and 160 feet due to this merging, as detailed in a study published in Nature Geoscience.

“Even a seemingly permanent landform like Mount Everest can be continuously changed by various geological forces,” said Dai, a geoscientist from the China University of Geosciences in Beijing and co-author of the study, in an email to NBC News.

The Himalayas, including Everest, have been steadily increasing in height since the collision of the Indian subcontinent and the lower Eurasian plates around 45 million years ago.

A significant event occurred about 89,000 years ago when the Kosi River overtook the Arun River, leading to substantial erosion of rock and soil from the Himalayan foothills nearly 80 miles from Everest.

Through a geological process known as isostatic rebound, erosion reduced the weight of the area, allowing for the uplift of the Earth’s crust.

Scientists estimate that this rebound is causing Everest to grow at a rate of 0.16 to 0.53 millimeters per year, accounting for half of its annual uplift rate.

Research suggests that this phenomenon may explain why Mount Everest is unusually tall compared to its neighboring peaks.

Professor Dai noted that the role of isostatic rebound associated with river capture and erosion in Everest’s elevation adds a novel aspect to the study of mountain formation.

“These findings, while not completely revolutionary, are certainly surprising and could prompt a reevaluation of current models of the formation and evolution of the Himalayas,” Dai commented.

The study also emphasizes the interconnectedness of the Earth’s systems, where changes in one region can have significant impacts on others,” he added.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Is the world’s first battery-powered plane safe for landing?

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The arrival of human flight’s future was uneventful during a time of minimal flying in June 2020 when COVID-19 was rampant all over the world. Despite the empty skies, a significant development was taking place on the ground in a small aircraft.

The Slovenian-built two-seater plane was certified safe to fly by EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency). In the following years, it obtained certifications from equivalent agencies in the UK, US, and other countries. The Pipistrel Velis Electro became the world’s first fully certified electric airplane, a title it still holds today.

“This achievement showcases the growing interest and trust in electric aircraft’s reliability.” Dr. Tine Tomajic“We recently completed production of our 100th Velis Electro, a significant milestone for Pipistrel and the industry,” saidTomajic, Director of Engineering and Programs at Pipistrel.

Tomajic believes the future is already here but not equally distributed, with a focus on the development of clean aircraft. However, challenges remain regarding the alternative fuels needed for aviation and the political will required to make significant changes.

With multiple groundings behind us, could this be the turning point for green air travel, or do we still have a long way to go before achieving zero-emission flights?

Climate impacts

“Currently, aviation has a minimal impact on climate change.” Dr. Guy GluttonGratton, an associate professor at Cranfield University, is an aeronautical engineer and test pilot for experimental electric aircraft. He states that aviation contributes about 2.5% of global CO2 emissions, with growing concerns about contrail emissions potentially reaching 7%.

The industry has made progress in reducing emissions per passenger mile, but the overall emissions are still rising at a rate of 5% annually. With global air travel demand expected to double by 2040, aviation risks becoming a significant polluter unless drastic measures are taken.

To address the challenges, various alternatives are being explored, including electric aircraft like the Velis Electro for short-haul flights and hydrogen fuel cells for larger planes.

More electric planes are set to take flight following the success of the Velis Electro. Companies like Israeli Aviation, Elysian Aircraft, and Wright Electric are working on developing larger electric aircraft to meet the future demands of air travel.

Gratton, who actively tests electric planes, remains cautious about considering battery-powered planes as a complete solution to reduce aviation’s carbon footprint. He emphasizes the importance of exploring various alternative fuels to address the industry’s growing emissions.

Alternative Fuel Test Flights

How will we power net-zero flights in the future using alternative fuels like biofuels, electric fuel, electric fuel cells, and hydrogen fuel cells?

Biofuels: Biofuels could be blended with traditional jet fuel to reduce emissions, but concerns about land use and deforestation remain.

Electric Fuel: Derived from atmospheric carbon and hydrogen, electric fuel is promising but requires significant renewable energy for production.

Electric Fuel Cell: Offers zero emissions during flight, but the technology needs further development and scalability.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell: Seen as a medium-term solution for decarbonizing aviation, but requires infrastructure redesign for effective implementation.

About our experts

Dr. Tine Tomajic: Director of Engineering and Programs at Pipistrel, an expert in electric flight.

Dr. Guy Glutton: Associate professor at Cranfield University, specializing in aviation environmental sciences and experimental electric aircraft testing.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

The World’s Leading AI Expert Predicts a Strange 2050

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Ray Kurzweil is a prominent figure in the field of artificial intelligence, with over 60 years of experience. He has achieved many milestones in AI development, such as inventing the first commercially available large vocabulary speech recognition software. Kurzweil’s expertise in AI was recognized with the National Medal of Technology by President Bill Clinton in 1999 and his induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2002.

In addition to his practical accomplishments, Kurzweil is known for his accurate predictions about future technologies. His book “The Singularity is Near,” published in 2005, explored the rapid advances in computing and AI, predicting the future impact of AI on society. In his follow-up book, “The Singularity is Approaching,” Kurzweil delves into how AI will reshape our lives.

Kurzweil forecasts significant changes ahead, particularly in the realm of artificial general intelligence (AGI). He believes AGI will surpass human abilities in various cognitive tasks, potentially becoming available by 2029. The pace of technological advances in AI is accelerating exponentially, with Kurzweil emphasizing the need to prepare for the evolution of AI.

Another groundbreaking prediction by Kurzweil is the potential end of aging through advancements in healthcare and technology. He envisions a future where aging can be slowed down or prevented entirely, with life expectancy increasing significantly. Kurzweil’s optimistic outlook extends to the integration of AI with human intelligence by 2050, creating a new form of intelligence through the merging of human brains with computers.

As a futurist, author, and inventor, Ray Kurzweil continues to shape the conversation around AI and its impact on society. His visionary insights invite us to consider the possibilities and challenges that lie ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

New study suggests Gobekli Tepe carvings reveal the world’s oldest solar calendar

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Göbekli Tepe, an archaeological site in southern Turkey, features several Neolithic temple-like enclosures decorated with many intricately carved symbols.

Göbekli Tepe, Enclosure D, Pillar 43. Image courtesy of Alistair Coombs.

Göbekli Tepe (Turkish for “Pot-bellied Hill”) is one of the oldest known examples of an artificial megalithic structure constructed by prehistoric builders specifically for ritual purposes.

Its impressive monumental architecture was built by a group of hunter-gatherers during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period between 9600 and 8200 BC.

Göbekli Tepe was discovered towards the end of the last century in a hillside overlooking the Harran Plain.

It lies between the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, about 12 km northeast of the modern city of Şanlıurfa, known as Ancient Urfa and said to be the birthplace of the biblical Abraham.

Excavations at Göbekli Tepe, which began in 1994, have uncovered four large, nearly circular enclosures and a number of smaller, generally rectangular, buildings.

Each circular enclosure consists of rough stone walls with T-shaped megalithic pillars inset around two centrally located tall T-shaped pillars, which are usually fixed within stone sockets.

Archaeologists initially thought that Göbekli Tepe was merely a religious center, but recent excavations have revealed that it also contained a settlement of rectangular buildings, now thought to be homes.

The large enclosures are still considered “special” buildings, although there is debate as to whether they had a specific religious purpose or were large homes for powerful families.

In the context of this debate, it is debated whether the largest pillars represent gods or even worshipped ancestors.

In any case, it is generally believed that these large enclosures were roofed, but hard evidence is elusive.

A round-elliptical monumental structure with a distinctive T-shaped monolithic pillar at Göbekli Tepe, Turkey. Image credit: Nico Becker, Göbekli Tepe Archive, German Archaeological Institute.

“The largest complete enclosure discovered so far, Enclosure D (30 metres, 98 feet wide), has the oldest radiocarbon date yet obtained from the site, dating to 9530 BC,” said archaeologist David Schneider of the University of Edinburgh. paper Published in the journal Time and Heart.

“This date corresponds roughly to the end of the Younger Dryas period, at the boundary between the Epipaleolithic and Neolithic, when the Northern Hemisphere climate suddenly warmed after a near-glacial Younger Dryas climate that lasted for more than 1,200 years.”

“However, the date of the earliest occupation of Göbekli Tepe is unknown,” he added.

“Ground penetrating radar scans indicate that there appear to be several other large structures near the center of the main trail, waiting to be discovered.”

“Since only a small portion of the site's surface has been excavated, and even less has been excavated down to bedrock, the origins of Göbekli Tepe may ultimately be dated back to a time closer to the beginning of the Younger Dryas period, around 10,800 BC.”

“In fact, scientists have suggested it may have originated in the Paleolithic period.”

In a new analysis of the V-shaped symbols carved into the pillars at Göbekli Tepe, Dr Sweatman found that each V likely represents a day.

This interpretation allowed researchers to count a 365-day solar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months and 11 extra days on one of the pillars.

The summer solstice was considered a special day, and a V was drawn around the neck of a bird-like beast, which was thought to represent the summer solstice constellation at the time.

Other statues believed to represent gods were found nearby, all with similar V-shaped markings around their necks.

As both lunar and solar cycles are depicted, the carving may represent the world's oldest known lunisolar calendar, based on the phases of the moon and the position of the sun, predating any other known calendar of this type by thousands of years.

Detail of the center section of Pillar 43 at Göbekli Tepe. Image courtesy of Martin B. Sweatman, doi: 10.1080/1751696X.2024.2373876.

“Ancient people may have created these carvings at Göbekli Tepe to record the date when a swarm of cometary fragments hit Earth about 13,000 years ago, i.e. in 10,850 BC,” the scientists said.

“The cometary impact is thought to have caused a mini-glacial period lasting more than 1,200 years and led to the extinction of many large animal species.”

“It may also have triggered changes in lifestyle and agriculture that are associated with the emergence of civilisations in the Fertile Crescent of Western Asia shortly thereafter.”

Another pillar at the site appears to depict the Taurid meteor shower, which emanated over a 27-day period from the direction of Aquarius and Pisces, and is thought to be the source of cometary debris.

The discovery also appears to confirm that ancient peoples were able to use precession — the wobble of the Earth's axis that affects the movement of the constellations in the sky — to record dates at least 10,000 years before it was recorded by the ancient Greek Hipparchus in 150 BC.

The carvings appear to have been important to the people of Göbekli Tepe for thousands of years, suggesting that the impact event may have sparked new cults and religions that influenced the development of the civilization.

The discovery also supports the theory that Earth's orbit crosses the path of orbiting cometary debris that we normally experience as meteor showers, increasing the chances that Earth will face cometary impacts.

“The inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe are likely to have been avid skywatchers, which is not surprising given that their world was devastated by a cometary impact,” Dr Sweatman said.

“This event may have marked the beginning of a new religion and may have sparked civilization by encouraging the development of agriculture to cope with the cold climate.”

“Perhaps their attempt to record what they saw was the first step towards the development of writing thousands of years later.”

_____

Martin B. Sweatman. The representations of calendar and time at Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe support an astronomical interpretation of their symbols. Time and HeartPublished online July 24, 2024, doi: 10.1080/1751696X.2024.2373876

Source: www.sci.news

Explore the inner workings of the world’s largest nuclear fusion experiment

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Tokamak’s 30-metre deep assembly pit

©Enrico Sacchetti

Huge in scale and ambition, ITER is a €20 billion energy project being built in the south of France that will pave the way for nuclear fusion power similar to the sun’s energy source.

The world’s largest nuclear fusion experiment was launched in 2006 by an international effort involving the European Union, the United States, China, and Russia. The reactor’s first operation, which will create an extremely hot substance called plasma (the conditions needed for nuclear fusion), is scheduled for 2020. The plan was initially postponed to 2025, and new delays have now pushed it to 2035.

on the other hand, Enrico Sacchetti It offers a glimpse into ITER’s construction and potential.

One of the toroidal coils

©Enrico Sacchetti

The main image shows the 30-metre deep dimensions of the tokamak’s assembly pit, a device that uses magnetic fields to confine swirling plasma inside a doughnut-shaped torus: Above is a shot of one of the toroidal coils that generate these magnetic fields.

The image below shows some of the nine sectors that make up the ITER vacuum vessel, which weighs 5,200 tonnes and acts as an extremely durable “cage” for the experiments, keeping the continuously swirling plasma from touching its walls.

Vacuum vessel being transported for repairs

©Enrico Sacchetti

The top image shows part of the vacuum vessel being transported for repair, while the bottom photo shows the supports that line the back of the blanket module’s wall, which protects the structure and magnets from the heat and high-energy neutrons of the reaction.

www.newscientist.com

The World’s bravest lion manages to survive a history-making swim through waters infested with crocodiles

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Imagine swimming at night in a river filled with crocodiles and hippos. Sounds terrifying, right? Well, two lions in Uganda did just that earlier this year, and for the first time, Scientists captured this daring act on film. Click here to watch the footage.

Using a drone-mounted, high-resolution thermal imaging camera, Researchers from Griffith University’s Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security, guided by Dr. Alexander Bratskovsky, captured the scene of two lions crossing Uganda’s Kazinga Channel in the middle of the night.

A remarkable lion named Jacob, who has faced numerous challenges, including losing his leg in a poaching incident, was one of the lions in the video captured by the researchers. Jacob was described as “the most tenacious lion in Africa.”

Jacob lost his leg in a metal trap during a poaching attempt. – Image credit: Alex Blaczkowski

Despite the risks of encountering crocodiles and hippos, Jacob and his brother Tib swam over a kilometer, displaying incredible resilience. The motivation behind this risky journey was likely the pursuit of finding a mate in the female-dominated system of Queen Elizabeth National Park.

The brothers' first attempt at crossing is followed by a creature. – Image credit: Alex Braczkowski

While the river had a bridge connecting the two sides, the lions chose to swim due to human presence and past negative encounters. Understanding the behaviors of lions in such environments is crucial for their conservation.

About our experts

Alexander Bratskovsky is leading long-term research on African lions and other predators in Uganda’s national parks. Learn more about his work here. The study on Jacob and Tib’s swim, titled “Long-distance swims by African lions in Uganda,” was published in Ecology and Evolution.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

The Return of SpaceWar: Reviving the World’s First Gaming Computer | Computing

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oh
On my desk, next to my ultra-modern gaming PC, sits a strange device that resembles a spaceship control panel from a 1970s sci-fi movie. There’s no keyboard or monitor, just a few rows of colorful switches beneath a string of blinking lights. If you thought the recent proliferation of retro video game consoles, such as the Mini SNES and the Mega Drive Mini, was an amazing development in technology nostalgia, look no further than the PiDP-10. It’s a 2/3-scale replica of the PDP-10 mainframe computer, first introduced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1966. It was designed and built by an international group of computer enthusiasts known as the PiDP-10.
Obsolescence is certain
It’s a beautiful thing.

The project’s genesis dates back to 2015, when Oscar Vermeulen, a Dutch economist and lifelong computer collector, wanted to build a single replica of the PDP-8 mainframe that had fascinated him since childhood. “I had a Commodore 64 and proudly showed it to a friend of my father’s,” Vermeulen says. “He scoffed and said the Commodore was a toy. The real computer was the PDP, specifically the PDP-8. So I started looking for discarded PDP-8 computers, but I couldn’t find a single one. Now they’re collector’s items, very expensive and most of the time broken. So I decided to build a replica for myself.”

Ever the perfectionist, Vermeulen decided he needed a professionally made front panel cover. “The company that could make them told me I’d have to pay for one four-square-metre sheet of Perspex to cover 50 of these panels,” Vermeulen says. “So I made 49 extra ones, thinking I’d find 49 idiots to do it for me. Little did I know it would end up costing me thousands of dollars on my dinner table.”

At the same time, Vermeulen began posting in various vintage computing Google Groups, where he worked on software emulators for pre-microprocessor computers. As word spread about his replica, it quickly became a group effort that now has over 100 members. While Vermeulen focuses on designing the hardware replica (a front panel with working switches and lights), others are working on different aspects of the open source software emulation, which has a complicated history. At its core is SIMH, created by the ex-SIMH.
December Developed by employee and megastar hacker Bob Supnick, the program emulates a variety of classic computers, and it was later improved by Richard Cornwell and Lars Brinkhoff to add driver support for the PDP-10.
the Many other people were involved in the operating system and other MIT projects, some of whom collected and preserved old backup tapes, some of whom added improvements and debugging, and some of whom provided documentation and schematics.




Happy hacking! …PiDP-10 replica computer in Keith Stewart’s game room Photo: Keith Stewart/The Guardian

The attention to detail is incredible. The lights on the front aren’t just decorative. They show the instructions being executed, CPU signals, and memory contents, just like the original machine. Vermeulen calls it watching the heartbeat of the computer. This element was taken very seriously. “Two people spent months on one particular problem,” Vermeulen says. “You know, LEDs blink, but incandescent bulbs glow. So we studied exhaustively the LEDs to simulate the glow of the original bulbs. And we found that different bulbs from different years glow for different amounts of time. Measurements were made and calculations were applied, but the glow of the lamps was added. More CPU time was spent simulating that than simulating the original.”

Why? Why go to all this trouble? First, there’s the historical importance. The PDP machines, built between 1959 and the early 1970s, were revolutionary. Not only were they much cheaper than the giant mainframes used by the military and big corporations, but they were designed to be general-purpose, fully interactive machines. Instead of writing a program on punch cards, giving it to the IT department to run on the computer, print it out, and debug it maybe a day later, PDP let you type directly into the computer and test the results immediately.




A tedious task… In the 1950s, before the advent of PDP machines, mainframe computers took up entire rooms and used punch cards to input computer programs. Photo: Pictorial Parade/Getty Images

These factors led to an explosion of experimentation. Most modern programming languages, including C, were developed on DEC machines. The PDP-10 was the heart of the MIT AI Lab, the room where the term artificial intelligence was born. “The PDP-10 computer dominated the Arpanet, the precursor to the Internet,” says Lars Brinkhoff. “Internet protocols were prototyped on the PDP-10, PDP-11, and other computers. The GNU Project was inspired by the free sharing of software and information on the PDP-10. Stephen Hawking’s artificial voice grew out of the DECtalk device, which grew out of Dennis Klatt’s speech synthesis research begun on the PDP-9.”

The PDP made its way into university labs around the world, where it was embraced by a new generation of engineers, scientists, and programmers — the original computer hackers. Steve Wozniak got his start programming on a PDP-8, a small, inexpensive machine that sold by the thousands to hobbyists. Its operating system, OS/8, was the precursor to MS-DOS. Bill Gates and Paul Allen were teenage students who would sneak into the University of Washington to program the PCP-10, and it was on a PDP computer that MIT student Steve Russell and a group of friends designed a shoot-’em-up game.
Space War!was one of the first video games to run on a computer.




Pioneers… Steve Russell at the California Computer History Museum, 2011. Russell stands in front of the Digital PDP-1, a computer game he developed in the early 1960s. Photo: MediaNews Group/The Mercury News/Getty Images

This legendary game wasn’t the only one. There were many others at the time, because making games was a fun way to explore possibilities. “There were Dazzle Dart, a four-player laser tennis game, and Lunar Lander,” Vermeulen says. “Maze War was the first networked video game. People connected two IMLAC minicomputer/graphics terminals to the Arpanet via a PDP-10 mainframe, and used that million-dollar pile of hardware to chase each other through a maze or shoot each other.” And the original text adventures like Colossal Cave and Zork, as well as the first multiplayer online games like MUDs and Star Trek, were also written on PDP computers.

These machines are an essential part of our digital culture, the furnace of the modern gaming and tech industries. But to be understood,
Already used
“The problem with computer history is that putting old computers in a museum that aren’t being used communicates very little,” says Vermeulen. “You need to experience these machines and how they worked. And the problem with computers before about 1975 is that they were huge, heavy and nearly impossible to keep running. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen loved his PDP-10 deeply, and with the funds he had, he was able to hire a team of skilled technicians to repair and get it running. But it was very expensive, and sadly, his family decided to discontinue this after he passed away.”

The answer is emulation. The PDP replica has all the look of the original terminal, including the lights and switches, but the calculations are done by a Raspberry Pi microcomputer connected to the back via a serial port. To get it running at home, just plug in the Raspberry Pi, connect a keyboard and monitor, boot it up and download the software. Then flip the switch on the front of the PDP-10, reboot the Raspberry Pi, and you’ll be in PDP mode, with a window on your monitor emulating the old Knight TV terminal display. A command line interface (remember those?) gives you access to a range of the original programs, including games.

This is what I’ve been waiting for. We all know the important role SpaceWar played in the birth of the modern games industry, but actually playing it and controlling a spaceship battling amongst vector explosions against a flickering starry sky…it feels like you’re living history.

In the 15 years since Vermeulen began developing his personal PDP-8 emulator, the Obsolescence Guaranteed group has sold hundreds of replicas and continues to develop more, including a replica of MIT’s experimental Project Whirlwind computer from the 1950s (which ran a simple version of tic-tac-toe). Today, a company in Panama called Chiriqui Electronic Design Studio manufactures the hardware. What started as a personal project has become something much bigger. “We had an ‘official’ launch of our PiDP-10 replica at MIT in Boston, where the original machine was kept. The demo session was attended by about 50 hackers from the 1970s. It was fun to see people playing the multi-user Maze War game 50 years later.”

Another reason the PiDP-10 is worth it is because it’s fun. I never imagined seeing something like this up close, much less plugging it into a monitor at home and playing with it. It was an exciting, nostalgic, and weirdly emotional experience. Navigating the ITS disk system, the glowing green dot-matrix font, the appealing list of programs and games, the “happy hacking!” message above the terminal command line – it’s very evocative.




Impressive…PiDP-10 screen. Photo: Keith Stewart/The Guardian

Meanwhile, programmers who bought PiDP machines are creating new programs and games. They range in age from 80-year-old PDP veterans to 20-year-olds who want to relive a bygone era of programming. Memory and processing power were scarce, so elegant and super-efficient code had to be written; there was no room for bloat. “Quite a few universities are using the PiDP-11 and -8 in their classes,” Vermeulen says. “Partly to show computer science students our origins, but also because the super-low-level programming still required for microcontrollers and hardware drivers is the type of coding you learn very well on these dinosaurs.”

Brinkhoff agrees that while these machines have a certain nostalgia, they also have something to teach us: They’re functional. “I enjoy writing new software for the 10, like a program to display fractals or generate QR codes,” he says.

“I hope it becomes more widely accepted, because if you don’t do anything with PiDP, it just sits on a shelf and the lights flash. It looks pretty, but I don’t think the computer can be truly happy unless you program it.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Ancient snake painting holds record as world’s largest rock art

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Animal sculptures carved into rocks along the Orinoco River in South America

Philip Riris et al.

The prehistoric rock carvings of giant snakes along the Orinoco River in South America are some of the largest known rock art in the world, some measuring over 40 metres in length.

The Orinoco is one of the world’s largest rivers, and it flows through Venezuela along the border with Colombia. “There is a fantastic record of rock art along the Orinoco, especially on the Venezuelan side,” he said. Jose Oliver at University College London. “Typically, they are paintings found under rocks.”

He said carvings are common at many open-air sites along the river, but not all of them have been officially recorded.

Oliver and his colleagues have made several visits to the coastal areas on both the Colombian and Venezuelan sides of the river since 2015, trying to get a better picture of the river’s rock carvings.

“It wasn’t hard to find new sites,” a team member said. Philip Lillis Professor at Bournemouth University in the UK. “Every time I turned a corner there was always something new.”

Of the 157 rock art sites the team visited, 13 consisted of carvings over four meters in height. “Anything that size is monumental to us,” Lillis says, “meaning they’re often visible from quite a distance, anywhere from 500 meters to a kilometer away.”

Most of the carvings depict humans, mammals, birds, centipedes, scrolls and geometric shapes, but snakes are one of the largest motifs, the largest measuring 132 feet (42 meters) wide. In indigenous Orinoco mythology, anacondas and boa constrictors are highly revered because they are primordial creator beings, Lillis said.

The prominence of rock art along the river suggests that the ancient carvings may have been territorial markers indicating that a particular group lived there, but not necessarily a warning not to trespass. “The carvings were not exclusionary, but rather may have been an inclusive practice shared between communities,” Lillis says.

Pottery excavated in the area, dated to 2,000 years ago, contains motifs similar to those in the carvings, suggesting that the rock art was created 2,000 years ago as well.

The team hopes to find more of these carvings and glean clues about their origin and purpose — for example, many of them are found close to rock shelters containing burial sites, suggesting a possible connection to ancient funerary practices.

“This is valuable research.” Andres Troncoso “This discovery sheds light on rock art in a little-known part of South America and furthers our knowledge of the region,” said researchers from the University of Chile.

“When Westerners think of rock art, they often think of mammoths, cave lions, and other large mammals that inhabit the Pleistocene cave sites of Western Europe,” he said. Patrick Roberts Commenting on the findings, a researcher from the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology in Germany said: “However, the giant snake carving studied in this paper is one of the largest single rock art in the world, and was found in the heart of a lowland tropical environment.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

NOAA Declares Fourth Mass Bleaching Event Imminent for World’s Coral Reefs

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Invertebrates are highly sensitive to heat stress, so coral health is closely linked to seawater temperature. Corals turn whitish when stressed. release symbiotic algae They live in organizations. Bleaching indicates that the health of the coral is at risk.

“When a coral bleaches, it doesn’t mean it’s dead. It means it’s weak and at risk of dying if conditions don’t improve,” says Ana Palacio, a scientific assistant at the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Institute Collaborative Research Institute based at the University of Miami in partnership with NOAA.

Corals are important ecosystems that support a wide variety of fish and aquatic species, helping to nourish coastal communities and attract tourists. The economic value of coral reefs is estimated at $2.7 trillion annually. According to the 2020 report of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network.

“They protect our coastlines. They protect us from storms and hurricanes. They have great value to our economy and security,” said Palacio.

Coral ecosystems are among the ecosystems that scientists believe are most at risk from global warming. In 2018, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated that: 70% to 90% of the world’s coral reefs They will disappear if the average global temperature drops. exceeded the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.

Last year was the hottest year on record on Earth. The average global temperature has approached that threshold for the first time, but scientists believe 2023 was an anomaly, driven by El Niño.

Experts say bleaching began early in the season as sea surface temperatures soared in Florida.

“Typically, bleaching is observed around August to September in the Northern Hemisphere. We started observing the bleaching phenomenon in July last year,” said marine biologist Fanol Montoya Maya from the Coral Restoration Foundation, an organization that collects, restores, and replants coral.

Palacio said the area has seen widespread mortality of elkhorn and staghorn corals, two species that are the focus of restoration efforts.

“In some places, about 20 percent of those populations survived,” Palacio said of the restored corals. “We’re focusing our hopes on why those corals survived and what they can tell us about resistance, and how corals can become more resilient.”

The last global coral bleaching event occurred in 2014 and lasted until 2017. More than 56% of the world’s coral reef areas experienced temperatures that could cause bleaching during that period.

Bleached coral at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Galveston, Texas, Gulf of Mexico, September 16, 2023.
LM Otero / AP

Manzello said in an email Monday that 54% of the world’s coral reef areas have experienced bleaching-level heat stress in the past year, and this event could be the worst bleaching event on record.

“The proportion of coral reef areas experiencing bleaching-level heat stress is increasing by about 1% every week,” Manzello said. “This event is likely to exceed the previous peak.”

Montoya-Maya said bleaching warnings were already issued in Florida earlier than last year. He said the Coral Restoration Foundation is preparing for a busy summer in response to new bleaching events.

The natural pattern of El Niño is beginning to disappear, and NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center estimates that an El Niño event is possible. There is a 60% chance of a La Niña event occurring this summer.This could cool the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and allow some corals to recover, at least temporarily.

“This is very heartbreaking and will cause damage to many coral reefs around the world,” Palacio said. “I hope this bleaching event creates some traction and people start to care more and pay attention to what’s happening to the climate.”

Source: www.nbcnews.com

World’s First AI and Gaming Token to Launch on Top Exchanges – Exciting News in the World of Blockchain

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Chainwire, Dubai, Deira, April 7, 2024

R game marks an important milestone in the gaming world with the launch of the $RGAME token, scheduled for April 8, 2024 at 10am UTC.

This big step for R Games will launch on platforms such as DAOMaker. pools financeListed on top exchanges such as , Finceptor, and Paragen. Gate.io, mexico globalPancakeSwap, Raydium, BingX.

A strong community at Fabwelt Studios and WEMIX Play supports this release.

$RGAME is poised to transform the blockchain industry with artificial intelligence, precision engineering, and racing.

Ferrum Network, BMW Capital, Lavender Capital, Qu Ventures, Odiyana Ventures, IBC Group, Mario Nawfal, Sky Wee, Yuen Wong, Robbie Jo, Rajan Raj.

Main features of R game include

  • interoperable NFTs
  • User-generated content feature
  • Design using AI

This unique combination sets R Games apart as a frontrunner in the Web3 AI and gaming space, catering to both experienced gamers and beginners.

As the countdown to TGE and IDO begins, R Games invites gamers, investors, and enthusiasts alike to join us on a journey to revolutionize the gaming industry and unlock new possibilities in the Web3 world.

The future of R games

Looking to the future, R Games has ambitious plans in place.

Development work is focused on implementing upgrades such as an advanced upgrade system, virtual garage, and AI integration.

These additional features are designed to provide users with different opportunities to earn money using models such as:

  • develop and acquire
  • Watch to Earn
  • PLAY AND EARN

Players can tweak and electronically upgrade all vehicle models in the game within the Workshop, providing a customizable experience.

The integration of AI technology allows users to easily design car characters without any technical expertise.

Roadmap also includes diverse modes such as F1, Street Racing, Story Mode, and Off-Road Racing to cater to a wide audience.

About RGames

R game is a highly customized platform offering diverse game modes aimed at building the largest blockchain-based racing ecosystem.

The R Games team comes from the successful studio venture Gyros Studios LCC, formerly known as Fabwelt Studios LLC, which built numerous successful blockchain games.

Loet de Hooge, Abhishek Pegada, and Rubina Naaz are the visionary founders of R Games, bringing together diverse expertise and passion for gaming and blockchain technology.

Loet de Hooge is known for its technical capabilities and innovation.

Abhishek Pegada will contribute strategic leadership and business acumen, while Rubina Naaz brings a creative, user-centric approach to the team.

Website: https://r-games.tech

White paper: https://fabwelt.gitbook.io/r-games

twitter: https://twitter.com/R_GamesOfficial

telegram: https://t.me/RGamesOfficialChat

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Rgames_official

discord: https://discord.gg/jPWWvdB42J

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Source: the-blockchain.com

Completion of the world’s most powerful camera

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SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory scientists and engineers have completed work on the most powerful camera ever created.

The Legacy Survey of Space and Time camera (LSST) boasts an impressive 3,200-megapixel capacity and is approximately the size of a small car, weighing around 3,000 kg. The installation of these cameras in the newly constructed Vera C. Rubin Observatory building will allow scientists to capture incredibly detailed images of the Southern Hemisphere’s skies over the next decade.

Multiple organizations were involved in the production of the camera. Brookhaven National Laboratory contributed a digital sensor array, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory designed and built the lenses, and the Institute of Particle and Nuclear Research at the National Center for Scientific Research in France played a role as well.

With the completion of SLAC’s LSST camera and its integration with Rubin Observatory systems in Chile, the project is on track to produce comprehensive night sky maps. University of Washington professor Željko Ivezic, the Rubin Observatory construction director, emphasized the significance of this achievement.

The LSST camera team successfully attached the cryostat to the camera body on April 8, 2022 – Image courtesy of Travis Lange/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

The new camera’s capabilities are immense, including photographing the entire visible sky every few nights, potentially discovering billions of stars and galaxies over the next decade. It would require hundreds of ultra-high-definition TV screens to display a single image at full resolution.

The LSST camera is being installed facing the ground towards completion.Roughly the size of a small car and weighing 3 tons, the camera has a 5-foot-wide front lens, a 3,200-megapixel sensor, and is cooled to -100°C to reduce noise – Image credit : Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

The camera’s detailed images of the Southern Hemisphere sky aim to fill gaps in previous space observations and provide insights into galaxy distribution, dark energy, dark matter, and other astronomical mysteries. By detecting weak gravitational lensing and studying the evolution of the universe, astronomers hope to gain valuable insights from this data.

Travis Lange, LSST camera deputy project manager, shines a flashlight on the completed LSST camera – Image credit: Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Researchers believe the LSST camera could aid in the creation of more detailed maps of solar system objects and help identify near-Earth object threats. The installation of the camera at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile is expected to be completed soon.

A look inside the completed LSST camera – Image credit: Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Most of the LSST camera team in a clean room with completed cameras, taken in January 2024 – Image credit: Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

Vera C. Rubin Observatory – the new home for cameras

The nearly completed Vera C Rubin Observatory is visible at sunset in January 2022 – Image credit: Vera C Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/AURA/NSF/J Fuentes

Following the completion of the LSST camera, preparations are underway to transport it to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory atop a rugged Andean mountain pass. Its initial imaging is expected in early 2025, allowing the public to witness its capabilities by 2027.

The camera will be installed atop the Simoni Survey Telescope at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory high in the Chilean Andes – Image courtesy of Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA

About our experts:

Željko Ivezic: With a PhD in physics from the University of Kentucky, Željko Ivezic’s expertise lies in electromagnetic radiation analysis and celestial body observation. He spearheads the Rubin Observatory/LSST project as the construction project director, bringing a wealth of experience in scientific research.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Australia may be home to the world’s fluffiest beetles

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A new species of fluffy longhorn beetle discovered in Queensland, Australia

James Tweed

An entomologist camping with his partner in Queensland, Australia, has discovered what could be a candidate for Australia’s, and perhaps the world’s, fluffiest beetle.

This discovery was made by James Tweed Held at the University of Queensland at Binna Burra Lodge in Queensland’s Gold Coast hinterland during the 2021 Christmas period.

Tweed, who usually studies insects on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific, was emerging from his tent when he noticed what he thought was droppings on a common flax-like shrub. Romandra. However, upon closer inspection, it turns out that it is actually a spectacular beetle, 10 millimeters long and covered in magnificent red and black hairs, with the fur on the upper half of its body being particularly dense.

He quickly realized that it was a type of longhorn beetle (a family of about 36,000 described species), but no other comparable species was known. It has been designated as a new genus and species. Excustra arbopilosa, This means “white and hairy, from the camp.”

“There are quite a few hairy beetles out there,” Tweed said. “But this one is really unique in the length and pattern of the hairs. It’s not unusual for beetles to be hairy, but it’s unusual for them to be this hairy.”

It’s unclear why the beetle is so hairy, but one possible explanation is that its hair looks like it’s infected with a fungus, making it unpalatable to predators, Tweed said.

The specimen he collected is now kept as a model specimen in the Australian National Insect Collection, and is the only one found despite numerous searches around the campsite since its discovery.

Tweed said this is likely to be a relatively rare species. “But while it may be common, we haven’t found out where it lives yet. As far as we know, it’s on trees that we haven’t surveyed. It may be living in.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Miami Welcomes the World’s First Chief Thermal Officer

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MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Jane Gilbert embraced the pleasant weather and light breeze of early March while hurrying between meetings. She is well aware that the heat is on its way.

At the Miami Beach Convention Center, Gilbert and numerous scientists, policymakers, activists, and business leaders have convened for the Aspen Ideas: Climate conference. This three-day event focuses on discussing solutions and adaptations to combat global warming.

Gilbert serves as the Chief Heat Officer for Miami-Dade County, a region with over 2.6 million residents situated at the southeastern end of Florida. In 2021, she made history by becoming the first person globally to hold such a position. Since then, others have followed suit in cities worldwide facing the challenges of extreme heat in a warming climate.

Chief heat officers from various locations communicate through a WhatsApp group, exchanging insights and advocating for policy modifications.

Speaking about her interactions, Gilbert stated, “I mostly collaborate with the chief heat officers in Phoenix and Los Angeles, but I’ve also gained knowledge from Melbourne, Australia, Santiago, Chile, and Athens, Greece. Sharing resources like this is one of the most rewarding aspects of my job.”

In South Florida, renowned for its tropical climate, Gilbert’s primary objective is safeguarding residents from intense heat and humidity while enhancing the county’s resilience against heatwaves exacerbated by climate change.

Those particularly at risk when temperatures soar include children, the elderly, the homeless population, individuals who work outside, and those in low-income communities.

Gilbert highlighted, “If you reside and work in an air-conditioned environment and have the means for an air-conditioned vehicle, you’re likely covered. Our main concern is for individuals working outdoors, those unable to stay cool at home, and those enduring long waits at unsafe bus stops.”

Her efforts in aiding the most vulnerable were crucial last year when Miami encountered its hottest summer to date.

She shared, “Over the last 14 years until 2023, the average number of days annually with a heat index surpassing 105 degrees was six. Last summer, it exceeded 42 days, a staggering seven times the norm.”

Numerous forecasts indicate that the situation could worsen. 2023 marked the hottest year on record globally. Climate experts project that this year might be equally scorching, if not more.

Recalling the skepticism she faced upon her appointment, Gilbert emphasized the urgency of having professionals dedicated solely to addressing heat-related challenges in South Florida.

“While it’s always warm here, there are now 77 additional days above 90 degrees compared to five decades ago,” she mentioned. “That’s a significant escalation.”

Heat is often dubbed a “silent killer,” causing more deaths annually in the United States than any other weather phenomenon, according to the National Weather Service. Gilbert noted a surge in heat-related ER visits last summer amidst the temperature spikes.

Studies suggest that by the middle of this century, this region of Florida may face heat index temperatures of 105 degrees Fahrenheit or higher for a duration of approximately 88 days each year, roughly three months.

Given the predictions, Gilbert stressed the urgency in taking action.

Ahead of the impending heat surge, her team is reaching out to renters and homeowners regarding cost-effective cooling methods. Training programs are also lined up for healthcare workers, homeless outreach workers, and summer camp providers, similar to last year.

She reiterated, “Our top priority is reaching the most vulnerable groups and tailoring messages for varied communities. That’s why we use English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole to communicate about the risks of extreme heat and preparation methods through radio, social media, and community platforms.”

Over the next month, the focus will shift to educating employers on safeguarding workers. This initiative became more pressing after the Florida Senate sanctioned a bill that would bar local governments from enforcing mandatory water breaks or workplace safety standards against extreme heat beyond federal regulations.

Gilbert expressed concern about the bill’s potential repercussions, citing statistics showing that construction workers are up to 11 times more susceptible to heat-related illnesses during extreme temperatures than the average person. Agricultural workers face an even higher risk, being 35 times more vulnerable.

Despite the challenges, Gilbert believes progress can still be achieved in advocating for employers to adhere to OSHA guidelines, enhancing productivity during hot spells, improving worker retention, reducing compensation claims, and yielding other economic benefits.

She emphasized, “This is where we must focus our efforts. By collaborating with OSHA offices, we can recognize the compliant entities and, in some cases, address non-compliance.”

Having served as the chief resilience officer for the City of Miami previously, Gilbert is well-versed in navigating legal obstacles. She acknowledged the irony of hosting this week’s climate conference in a city often referred to as the “epicenter” of the nation’s climate crisis.

“Florida is a complex landscape when it comes to politics, and I’m accustomed to climate change being a contentious topic,” she noted. “Nevertheless, I’ll do my part, right?”

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Instagram surpasses TikTok to claim title of world’s most downloaded app

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Instagram has surpassed TikTok as the most downloaded app globally, thanks to its Reels feature that helped it recover from its previous losses to its Chinese-backed competitor.

Since its launch in 2010, this photo and video-sharing platform has gained immense popularity, often associated with celebrities like the Kardashians, and giving rise to the influencer trend. However, in recent years, it has evolved into a short video platform facing tough competition from TikTok.

Instagram faced backlash in 2020 for introducing a short-form video feature that seemed to mimic TikTok. In 2023, the app was downloaded 767 million times globally, marking a 20% increase from the previous year, while TikTok’s downloads grew by 4% to 733 million.

According to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, Instagram’s resurgence is largely attributed to the popularity of its Reels feature, along with other features like photo sharing and disappearing Stories, which mimic Snapchat.

Farhad Divecha, owner of UK-based digital marketing agency Acuracast, noted that Instagram’s quick response to the TikTok threat and its broad appeal across demographics have contributed to its success.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (Instagram’s parent company), acknowledged TikTok as a serious competitor and the growing competition for user attention in the digital space.

TikTok faces political challenges in the US due to concerns about Chinese ownership and data security. Lawmakers have proposed a bill that would require TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app within six months or face a ban.

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US lawmakers and Western officials have raised concerns about TikTok’s data privacy and its potential ties to the Chinese government, allegations that TikTok has consistently denied.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Countdown Begins: World’s First Bitcoin Blockchain ICO Nears End – Latest Blockchain Updates, Analysis, and Opportunities

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London, UK, March 8, 2024, Chainwire

Bitcoin Dogs, the first ICO in the history of the Bitcoin blockchain, has announced the end date of its presale as March 15th, with seven days remaining.

The project raised over $8.1 million within 23 days, with investors purchasing 0DOG tokens.

With the community built to 150,000 in just three weeks and over 10,000 buyers to date, the team hopes to continue this momentum and growth.

Built on Bitcoin

Powered by 0DOG tokens, Bitcoin Dogs is both a GameFi experience centered around raising and training virtual dogs and a 10,000-strong NFT collection minted in BRC-20. The incredible reception from the cryptocurrency community is due not only to his innovative approach to modern Bitcoin development, but also to his fun retro graphics, focus on the community, and the way players interact with his PvP contests. This is brought about by the chance to get his 0DOG.

The game will begin beta testing in Q2, with 10,000 Ordinals NFTs being launched simultaneously, giving token holders early access to the collection. Full details of the project concept and roadmap can be found at white paperthe team is taking questions on our social channels.

Shaping the history of BRC-20

810 million tokens are available in the pre-sale. This is 90% of the total supply of 900 million, which is equivalent to the total number of dogs on the planet (“One token for every nose and foot on the planet.”).

Complementing this attractive proposition is a unique purchasing methodology, all explained at Bitcoin Dogs. How to purchase video. Bitcoin Dogs navigates the logistics of this, his first-ever ICO on the BTC blockchain, with grace. Pre-sale purchases can be made via Ethereum and a range of ERC-20 stablecoins.

These will then be converted into BRC-20 0DOG tokens once the pre-sale is complete. Investors must provide a Bitcoin address at the time of purchase.

Ordinals and the BRC-20 token revolution are technologies made possible by implementing data into Bitcoin's smallest unit, the Satoshi.

These additions to the original blockchain bring new functionality and utility to Bitcoin while maintaining the security and permanence that are hallmarks of the chain. BRC-20 token We have enjoyed large-scale rallies in recent months. ordinal number NFTs are expected to lead the market until 2024.

The project has also been mentioned in major publications such as CoinTelegraph, Bitcoin.com, DeCrypt, CoinMarketCap, and many others, and has achieved viral success on social media and major influencers. @MrX_Crypto, @BscSuperAltcoinand @BscGemX1000expressed support.

0DOG is currently available for purchase for $0.0343, and the pre-sale ends on March 15th, with a final price of $0.0404.

0DOG can be purchased below. Bitcoin Dogs website Until March 15th.

About Bitcoin Dog

Bitcoin Dogs is breaking new ground in the Bitcoin ecosystem. For the first time ever, NFTs, games, and a new type of token come together to deliver the first ICO on the original Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin's true permissionless immutability has been leveraged to create the 0DOG token, and a play-to-earn (P2E) gaming experience and NFT collection has been developed exclusively for his 0DOG holders.

For more information and to buy Bitcoin Dog (0DOG), visit: Website.

Website | white paper | social

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Source: the-blockchain.com

World’s First 3D Printed Trachea Successfully Implanted in Woman

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In a groundbreaking achievement in the field of medicine, a 3D printed organ has been successfully transplanted into a patient for the first time in history. A South Korean patient is currently recovering with a new trachea partially made from someone else’s stem cells.

The pioneering 3D-printed trachea transplant took place at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital in 2023, led by a team of scientists, doctors, and engineers. The recipient was a woman in her 50s who had lost part of her trachea following thyroid cancer surgery.

While 3D printed bones and food have shown some success, the transplantation of organs marks a new frontier in medical technology.

What is the 3D printed trachea made of?

The patient’s new trachea is composed of cartilage and mucosal lining, sourced from nasal stem cells and chondrocytes obtained from other patients. The bioink used also contains polycaprolactone (PCL) for structural support, different from the standard ink used in home printers.

Given its biodegradable nature, PCL has a limited lifespan of about 5 years. However, researchers hope that within this timeframe, the artificial organ will stimulate the patient’s body to regenerate its own windpipe.

According to the hospital, traditional treatments post-tracheal resection do not allow for restoration of the original organ and can be complex and risky. The introduction of 3D printed organs could transform the treatment of patients with thyroid cancer, congenital defects, and tracheal trauma.

Significantly, patients undergoing this procedure did not require immunosuppressants. At the six-month mark post-surgery, the patient’s trachea was healing well with the development of new blood vessels.

The research is currently undergoing peer review for publication in a scientific journal.

How do I 3D print a trachea?

The dimensions of the trachea must be customized for each patient based on their CT and MRI data. In this particular case, the trachea’s length needed to be under 5 cm (2 inches).

The printing process took less than two weeks, and the implantation occurred during a half-day surgery.

The successful collaboration behind this procedure involved the Catholic University of Korea, Gachon University, and T&R Biofab, the biomedical engineering company responsible for manufacturing the printer.

This achievement is the culmination of two decades of research, dating back to 2004 with preliminary laboratory studies on animals such as beagles. T&R Biofab’s specially designed printer enabled the creation of personalized, hollow, tubular organs with high precision technology.

Although the printer was tailored for Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, there is potential for future expansion beyond this specific institution.

Dr. Paulo Marinho, Head of Science Strategy at T&R Biofab, expressed optimism about the future of 3D bioprinting technology and its potential to address organ shortages for transplantation.

About our experts

Dr. Paulo Marinho, with a background in chemical engineering and postdoctoral experience in regenerative medicine, plays a crucial role at T&R Biofab in advancing the frontiers of 3D bioprinting.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Is the Brazilian flea toad the world’s smallest vertebrate?

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Flea frog perching on 1 Brazilian Real (coin diameter is 27 mm)

Renato Gaiga

The tiny Brazilian frog, about the size of a pea, could threaten the current record holder for the world's smallest vertebrate.

flea toad Brachycephalus purex (actually a species of frog) was first described by scientists in 2011. Immediately after that, Mirko Sole Researchers at Brazil's Santa Cruz State University thought this species might be the smallest amphibian ever discovered. But only a few specimens have been collected from the frog's only known habitat, a forested hilltop in southern Bahia, Brazil. Also, the necessary gonad tests to determine whether they were adults were not performed.

Solé and his colleagues measured the lengths of 46 flea toads, examined their gonads, and checked for the presence of throat clefts, which only males have, to determine the frogs' maturity and gender.

adult B. Purex Males have an average body length of over 7 millimeters and are slightly smaller than females. Therefore, they are smaller than males. Phaedophryn amauensisa frog from Papua New Guinea that was previously considered both the smallest amphibian and the smallest vertebrate.

Say “It's perfectly clear.” mark schartz At the Danish Natural History Museum in Copenhagen. “These may actually be the world's smallest living frogs, which is amazing.”

It's not just the average size that's shocking, the smallest specimens in the study show just how small these flea frogs are compared to other minifrogs. “It's 6.45 mm.” [long]That's 30 percent smaller than any adult male frog I've ever seen,” Schertz said. “It's almost a millimeter smaller than the next smallest frog.”

At such small scales, frogs develop strange anatomical peculiarities, such as missing toes and underdeveloped ears. they cannot hear their suitor's song. Some species have very weak balance organs and are barely able to jump.

But Solé says there may also be smaller vertebrates that have yet to be discovered. Perhaps the next record holder could be another small frog or a parasitic male deep-sea anglerfish.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

The World’s 10 Biggest Rainforests in 2024

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Tropical rainforests are crucial to the planet’s health as they absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide and release oxygen. These forests are characterized by a dense tree canopy and high annual rainfall.

There are different types of rainforests, including tropical, dry, and temperate rainforests. Tropical rainforests are near the equator and have warm, humid climates. On the other hand, temperate rainforests experience more seasonal changes in weather and are distributed between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Dry rainforests receive less precipitation and have more distinct seasons compared to tropical rainforests.

Tropical rainforests host a wide variety of unique plant and animal species, with over half of the world’s species found in these areas around the world.

Here are the top 10 biggest forests on the planet by land area, along with some information about each:

10. Westland Temperate Forest – 11,880km2

Weststand temperate forest in Westland National Park on New Zealand’s South Island.Photo credit: Alamy

Westland Temperate Forest is located on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island and receives significant annual rainfall, supporting a variety of bird species and endangered species.

9. Bosawas Biosphere Reserve – 20,000km2

A landscape of the cloud forest canopy with mountains peeking out from behind the clouds in northern Nicaragua.Photo credit: Getty Images

Bosawas Biosphere Reserve covers 15 percent of Nicaragua’s land area and is home to vast biodiversity, including many endangered species.

1. Amazon rainforest – 6.7 million km2

Aerial view of the Amazon rainforest and river in northeastern Pará state, Sao Caetano de Odivelas, Brazil.Photo credit: Getty Images

The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest, covering an area of 6.7 million km2 across 8 countries. It is home to an astonishing diversity of plant and animal species, with significant deforestation posing a major threat to its existence.


Rainforest Size KM2
Westland temperate forest 11,880

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Study shows the world’s happiest people don’t reside in Scandinavia

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Consider the happiest country in the world. Are you thinking of somewhere in Scandinavia? Well, a new study has brought to light something that may have been overlooked. They are actually the happiest people in the world, but they are often not included in rankings.

In global happiness rankings, such as the World Happiness Report (WHR), researchers typically note a correlation between high levels of life satisfaction and high incomes. However, these rankings often fail to differentiate between small indigenous groups and the overall population of a nation. In some of these communities, money has a minimal impact on daily life and livelihoods.

A new paper suggests that not all happiness is tied to money. In fact, it turns out that some low-income societies, particularly those that rely on nature rather than money, exhibit significantly higher life satisfaction and may even be some of the happiest people in the world.

“The frequently observed strong correlation between income and life satisfaction is not universal and proves that the wealth generated by developed economies is not fundamentally necessary for humans to live happy lives.” – Professor Victoria Reyes Garcia, senior author of the study

Who is the happiest person in the world?

Although not conducted by the same research institute as WHR, this new study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and measured happiness in a similar way. The WHR asks respondents to imagine a ladder with 10 being the best life and 0 being the worst, and then evaluate their life on that scale.

In this study, researchers translated the question into local languages: “Taking all aspects into consideration, how satisfied are you with your life on a scale of 0 to 10?”

The research team collected responses from 2,966 people from 19 indigenous and local communities around the world. Only 64 percent of households surveyed in these communities had any cash income.

These 19 communities had an average score of 6.8, with the lowest score being 5.1. However, four of these communities scored above 8/10 and, if included in the WHR, these small societies would be among the happiest people in the world. In 2023, WHR found that the countries with the highest scores were Finland (7.8), Denmark (7.6), and Iceland (7.5).

The highest scores were reported in Latin America, despite many of these societies having suffered from histories of marginalization and oppression, according to the authors.

Researchers say the findings are positive news for sustainability in the face of climate change, as this research suggests that people can achieve high levels of happiness without the need for resource-intensive economic growth.

They encourage future research to examine specific factors that influence well-being in societies where money is not central, such as family and social support, spirituality, and connection to the natural world.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Apple overtakes Samsung to claim the title of world’s top smartphone seller

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Apple overtook Samsung as the world’s top smartphone seller, ending the South Korean tech company’s 12-year reign as the industry leader.

According to statistics from International Data Corporation (IDC), iPhone sold 234.6 million units in 2023, overtaking Samsung’s 226.6 million units.

IDC said Apple’s laurels with the launch of the iPhone 15 in September were due to trends such as the growing popularity of high-end devices, which now account for more than 20% of the market.

“The last time a company other than Samsung topped the smartphone market was in 2010, and in 2023, it is now Apple,” IDC said. “A sort of change in power at the top in the largest consumer electronics market was propelled by Apple’s record market share, putting it on top for the first time.”

The $2.8 trillion (£2.2 trillion) US tech company had a 20.1% market share, ahead of Samsung’s 19.4%, according to IDC. Apple has established itself as the largest smartphone maker in terms of sales and profits, but this is the first time it has led the market in terms of unit sales.

The sales data was released ahead of the launch of Samsung’s latest models on Wednesday, with the South Korean conglomerate expected to launch the Galaxy S24, S24 Plus and S24 Ultra with features powered by artificial intelligence.

Ben Wood, principal analyst at research firm CCS Insight, said the IDC data was a “mental” blow to Samsung, but he expected the competition to remain close this year.

“While I think it will remain a close race throughout 2024, there is little doubt that Apple is on a strong trajectory, and the loyalty that consumers have for Apple devices will continue to grow once they are acquired,” he said. This means that they rarely switch to something else.”

Wood said this data further emphasizes the importance of Samsung’s new product announcements on Wednesday.

“This means Samsung needs to do everything it can to not only attract new customers for its devices, but also to retain existing users.”

IDC also pointed to the increasing fragmentation of the smartphone market running on the Android operating system, citing low-end Samsung rivals such as Transsion, Xiaomi, Honor and Google.

IDC said the success of Huawei products, which were well-received in China, also contributed to Samsung’s sales decline. The data provider added that Huawei remains a competitive threat to Apple in China, the US company’s biggest market.

Global smartphone shipments fell 3.2% to 1.17 billion units in 2023, according to IDC, but the group said the industry is recovering after a downturn.

IDC added: “Growth in the second half of this year solidified the recovery expected in 2024.”

Last week, Apple was overtaken by Microsoft as the world’s most valuable company at $2.9 trillion.

Source: www.theguardian.com

The Extinction of the World’s Largest Ape: A Result of Climate Change

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HONG KONG — Didn't fall from the Empire State Building.

Instead, the giant ape, sometimes called the “real King Kong,” was driven to extinction by climate change that made its favorite fruit unavailable during the dry season, according to a new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The results have been announced.

An artist's impression of a herd of giant apes Gigantopithecus blackii in a forest landscape in southern China.Southern Cross University/AFP – Getty Images

They can grow up to 10 feet tall and weigh up to 650 pounds. Gigantopithecus brachy Hundreds of thousands of years ago, they roamed the forested plains of southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, feeding on fruits and flowers.

But researchers have discovered that the apes' harsh diet may have led to the species' extinction.

The herbivorous apes made the “fatal mistake of becoming reluctant to change their food preferences to find new, more nutritious foods,” the study's lead researcher Yin-chi Chan said Thursday. told NBC News.

“As the environment changed, the food this great ape preferred became unavailable. But this great ape did not adapt to its dietary preferences. It remained dependent on a diet with low nutritional value. ” he added.

Zhang, a Beijing-based paleontologist, said the creatures stuck to dense forests, while apes like orangutans quickly adapted and moved into open forests, eating small animals.

Gigantopithecus blackii, thought to be the largest primate on Earth, roamed the plains of southern China before going extinct. Southern Cross University/AFP – Getty Images

The reason for the species' extinction has been a mystery ever since a tooth was discovered in a Hong Kong pharmacy in 1935 by German-Dutch paleontologist Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Königswald. It was sold as “Dragon Tooth”.

This discovery led to extensive research for more fossils, but 85 years later, only 2,000 isolated teeth and parts of the lower jaw have been discovered. No parts other than the skull were recovered.

Without a “precise timeline” of extinctions, “we're looking for clues in the wrong places,” said Kira Westaway, one of the study's lead authors and a geochronologist at Macquarie University in Sydney. says.

However, the researchers were able to use one of the latest techniques, called “luminescence dating,” which allowed them to determine the age of the soil around the fossils in 22 caves in southern China.

From this, they concluded that the great apes went extinct between 295,000 and 215,000 years ago.

“Now we have a target zone. We have a target period. So we start looking at changes in the environment,” Westaway said.

The researchers also found clues in the fauna around the cave, with analysis of pollen and wear on the great apes' teeth showing that changing seasons led to a lack of fruit and reduced reliance on less nutritious food. It became clear that he was no longer able to earn money.

“Gigants couldn't really expand their foraging range to find more suitable food because they're so big. Orangutans are also very small, mobile, and very “It's agile,” Westaway said, adding that the new study provided a blueprint for further research into the main extinction event.

“You need to get a very precise timeline. You need to look at what the environment is doing and then look at how they acted,” she said.

From about 2 million to 22 million years ago, dozens of species of great apes lived in Africa, Europe, and Asia. Today, only gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans remain.

Westaway said the research could also open the door to future possibilities for how humans can adapt to adverse weather events and ensure species survival.

“This sets a precedent for trying to understand how primates respond to environmental stress and what makes certain primates vulnerable and what makes others resilient.” she says.

Mitchell Agarwal

Mithil Aggarwal is a reporter and producer for NBC News based in Hong Kong.

alice kong

Alice Kong is an intern on NBC News' Asia desk.

Associated Press contributed.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

The World’s Top 10 Longest Rivers of 2023

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The largest civilizations have been built on and around it, providing a precious source of water and life. Of course, we are talking about rivers. There are many impressively long rivers around the world, but what is the world’s longest river?

Determining the exact length of a river is a complex process. You need to know the source location and the estuary location, that is, where the river starts and ends, respectively.

This is more difficult than it sounds and can change over time. Considering tributaries and waterways can further complicate matters, along with the changing seasons through which the river passes.

For this reason, river length is not an exact science and this is why you see a list of different lengths on the web. That also means there’s a debate about the longest river on Earth (more on that below). The lengths listed below are approximations that take into account a range of variables.

With all this in mind, here are the top 10 longest rivers in the world.

10. Amur River – 4,444km (2,761 miles)

Photo credit: Getty

The tenth longest river in the world is the Amur River, with a total length of 4,444 km (2,761 miles). This is its total length including its most distant source, the Argun River.

The Amur River’s flow begins in Mongolia and heads east through China and Russia, forming the main border between the Russian Far East and northeast China. Its mouth is the Amur Estuary, which flows into the Tartary Strait.

The kaluga fish, which can grow up to 5.6 meters long, lives here and is just one of the 100 species of fish found in this basin.You can also find indian lotus flower The northernmost habitat along the river.

9. Congo River – 4,700km (2,920 miles)

The Congo River is the ninth longest river in the world and the second longest in Africa, with a total distance of 4,700 km (2,922 miles) from its furthest source to its mouth.

Traveling through the Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Angola, Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Cameroon, Zambia, Burundi, and Rwanda. It begins in the east, arcs to the northwest, and then flows southwest, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at its mouth on the borders of Angola aand the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This river, which flows through the Congo rainforest, is the second strongest current in the world after the Amazon. It provides an important water source for more than 400 species of mammals, including gorillas, African elephants, and bonobos, as well as more than 1,700 species of birds and fish.

8. Rio de la Plata – 4,880km (3,032 miles)

The Rio de la Plata is the eighth longest river in the world, with a length of 4,880 km (3,032 miles). This is the combined length of the overlapping rivers Paraná, Rio Grande, and Uruguay.

The Plata River itself is only 290 km (180 miles) long, but its tributaries are even longer, running from north to south through Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean between Argentina and Uruguay.

Another accolade of the Rio de la Plata is that it is the widest river in the world. In some areas its width is up to 220 km.

7. Ob River – 5,410km (3,362 miles)

Photo credit: Getty

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

The World’s Top 10 Largest Cities

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Since the world’s population reached 8 billion on November 15, 2022, various predictions have been made about when the world’s population will reach its peak. Studies vary, with some suggesting that the world’s population will peak at 8.8 billion by mid-century and then begin to decline. Other predictions, such as those made by the United Nations, world population By the 2080s, the number could exceed 10 billion.

In any case, the massive increase in population has created significant congestion in some of the world’s largest cities, raising major concerns about pollution and overcrowding.

To put this list in some perspective, Greater London in the UK has a whopping 8.9 million people, and New York in the US has a population of about 8.5 million.

Here are the 10 most populous cities on Earth and what it’s like to live there.

10. Osaka, Japan – 19.2 million people

Aerial view of Osaka city.Photo credit: Getty Images

Approximately 19.2 million people live in the Keihanshin metropolitan area, which includes Japan’s third-largest city, Osaka. Historically an important center of commerce and industry, the city remains a financial center with many of Japan’s largest companies based there.

Osaka is famous for its food culture and modern architecture, making it a popular destination for tourists. And thanks to a middling public transport system, unheard of in the UK, the city’s Underground carries more than 900 million passengers a year.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Harvard University debuts the world’s first logical quantum processor

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Researchers at Harvard University have achieved a significant milestone in quantum computing by developing a programmable logic quantum processor that can encode 48 logic qubits and perform hundreds of logic gate operations. Hailed as a potential turning point in the field, this advance marks the first demonstration of large-scale algorithm execution on an error-correcting quantum computer.

Harvard University’s breakthrough quantum computing features a new logical quantum processor with 48 logical qubits, enabling the execution of large-scale algorithms on error-corrected systems. The development, led by Mikhail Lukin, represents a major advance towards practical fault-tolerant quantum computers.

In quantum computing, a quantum bit or “qubit” is a unit of information, similar to a binary bit in classical computing. For more than two decades, physicists and engineers have shown the world that quantum computing is possible in principle by manipulating quantum particles such as atoms, ions, and photons to create physical qubits. I did.

But exploiting the strangeness of quantum mechanics for calculations is more complicated than collecting enough physical qubits, which are inherently unstable and prone to collapsing from their quantum states.

Logical qubit: the building block of quantum computing

The real coin of the realm in useful quantum computing are so-called logical qubits. This is a bunch of redundant, error-corrected physical qubits that can store information for use in quantum algorithms. Creating logical qubits as controllable units like classical bits is a fundamental hurdle for the field, and until quantum computers can reliably run on logical qubits, , it is generally accepted that the technology cannot really take off. To date, the best computing systems have demonstrated either: two logical qubits and one quantum gate operation – similar to just one operation code unit – between them.

A team led by quantum expert Mikhail Lukin (right) has achieved a breakthrough in quantum computing. Dr. Dorev Brufstein was a student in Lukin’s lab and the lead author of the paper.

Credit: Jon Chase/Harvard University Staff Photographer

Breakthrough in quantum computing at Harvard University

A team from Harvard University led by co-director Mikhail Lukin, Joshua and Beth Friedman Professor of Physics. Harvard Quantum Initiative has achieved an important milestone in the quest for stable and scalable quantum computing. For the first time, the team has created a programmable logic quantum processor that can encode up to 48 logic qubits and perform hundreds of logic gate operations. Their system is the first demonstration of large-scale algorithm execution on an error-corrected quantum computer, and heralds the early days of fault-tolerant, or guaranteed uninterruptible, quantum computing.

was announced on Nature, this research was conducted in collaboration with Marcus Greiner, the George Basmer Leverett Professor of Physics.colleague from Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and based in Boston QuEra Computing, a company founded on technology from Harvard University’s research labs.

Harvard University’s Office of Technology Development recently entered into a licensing agreement with QuEra for a patent portfolio based on innovations developed at the Lukin Group.

Lukin called the achievement a potential inflection point similar to the early days of the field of artificial intelligence, where long-theorized ideas of quantum error correction and fault tolerance are beginning to come to fruition.

“I think this is one of those moments where it’s clear that something very special is going to happen,” Lukin said. “While there are still challenges ahead, we expect this new advance to greatly accelerate progress toward large-scale, useful quantum computers.”

This breakthrough is based on several years of research into “quantum computing architectures.” neutral atomic arrangement, pioneered in Lukin’s lab and now commercialized by QuEra. The main component of the system is a block of ultracold, suspended rubidium atoms in which the atoms (the system’s physical qubits) move around and connect, or “entangle”, into pairs during calculations. Entangled pairs of atoms form gates, units of computational power.

Previously, the team demonstrated Low error rate for entanglement operations proving the credibility of their neutrality atom array system.

Impact and future directions

“This breakthrough is a masterpiece of quantum engineering and quantum design,” said Dennis Caldwell, acting deputy director of the National Science Foundation’s Mathematics and Physical Sciences Directorate, which supported the research through NSF’s Physics Frontiers Center and Quantum Leap Challenge Institute programs. says. “By using neutral atoms, the team has not only accelerated the development of quantum information processing, but also opened new doors to the search for large-scale logical qubit devices that could have transformative benefits for science and society as a whole. I opened the door.

Researchers are now using logic quantum processors to demonstrate parallel multiplexed control of entire patches of logic qubits using lasers. This result is more efficient and scalable than controlling individual physical qubits.

“We are seeking to mark a transition in the field by starting to test algorithms that use error-corrected qubits instead of physical qubits, enabling a path to larger devices. ,” said lead author Dorev Brubstein of the Griffin School of Arts and Sciences student in Lukin’s lab.

The team continues to work on demonstrating more types of operations with 48 logical qubits and configuring the system to run continuously, as opposed to manual cycles as it currently does.

Reference: “Logical quantum processors based on reconfigurable atomic arrays” Dolev Bluvstein, Simon J. Evered, Alexandra A. Geim, Sophie H. Li, Hengyun Zhou, Tom Manovitz, Sepehr Ebadi, Madelyn Cain, Marcin Kalinowski, Dominik Hangleiter, J. Pablo Bonilla Ataydes, Nishad Mascara, Iris Kong, Xun Gao, Pedro Salles Rodríguez, Tomas Karoliszyn, Julia Semeghini, Michael J. Galans, Markus Greiner, Vladan Vretić, Mikhail D. Lukin, December 6, 2023, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06927-3

This research was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency through the Noisy Medium-Scale Quantum Devices Optimization Program. The Ultracold Atom Center, a National Science Foundation Physics Frontier Center. Army Research Office. and QuEra computing.

Source: scitechdaily.com