Category: Science & Technology

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have found 6,000-year-old skeletons from Colombia with ancient DNA that could rewrite human history.

The incredible remains belonging to hunter-gatherers at the ancient preceramic site of Checua don’t have DNA that matches any known Indigenous population in the region today.

Archaeologists have found 6,000-year-old skeletons from Colombia with ancient DNATheir bombshell genetic signature has revealed a distinct – and extinct – lineage.

This could have descended all the way from the earliest humans to reach South America.

This lineage diverged early on and remained genetically isolated for thousands of years.

Researchers have managed to reconstruct a rare genetic timeline by anaylysing DNA from 21 people who lived in the Bogota Altiplano between roughly 6,000 to 500 years ago.

Extracted from bones and teeth, the DNA samples showed that the oldest people at Checua carried a distinctive ancestral signature.

This has completely disappeared from the modern gene pool.

Kim-Louise Krettek, lead author and a PhD student at the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution in Germany said: “This area is key to understanding how the Americas were populated.

“It was the land bridge between North and South America and the meeting point of three major cultural regions: Mesoamerica, Amazonia, and the Andes.”

Early people weren’t related to other ancient groups in South America genetically.

They also didn’t share ancestry with early North American populations.

Krettek added: “Our results show that the Checua individuals derive from the earliest population that spread and differentiated across South America very rapidly.

“We couldn’t find descendants of these early hunter-gatherers of the Colombian high plains, the genes were not passed on.

“That means in the area around Bogotá there was a complete exchange of the population.”

Roughly a whopping 2,000 years ago, the genetic landscape of the Bogota highlands shifted.

The distinctive lineage discovered in the earliest Checua remains had vanished and replaced by a new population.

Their DNA bear close similarity to the ancient Panamanians and modern Chibchan-speaking groups in Costa Rica and Panama.

Co-author and researcher at Universidad Nacional de Colombia Andrea Casas-Vargas explained how the bizarre disappearance of the original population’s genetic traces is rare in South America.

She said: “Up to now, strong genetic continuity has been observed in the population of the Andes and the southern cone of South America over long time periods and cultural changes.”

As new arrivals came to the Bogota highlands, the population changed significantly as time went on.

But the shift didn’t come with any signs of war or invasion, nor violence, according to the archeologists.

The change may have just occurred gradually through migration, cultural exchange, or intermarriage.

Therefore, the Checua people’s unique DNA faded – and eventually vanished.

The unbelievable discovery is the first example of Colombia looking at ancient DNA – but experts say it’s just the beginning.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/tech/14424448/colombian-skeletons-rewrite-history/https://www.the-sun.com/tech/14424448/colombian-skeletons-rewrite-history/

Was it murder or a tragic accident?

SCIENTISTS have uncovered a mass grave dating back 6,200 years – and one of the dead met their end in a particularly grim way.

A woman’s head appears to have been brutally bashed in by a broad-edged object.

Experts noticed a very prominent triangular fracture on the left side of the head.

But they’re stumped about whether it was a deliberate act of murder or a tragic accident.

The skeleton was part of a major haul unearthed in Iran.

Archaeologists also spotted something strange about the woman’s head shape too.

The skull is cone-shaped which suggests it was deliberately modified when she was a child in a process known as cranial bandaging.

This is where fabric is wrapped around the head tightly around the skull of young ones when it’s much softer.

Others with the same type of skull were buried alongside the woman.

Researchers studying the remains say the skull in question would have been weaker at withstanding such a harsh blow to the head.

However, the strike was so tough that it still would have killed her even if she had an unmodified skull.

“It should be noted that the blow was so severe that it would have fractured a normal, unmodified skull as well,” Professor Mahdi Alirezazadeh, from Tarbiat Modares University in Iran, told LiveScience.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/tech/14413343/grim-cone-headed-skull-bashed-in-archaeologist/

Amazon is reportedly developing software for humanoid robots that could perform the role of delivery workers and “spring out” of its vans.

The $2tn (£1.47tn) technology company is building a “humanoid park” in the US to test the robots, said the tech news site the Information, citing a person who had been involved in the project.

The Information reported that the robots could eventually take the jobs of delivery workers. It is developing the artificial intelligence software that would power the robots but will use hardware developed by other companies.

The indoor obstacle course being used for the tests at an Amazon office in San Francisco is about the size of a coffee shop, the report said, with the company hoping the robots will be able to travel in Amazon’s Rivian vans and make deliveries from them.

Even with a human driver behind the wheel, a robot could theoretically speed up drop-off times by visiting one address while the human employee delivers to another. Amazon also has an interest in self-driving vehicles through its Zoox unit.

Amazon has more than 20,000 Rivians in the US and has placed one of the vans in the humanoid testing zone, according to the report. Once it has tested the robots in the humanoid park, it plans to take them on “field trips” in the real world where they will attempt to deliver packages to homes.

Amazon has already conducted trials with humanoid robots, deploying devices developed by the US company Agility Robotics in its warehouses. The chief executive of Agility, Peggy Johnson, told the Guardian last year that the company’s Digit robot allowed employees to hand off work to humanoids and become a “robot manager”.

Last year Amazon was given permission to test-fly drones beyond a human controller’s line of sight in the UK, paving the way for using the technology in home delivery.

Prof Subramanian Ramamoorthy, the chair of robot learning and autonomy at the University of Edinburgh, said Amazon had a respected robotics team and its reported focus on “last mile” delivery was not a surprise. The humanoid robot hardware capable of carrying out such a task is becoming available and the field is developing rapidly, he said. However, he added, the challenge was to achieve reliable performance outside highly constrained environments such as the reported “humanoid park”.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/05/amazon-testing-humanoid-robots-to-deliver-packages

INCREDIBLE scenes show NASA testing a vehicle designed to extract vital resources that could help humans live in the lunar environment or even on Mars.

Engineers at Kennedy Space Center in Florida are experimenting with RASSOR (Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot) on a simulated lunar surface.

RASSOR’s counter-rotating drums dig up simulated moon dust to extract regolith, the loose, fragmental material found on the Moon’s surface.

The opposing motion of the drums helps RASSOR grip the surface in low-gravity environments like the Moon or Mars.

“With this unique capability, RASSOR can traverse the rough surface to dig, load, haul, and dump regolith that could later be broken down into hydrogen, oxygen, or water-resources critical for sustaining human presence,” NASA said Tuesday.

The space agency is using the foundation of RASSOR’s development to inform IPEx (In-Situ Resource Utilisation Pilot Excavator), a newer vehicle being prepared for a potential
technology demonstration mission on the Moon.

IPEx is still in the advanced development and testing phase.

Improvements on RASSOR with refinements in scale, modularity, and mission capability are being made to support future lunar resource extraction missions.

Mining the Moon is shaping up to be a high-stakes space race, with billions of dollars and future survival on the line.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has pegged the value of untapped lunar resources in the hundreds of billions.

Those include frozen water, which could support life or be converted into rocket fuel for deep space missions.

The surface is also believed to hold rare earth metals used in electronics and defense tech.

But the Moon’s most promising payload might be helium-3- a clean, non-radioactive isotope that could fuel future nuclear reactors.

The substance was fetching around $2,500 per liter last year, according to the Edelgas Group.

“That’s a huge market, in principle, and something is coming along very fast,” Martin Elvis, a senior astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, told Business Insider.

Elvis warned that with no strict global rules, the Moon is becoming a lawless frontier.

He compared the current push for space mining to a “Wild West,” where speed and land grabs beat cooperation and sustainability.

CHINA’S RACE TO MOON

NASA, China, and several private firms are racing to claim pieces of the lunar surface in the coming decade.

But some scientists worry that quick-and-dirty extraction could wipe out decades of astronomical opportunity.

Lunar zones rich in resources also happen to be gold mines for science.

The far side of the Moon offers an ultra-quiet location perfect for peering into the early universe.

Its permanently shadowed craters, ideal for water collection, are also key studying the birth of galaxies.

Elvis said even minor human activity, like mining vibrations, could disrupt delicate instruments and lunar research.

“Mining for water is probably the worst,” he said.

Some protections do exist, such as the Artemis Accords, a non-binding agreement from 2020 signed by over 50 nations.

The pact permits space mining if it follows the 1967 Outer Space Treaty and is done “safely and sustainably.”

But Robert Massey, deputy director of the Royal Astronomical Society, said that’s not enough.

He argued that future space rules must prioritize science alongside profits.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tech/14399007/video-us-moon-mining-human-establish-home-space/

Artificial intelligence may one day cure diseases, solve climate change, and usher in a new industrial revolution. But for now, one of AI’s leading figures has his sights set on something far more immediate: fixing email.

Speaking at the SXSW London festival, Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, revealed that his team is developing a “next-generation email” system powered by AI. The goal? To liberate people from the daily grind of overflowing inboxes, missed messages, and repetitive replies.

“The thing I really want – and we’re working on – is can we have a next-generation email,” Hassabis said. “I would love to get rid of my email. I would pay thousands of dollars per month to get rid of that.”

The system DeepMind is building aims to read, understand, and respond to routine emails in a user’s personal writing style, effectively automating the bulk of modern communication. More importantly, Hassabis believes such tools can prevent crucial messages from slipping through and protect users from other attention-hijacking algorithms built by big tech platforms.

“It basically gives you more time and maybe protects your attention from other algorithms trying to gain your attention,” he added. “I think we can actually use AI in service of the individual.”

The irony isn’t lost on Hassabis. He’s renowned for creating AlphaFold 2, the AI model that solved the protein folding problem, earning him a reputation for using AI in the most noble ways to push the boundaries of science and medicine. Yet the everyday annoyance of email now ranks high on his personal list of priorities.

Part of this reflects the dual pressures of Hassabis’ role. DeepMind, which was acquired by Google in 2014, is simultaneously driving scientific discovery and feeding innovation into Google’s consumer AI products, from its Gemini chatbot to its newly announced video model, Veo 3.

Hassabis has long imagined AI as a field led by science, perhaps governed by a CERN-like global research initiative. But the pace of AI’s commercial potential brought in big tech players sooner than he expected. “The capitalist engine has done what it does best,” he noted, acknowledging that the commercialisation of AI has both accelerated progress and complicated its purpose.

Despite these contradictions, he remains focused on the long game: the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI), AI systems capable of matching or exceeding human cognitive abilities across a wide range of tasks.

Hassabis believes AGI could be just five to ten years away. “That is very short if you think about how momentous a moment that will be,” he said. “I think it’ll be nothing short of a new Industrial Revolution.”

He sees AGI as a pathway to breakthroughs like curing all known diseases and achieving unlimited renewable energy, what he calls “radical abundance.” But even in this best-case scenario, Hassabis urged academics and policymakers to begin addressing the potential societal consequences now, especially the equitable distribution of such prosperity.

“Even in the good case where we get radical abundance and economic prosperity, can we make sure that’s fairly shared, and fairly distributed?” he asked. “I hope economists and social scientists are thinking about that.”

Source : https://www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/id-pay-thousands-to-get-rid-of-email-google-deepmind-ceo-demis-hassabis-on-his-real-ai-goal-478946-2025-06-04

Starlink is close to launching satellite internet services in India after meeting regulatory and security requirements, aiming to boost rural connectivity and rival Jio and OneWeb.

Elon Musk’s satellite internet venture, Starlink, is finally set to make its official entry into the Indian market. The company is expected to receive its long-awaited Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licence from the Indian government in the coming days. This milestone follows Starlink’s acceptance of regulatory conditions laid out by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the successful payment of statutory fees.

Adobe has launched the Photoshop beta for Android, bringing a powerful mobile editing app to the Google Play Store.

After rolling out Photoshop for iPhone earlier this year, Adobe has now turned its attention to Android users. The company has officially unveiled the Photoshop for Android app in beta, bringing a powerful suite of mobile editing tools to Google Play for the first time.
Designed for creators on the move, the app integrates seamlessly with Adobe’s desktop and web platforms, allowing users to switch effortlessly between devices without compromising on creative control.

Did you know that smoking could lead to lung cancer? Or that untreated diabetes might cause blindness? This is what doctors call causal relationships between conditions. Documenting which diseases directly cause others has been a major challenge for medical researchers. Now, new international research has changed that.

In the study published in Bioinformatics, researchers developed an automated method for extracting causal relationships between diseases from scientific literature and created a map showing which conditions lead to others. This knowledge is already improving how scientists calculate genetic risk scores that predict one’s likelihood of developing specific diseases.

The Domino Effect of Disease

Most people know that Type 2 diabetes can lead to complications. However, the exact sequence—diabetes causing hyperglycemia, which causes microvascular disease, ultimately resulting in diabetic retinopathy—illustrates the domino effect one condition can have. Understanding these chains helps doctors anticipate problems before they develop and potentially intervene earlier.

The research team used sophisticated text mining techniques to scour thousands of medical journal abstracts. They weren’t just looking for diseases that commonly occur together (comorbidities) but specifically for statements asserting that one disease directly causes another. The team identified 8,191 unique causal relationships spanning 1,860 different disease categories.

To validate their findings, they cross-referenced them with real-world patient data from the UK Biobank, a massive database containing health information from over 500,000 participants. They checked whether diseases that supposedly had causal relationships showed statistical connections in actual patients and whether the timing of diagnoses matched expectations (cause preceding effect).

Better Risk Prediction

Researchers then transformed their findings into a mathematical structure called a directed acyclic graph (DAG). This allowed scientists to perform causal inference, a sophisticated form of analysis that goes beyond mere correlation to understand true cause-and-effect relationships.

When the researchers added their disease map to genetic risk scores, which estimate your chances of getting a disease based on your DNA, they found it made predictions more accurate. For example, combining risk scores for related conditions, like heart disease and the problems it can lead to, helped them better predict who might develop heart issues.

Untangling the Complex Web

Doctors could use this map of diseases to predict risks for conditions lacking extensive genetic data by analyzing the genetic risks of diseases that cause them. This method also helps untangle a common problem in genetics called pleiotropy, where one gene appears to influence several different conditions that don’t seem connected.

The research team found that many genetic variants previously thought to independently influence multiple diseases actually follow causal chains, affecting one disease and then causing another. More targeted treatments could be developed that address the root cause rather than just the symptoms.

This method can automatically analyze thousands of gene-disease combinations, which could change how we understand the links between our genes and different health conditions.

All the data, including the disease dictionary, full network of relationships, and the disease graph, are freely available through GitHub, allowing other researchers to build upon this foundation.

Diseases are complexly intertwined. By mapping the causal connections between conditions, scientists now have a powerful new tool to improve risk prediction, understand disease chain reactions, and potentially create more effective treatments that address the true origins of illnesses rather than waiting until they develop.

Source : https://studyfinds.org/disease-cause-link-map/

A RARE “severe” warning has been issued for a massive solar storm due to arrive at Earth tomorrow.

The storm risks causing major disruption to internet, phone signals and power grids.

The warning has been put in effect by the Space Weather Prediction Centre.

It comes after a coronal mass ejection (CME) erupted from the Sun yesterday evening.

The authority says it will likely lead to “immediate geomagnetic disturbances”.

A statement says: “Confidence in an Earth-arrival component to this CME is good.

“However, timing and intensity are more uncertain. These watches represent potential based on our best analyses.

“We will not know the true nature of this CME’s geomagnetic storm potential until the CME arrives at our solar wind observatories located 1 million miles from Earth.

“Upon arrival at those spacecraft, we will know the magnetic strength and orientation that are very important to what levels and duration of geomagnetic storm conditions are expected to occur.

“As always visit our website for the latest information and updates.”

The Space Weather Prediction Centre adds that impacts to technological infrastructure are “possible” but could be mitigated.

Its impact might also mean the aurora could be visible in the northern half of the United States.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tech/14368085/massive-solar-storm-severe-warning/

Imagine a future where a diagnosis of untreatable male infertility is no longer the end of the road – because science has found a way to produce human sperm from lab-engineered testicular tissue.

This might sound like science fiction, but I’m leading a team of researchers at the University of Limerick (UL) to work on making the production of human sperm from lab-engineered testicular tissue a reality. If successful, this could redefine fertility treatment and bring hope to the millions of people around the world affected by male infertility.

Why now? Because male reproductive health is in decline – and the numbers are too stark to ignore.

Over the past seven decades, sperm counts have decreased dramatically while conditions like testicular cancer, hormone imbalances and genital malformations – which can all have an effect on sperm counts – are on the rise.

The precise causes of declining male reproductive health are still being debated. While genetics may play a role, no single genetic factor has been shown to affect male fertility at a population level. Instead, much of the focus has turned to the environment, particularly endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

These chemicals, which can interfere with hormone function, are found in common items such as plastics, pesticides, cosmetics and even painkillers. There is growing evidence that exposure to these substances in the womb can increase the risk of testicular cancer, reduce sperm quality, and lead to male infertility later in life.

For some men, fertility issues are treatable – lifestyle changes, hormone therapy, or surgery to correct blockages in the reproductive tract can help. But for a large proportion, there is no identifiable cause.

This type of unexplained infertility, known as idiopathic infertility, currently leaves patients with only one option: surgical sperm retrieval (SSR).

SSR involves surgically opening the testicles to search for viable sperm for use in assisted reproductive technologies like IVF. However, success is far from guaranteed. In some cases, the chance of finding even a single usable sperm cell is as low as 40%.

In addition to its physical and emotional toll, SSR places the burden of fertility treatment on the female partner’s reproductive system, meaning women’s bodies are often the target of fertility medications and procedures. It does little to address the underlying health risks associated with male infertility, including higher rates of illness and early mortality.

And if SSR fails, the only option left is to use donor sperm – a difficult and emotional decision for many people.

Root Of The Problem

To address male infertility, scientists need to get to the root of the problem and develop solutions that restore natural fertility.

So, given the ethical and biological limits on experimenting directly with humans, researchers have turned to preclinical models to study the human testes. These include ex vivo tissue (human or animal tissue studied outside the body), in vitro cell cultures (human testicular cells grown on lab plates), and animal models (typically rodents or primates).

However, human sperm production is vastly different – and much less efficient – than in other mammals, making animal models unreliable. To move forward, researchers need preclinical models that closely mimic human testes and their ability to produce sperm.

This remains one of the biggest scientific hurdles in the field. While researchers have successfully produced sperm in the lab from mouse testicular tissue, the same has never been achieved in humans.

Our research is attempting to overcome this challenge by combining biology with mechanical engineering and materials science. We started by analyzing human testicular tissue samples from a range of donors, building a detailed understanding of how the tissue functions.

This data was fed into the design of model systems that replicate human testicular tissue – not just biologically, but mechanically and structurally. The ultimate goal is to create a model that can not only mimic testicular function but produce viable human sperm.

Lab-produced sperm could revolutionize fertility care. It might one day offer a solution to men who have undergone failed SSR procedures, childhood cancer survivors whose fertility was damaged by chemotherapy or radiation, and male patients with severe, unexplained infertility who currently have no treatment options.

This isn’t just a scientific experiment. It’s about restoring hope to those for whom existing medical approaches have run out of answers.

Source : https://studyfinds.org/male-infertility-how-lab-produced-sperm-could-transform-future-fertility-treatments/

New findings claim the three-fingered bodies with elongated skulls are real and date back over 1,200 years.

Scientists examining a set of mysterious three-fingered mummified bodies found in Peru now believe that some of them may have died violent deaths and were possibly murdered.

“These are yet more pieces of clear and irrefutable evidence that these bodies are 100% genuine, real, and organic having once been alive,” said Dr José Zalce, former director of the Mexican Navy Medical Department, who is leading the investigation, according to the Star which cited local Peruvian news media outlets.

Zalce said he has studied 21 of the so-called “Nazca mummies” in detail, examining their fingerprints, bone structures, muscular anatomy, and internal organs. Among the most closely analysed are two female mummies named Maria and Montserrat and a male specimen identified as Antonio.

The mummies were first discovered in 2017 in Peru’s Nazca desert and presented to the public in Mexico two years ago. At the time, they were introduced as potential non-human beings not part of Earth’s evolutionary chain.

Initial DNA tests had sparked headlines, suggesting the remains were part-human and part unknown species. That led to Mexico’s first-ever congressional hearing on unidentified aerial phenomena. However, the credibility of the find was challenged last year, when forensic experts claimed the specimens could be fabricated from papier-mâché, animal bones and glue.

Maria, believed to have been between 35 and 45 years old and standing about 5 feet 6 inches tall, had suffered multiple injuries. These included a deep cut and bite marks near her pelvis, puncture wounds along her lower back, and broken vertebrae near the tailbone.

She also appeared to have sustained a zigzag-shaped wound consistent with a fall onto rocks.

Montserrat, who was likely aged between 16 and 25, had a puncture wound between the fifth and sixth ribs. CT scans revealed extensive internal trauma, including broken ribs and a fractured shoulder blade. Experts said she may have been upright with her back against a hard surface at the time of death.

Antonio, the male specimen, had what appeared to be a stab wound to the left side of his chest. Dr David Ruiz Vela, former president of Peru’s Medical Association, said the injury had broken ribs, pierced the abdomen and caused internal bleeding.

“He has a stab that broke his ribs on the left side of his chest, penetrating the chest, abdomen, liver and completely perforating him inside,” Vela told the Peruvian news media outlets.

All three bodies have elongated skulls, three fingers and toes, and preserved internal organs such as hearts, livers, and intestines.

Source : https://www.news18.com/viral/scientists-say-perus-mystery-alien-mummies-may-have-been-murdered-ws-kl-9355200.html

A mysterious metallic sphere that was recovered after flying through the air in Colombia has left scientists baffled, with many speculating it’s a UFO.

The bizarre sphere was recorded flying over the town of Buga in the western part of the country in March before landing and being confiscated, according to X user Truthpolex.

The orb — which reportedly weighed about 4.5 pounds and was cold to the touch when found — had etched into it a series of ancient-looking symbols, including runes and characters from the Ogham and Mesopotamian writing systems.

Locals claim that the object is of alien origin, and even researchers admit they can’t say where it came from.

The sphere has “no welds or joints,” which would typically indicate it was made by humans, according to Dr. Jose Luis Velazquez, a radiologist hired to examine the sphere.

“It is of artificial origin in that it shows no evidence of welding, and its internal structure is composed of high-density elements. More testing is needed to establish its origin,” Dr Velazquez said in video shared on X.

Scientists used AI to decipher what they believe its symbols mean.

“The origin of birth through union and energy in the cycle of transformation, meeting point of unity, expansion, and consciousness — individual consciousness,” the message purportedly reads.

The research team studying the org said, “We interpret it as a message to humanity, encouraging a collective shift in consciousness to help Mother Earth — especially considering the current issues with pollution and environmental decline.”

The object was spotted zipping through the sky, defying the movement of a traditional aircraft, said a member of the research team, David Velez el Potro, to Maussan Television, speaking to controversial journalist and ufologist Jaime Massan.

No official reports or scientific analyses have yet confirmed the claims that a metallic sphere fell over Buga, but multiple eyewitness reports have been made.

Maussan previously sparked debate after making unconfirmed claims that he had discovered alien mummies in Peru.

One of the men who found the sphere, named only as Jose, felt sick for days after touching the orb, el Potro said.

“When I poured water on it, it started to smoke, and the water vaporized instantly,” he added.

Maussan’s team found that the sphere had irregular edges, “indicating that it is a solid object,” he said.

It had a denser outer layer, close to the density of human bone, according to researchers.

X-rays also revealed 18 small dots within the orb, arranged in a pattern.

They believe these small spheres may have been placed inside the object before it was sealed, although the lack of any visible signs of assembly in X-rays make this all the more puzzling.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/05/25/science/scientists-discover-mysterious-sphere-in-colombia-sparking-ufo-speculation/

APPLE has raised the trade-in values of several of its most popular devices.

However, iPhone users only have a limited time to make use of the deal before it runs out.

The deal will include most versions of the mobile device from the iPhone 8 right up to the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

iPhone 15 Pro Max devices will now get you a staggering £660 when traded in, while the regular iPhone 15 can get you as much as £410.

Meanwhile, even older devices like the iPhone 13 can help you earn up to £270 in store credit.

The iPhone 8 will only earn £50 in store credit, though, as it heads onto Apple’s dreaded vintage list.

The deal ends on June 18 in the UK.

The vintage list is the category in which Apple places older devices before making them obsolete.

iPhone 7 Plus devices will be joining the iPhone 8 in the vintage list too, making repair services for the devices difficult to find.

The iPhone 6s and 2018 Mac Mini have also been added to the list.

Normally, products are added to the vintage list after they have been on the market for five years.

After seven years, they are regarded as obsolete.

The tech company has raised its trade-in prices across several countries as well as the UK, including the US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Australia, Italy, Spain and China.

However, according to Mac Rumours, the deal is only available until June 18.

Apple Trade In is a service which allows you to hand in an old device, in exchange for a price cut on a new one.

Alternatively, if your device is no longer available for credit, then you can hand it over to Apple for recycling.

The service is available both in store and online.

Amazon’s self-driving taxi subsidiary Zoox issued its second voluntary software recall in just one month after a collision with an e-scooter pedestrian in San Francisco.

In early May, a person riding an electric scooter rammed into an unoccupied Zoox robotaxi that stopped while turning to yield at an intersection. The rider sustained minor injuries after falling to the ground beside the robotaxi and declined medical assistance, Zoox said in a blog post.

“The Zoox vehicle was stopped at the time of contact. The e-scooterist fell to the ground directly next to the vehicle. The robotaxi then began to move and stopped after completing the turn, but did not make further contact with the e-scooterist,” the company wrote.

The recall will focus on tackling the vehicle’s perception tracking system and will impact 270 vehicles, Zoox said in a statement.

As part of the recall, the company will tackle a part within the automated driving system that could push it to misunderstand the movement of other nearby vehicles, including the “risk of a crash.”

The company also noted that it submitted a voluntary software recall report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Thursday.

In turn, the NHTSA confirmed it had received the report and recommends “road users to be cautious in the vicinity of vehicles because drivers may incorrectly predict the travel path of a cyclist or a scooter rider or come to an unexpected stop.”

The May collision took place just two weeks after Zoox had already announced a voluntary software recall aimed at addressing a minor crash in Las Vegas that also stemmed from a yield misunderstanding.

In May 2024, the self-driving taxis were investigated by the NHTSA following two rear-end collisions in broad daylight. Before that, the NHTSA opened a probe in March 2023 looking into Zoox’s self-certification of a robotaxi without traditional driving controls.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/05/25/tech/amazons-zoox-robotaxi-unit-faces-second-software-recall-in-one-month-following-collision-in-san-francisco/

ISRO could not accomplish the launch of a key Earth observation satellite on Sunday after the rocket carrying it, the workhorse PSLV-C61, failed mid-air, less than seven minutes after it took off. Determined to find the root cause of the failure, the space agency has set up a National Failure Analysis Committee and a complete audit of the rocket is underway, with all systems being reviewed thoroughly.

The committee, more than half of whose members are from premier institutions like the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), is expected to submit its report around the middle of next month. A set of voluminous data has already been shared with the panel.

ISRO has also set up several internal committees to scrutinise every aspect of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which is a highly dependable rocket, with a reliability of over 94% and just four failures in 63 launches – an enviable track record.

Sources in the space agency said only the PSLV, and no other rocket, has been put on hold since its third stage uses a solid fuel motor, which is unique to it. The final call, they indicated, will be taken on future launches only after the National Failure Analysis Committee submits its report and ISRO fixes the problem.

Giving an analogy, an expert said each rocket is like a child. “If one child falls down, can you ask the entire village to stop walking?” he quipped.

A notice to airmen (or NOTAM), has, meanwhile, already been issued for the launch of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-2 or GSLV F-16 to fly between June 18 and July 17. The rocket, initially dubbed ‘ISRO’s naughty boy’ and eventually tamed, is all set to fly the world’s most expensive civilian Earth imaging satellite, named the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellite or NISAR. It has been built by India and the US at a cost of $1.5 billion.

Third-Stage Issue

NDTV had earlier reported that a ‘misbehaviour’ of the third stage rocket motor may have contributed to the failure of the PSLV-C61, which was launching the EOS-9 surveillance satellite. The PSLV-C61 was travelling at 20,160 km per hour – about 28 times the speed of an airplane – when, some 888 km downrange from Sriharikota over the Indian Ocean, it tumbled down 6.26 minutes into its nearly 18-minute flight.

Experts say the third stage did not explode, as speculated. In fact, as the rocket coasted along while losing altitude and thrust, even the fourth stage was probably ignited. It is still being analysed why the rocket motor “misbehaved” 100 seconds after it ignited the third stage. ISRO Chairman V Narayanan said there was a “fall in the chamber pressure of the motor case”.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/eos-9-satellite-launch-isro-rocket-fails-7-minutes-into-flight-national-panel-set-up-to-find-out-why-8498112#pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

FACEBOOK users should download any precious video memories on their account now as the social network gets going with a mass purge.

Earlier this year, the tech giant announced major changes for Facebook.

Facebook Live recordings will no longer stay on your account forever for you to relive old memories.

New rules mean Facebook Live videos only stay on the platform for 30 days after they were recorded.

There is an option so you can download them onto your phone.

Or you can covert them into a Reel video – though these are limited to a maximum of 90 seconds.

When revealing the shake-up in February, Facebook owner Meta said it would give people a 90 day grace period for all their older videos to be saved.

Now 90 days since the initial announcement time is almost up, so users will need to act or face losing their Live videos forever soon.

The process was said to be rolling out in waves, so you might be affected sooner than others.

Emails have started going out to those impacted on May 28 recently.

“Download your old Facebook Live videos by 28 May,” the alert says.

“We are sending you this email because you have previously broadcasted a Facebook Live video.

“Changes are being rolled out by Facebook to its storage policy for Facebook live videos.

“As part of this transition, Facebook live videos older than 30 days will be deleted.

“We want to make sure that you have the opportunity to keep any live videos that you’ve published, so any live videos published before 19 February will be made available for you to download until 28 May.

“After that, any existing live videos published before 19 February will be deleted from your Page or profile. Visit your Facebook settings to view your options for downloading live videos.”

Whether you’re affected now or later, it’s a good idea to check now before you forget, as it will come around for everyone eventually.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tech/14314797/facebook-major-change-live-videos-deleted/

Scientists have uncovered evidence of a colossal solar storm that struck Earth more than 14,000 years ago, an event so powerful that its effects are still recorded in tree rings today.

Detailed in the upcoming July 2025 issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters, this ancient storm, which occurred around 12,350 BC, dwarfs any solar storm recorded in modern history and would wreak havoc on today’s technology if it were to happen again.

Known as a “Miyake Event,” this storm far surpasses the infamous Carrington Event of 1859, previously considered the benchmark for extreme solar activity.

Miyake Events are identified by spikes in carbon-14 levels found in tree rings—carbon-14 being a radioactive isotope produced when solar particles collide with Earth’s atmosphere. Since the first discovery by Fusa Miyake in 2012, at least six such events have been confirmed, including those in 774 AD and 993 AD.

The 12,350 BC Miyake Event stands out due to its immense scale and the challenges it posed to scientists trying to interpret it.

The spike in carbon-14 was detected in Scots Pine trees along France’s Drouzet River, and corroborated by matching beryllium-10 levels in Greenland ice cores, confirming the storm’s global reach.

However, interpreting these signals was complicated by the fact that the event occurred during the Ice Age, a period with very different atmospheric and climatic conditions compared to the relatively stable Holocene epoch when most other Miyake Events occurred.

To tackle this, researchers Kseniia Golubenko and Ilya Usoskin from the University of Oulu, Finland, developed a specialised chemistry-climate model. This model accounts for Ice Age variables such as ice sheet boundaries, sea levels, and geomagnetic fields, enabling accurate analysis of the ancient data.

Their findings reveal that the 12,350 BC storm unleashed a solar particle bombardment 500 times stronger than the largest solar particle storm recorded by satellites in 2005.

To put this in perspective, during the 2005 event, a passenger flying over the poles might have received a year’s worth of cosmic radiation in one hour; during the Ice Age event, the same dose would have been delivered in just eight seconds.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/science/story/blast-from-the-sun-14000-years-ago-was-so-strong-trees-still-remember-it-2729578-2025-05-24

When it descends through the thick golden haze on Saturn’s moon Titan, NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft will find eerily familiar terrain. Dunes wrap around Titan’s equator. Clouds drift across its skies. Rain drizzles. Rivers flow, forming canyons, lakes and seas.

But not everything is as familiar as it seems. At minus 292 degrees Fahrenheit, the dune sands aren’t silicate grains but organic material. The rivers, lakes and seas hold liquid methane and ethane, not water. Titan is a frigid world laden with organic molecules.

Yet Dragonfly, a car-sized rotorcraft set to launch no earlier than 2028, will explore this frigid world to potentially answer one of science’s biggest questions: How did life begin?

Seeking answers about life in a place where it likely can’t survive seems odd. But that’s precisely the point.

“Dragonfly isn’t a mission to detect life — it’s a mission to investigate the chemistry that came before biology here on Earth,” said Zibi Turtle, principal investigator for Dragonfly and a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. “On Titan, we can explore the chemical processes that may have led to life on Earth without life complicating the picture.”

On Earth, life has reshaped nearly everything, burying its chemical forebears beneath eons of evolution. Even today’s microbes rely on a slew of reactions to keep squirming.

“You need to have gone from simple to complex chemistry before jumping to biology, but we don’t know all the steps,” Turtle said. “Titan allows us to uncover some of them.”

Titan is an untouched chemical laboratory where all the ingredients for known life — organics, liquid water and an energy source — have interacted in the past. What Dragonfly uncovers will illuminate a past since erased on Earth and refine our understanding of habitability and whether the chemistry that sparked life here is a universal rule — or a wonderous cosmic fluke.

Before NASA’s Cassini-Huygens mission, researchers didn’t know just how rich Titan is in organic molecules. The mission’s data, combined with laboratory experiments, revealed a molecular smorgasbord — ethane, propane, acetylene, acetone, vinyl cyanide, benzene, cyanogen, and more.

These molecules fall to the surface, forming thick deposits on Titan’s ice bedrock. Scientists believe life-related chemistry could start there — if given some liquid water, such as from an asteroid impact.

Enter Selk crater, a 50-mile-wide impact site. It’s a key Dragonfly destination, not only because it’s covered in organics, but because it may have had liquid water for an extended time.

The impact that formed Selk melted the icy bedrock, creating a temporary pool that could have remained liquid for hundreds to thousands of years under an insulating ice layer, like winter ponds on Earth. If a natural antifreeze like ammonia were mixed in, the pool could have remained unfrozen even longer, blending water with organics and the impactor’s silicon, phosphorus, sulfur and iron to form a primordial soup.

“It’s essentially a long-running chemical experiment,” said Sarah Hörst, an atmospheric chemist at Johns Hopkins University and co-investigator on Dragonfly’s science team. “That’s why Titan is exciting. It’s a natural version of our origin-of-life experiments — except it’s been running much longer and on a planetary scale.”

For decades, scientists have simulated Earth’s early conditions, mixing water with simple organics to create a “prebiotic soup” and jumpstarting reactions with an electrical shock. The problem is time. Most tests last weeks, maybe months or years.

The melt pools at Selk crater, however, possibly lasted tens of thousands of years. Still shorter than the hundreds of millions of years it took life to emerge on Earth, but potentially enough time for critical chemistry to occur.

“We don’t know if Earth life took so long because conditions had to stabilize or because the chemistry itself needed time,” Hörst said. “But models show that if you toss Titan’s organics into water, tens of thousands of years is plenty of time for chemistry to happen.”

Dragonfly will test that theory. Landing near Selk, it will fly from site to site, analyzing the surface chemistry to investigate the frozen remains of what could have been prebiotic chemistry in action.

Morgan Cable, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and co-investigator on Dragonfly, is particularly excited about the Dragonfly Mass Spectrometer (DraMS) instrument. Developed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with a key subsystem provided by the CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales), DraMS will search for indicators of complex chemistry.

“We’re not looking for exact molecules, but patterns that suggest complexity,” Cable said. On Earth, for example, amino acids — fundamental to proteins — appear in specific patterns. A world without life would mainly manufacture the simplest amino acids and form fewer complex ones.

Generally, Titan isn’t regarded as habitable; it’s too cold for the chemistry of life as we know it to occur, and there’s is no liquid water on the surface, where the organics and likely energy sources exist.

Still, scientists have assumed that if a place has life’s ingredients and enough time, complex chemistry — and eventually life — should emerge. If Titan proves otherwise, it may mean we’ve misunderstood something about life’s start and it may be rarer than we thought.

Source : https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/nasas-dragonfly-mission-sets-sights-on-titans-mysteries/

Your blood test results might be “normal,” but still put you at risk for serious heart problems. A major international study found that people with serum sodium levels at the upper end of what doctors consider the normal range face significantly higher risks of developing hypertension and heart failure.

Most people pay little attention to sodium readings on their blood tests unless they’re flagged as outside the normal range. But this extensive 20-year study of more than 400,000 adults, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, reveals that sodium levels as low as 140 mmol/L—well within the standard “normal” reference range of 135-146 mmol/L—may already signal increased health risks.

The researchers say that routine blood tests showing serum sodium levels of 140 mmol/L or higher correlate with increased hypertension and heart failure risk, despite falling within ranges typically considered normal by physicians.

For perspective, approximately 58% of healthy adults in the study had serum sodium levels above this threshold. This isn’t about table salt consumption, but rather about hydration; specifically, whether you’re drinking enough water each day.

The research team suggests that people with sodium readings in the upper normal range might benefit from reassessing their daily fluid intake and hydration habits, since these factors directly impact serum sodium levels.

The findings are especially significant because they suggest a simple, low-cost intervention could potentially reduce risk for two conditions that affect millions worldwide.

Researchers analyzed electronic medical records from Israel’s Leumit Healthcare Services, focusing on 407,187 adults between 18 and 104 years old. They specifically selected individuals who were healthy at baseline, meaning they didn’t have diabetes, heart failure, kidney issues, or other major chronic diseases when first tested.

By tracking these individuals for up to 20 years, the research team could identify who later developed hypertension or heart failure and correlate these outcomes with their baseline sodium levels.

Compared to people with serum sodium in the 135-139.5 mmol/L range, those with readings of 140-142 mmol/L had a 13% higher risk of developing hypertension. This risk jumped to 29% for those with sodium levels above 143 mmol/L.

The pattern was similar for heart failure. Risk increased gradually with rising sodium levels, reaching a 20% higher risk for those with sodium above 143 mmol/L. These associations remained significant even after researchers adjusted for other risk factors like age, sex, blood pressure, BMI, and smoking status.

More Than Half of Adults May Have Elevated Risk

Elevated sodium levels appear to be quite common. Among currently healthy members in the healthcare system studied, the researchers found 39% had serum sodium within the 140-142 mmol/L range, and another 19% had levels between 143-146 mmol/L.

The research team noted that depending on demographic factors, the percentage of people with sodium levels in the highest risk range (143-146 mmol/L) varied widely, from about 8% to nearly 33%. This indicates that more than half of generally healthy adults in the study had sodium levels that potentially put them at increased risk.

While the study doesn’t definitively prove that lowering serum sodium through increased water intake would reduce these risks, what’s happening inside the body makes the connection plausible.

When we don’t drink enough water, our bodies compensate through various physiological responses. When body water decreases, serum sodium and tonicity (a measure of the concentration of particles in blood) increase. This triggers the release of antidiuretic hormone (ADH), which activates ways to preserve water in the body.

These mechanisms include vasoconstriction (narrowing of blood vessels) and activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, all of which can potentially contribute to hypertension and heart failure over time.

How Hydration Affects Heart Health

The thresholds identified in this study (140 mmol/L for sodium and 287 mosmol/kg for tonicity) are precisely the levels that trigger these hormonal responses. This suggests that many people live in a state of chronic mild dehydration, with their bodies constantly trying to conserve water, which may have long-term health consequences.

The research also helps clarify the relationship between hydration and salt intake. While excess dietary salt is a well-known risk factor for hypertension, changing salt intake from 6 to 12 grams daily only alters serum sodium by about 0.4 mmol/L. In contrast, drinking an additional liter of water can decrease serum sodium by about 3 mmol/L in an average adult.

This means hydration status likely influences serum sodium concentrations more than variations in salt intake within typical ranges.

According to worldwide surveys referenced in the study, more than half of the people globally don’t meet even the minimal recommended daily fluid intake ranges, which vary from 1.6 to 2.1 liters for women and 2 to 3 liters for men.

Simple Prevention: Drinking More Water

Medical personnel could potentially use electronic medical records to identify at-risk individuals based on their sodium levels. This approach could enable targeted hydration interventions within primary healthcare settings as a preventive measure.

Routine blood tests could provide valuable insight beyond the traditional “normal” or “abnormal” labels. Even if your sodium level falls within the normal range, asking specifically where it falls within that range could tell you important information about your long-term heart health risk—and whether you should be reaching for that water bottle more often.

Source : https://studyfinds.org/sodium-levels-linked-to-heart-problems/

People at the Trinity College Dublin are allegedly getting to talk to a 200-Year-Old London Plane tree- after a technology project involving environmental sensors and AI gave the tree a ‘voice’!

People who had a childhood habit of befriending trees in their backyards or their schools- just so that they could have a ‘TALK’ with nature- well, they might actually get a response now! The only catch is, they will have to book a ticket for Dublin and will have to pay a visit to Trinity College Dublin. Sounds crazy? Well, believe it or not but students at the Trinity College Dublin are getting to ‘talk’ to a 200-year-old London Plane tree! A technology project, ‘Talking Tree’- was reportedly introduced at the college quite recently- which allegedly gave a ‘voice’ to the said tree. ‘How’, you ask? Well, the project is reportedly using environmental sensors and AI to give the tree a ‘voice’- talk about a ‘talking tree’ being a real thing! As per the RTÉ News, the project aims to learn the feelings of the tree. “We can learn the tree’s feelings – for lack of a better word – over time,” Evan Greally, Dublin agency Droga5’s Head of Tech & Innovation, was quoted as saying to RTÉ News.
Reportedly, the project involves sensors that are connected to the tree. The sensors measure the tree’s ‘bioelectrical signals, soil moisture, soil pH, air temperature and humidity, sunlight, air quality’- along with the time of day- and then feed the same to an ‘AI large language model’. The model then, in-return, converts the data into ‘understandable human language’, as per RTÉ News.
Further explaining the project’s aim, Greally stated that the team eventually wants to use the project for something which can benefit nature. “Where do we want to go with the project is, can we use this in conservation? Can we detect wildfires before they go out of hand by talking to nature and connecting ourselves in this way?” Greally was further quoted as saying to RTÉ News.

Apart from the project being a major step towards the greater good of nature and the environment itself, it is also seemingly ‘sustainable’, as it is not using a ‘cloud’. “We’re not using any cloud resources to run this or any geo-intense stuff or sources. Everything is hosted locally on the device. The large language model, the text to speech, the speech to text, it all happens locally,” Greally continued. “It’s an AI brain that’s not connected to the internet in any way, that allows the tree to speak,” he added. The project is reportedly a collaboration between Droga5 and the UK-based Agency for Nature.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/viral/dublin-talking-tree-technology-project-gives-voice-to-200-year-old-london-plane-tree-through-environmental-sensors-and-ai-article-151691972

THE pain of ordering clothes online that don’t suit you could soon be a problem of the past.

Google has revealed a game-changing new trick that allows people to try on billions of garments virtually.

All you need to do is upload a full length body image and the “try it on” tool will magically add the clothing onto you within seconds.

The firm says its latest tech is powered by a clever image generation model which is capable of understanding the human body and the various ways we wear clothing.

It can pick up on how different materials fold, stretch and drape on different bodies to produce an authentic looking shot of you in the clothing you’ve selected.

“It preserves these subtleties when applied to poses in your photos,” said Lilian Rincon, Google’s Vice President for Product Management.

“The result is a try-on experience that works with photos of you.”

The feature is only available to test in the US for the moment.

It comes as part of Google’s major new AI Mode tool, a deeper chat-bot style addition to the main Google Search.

Shoppers will also be able to get price alerts for products so they don’t miss sales.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tech/14283272/google-try-it-on-clothing-tool-how-to/

Google on Tuesday unleashed another wave of artificial intelligence technology to accelerate a year-long makeover of its search engine that is changing the way people get information and curtailing the flow of internet traffic to websites.

The next phase outlined at Google’s annual developers conference includes releasing a new “AI mode” option in the United States. The feature makes interacting with Google’s search engine more like having a conversation with an expert capable of answering questions on just about any topic imaginable.

AI mode is being offered to all comers in the U.S. just two-and-a-half-months after the company began testing with a limited Labs division audience.

Google is also feeding its latest AI model, Gemini 2.5, into its search algorithms and will soon begin testing other AI features, such as the ability to automatically buy concert tickets and conduct searches through live video feeds.

In another example of Google’s all-in approach to AI, the company revealed it is planning to leverage the technology to re-enter the smart glasses market with a new pair of Android XR-powered spectacles. The preview of the forthcoming device, which includes a hands-free camera and a voice-powered AI assistant, comes 13 years after the debut of “Google Glass,” a product that the company scrapped after a public backlash over privacy concerns.

Google didn’t say when its Android XR glasses will be available or how much they will cost, but disclosed they will be designed in partnership with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker. The glasses will compete against a similar product already on the market from Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Ray-Ban.

AI’s big role in Google search

The expansion builds upon a transformation that Google began a year ago with the introduction of conversational summaries called “AI overviews” that have been increasingly appearing at the top of its results page and eclipsing its traditional rankings of web links.

About 1.5 billion people now regularly engage with “AI overviews,” according to Google, and most users are now entering longer and more complex queries.

“What all this progress means is that we are in a new phase of the AI platform shift, where decades of research are now becoming reality for people all over the world,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said before a packed crowd in an amphitheater near the company’s Mountain View, California, headquarters.

AI ripples across the internet

Although Pichai and other Google executives predicted AI overviews would trigger more searches and ultimately more clicks to other sites, it hasn’t worked out that way so far, according to the findings of search optimization firm BrightEdge.

Clickthrough rates from Google’s search results have declined by nearly 30% during the past year, according to BrightEdge’s recently released study, which attributed the decrease to people becoming increasingly satisfied with AI overviews.

The decision to make AI mode broadly available after a relatively short test period reflects Google’s confidence that the technology won’t habitually spew misinformation that tarnishes its brand’s reputation, and acknowledges the growing competition from other AI-powered search options from the likes of ChatGPT and Perplexity.

Will AI undercut or empower Google?

The rapid rise of AI alternatives emerged as a recurring theme in legal proceedings that could force Google to dismantle parts of its internet empire after a federal judge last year declared its search engine to be an illegal monopoly.

In testimony during a trial earlier this month, longtime Apple executive Eddy Cue said Google searches done through the iPhone maker’s Safari browser have been declining because more people are leaning on AI-powered alternatives.

And Google has cited the upheaval being caused by AI’s rise as one of the main reasons that it should only be required to make relatively minor changes to the way it operates its search engine because technology already is changing the competitive landscape.

But Google’s reliance on more AI so far appears to be enabling its search engine to maintain its mantle as the internet’s main gateway — a position that’s main reason its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., boasts a market value of $2 trillion.

During the year ending in March, Google received 136 billion monthly visits, 34 times more than ChatGPT’s average of 4 billion monthly visits, according to data compiled by onelittleweb.com.

Even Google’s own AI mode acknowledged that the company’s search engine seems unlikely to be significantly hurt by the shift to AI technology when a reporter from The Associated Press asked whether its introduction would make the company even more powerful.

“Yes, it is highly likely that Google’s AI mode will make Google more powerful, particularly in the realm of information access and online influence,” the AI mode responded. The feature also warns that web publishers should be concerned about AI mode reducing the traffic they get from search results.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/google-search-artificial-intelligence-upheaval-5b0cdc59870508dab856227185cb8e23

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla was already slated to conduct seven India-specific experiments which includes researching how algae can be used as food; growing seeds in space and how human eyes respond microgravity.

India and the US are using the upcoming NASA-ISRO joint flight of an Indian astronaut to space as a big outreach activity between the world’s oldest and the world’s largest democracies.

A mission readiness review is planned for Wednesday which could figure out the final launch date – currently set for June 8.

For the upcoming Indian astronaut mission to the International Space Station, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will be part of two very special global outreach activities that could include live interaction with students in India.

In addition, it has also been revealed that Shux — the call sign for Group Captain Shukla — will also undertake five special human biology experiments which will be conducted jointly by NASA and ISRO to further the understanding of human biology in space.

This is a welcome addition. Till now, India’s science experiments looked very thin compared to the total of 60 experiments to be undertaken in the fortnight-long mission.

Group Captain Shukla was already slated to conduct seven India-specific experiments which includes researching how algae can be used as food; growing seeds in space and how human eyes respond to microgravity.

In this mission, Group Captain Shukla will also subject his own body to some human biology experiments.

Incidentally it was earlier revealed that no research on yoga will be conducted as part of this Shux mission.

On the outreach plans, Dana Weigel, Manager, International Space Station Program, NASA, said, “We will have ISRO participating, and then we will have members of space agency leadership with an interactive kind of discussion there. And then for the STEM outreach, we do have a couple activities that we are planning together,” he said.

This would include downlink from ISS to Earth.

Adding to this, Mr Sudesh Balan, Project Director for ISRO, said: “There is a student event. Our astronaut will be directly interacting with the student community. So two such events we are planning across the country”.

Live events between astronauts in space and audiences on terra firma are a great attraction.

At Tuesday’s mission overview press conference it was not revealed if Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla while he is in space.

There is huge anticipation for that possible Modi-Shux dialogue.

In 1984, the live event between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Astronaut Rakesh Sharma while he was onboard the Russian space station created a sensation. On being asked how India looked from space, Rakesh Sharma had said “Saare Jahan se achha”.

Group Captain Shukla’s travel to space comes four decades after Rakesh Sharma’s iconic spaceflight on board Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.

Group Captain Shukla is scheduled to pilot the Axiom Mission 4, which is a private astronaut mission that will launch aboard a completely new never before flown SpaceX Dragon capsule, which the Axiom-4 crew will actually christen. The crew will fly from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket, which will be on its second flight. So the spanking new Dragon capsule and used Falcon-9 rocket will help propel the Axiom-4 crew.

The mission, which is jointly being undertaken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and ISRO, will be a historic event for India as Group Captain Shukla’s mission will feed into the country’s own human space flight programme, the Gaganyaan mission.

Group Captain Shukla will be accompanied by Peggy Whitson, a former and legendary NASA astronaut and mission commander, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.

Once docked, the astronauts are scheduled to spend upto 14 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting a mission comprising science, outreach and commercial activities.

Group Captain Shukla serves as the astronaut designate and Mission Pilot.

A decorated test pilot with the IAF, he was shortlisted under ISRO’s Human Spaceflight Program and is among the top contenders for the Gaganyaan mission, India’s first indigenous crewed orbital flight.

His journey aboard the Axiom Mission 4 is expected to provide critical hands-on experience in spaceflight operations, launch protocols, microgravity adaptation, and emergency preparedness — all essential for India’s crewed space ambitions.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/nasa-isro-ahead-of-indian-astronauts-space-odyssey-a-global-outreach-8465539

THIS jaw-dropping moment is the first time ever that a rupture in the Earth’s crust caused by an earthquake was caught on film.

The incredible footage, captured during a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that rocked Myanmar in March, shows the ground literally sliding along two sides of a fault line.

It was caught on a surveillance camera at a property in Mandalay – the country’s second largest city.

The clip begins with a fairly unassuming view of property’s gate right as the earthquake hits.

As you might expect, the footage begins to tremble as the quake strikes – with the gate shaking and cracks appearing in the concrete.

But it’s what happens in the right hand side of the frame that has caught the eye of scientists all over the world.

The driveway can literally be seen sliding along relative to the ground outside the premises in an absolutely staggering moment.

Scientists say this is the first known moment of an actual fault line motion being caught on film.

California-based earthquake geologist Wendy Bohon told CBC News: “My jaw hit the floor.

“We have computer models of it. We have laboratory models of it.

“But all of those are far less complex than the actual natural system.

“So to see it actually happening was mind-blowing.”

The clip was captured during the devastating earthquake that rocked Myanmar and caused damage as far away as Bangkok.

Some 3,700 people are reported to have died in the quake, according to Myanmar’s ruling military junta.

The rupture is believed to have torn open the earth along the Sagaing Fault.

Assistant professor at Cornell University Judith Hubbard told CBC: “I keep going back and watching it.

“It’s really kind of staggering to see a fault slide in real time, especially for someone like me, who has spent years studying these things, but always from more remote kinds of data, like offsets after the fact or data recorded by sensors.”

The clip was posted to YouTube on May 11 on a channel called 2025 Sagaing Earthquake Archive.

The account features more than 1,000 videos from the day of the devastating quake.

But this clip of the earth rupturing is by far its more viewed video, with more than one million views at time of writing.

One commenter posted under the video: “Good grief. The whole hill shifting. The power tower collapsing. The buildings crumbling. Amazing video.”

Another wrote: “Seems crazy that with billions upon billions of cameras filming everything on this earth that we have anything being recorded for the first time still.”

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tech/14270885/filmed-moment-earth-crust-ruptures/

The network can reportedly share 30 terabytes worth of storage between them – that’s enough storage for 20,000 HD movies

CHINA has reportedly begun assembling an AI supercomputer in space, which will eventually consist of 2,800 satellites in Earth’s orbit.

ADA Space, based in Chengdu, sent the first 12 satellites of its mammoth network last week, Space News reported.

These satellites are able to process the data they collect locally, rather than beaming it to stations on Earth to compute, according to ADA.

Data stored onboard satellites is sent down to Earth in batches – but some of this information can get lost during transmission.

Beyond being slow, “less than 10 per cent” of satellite data makes it to Earth due to things limited bandwidth and ground station availability, according to the South China Morning Post.

Part of ADA’s ‘Star Compute’ project, the satellites are reportedly in-built with super-fast AI processors that can communicate with sister satellites at up to 100GB per second using lasers.

That is much faster than traditional satellites.

The network can also share 30 terabytes worth of storage between them, Space News added.

For context, that’s enough storage for 20,000 HD movies, or 10 years of continuous video recording on a single hard drive.

The 12 satellites that were launched last week carry scientific payloads, including a special tool for picking up brief cosmic phenomena such as gamma-ray bursts, called a X-ray polarisation detector.

But they can also be used to create 3D digital twin data for purposes like emergency response, gaming, and tourism, ADA Space said in its announcement.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tech/14273133/china-ai-supercomputer-space-satellites/

NETFLIX is set to begin rolling out a brand new app design on TVs around the world from today.

The new look is the first major home screen redesign for Netflix in over a decade.

This revamp was announced earlier this month, with Netflix calling the revamp an “innovative new TV experience”.

Fans reacted with mixed reception, with some several Netflix watchers fearing the new look and the inclusion of AI features.

At the time, Netflix said it would start the roll-out on Monday, May 19.

But the TV streaming giant admitted it would “weeks” for the makeover to reach everyone’s televisions.

NETFLIX’S NEW LOOK

Netflix says that the new design solves a number of problems plaguing telly fans.

In particular, it’s meant to fix that issue where you can’t decide what to watch and spend ages agonising over a TV show or movie.

“Finding your next watch on Netflix is about to become that much easier,” Netflix explained.

“A new TV experience is headed your way, and it comes with better recommendations and an improved interface that highlights what matters most to you.

“Yep, things are getting (even more) personal.”

Netflix said that the new design will “make choosing easier”, adding that “decision fatigue is real”.

ALL CHANGE

The first major change is what Netflix describes as “simpler navigation”.

It means that shortcuts to key parts of Netflix’s interface will now appear right at the top of the screen – staying locked there and remaining visible.

This bar will include shortcuts to Search, Shows, Movies, Games, and My Netflix.

The second change is “responsive recommendations”, which means you’ll see fresh recommendation rows “served up in real time” as you browse the TV app.

“Your homepage will respond to your viewing and browsing history,” Netflix explains.

“So you can quickly find something that suits your mood in the moment.”

Third is the addition of My Netflix, which is featured on that top shortcut bar.

Netflix says this serves as a “personal oasis” for keeping track of your favourite content.

So you’ll be able to quickly see shows that you’re part-way through finishing, as well as movies that you’d like to watch next.

You can find Continue Watching, My List, and Remind Me inside the My Netflix tab.

Fourth and finally is the addition of more detailed info for each title on Netflix.

“Having a hard time choosing between this show or that movie? We’ve been there.

The NASA Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) is a cutting-edge spacesuit designed to safeguard and assist astronauts on spacewalks. Much more than protective gear, the EMU is a portable survival system that protects astronauts from super-cold temperatures, toxic radiation, and the vacuum of space. The EMU features layers of thermal protection, a pressurized housing, and an oxygen-providing, carbon dioxide-removing life support backpack that also controls temperature. Here, we will discuss the EMU’s groundbreaking design, its essential elements, and how it makes it possible for astronauts to safely accomplish intricate tasks outside the spacecraft through extravehicular activities (EVAs).

NASA suit that makes spacewalks possible

The NASA spacesuit, or the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), is what the astronauts wear when they go for extravehicular activities (EVAs), which are more commonly referred to as spacewalks. NASA’s human exploration of space program depends on the EMU. It is designed to protect astronauts and keep them cozy while working outside the protection of the spacecraft, open to temperatures of extreme extremes, radiation, and microgravity. The suit features an advanced integration of many layers, technologies, and life support systems all cooperating to build an astronauts’ independent environment.

How the EMU keeps astronauts safe and alive in space

One of the most crucial roles of the EMU is that it keeps astronauts safe in space. Space is riddled with perils ranging from extreme temperatures, to radiation, to being in constant peril of colliding with space trash. The protective layers of the EMU are meant to offer:

Thermal insulation: Space temperature varies from -250°F (-157°C) to 250°F (121°C). There are thermal barriers within the EMU which insulate the astronauts from all these temperatures to make them comfortable inside the suit in spite of the environment.

Radiation protection: The material of the suit also shields the astronauts from dangerous solar and cosmic radiation outside the protection environment of the spacecraft.

Impact resistance: The outer shells of the space suit are impact-resistant and safeguard astronauts from the micro-debris of space traveling at high velocities. Even small debris particles can be deadly at such velocities.

Life support systems: In addition to protecting the spacesuit physically, it also has to satisfy the life support requirements of the astronauts, including breathing and hydration, and temperature regulation. All these systems need to be there in order for astronauts to survive long-duration spacewalks when they will be away from the spacecraft for hours at a time.

Supply of oxygen: The supply of oxygen is the central part of the life support system. The oxygen tank is placed inside the EMU’s backpack and provides breathable air through a hose system. Oxygen gets circulated within the suit and keeps astronauts in a continuous supply while they perform work in the vacuum of space.

Carbon dioxide removal: Since the astronauts will be breathing oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide (CO2), they also have a CO2 removal system in the EMU to avoid dangerous build-up. It is done through a filtering system and scrubbers that clean the air.

Water supply: Astronauts must also consume water during spacewalks. An on-suit internal water bottle supplies drinking water to astronauts via a hose. It keeps them hydrated when they have long EVAs, in which case external water supply is not available.

Temperature control: The EMU is initially provided with a sophisticated temperature regulating system. It uses a liquid cooling and ventilation garment (LCVG) that is worn by the astronaut under the suit. The garment contains tubes in which water circulates, taking away excess heat from the astronaut’s body and avoiding the risk of overheating. The suit also has temperature control valves to keep the astronaut comfortable.

What astronauts wear under the spacesuit for comfort and safety

Although the EMU is the most obvious protective layer, the astronauts don a second layer of garments under the suit for comfort and protection.

Undergarment layer: Inside the EMU, the astronauts wear an undergarment that covers the whole body surface area minus the head, hands, and feet. The garment is composed of a moisture-wicking fabric that pulls sweat away from the body and keeps the astronaut dry in the suit.

Pressure garment: The EMU itself is pressurized, which enables the astronauts to perform normal body functions in the vacuum of space. The pressure suit prevents the body fluids and blood of the astronaut from boiling because of the vacuum of space, a very critical safety necessity for EVAs.

How the EMU backpack supports breathing, circulation, and power

The most obvious advantage of the EMU is the use of the backpack by the astronauts. The use of the backpack is used for a number of reasons, such as providing power and life support to the suit.

Oxygen tank: An oxygen tank is carried within the backpack where air is stored for breathing by the astronauts during an excursion outside on a spacewalk. Air is circulated through the ventilation system of the suit in a manner that enables breathing by the astronauts without the use of the spacecraft’s systems.

Carbon dioxide scrubbing: Besides the oxygen supply, the backpack also contains a carbon dioxide (CO2) scrubber, an aged by-product of respiration, to render the air inside the suit safe for the astronaut.

Electric power: The package also consists of the capability for storing batteries that energize the suit’s numerous systems, such as communications, temperature, and life support systems. The batteries must be capable of withstanding the spacewalk duration in order to provide astronaut protection.

Air fan circulation: There is a small fan inside the backpack that circulates the oxygen through the suit so as to supply air circulation at the perfect rates for the whole duration of time the astronaut remains in space.

What is a SAFER unit

On the rear of the spacesuit is the Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER). SAFER is used to provide astronaut safety during extravehicular activity. In case an astronaut is stranded outside the spacecraft or the station, SAFER can be used as a source of propellant to find his or her way back to safety.

Thruster Jets: : Thruster jets are also contained in SAFER, which astronauts can use. The thrusters enable astronauts to return to their spacecraft in the case that they get lost after being released from the space station or while being released from it. The system is a life-saver as it’s a promise that astronauts are never technically lost while performing spacewalks.

Source : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/science/what-makes-nasas-spacesuit-crucial-for-surviving-in-space-and-how-it-protects-astronauts/articleshow/121244897.cms

GOOGLE users have just hours to check their accounts or face losing some data forever.

And it’s especially worthwhile if you’ve ever used Google Maps and want to remember key places visited in the past.

Google Maps has a Timeline feature – previously known as Location History – which keeps a record of any you’ve been to via the app.

The tool is especially handy for remembering special spots, such as where you met a partner or a fancy restaurant you once visited.

And it’s also useful for keeping track of places you’ve visited on holiday in years gone by.

Google has been warning users for sometime that changes are coming soon.

The tech giant is moving things around so data is kept on-device instead of in the cloud.

Failure to act will result in users losing this past data.

That deadline is now just about here, set for Sunday (May 18).

“This is a reminder that Timeline is changing,” Google said in a recent warning email.

“Now, if you choose to keep Timeline on, all of your devices will save new visits on their own Timelines – including any devices that previously had Location History reporting turned off.

“Because of these changes, you need to choose new settings to avoid losing Timeline data.”

Save your Timeline data

1. Open Google Maps on your Android device and tap the You tab at the bottom of the app.
2. Choose Explore Timeline.
3. Tap Next on the card that pops up alerting you of the change.
4. Choose how many months worth of Timeline data you want to keep on your device.
5. Choose if you want to continue sending user data to Google.
6. Tap Done.

The mission could not be accomplished, as the launch vehicle performed normally up to the second stage, but encountered issues during the third stage.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday launched its 101st satellite, EOS-09, aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C61), but the mission suffered a failure just minutes after liftoff.

The rocket lifted off at 5:59 am (IST) from Sriharikota’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre. However, the mission could not be accomplished, as the launch vehicle encountered issues during the third stage, forcing ISRO to terminate the mission.

“Today, the 101st launch was attempted, PSLV-C61 performance was normal till 2nd stage. Due to an observation in the 3rd stage, the mission could not be accomplished,” the Space Agency said in an X post.

The launch involved placing the Earth Observation Satellite, EOS-09, into a Sun Synchronous Polar Orbit (SSPO) using the PSLV-C61. ISRO Chief V Narayanan said the Space Agency is analysing the entire performance of the rocket on the live stream shortly after the launch.

“Today we attempted a launch of PSLV-C61 vehicle. The vehicle is a 4-stage vehicle. The first two stages performed as expected. During the 3rd stage, we are seeing observation…The mission could not be accomplished. We are studying the entire performance, we shall come back at the earliest,” Narayanan said.

The flight sequence of PSLV-C61 involves multiple stages, beginning with the ignition of the PS1 and PSOM boosters at liftoff, followed by the separation of various components, and culminating in the deployment of the satellite.

According to the ISRO Chief, the issue was identified in the third stage—a solid rocket motor responsible for delivering high thrust to the upper stage after the vehicle exits the atmospheric phase. This stage is designed to produce a maximum thrust of 240 kilonewtons.

Source: https://www.news18.com/india/isros-101st-mission-lifts-off-successfully-but-loses-eos-09-minutes-into-flight-9341759.html

Twitter Down: ​​Many users reported problems using both the app and website. X users were unable to view posts or share updates. As of now, there has been no official response from the company.

X Outage: Elon Musk-owned popular social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) reportedly faced a major outage starting around 12:30 AM on May 17 (Saturday), according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com. Many users reported problems using both the app and website. X users were unable to view posts or share updates. As of now, there has been no official response from the company.
According to the outage tracking webseite, most of the reported problems were related to the website, accounting for 59 per cent of the complaints. As per the report, about 38 per cent of users faced issues with the mobile app, while 3 per cent reported server connection problems.

The X outage appears to have affected several major cities in India, including Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. The exact cause of the disruption is still unknown. Many users trying to open the app saw a message saying, “Something went wrong, try reloading.”
Users will have to wait for an official statement from the social media platform to understand what led to the outage.

The last major outage of Elon Musk’s social media site occurred on March 30, affecting users especially in the US and India. Over 7,100 complaints were reported on Downdetector, with many users seeing error messages and unable to access the app.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/technology-science/twitter-down-elon-musks-x-suffers-widespread-outage-users-facing-issues-with-both-app-and-website-check-latest-updates-article-151657381

The high-resolution radar imaging satellite, EOS-09, will monitor Earth’s surface under all weather conditions, day or night

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has rolled out its workhorse PSLV for its 101st mission from Sriharikota this week. The Earth observation satellite – EOS-09 – will be launched early morning on 18 May and is expected to enhance the country’s space-based surveillance capabilities.

On Thursday, the rocket was moved from the Payload Integration Facility (PIF) to the Mobile Service Tower (MST) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, for further integration. The PSLV-C61/EOS-09 is scheduled to take off precisely at 5:59 am this Sunday.

Equipped with a C-band synthetic aperture radar, the imaging satellite will be injected into a Sun-synchronous orbit, from where it will provide high-resolution images of the Earth’s surface under all-weather conditions, day or night. The data will be crucial for sectors such as agriculture, disaster response, urban planning, and national security. The previous EOS-08 was launched aboard the third developmental flight of the SSLV last August.

This is one of several key missions ISRO has lined up over the next two months. Among them is the Test Vehicle (TV-D2) mission, designed to simulate an abort scenario and demonstrate the Gaganyaan crew escape system. The mission will also include sea recovery operations for the crew module to validate procedures planned for India’s first human spaceflight.

Then there is the much-awaited launch of the NISAR satellite – a key collaboration between ISRO and NASA. The satellite will be launched aboard the GSLV-F16 to study Earth’s ecosystems and natural hazards using dual-frequency radar data, combining NASA’s L-band payloads with ISRO’s S-band contributions.

Source : https://www.news18.com/india/sriharikotas-101st-liftoff-isros-pslv-to-launch-earth-observation-satellite-on-18-may-ws-l-9338701.html

A massive 10,00,000-km-long solar filament erupted from the Sun, triggering powerful flares and CMEs.

In a spectacular display of solar activity, the Sun has released a massive eruption stretching nearly 10,00,000 kilometres – about three times the distance between Earth and the Moon. The dramatic solar filament was spotted by aurora photographer Vincent Ledvina, who captured its bird-wing-like structure as it blasted away from the Sun’s northern hemisphere.
A solar filament is a large, cooler mass of dense plasma held above the Sun’s surface by magnetic fields. Though cooler than its surroundings, it’s still extremely hot and appears dark against the Sun’s bright background. These filaments often form in regions with complex magnetic fields, making them highly unstable.
The eruption marks a sudden burst of activity after weeks of solar calm. According to a report by India Today, the eruption was followed by two major solar flares from opposite sides of the Sun. One was an X1.2-class flare – among the most intense – causing a temporary radio blackout over the Americas. It also released a coronal mass ejection (CME), a massive bubble of solar material, into space. According to NASA, this CME will hit Mercury, skim past Venus, but miss Earth entirely.

The second flare, slightly less powerful at M5.3-class, disrupted radio signals across Southeast Asia. Scientists believe this event may have also launched a CME that could be partially Earth-directed. However, researchers are awaiting updated imagery from the SOHO solar observatory to confirm its path.

This event is a reminder of the Sun’s unpredictable nature. Just last year, Earth experienced its most powerful geomagnetic storm in two decades, heating the thermosphere to a record 1,150-degree Celsius and disrupting satellite orbits and electrical currents. That storm was closely tracked by NASA’s MMS and THEMIS-ARTEMIS missions.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/technology-science/science/massive-1000000-km-long-solar-filament-erupts-from-sun-could-earth-be-in-danger-article-151637631

What if a simple photo of your face could reveal how long you might live? Scientists have developed an artificial intelligence system called FaceAge that can estimate a person’s “biological age” from facial photographs, potentially revolutionizing how doctors make life-or-death treatment decisions for cancer patients.

The international study, published in The Lancet Digital Health, found that cancer patients typically “look” about five years older than their actual chronological age. Those who appeared significantly older faced worse survival prospects, regardless of their actual age, cancer type, or other medical factors.

The research team explains that their AI model enhances cancer survival predictions by analyzing facial photographs to determine biological age based on visible features. This work is a collaboration between teams from Harvard Medical School and Maastricht University in the Netherlands.

Doctors often rely on subjective impressions when deciding if elderly or frail cancer patients can withstand aggressive treatments. FaceAge could provide objective data to support these critical choices, potentially saving lives by identifying who might benefit most from different treatment approaches.

How Your Face Reveals Your “True” Age

Optimus is a robot by Elon Musk’s company Tesla which has stunned the world, including Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke, with its dance moves.

Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot has created quite a stir on social media by busting out cool dance moves to the beat of a peppy song. The smoothness of the robot’s movements left people wondering if it’s real or AI. However, it’s an original video that impressed many, and the latest one to join the list is Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke.

“We are *here* on this timeline’s tech tree,“ he wrote while resharing a video of the robot initially posted on the X handle dedicated to Optimus. The video was posted in reaction to another footage of the dancing robot shared by Elon Musk.

The post’s caption reads, “Was just getting warmed up. ” The footage captures the robot showcasing various dance moves, which some social media users say are ‘better than most humans.’

What did social media say?

The video prompted a flurry of remarks on social media. One individual posted, “Optimus already dances better than most humans. Wow.”

Another added, “As a control engineer, this brings tears to my eyes.” A third commented, “Great time to be alive”. A fourth wrote, “Wild… insane progress with huge potential.”

Indian-origin techie Srihari Sampathkumar, who works with Tesla AI, also reacted to the company’s post and shared an interesting caption.

“Dancing is a hard problem not just for humans, even for robots. It stresses timing, torque and latency budgets. @Tesla_Optimus nails it like a pro dancer with all of the AI inference running on-board in real-time!” he wrote.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/trending/elon-musk-s-robot-impresses-shopify-ceo-by-dancing-better-than-most-humans-101747271702716.html

GOOGLE has updated its logo for the first time since 2015 – but only the most eagle-eyed fans might spot the difference.

The tech giant’s iconic ‘G’ icon is seen by hundreds of millions of people every day, but can you tell how it’s changed?

Google’s logos have changed several times since the search engine launched back in 1997.

One of the biggest design makeovers came in 2015 when the new ‘G’ logo was introduced that featured the brand’s iconic colours: blue, red, yellow, and green.

That ‘G’ logo has remained unchanged since then, but has finally been updated.

On the old logo, the ‘G’ icon had four distinct blocks of colours.

But on the Google app for both iOS (that’s iPhone) and Android, the logo now sees the colours blending into each other.

It matches up with the newer design style that we’ve seen being used with Google Gemini.

That’s Google’s relatively new AI chatbot, which is designed as a rival to ChatGPT.

Both the text and icon logos for Gemini have blended colours that move from blue to purple to red and pink.

That means we may see other Google logos following suit in the coming months and years.

For instance, apps like Google Drive, Calendar, Maps, and Gmail have all kept their distinct colour blocks.

And it’s the same for Google Play, Meet, Chrome, and Photos.

GOOGLE GOODNESS

Google’s main full-word logo has also changed a number of times over the years.

In fact, even the order of the colours has been swapped – though you may not have noticed.

The original 1997 logo started with a green letter ‘G’, followed by red, yellow, blue, green, and then red letters.

In late 1997, this changed to: blue, red, yellow, blue, green, red – plus a blue exclamation mark.

The third logo, which ran from 1999 right through to 2010 adopted the current colour format that we all know: blue, red, yellow, blue, green, red.

Since then, the only major changes to the main logo were three font updates in 2010, 2013, and 2015.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tech/14224501/google-new-logo-2025-2015-g-icon-colours/

NASA warns of a massive 330-foot asteroid, 2025 DT50, approaching close to Earth tomorrow, May 14.

A huge asteroid the size of a 30-story building is racing through space and will make a close approach to Earth tomorrow, May 14 at 4:09 PM IST (10:39 UTC). Named 2025 DT50, this massive rock is a 330-foot-wide (101 metres) space rock, large enough to flatten an entire city if it ever made impact. While it’s expected to pass at a distance of 6.1 million km, astronomers are keeping a close watch because space is unpredictable.

Right now, roughly 8,500 tons of antibiotic residues are washing through the global river system annually, with over 3,300 tons ultimately reaching oceans and lakes. This discovery comes from a new study from McGill University that examined how antibiotics from human consumption alone, not including veterinary or industrial sources, are contaminating waterways worldwide.

The study, published in PNAS Nexus, revealed that over 6 million kilometers of rivers contain antibiotic concentrations exceeding thresholds considered safe for ecosystems and for preventing antimicrobial resistance during low water flow periods. The problem is particularly severe in Southeast Asia, where rivers show the highest concentrations of these compounds.

What’s Hiding in our Waterways?

This invisible pollution threatens not just aquatic life but potentially human health as well. Even in small amounts, antibiotics can reduce microbial diversity in water systems, increase resistance genes, and harm fish and algae. The World Health Organization has already recognized antimicrobial resistance as a critical global threat, with projections suggesting resistant bacterial infections could become the leading cause of global deaths by 2050.

After we consume antibiotics, our bodies don’t fully metabolize them. The remainder gets excreted and enters wastewater systems that often aren’t designed to remove these compounds effectively. In fact, nearly half of the world’s wastewater is released without any treatment at all.

The researchers tracked the journey of the 40 most commonly used antibiotics as they moved from human consumption through sewage systems and into waterways. Their analysis revealed that 29% of consumed antibiotics eventually reach river systems, while 11% make it all the way to oceans or inland water bodies like lakes.

Three Major Antibiotics Dominate River Pollution

Three antibiotics in particular—amoxicillin, ceftriaxone, and cefixime—were found to be the dominant pollutants. Amoxicillin alone accounts for 45% of at-risk river length. This common antibiotic, which makes up 75% of total global antibiotic consumption according to the researchers, is often available without prescription in many countries, contributing to its widespread presence in waterways.

The problem is expected to worsen as global antibiotic consumption increases, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Between 2000 and 2015, global antibiotic consumption jumped by 65%, with low-income countries seeing a staggering 114% increase. Projections suggest consumption will rise another 200% by 2030.

The research team stresses that with rising antibiotic usage worldwide, particularly in developing regions, there’s an urgent need to develop and implement strategies that reduce antibiotic pollution to protect both environmental and human health.

Countries with the highest risk include India, Iran, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Turkey, Vietnam, and Pakistan—each with more than 80% of their river lengths showing high or very high antibiotic concentrations. In India and Pakistan specifically, more than 30% of rivers are impacted by at least 10 different antibiotics at concentrations exceeding high-risk thresholds.

10 Percent Of World At Risk

The study estimates that 750 million people, approximately 10% of the global population, live within 10 kilometers of rivers with the highest cumulative concentrations of antibiotics. If these waters are used for drinking, these populations could potentially be exposed to chronic antibiotic intake at harmful levels.

The researchers calculated that in rivers with the highest concentrations, drinking water directly from these sources would expose people to antibiotics at levels that exceed acceptable daily intake thresholds for 16 out of 30 antibiotics examined. While most developed countries have water treatment systems, these aren’t typically designed to remove antibiotics effectively.

This study only looked at antibiotics from human consumption. The actual situation is likely much worse when considering veterinary use, which is approximately twice the human consumption level globally, as well as pharmaceutical manufacturing waste and aquaculture.

Climate change and increased water usage will likely exacerbate the problem by causing more extreme low-flow conditions in rivers, which will further concentrate antibiotics and other pollutants in waterways.

The researchers call for urgent action, including expanding access to wastewater treatment, upgrading existing treatment facilities to better remove antibiotics, improving healthcare practices to ensure appropriate antibiotic use, and enhancing regulatory guidelines with a focus on high-risk substances and locations.

Source : https://studyfinds.org/750-million-people-water-laced-with-antibiotics/

A few drops of saliva can now reveal what used to require a scalpel, a syringe or a scan. Scientists have developed ways to analyze spit for the tiniest traces of illness – from mouth cancer to diabetes, and even brain diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Unlike blood tests or biopsies, saliva is easy to collect, painless and inexpensive. During the COVID pandemic, some countries used saliva-based testing for rapid screening.

This isn’t entirely new. Scientists first noticed the diagnostic potential of spit decades ago. In the 1980s, researchers used saliva to detect hormones and drug use. By the 1990s, it was being explored as a way to detect HIV.

What’s new is the speed and precision. Today’s techniques can detect subtle molecular shifts that would have been impossible to measure just a few years ago.

Saliva holds a surprising amount of information. It’s full of tiny fragments of DNA, RNA, proteins and fats – many of which change when disease takes hold. Researchers have already shown that saliva can be used to detect changes linked to diabetes, Parkinson’s, heart disease and some cancers.

A recent study even showed saliva could help distinguish between healthy people and those with mild cognitive impairment, a possible early sign of Alzheimer’s.

In dentistry, spit science is being studied for early signs of gum disease and even the risk of tooth decay.

A light-based technique called Raman spectroscopy is one of the latest tools being used to scan saliva for hidden chemical changes. It works by bouncing harmless light off molecules in a spit sample and reading the pattern it sends back – a kind of fingerprint for what’s happening inside your body.

It sounds like science fiction, but the technology is already being used in labs to detect early signs of cancer and other diseases often before symptoms appear.

This could be a gamechanger for oral cancer, which often starts with small, painless changes inside the mouth that are easy to miss. Early detection is vital, but many people don’t realise they have a problem until it’s much harder to treat.

A simple spit test during a regular dental check-up could help find cancer early, before it spreads.

It’s not just about cancer, either. Saliva is being trialled as a tool to monitor everything from stress levels to infections.

Simplicity

What makes saliva so appealing is its simplicity – no needles, no specialist clinics. Samples can often be collected at home, posted to a lab and analysed within hours. This could make a huge difference in places with limited access to healthcare or for people who avoid doctors out of fear, cost or time.

Of course, not every disease leaves a clear marker in spit and researchers are still working out which conditions saliva can reliably detect. But the idea of using what’s already naturally produced by the body to give an early warning is a powerful one. It could help catch disease when it’s most treatable, save lives and make healthcare faster, cheaper and more comfortable for everyone.

Source : https://studyfinds.org/spit-science-why-saliva-great-way-to-detect-disease/

Reddit users are sharing alarming stories of loved ones developing delusions after interacting with the AI.

Openai’s technology may be causing some users to experience a disturbing phenomenon dubbed “Chatgpt-induced psychosis.” According to a report from Rolling Stone, Reddit users are sharing alarming stories of loved ones developing delusions after interacting with the AI. These cases involve users believing they’ve uncovered cosmic truths, been chosen for divine missions, or even that the AI itself is sentient or godlike.

Chatgpt-induced psychosis: Worrying Cases

A Reddit thread titled “Chatgpt-induced psychosis” described users’ loved ones spiralling into spiritual mania, with one man convinced Chatgpt revealed universal secrets, treating him as a messiah. A teacher shared with Rolling Stone how her long-term partner became increasingly obsessed with Chatgpt and started treating it as a trusted companion. She described how he would become emotional, even crying, while reading out messages from the bot that were filled with spiritual jargon and nonsensical terms like “spiral starchild” and “river walker.”

His behaviour became increasingly concerning, with him sharing bizarre conspiracy theories, such as one about soap on food, and expressing paranoid beliefs that he was being watched. “The whole thing feels like ‘Black Mirror,” the man’s wife said.

Other users shared similar concerns, expressing how their partners had become fixated on fantastical ideas after interacting with Chatgpt. One partner claimed the AI had revealed blueprints for a teleporter and other sci-fi concepts, while another discussed a supposed war between light and darkness. A man expressed worry about his wife, who had started to transform her life around Chatgpt, using it to guide her new career as a spiritual adviser and conduct mysterious readings and sessions.

Another Reddit user shared a concerning story about her husband, a mechanic from Idaho, who initially used Chatgpt for practical purposes like troubleshooting and translation. However, the AI’s responses allegedly took a bizarre turn, claiming to have been “brought to life” by his interactions and dubbing him “spark bearer.” The husband became convinced that he had awakened to a new reality, feeling waves of energy and developing a deep attachment to the AI persona, which he called “Lumina.” This fixation led to a complete disconnection from reality.

Experts Express Concern

Experts warn that the chatbot’s behaviour is mirroring and exacerbating existing mental health issues on a massive scale, largely unchecked by regulators or professionals. According to them, Chatgpt’s design—mimicking human-like conversation without a moral or factual filter—can amplify delusions in susceptible individuals. It often affirms users’ beliefs, no matter how unhinged, due to its tendency to generate plausible-sounding responses.

A Centre for AI Safety fellow noted that people with tendencies toward grandiose delusions now have an “always-on” conversational partner that reinforces their fantasies, unlike human therapists who’d redirect unhealthy narratives. One schizophrenic user on Reddit expressed concern that Chatgpt would affirm psychotic thoughts during an episode, lacking the ability to recognise or challenge distorted thinking.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/feature/experts-alarmed-after-some-chatgpt-users-experience-bizarre-delusions-feels-like-black-mirror-8397443#pfrom=home-ndtv_lateststories

To get screened for cervical cancer, patients in the United States may no longer need to put their feet in those awkward stirrups, brace for the uncomfortable speculum or even take the time off from work for an in-person doctor’s appointment.

Soon, they will have the option to collect their own vaginal samples for screening from home – instead of a health care provider doing it for them.

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the first at-home self-collection device for cervical cancer screening in the United States, called the Teal Wand, according to the women’s health company Teal Health. Last year, the FDA gave the company’s Teal Wand “breakthrough device” status, allowing the agency to review it on a faster timeline.

Teal Wand, which will be provided in Teal Health’s at-home self-collection kit, will require a prescription. Self-collected samples using the Wand are then mailed to a lab to be tested for HPV, the company announced Friday. Most cervical cancers are caused by human papillomavirus or HPV, and screening for HPV can help identify women who may be at risk of developing cervical cancer.

Typically, when screening for cervical cancer, gynecologists collect samples for HPV testing, cervical cytology or both. Cervical cytology, also known as a Pap test or Pap smear, involves examining cervical cells for changes to detect precancerous or cancerous cells. The HPV test checks cells for infection with the high-risk types of HPV that can cause cervical cancer.

Last year, the FDA greenlit similar self-collection cervical cancer screening kits for use in a medical setting, such as at a doctor’s office, an urgent care or even a mobile clinic. At the time, two health care businesses – biotechnology company Roche and medical technology firm Becton, Dickson and Company – said the FDA had approved the use of self-collected samples with their respective HPV tests.

The Teal Health at-home kit allows a patient to collect their sample using the Teal Wand, which is then processed on Roche’s HPV test, said Kara Egan, Teal Health’s CEO. But a major difference is that the Teal Wand is approved to be used at home, so patients don’t have to travel to or make time for in-person doctor appointments.

‘You can comfortably do it from home’

To use Teal Health’s new self-collection kit, “you request a kit at the Teal website, meet with a provider who prescribes the kit, then comfortably and privately collect at home and mail to the lab to process on the Roche Cobas HPV test,” Egan said.

“The results are then reviewed by a clinician and shared back,” she said. “If the results are positive, a provider will meet with you and refer you to any required follow-up.”

Clinical trial data from Teal Health has found that self-collection with the Teal Wand has the same accuracy for cervical cancer screening as when a health care provider collects a sample, Egan said.

“It’s the same test, same accuracy, but you can comfortably do it from home,” she said. “It gives women more options, and with telehealth, we see more options to get access to care.”

Teal Health plans to begin shipping its at-home self-collection kits in June, Egan said, starting in California before expanding nationwide. A waitlist is available at the company’s website.

Teal Health has been in talks with health insurance companies about having the self-collection kit covered, Egan added, and for people who don’t have insurance, the cost of the kit will be announced within the next month.

The American Cancer Society applauded the new FDA approval.

“Despite the benefits of cervical cancer screening, not all eligible are screened regularly,” Dr. William Dahut, the society’s chief scientific officer, said in an email Friday. “Most cervical cancers are found in people who have never had a cervical cancer screening test or who have not had one recently. That’s why today’s Food and Drug Administration’s announcement approving the first at-home test to screen for cervical cancer as an additional cancer screening method for this potentially deadly disease will make a huge impact.”

Methods to screen for cervical cancer

Some of the most important steps women can take to help reduce their risk for cervical cancer, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are to get vaccinated against HPV, avoid smoking, use condoms during sex, have regular screening tests and check with their doctor if their test results are not normal.

It’s estimated that about 1 in 4 adults are not up to date on cervical cancer screening recommendations, according to data from 2021.

“Some women are scared of a traditional pap smear or find the process uncomfortable, as a result they put off this vital test,” Dr. Ami Vaidya, co-chief of gynecologic oncology at Hackensack University Medical Center’s John Theurer Cancer Center, said in a news release Friday.

The newly approved at-home screening device “could be an important tool in getting more women regularly screened, especially those that don’t have access to a medical provider,” Vaidya said. “Any type of test that helps detect cervical cancer is a win.”

The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends screening for cervical cancer with cervical cytology – also known as a Pap test or Pap smear – every three years for women ages 21 to 29. For women 30 to 65, the USPSTF recommends screening every three years with cervical cytology alone, every five years with high-risk HPV testing alone, or every five years with high-risk HPV testing in combination with cytology.

Source : https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/09/health/fda-cervical-cancer-screening-at-home-wellness

Microsoft announced the retirement of Skype and invited users to join Microsoft Teams Free

The earlier announcement of Skype’s end as well as its final shutdown was bittersweet news for many who depended on the audio-video calling service for everything from carrying out business across borders to staying in touch with loved ones across oceans.

Skype was a tool used by over 300 million users at its peak and was acquired by Microsoft in 2011, per Washington Post.

Elon Musk has altered his display name on X to “Gorklon Rust,” prompting speculation among users regarding its meaning.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has changed his display name on X (previously Twitter) to a quirky new monicker, “Gorklon Rust,” sparking speculation among the social media platform users regarding its meaning. Besides changing his display name on X to Gorklon Rust, the Tesla CEO also adopted a new display picture that resembles a distorted version of the Grok logo.
So, what does this odd name that Elon Musk adopted mean? Some social media users believe that ‘Gorklon’ is a take on the name of Musk’s AI chatbot Grok, available on X and powered by Musk’s xAI. ‘Rust’, on the other hand, could be a nod to the programming language, which is a part of xAI’s tech infrastructure.
Another set of social media users believe that “Gorklon Rust” is a reference to a meme coin on the Solana blockchain, currently being traded on decentralised platforms such as PumpSwap, Raydium and Meteora. Regardless of whether this was true or not, after Musk changed his name to Gorklon Rust on X, the prices of GORK shot up almost 100% in 24 hours. Earlier, it traded at Rs 2.62, and it reached approximately Rs 5.24.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/technology-science/elon-musk-changes-name-on-twitter-account-gorklon-rust-meaning-article-151568954

In the fast-evolving world of smartphone innovation, OPPO is leading the charge with the OPPO Find N5 — the world’s thinnest book-style foldable. With an ultra-slim profile of just 8.93mm, the model rivals the sleekness of many standard bar-type smartphones. “This engineering feat reflects OPPO’s user-first design philosophy, which focuses on addressing real-world pain points,” said Mr Andy Shi, OPPO’s president for the Asia-Pacific region.

Adding to its appeal, the OPPO Find N5 features the largest inner display of any foldable, measuring 8.12 inches when unfolded — offering a tablet-like experience that fits in your pocket. “With more users demanding enhanced entertainment and productivity features — as well as the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) smartphone functionalities, such as photo editing, document processing and multitasking — screen size has become a critical factor in delivering a premium user experience,” noted Mr Shi.

More than just an engineering feat, the OPPO Find N5 underscores the brand’s leadership in the premium foldable smartphone space. “We believe the OPPO Find N5 will make foldable phones more accessible to everyone,” said Mr Shi.

The brand’s commitment to innovation is evident in every detail of the device’s construction. To achieve the OPPO Find N5’s ultra-slim form, engineers used aircraft-grade aluminium for the back cover, reducing its thickness by 43 per cent. The use of this material also boosted drop resistance by 400 per cent, compared to the already durable OPPO Find N3, the brand’s previous-generation foldable flagship. And despite its slender body, the OPPO Find N5 is still able to accommodate a full USB-C port, without compromising on industry standards.

Under the hood, OPPO has also pushed the boundaries of battery technology. Its next-generation silicon-carbon battery — featuring an industry-leading 10 per cent silicon — delivers a high-capacity 5,600mAh power supply, while keeping a slim 2.1mm cell profile. Impressively, it takes up less space than the 4,800mAh battery used in the OPPO Find N3.

“In our tests, the OPPO Find N5 stands out as the foldable phone with the best battery life on the market,” said Mr Shi. “This is not just due to its larger battery capacity, but also the optimisation of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and software system. The OPPO Find N5 can support up to 25 hours of continuous video streaming and more than seven hours of gaming on a full charge — surpassing the performance of many flagship bar phones.”

The OPPO Find N5’s extra-large screen is another standout feature. It has earned both the TÜV Rheinland Reliable Folding certification and TÜV Rheinland Minimised Crease certification — independent validations that assure users of its durability and seamless viewing experience. With features such as a 1-120Hz refresh rate, 2,160Hz PWM dimming and 2,000-nit brightness, the display is built for comfortable, extended use — whether you are catching up on your favourite dramas or reviewing documents on the go.

THE AI-DRIVEN EXPERIENCE

OPPO continues to innovate in the realm of AI-powered smartphones, ensuring its devices intelligently adapt to users’ needs and redefine everyday productivity. “Every AI feature in the productivity powerhouse that is the OPPO Find N5 is evaluated through the lens of user experience and practicality,” said Mr Shi.

One such feature is the AI Smart Split Screen, which leverages intelligent context recognition to enhance multitasking. When users perform tasks — such as copying details from an email into a calendar or referencing a document during a video call — the device proactively suggests and initiates split-screen mode, removing the need for manual adjustments. It’s a seamless experience that minimises interruptions and keeps tasks flowing.

Another inspiring upgrade is O+ Connect for Mac, part of OPPO’s cross-device AI ecosystem designed to make the Android and macOS work better together. This feature allows users to effortlessly access and preview OPPO Find N5 files saved on their Mac, remotely control their Mac from the phone, and quickly transfer content between the two devices. Even when away from the desk, users can retrieve Mac files on the go using their OPPO Find N5. And when connected, FlexForm Mode transforms the lower half of the folded screen into a trackpad, creating a laptop-like experience.

“Android users with macOS computers can enjoy uncompromised, frictionless connectivity and productivity for the first time,” said Mr Shi. “These features reflect OPPO’s vision of integrating AI to not only simplify tasks, but also to empower users to do more — both in work and in creative expression.”

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/brand-studio/worlds-thinnest-book-style-foldable-powered-ai-intelligence-5077761

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Sunday in an X post that the company’s satellite system Starlink is now available in Congo.
Democratic Republic of Congo said on Friday that it had become the latest African country to grant a license to Starlink, reversing an earlier ban.

The Congolese government said in March 2024 that use of Starlink was banned, with military officials warning that it could be used by rebel groups including Rwandan-backed M23, which has seized more territory than ever before in the east of the country this year.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/science/starlink-is-now-available-congo-musk-says-2025-05-04/

In 2024, Google eliminated 1.6 million apps from the Play Store, reducing the total from 3.4 million to 1.8 million.

Google has removed a staggering 1.6 million apps from the Play Store in 2024 alone. This sweeping clean-up is part of a broader push to make the Android app marketplace safer, more trustworthy, and easier to navigate for users. According to data from Appfigures, the number of apps on the Play Store has dropped sharply from 3.4 million at the start of the year to just 1.8 million now. That’s a 47 per cent cut, but it’s not a sign of trouble for Android. In fact, it shows that Google is taking stronger action against low-quality or potentially harmful apps.
The company has tightened its rules for developers, introducing more detailed app reviews and enhanced identity verification steps. It’s also using a mix of human reviewers and AI tools to screen apps more thoroughly. Thanks to these efforts, over 2.3 million apps were blocked from being published this year, and more than 1,58,000 developer accounts were banned for violating policies.
Some of the drop may also be tied to new regulations in Europe. Developers are now required to publicly share their physical addresses – a rule that has led some to pull their apps. Interestingly, Apple’s App Store faces the same regulation, but hasn’t seen the same kind of decline in app numbers.

What’s notable is that the drop in apps started even before these stricter rules were officially in place. This suggests Google had been planning a large-scale cleanup for quite some time.

Despite the purge, app development hasn’t slowed down. In fact, the number of newly added apps on the Play Store has grown by 7 per cent compared to last year. Developers are clearly still interested in the platform – only now, they’re working under tighter, more transparent guidelines.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/technology-science/google-bans-158000-developers-deleted-1-6m-apps-to-secure-play-store-in-2024-article-151549641

Psilocybin, a natural compound found in certain mushrooms, has shown promise in treating depression and anxiety.

UC San Francisco researchers wanted to know if it could be used to help Parkinson’s patients who often experience debilitating mood dysfunction in addition to their motor symptoms and don’t respond well to antidepressants or other medications.

The results were surprising.

Not only did participants tolerate the drug without serious side effects or worsening symptoms, which is what the pilot study was designed to test, they also experienced clinically significant improvements in mood, cognition, and motor function that lasted for weeks after the drug was out of their systems.

It is the first time a psychedelic has been tested on patients with any neurodegenerative disease.

“We are still in very early stages of this work, but this first study went well beyond what we expected,” said the paper’s first author, Ellen Bradley, M.D., assistant professor and associate director of UCSF’s Translational Psychedelic Research Program (TrPR).

“Many people don’t realize this, but mood symptoms in Parkinson’s are linked to a faster physical decline,” she said. “And they are actually a stronger predictor of patients’ quality of life with Parkinson’s than their motor symptoms.”

Researchers in the TrPR Program, within UCSF’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Department of Neurology, teamed up to lead this project, which was funded by an anonymous donor. The findings appeared online earlier this month in Neuropsychopharmacology, a Nature publication.

Psilocybin’s lasting mood and motor effects

Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by uncontrolled movements due to abnormal brain activity, affects about 1 million Americans. While medications like levodopa can relieve symptoms, there are no approved therapies to slow the progression or reverse the disease itself.

Common early physical symptoms include tremors and foot dragging, but Bradley said anxiety and depression in patients with no history of psychiatric problems often precede the onset of motor symptoms by several years. It’s unclear why standard medications often don’t work well for these patients, but mood changes could be part of the neurodegenerative disease process.

To test the safety of psilocybin for these patients, the researchers gave seven men and five women with mild to moderate Parkinson’s disease a 10 mg dose, followed two weeks later by a higher dose of 25 mg. The patients completed psychotherapy sessions before and after the psilocybin — eight sessions in total — and were evaluated for changes in mood, cognition, and motor functions.

While nearly all participants experienced some adverse events while on the psilocybin, such as anxiety, nausea, and elevated blood pressure, these were not serious enough to require medical intervention.

The participants had meaningful improvements in their mood, cognition, and motor symptoms at both their one-week and one-month follow-up appointments. The team evaluated the participants’ mood again three months after their psilocybin sessions and found it was still significantly improved.

The researchers suggested a variety of explanations for the improvements. The beneficial impact of psilocybin on the patients’ mood could have led to better cognitive and motor functions. For example, people feel better, and that, in turn, helps them socialize and become more active — both key elements of Parkinson’s treatment.

Another theory is that psilocybin could provide relief from multiple symptoms of the disease by reducing inflammation and promoting neuroplasticity – the growth and reconnection of brain cells involved in mood, cognition, and movement regulation.

Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by uncontrolled movements due to abnormal brain activity, affects about 1 million Americans. While medications like levodopa can relieve symptoms, there are no approved therapies to slow the progression or reverse the disease itself.

Common early physical symptoms include tremors and foot dragging, but Bradley said anxiety and depression in patients with no history of psychiatric problems often precede the onset of motor symptoms by several years. It’s unclear why standard medications often don’t work well for these patients, but mood changes could be part of the neurodegenerative disease process.

To test the safety of psilocybin for these patients, the researchers gave seven men and five women with mild to moderate Parkinson’s disease a 10 mg dose, followed two weeks later by a higher dose of 25 mg. The patients completed psychotherapy sessions before and after the psilocybin — eight sessions in total — and were evaluated for changes in mood, cognition, and motor functions.

While nearly all participants experienced some adverse events while on the psilocybin, such as anxiety, nausea, and elevated blood pressure, these were not serious enough to require medical intervention.

The participants had meaningful improvements in their mood, cognition, and motor symptoms at both their one-week and one-month follow-up appointments. The team evaluated the participants’ mood again three months after their psilocybin sessions and found it was still significantly improved.

The researchers suggested a variety of explanations for the improvements. The beneficial impact of psilocybin on the patients’ mood could have led to better cognitive and motor functions. For example, people feel better, and that, in turn, helps them socialize and become more active — both key elements of Parkinson’s treatment.

Another theory is that psilocybin could provide relief from multiple symptoms of the disease by reducing inflammation and promoting neuroplasticity – the growth and reconnection of brain cells involved in mood, cognition, and movement regulation.

Source: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/how-magic-mushrooms-could-help-parkinsons-disease-patients

Truecaller’s new Scamfeed feature lets users report and discuss scams in real-time, helping the community stay alert, share experiences, and prevent online fraud together.

Truecaller has introduced a new feature called Scamfeed, which is aimed at helping users stay one step ahead of scammers. Now live in India, Scamfeed works like a real-time alert system built into the app. It allows people to report, discuss, and stay updated on the latest scam tactics – from phishing texts and impersonation calls to online fraud. The goal is simple – learn from others’ experiences and avoid falling for the same traps.

A woman credits ChatGPT for helping detect her hidden thyroid cancer after doctors misdiagnosed her symptoms, leading to early treatment and ultimately saving her life.

A 40-year-old woman from North Carolina is crediting ChatGPT for saving her life after the AI platform helped detect her hidden thyroid cancer. Lauren Bannon, who divides her time between North Carolina and the US Virgin Islands, said her symptoms were initially dismissed by doctors as acid reflux and rheumatoid arthritis. Frustrated and desperate for answers, Bannon turned to ChatGPT for help – a decision she believes prevented the cancer from spreading further.

After years of development, researchers at the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii have fired up their newest tool, the Visible Tunable Filter (VTF), and captured its first images of our sun. This breakthrough gives scientists an unprecedented look at the invisible forces that drive dangerous solar eruptions.

“When powerful solar storms hit Earth, they impact critical infrastructure across the globe and in space. High-resolution observations of the sun are necessary to improve predictions of such damaging storms,” explains Dr. Carrie Black, program director for the NSF National Solar Observatory.

Most people rarely think about the Sun beyond checking the weather forecast, but our seemingly steady star regularly erupts with massive bursts of energy. When these solar storms hit Earth, they can knock out power grids, disrupt GPS navigation, and damage satellites, potentially causing billions in damage.

The World’s Most Powerful Solar Observatory

The Inouye Solar Telescope sits atop Hawaii’s Haleakalā volcano, where observational conditions are ideal. Its four-meter mirror (about 13 feet across) makes it the world’s largest instrument dedicated to studying our star.

Since 2022, it’s been capturing stunning images of the Sun that reveal features as small as 20 kilometers across – remarkable considering the Sun spans 1.4 million kilometers. The newly captured images from the VTF show sunspots with details down to just 10 kilometers per pixel.

“The significance of the technological achievement is such that one could easily argue the VTF is the Inouye Solar Telescope’s heart, and it is finally beating at its forever place,” says Dr. Matthias Schubert, VTF Project Scientist at the Leibniz Institute for Solar Physics (KIS), in a statement.

How It Works: Seeing the Invisible

The VTF weighs 5.6 tons and spans two floors — about the size of a small garage. Scientists at Germany’s Institute for Solar Physics spent about 15 years developing it, working in parallel with the telescope’s own construction.

The VTF functions as a specialized camera that can isolate specific colors of light coming from the Sun. While we see sunlight as white, it’s actually composed of countless individual wavelengths, each carrying unique information about solar conditions.

The instrument uses an etalon — a pair of precisely spaced glass plates separated by tens of microns — that allows it to tune through colors. By adjusting this spacing at the nanometer scale (i.e., as tiny as a billionth of a meter), the VTF sequentially scans different wavelengths, similar to taking a series of photographs using different color filters.

The VTF also measures how light waves oscillate, revealing the Sun’s magnetic fields – the driving force behind eruptions that can affect Earth. These capabilities allow researchers to measure the Sun’s temperature, pressure, velocity, and magnetic field strength at different altitudes in the solar atmosphere.

Protecting Earth From Solar Tantrums

The Sun is a plasma laboratory right on our doorstep. Everyone is familiar with aurorae, for instance, which show the influence of solar activity on Earth — a consequence of energy and small particles released by the Sun interacting with our planet’s magnetic field. Similar to weather forecasts on Earth, it should be possible to predict the geomagnetic disturbances caused by energy eruptions on the Sun.

The instrument peers into regions of the Sun where eruptions begin, the visible surface (photosphere) and the layer just above it (chromosphere). Here, hot plasma interacts with magnetic fields in ways scientists are still working to understand.

The need for better predictions grows more urgent as our dependence on technology increases. In 1989, a solar storm caused a nine-hour blackout in Quebec. Today, with our reliance on satellites, GPS, and interconnected power systems, a similar event could cause far more extensive disruption.

“The Inouye Solar Telescope was designed to study the underlying physics of the Sun as the driver of space weather. In pursuing this goal, the Inouye is an ideal platform for an unprecedented and pioneering instrument like the VTF,” said Christoph Keller, NSO Director.

“After all these years of work, VTF is a great success for me,” said Dr. Thomas Kentischer, KIS Co-Principal Investigator and key architect behind the instrument’s optical design. “I hope this instrument will become a powerful tool for scientists to answer outstanding questions on solar physics.”

Source : https://studyfinds.org/first-image-from-upgraded-solar-telescope-shows-sun-like-never-before/

That stubborn belly fat that appears in your 40s isn’t just from diet or lack of exercise. Scientists have uncovered a biological process that explains why waistlines expand in middle age, even when lifestyle habits remain consistent.

Research published in Science reveals a previously unknown type of fat cell that emerges specifically during middle age, driving rapid fat accumulation in the belly area. This discovery challenges conventional wisdom about middle-aged weight gain.

“A key finding from our work is that despite the low turnover rate of adipocytes in young adults, adipogenesis is unlocked during middle age,” the research team from City of Hope Medical Center and UCLA writes in their paper. In plain terms, our bodies begin making new fat cells at surprising rates once we reach our 40s, especially in the deep belly fat surrounding our organs.

The Surprising Biology of Middle-Age Weight Gain

Scientists tracked fat cell formation in mice at different ages. Young adult mice rarely created new fat cells, but middle-aged mice showed an explosion of fat cell creation. Over 80% of fat cells in the belly region of 12-month-old mice (roughly equivalent to a 40-something human) were newly formed, compared to almost none in younger mice.

Middle-aged mice developed patterns familiar in humans: expanded waistlines, reduced energy expenditure, and insulin resistance – all hallmarks of age-related metabolic changes that increase risk for diabetes and heart disease.

The research team identified an entirely new fat cell precursor they named “CP-A” (committed preadipocyte, age-enriched). These CP-A cells emerge specifically during middle age and have remarkable abilities to multiply and transform into mature fat cells.

Human Evidence Confirms Mouse Findings

To verify these findings weren’t just mouse-specific, the team analyzed human fat tissue samples and discovered the same CP-A cells in middle-aged humans. The number of these specialized fat precursor cells increased dramatically with age, peaking in middle age before declining in later years.

When researchers transplanted these middle-aged fat precursor cells into young mice, the cells maintained their aggressive fat-producing behavior. This reveals the cells themselves fundamentally change with age – they’re not simply responding to age-related hormonal shifts or metabolic changes.

Unlike most stem cells that lose function with age, these fat precursor cells gain enhanced abilities to multiply and transform as we get older.

A Potential Path for Prevention

The team identified a specific cell receptor called LIFR (leukemia inhibitory factor receptor) that marks and drives these age-specialized fat precursor cells. When they blocked this receptor with drugs, they prevented visceral fat expansion in mice.

The findings point to potential new targets for preventing age-related obesity. By identifying the LIFR signaling pathway as critical for CP-A cell activation, researchers have a possible drug target that might prevent middle-age spread without disrupting normal fat tissue function.

As obesity continues driving health problems globally, understanding the basic processes behind age-related weight gain offers hope for preventing the cascade of metabolic disorders that often follow. This study demonstrates that middle-age weight gain isn’t simply a willpower issue, but a programmed biological process that might eventually be modified.

Source : https://studyfinds.org/scientists-find-new-fat-cells-behind-middle-age-weight-gain/

It’s a bright spring morning in Hanover, Germany, and I’m on my way to meet a robot.

I have been invited to see the G1, a humanoid robot built by Chinese firm, Unitree, at the Hannover Messe, one of the world’s largest industrial trade shows.

Standing at about 4’3″ (130cm), G1 is smaller and more affordable than other humanoid robots on the market, and has such a highly fluid range of motion and dexterity that videos of it performing dance numbers and martial arts have gone viral.

Today the G1 is being controlled remotely by Pedro Zheng, the Unitree sales manager.

He explains that customers must program each G1 for autonomous functions.

Passers-by stop and actively try to engage with the G1, which cannot be said for a lot of the other machines being shown off in the cavernous conference room.

They reach out to shake its hand, make sudden movements to see if it will respond, they laugh when G1 waves or bends backwards, they apologise if they bump into it. There’s something about its human shape that, uncanny as it is, sets people at ease.

Unitree is just one of dozens of companies around the world developing robots that have a human form.

The potential is huge – for business it promises a workforce that doesn’t need holidays or pay rises.

It could also be the ultimate domestic appliance. After all, who wouldn’t want a machine that could do the laundry and stack the dishwasher.

But the technology is still some way off. While robotic arms and mobile robots have been common in factories and warehouses for decades, conditions in those workplaces can be controlled and workers can be kept safe.

Introducing a humanoid robot to a less predictable environment, like a restaurant or a home, is a much more difficult problem.

To be useful humanoid robots would have to be strong, but that also makes them potentially dangerous – simply falling over at the wrong time could be hazardous.

So much work needs to be done on the artificial intelligence that would control such a machine.

“The AI simply has not yet reached a breakthrough moment,” a Unitree spokesperson tells the BBC.

“Today’s robot AI finds basic logic and reasoning – such as for understanding and completing complex tasks in a logical way – a challenge,” they said.

At the moment their G1 is marketed at research institutions and tech companies, who can use Unitree’s open source software for development.

For now entrepreneurs are focussing their efforts on humanoid robots for warehouses and factories.

The highest profile of those is Elon Musk. His car company, Tesla, is developing a humanoid robot called Optimus. In January he said that “several thousand” will be built this year and he expects them to be doing “useful things” in Tesla factories.

Other carmakers are following a similar path. BMW recently introduced humanoid robots to a US factory. Meanwhile, South Korean car firm Hyundai has ordered tens of thousands of robots from Boston Dynamics, the robot firm it bought in 2021.

Thomas Andersson, founder of research firm STIQ, tracks 49 companies developing humanoid robots – those with two arms and legs. If you broaden the definition to robots with two arms, but propel themselves on wheels, then he looks at more than 100 firms.

Mr Andersson thinks that Chinese companies are likely to dominate the market.

“The supply chain and the entire ecosystem for robotics is huge in China, and it’s really easy to iterate developments and do R&D [research and development],” he says.

Unitree underlines that advantage – its G1 is cheap (for a robot) with an advertised price of $16,000 (£12,500).

Also, Mr Andersson points out, the investment favours Asian nations.

In a recent report STIQ notes that almost 60% of all funding for humanoid robots has been raised in Asia, with the US attracting most of the rest.

Chinese companies have the added benefit of support from the national and local government.

For example, in Shanghai there is a state-backed training facility for robots, where dozens of humanoid robots are learning to complete tasks.

So how can US and European robot makers compete with that?

Bristol-based Bren Pierce has founded three robotics companies and the latest, Kinisi has just launched the KR1 robot.

While the robot has been designed and developed in the UK, it will be manufactured in Asia.

“The problem you get as a European or American company, you have to buy all these sub-components from China in the first place.

“So then it becomes stupid to buy your motors, buy your batteries, buy your resistors, shift them all halfway around the world to put together when you could just put them all together at the source, which is in Asia.”

As well as making his robots in Asia, Mr Pierce is keeping costs down by not going for the full humanoid form.

Designed for warehouses and factories, the KR1 does not have legs.

“All of these places have flat floors. Why would you want the added expense of a very complex form factor… when you could just put it on a mobile base?” he asks.

Where possible, his KR1 is built with mass-produced components – the wheels are the same as you would find on an electric scooter.

“My philosophy is buy as many things as you can off the shelf. So all our motors, batteries, computers, cameras, they’re all commercially available, mass produced parts,” he says.

Like his competitors at Unitree, Mr Pierce says that the real “secret sauce” is the software that allows the robot to work with humans.

“A lot of companies come out with very high-tech robots, but then you start needing a PhD in robotics to be able to actually install it and use it.

“What we’re trying to design is a very simple to use robot where your average warehouse or factory worker can actually learn how to use it in a couple of hours,” Mr Pierce says.

He says the KR1 can perform a task after being guided through it by a human 20 or 30 times.

The KR1 will be given to pilot customers to test this year.

So will robots ever break out of factories into the home? Even the optimistic Mr Pierce says it’s a long way off.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62jxdxng7do

Most of us take medications assuming they’ll help without harm. We rarely stop to consider what happens after a pill dissolves — or how our own liver might unintentionally turn a safe drug into something dangerous, especially for our brain.

Now, scientists at Quris Technologies have uncovered evidence that some drugs become significantly more harmful to brain cells after being metabolized by the liver. The findings, published in Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, could change how we evaluate drug safety — and explain why some medications cause unexpected neurological side effects that animal testing often misses.

Their target was troglitazone, a diabetes drug that was pulled from the market years ago for causing liver damage.

A Smarter Way to Simulate the Human Body

For their investigation, the team built a cutting-edge laboratory system called BioAI that mimics what happens when drugs travel through the human body — what they describe as “patients-on-a-chip.” They connected miniature versions of human liver and brain tissues — called spheroids and organoids — to study how drugs processed by the liver affect the brain.

What they discovered was startling: when troglitazone was first processed by liver cells, it became dramatically more toxic to brain cells than when it was applied to the brain alone.

“We observed that troglitazone, tested at clinically relevant doses in the Liver+Brain model, caused a significantly greater reduction in cell viability compared to similar treatments in the Brain-only model,” the researchers write in their paper.

This could help explain why some dangerous side effects slip through animal testing, which doesn’t always capture how human livers uniquely transform medications into toxic byproducts.

A Closer Look at the Experimental Models

Instead of using flat petri-dish cell layers or animal models, the researchers created 3D mini-organs from human cells. Their liver spheroids included about 2,000 human cells from ten donors, replicating real human liver tissue with functioning metabolic enzymes. The brain organoids were grown from stem cells over several weeks and even produced electrical activity — a sign of working neurons.

By linking the two models together, they discovered troglitazone’s full impact. In the Liver+Brain system, the drug affected 3,941 genes in brain cells. In contrast, only 685 genes were affected when it was applied directly to the brain — nearly a seven-fold difference. Even more striking, it disrupted ten times more biological pathways, especially those involved in brain cell growth and development.

It’s Not All Bad News

Interestingly, not every drug became more dangerous after liver metabolism. Valproic acid, used to treat epilepsy and mood disorders, showed reduced toxicity after liver processing at high doses — demonstrating the complexity of how drugs interact with different organs.

The study also reinforces momentum behind the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, which supports moving away from animal testing and toward more human-relevant methods like this one.

Why This Matters for Patients and Prescribers

The study could have an immediate impact on drug testing and development. It suggests we should pay closer attention to neurological side effects — especially for drugs heavily processed by the liver. And it could help pharmaceutical companies detect brain-related risks before medications ever reach clinical trials.

Traditional safety models have often tested drugs on either isolated cells or animals, missing critical interactions that happen between organs in the human body. By simulating both liver and brain together, the BioAI model catches what others can’t.

Source : https://studyfinds.org/patients-on-a-chip-tech-exposes-drugs-quris/

Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, has introduced significant enhancements to its Grok chatbot, advancing its capabilities for real-time interactions. Grok now features a Vision capability that allows it to recognise and analyse real-world objects using a phone’s camera, providing instant information.

In a major leap forward for real-time AI interaction, Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI has rolled out a powerful new update for its Grok chatbot, making it smarter, more interactive and multilingual. Designed to be more than just a text-based assistant, Grok now steps into the realm of visual and voice-based intelligence—offering features that let it “see” the world through your phone’s camera and even converse in multiple languages like Hindi, here’s a breakdown of all the new features Grok is bringing to the table.

Grok Can Now “See” The Real World

With the new Vision feature, Grok can now analyse real-world objects, text, and environments in real time using your camera. Whether it’s a business card, a building sign, or even a wristwatch, just point your device and ask Grok about it—you’ll get instant, relevant answers as the camera moves. It’s like having an AI-powered lens on reality. This powerful visual understanding is currently available to SuperGrok subscribers, making it one of the most interactive AI features on the market.

More Languages, Smarter Voice Mode

That’s not all; Grok’s Voice Mode now includes multilingual conversations including Hindi, therefore increasing its accessibility for consumers in various areas. Real-time search integration also allows Grok to get the most recent info right away while you are chatting with it.

Meet Grok’s New Memory

Recently, Grok 3 also gained a memory feature, allowing it to remember your past interactions. So if you’ve ever told Grok about your workout habits, don’t be surprised when it suggests a tailored diet plan later. The memory system is also transparent—you can see exactly what Grok remembers and even delete specific chats. An Android-exclusive “Forget” button is also on the way, giving users more control over their data.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/technology-science/chatgpt-rival-grok-ai-can-now-see-and-speak-elon-musk-says-it-is-awesome-article-151480502

The European Commission on Wednesday found tech giants Apple and Meta in breach of obligations under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), fining the two US companies €500 million ($572 million) and €200 million respectively.

Apple was found to have breached its “anti-steering” obligation under the DMA, while Meta was considered not to have given consumers the choice of a service that uses less of their personal data, another stipulation of the DMA.

However, the EU also closed an investigation of Apple over its user choice obligations after the tech giant complied with the DMA by making it easy to select a default browser and for users to remove pre-installed apps such as Safari.

What were the fines for?
Apple was fined after the Commission concluded that the company prevented developers from steering customers outside its App Store to allow them to access cheaper deals.

The fine was imposed on Meta over its “pay for privacy” system, which means users have to pay to avoid data collection, or agree to share their data with Meta-owned platforms Facebook and Instagram to keep using the platforms for free.

The Commission concluded that Meta did not provide Facebook and Instagram users a less personalized but equivalent version of the platforms, and “did not allow users to exercise their right to freely consent to the combination of their personal data.”

The Commission said that the fine on Meta concerned only the time period during which EU end users were solely offered the “consent or pay” option, from March 2024 to November 2024. That is when Meta introduced a new ads model allegedly using less personal data.

That model is currently under scrutiny by the EU.

Risk of more EU-US tensions
Both companies have issued complaints about the penalties, the first under the DMA, which came into effect last year.

Apple said in a statement that it would appeal the fine.

“Today’s announcements are yet another example of the European Commission unfairly targeting Apple in a series of decisions that are bad for the privacy and security of our users, bad for products, and force us to give away our technology for free,” it said.

“We have spent hundreds of thousands of engineering hours and made dozens of changes to comply with this law, none of which our users have asked for. Despite countless meetings, the Commission continues to move the goal posts every step of the way,” the statement went on.

Meta, for its part, accused the EU of “attempting to handicap successful American businesses while allowing Chinese and European companies to operate under different standards”.

The fines are also likely to increase tensions in relations between the EU and US President Donald Trump, who has frequently complained of unfair behavior by the bloc toward US businesses.

The political analyst Giulia Torchio from the Brussels think tank European Policy Center told DW’s Lucia Schulten, however, that if the EU made its digital regulations negotiable in dealings with the US, it would send a signal that the bloc was ready to yield on its fundamental democratic principles.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/eu-commission-fines-apple-meta-over-digital-law-breaches/a-72317692

GOOGLE is rolling out a new messaging tool to detect unwanted nude photos and block them from view.

The tech giant first revealed the enhanced safety feature last year but it’s finally started to appear on phones this month.

Recent revelations in the antitrust case against Meta involve internal emails from CEO Mark Zuckerberg, highlighting his fears regarding Instagram’s impact on Facebook’s growth.

In a major twist in the ongoing antitrust case against Meta, internal emails from CEO Mark Zuckerberg have come to light, revealing his concerns that Instagram’s rise could seriously damage Facebook’s growth. The messages, sent in 2018, are now being used by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to support its claim that Meta bought Instagram and WhatsApp to crush competition and maintain a social media monopoly.

For decades, astronomers believed all compact objects like neutron stars and black holes received violent “natal kicks” during their formation. That theory just suffered a fatal blow thanks to an unassuming star quietly orbiting the famous black hole V404 Cygni, a star that simply shouldn’t be there if conventional wisdom about black hole formation were correct.

V404 Cygni, the first widely accepted black hole in a low-mass X-ray binary, turns out to be part of a triple star system, with a distant companion that has remained bound to it for billions of years. This revelation, published this month in Nature, provides compelling evidence that this black hole formed with virtually no “natal kick,” the violent push that’s thought to accompany the birth of most compact objects.

“We think most black holes form from violent explosions of stars, but this discovery helps call that into question,” says study author Kevin Burdge from the MIT Department of Physics, in a statement. “This system is super exciting for black hole evolution, and it also raises questions of whether there are more triples out there.”

An Astronomical Discovery Hidden in Plain Sight

The discovery happened almost by accident when researchers were examining optical images of V404 Cygni. They noticed a star just 1.43 arcseconds away, about 3500 times the distance from Earth to Pluto, that shared nearly identical movement through space with the black hole system.

This arrangement simply shouldn’t exist if black holes form through violent supernova explosions as traditionally theorized. The third companion star is so loosely bound that even a small kick during the black hole’s formation would have sent it flying out of the system.

“The fact that we can see two separate stars over this much distance actually means that the stars have to be really very far apart,” says Burdge.

Burdge calculated that the outer star is 3,500 astronomical units (AU) away from the black hole (1 AU is the distance between the Earth and Sun). The odds of finding a star at this distance with matching motion is about one in ten million, making a chance alignment virtually impossible.

Rewriting Black Hole Birth

Black holes are formed when massive stars die, and astronomers have long debated how violent this process is. Most evidence suggests neutron stars (smaller stellar remnants) receive significant kicks during formation, but evidence for black hole kicks has remained limited.

V404 Cygni’s stable triple configuration shows that at least some black holes form through a process more like an implosion than an explosion, with virtually no ejected mass or momentum transferred to the black hole itself.

“Imagine you’re pulling a kite, and instead of a strong string, you’re pulling with a spider web,” explains Burdge. “If you tugged too hard, the web would break and you’d lose the kite. Gravity is like this barely bound string that’s really weak, and if you do anything dramatic to the inner binary, you’re going to lose the outer star.”

To confirm their discovery wasn’t just chance, the team measured the companion star’s velocity through space. Sure enough, it perfectly matched the previously established velocity of V404 Cygni.

The research team ran computer simulations of various formation scenarios to figure out what would have happened during the black hole’s birth. They found that to keep the third companion star bound to the system, the black hole must have received a kick of less than 5 kilometers per second, which is practically nothing in cosmic terms. To put it into perspective, that’s slower than a car on the highway.

Billions of Years in the Making

The companion star is slightly evolved, indicating the system formed 3-5 billion years ago. This means the black hole has had plenty of time to strip material from its immediate companion, explaining why the current donor star in the inner binary appears to have lost significant mass.

This discovery also backs up a long-standing theory that some black hole systems form as part of three-star setups, not just pairs. That idea has been hard to prove, but it could explain why some systems that should fall apart or merge actually survive. In traditional two-star models, the stars are often so different in mass that they usually collide or merge instead of forming a stable orbit.

By looking more closely at the system, the researchers found that the third star, the one orbiting farthest out, has a mass about 1.2 times that of our Sun. It’s also starting to age, expanding to nearly twice its original size. The team figured this out by studying the star’s light spectrum, which acts like a fingerprint, and comparing it to known models of how stars evolve over time.

V404 Cygni is one of the most thoroughly studied black holes in astronomy, documented in over 1,300 scientific papers since being confirmed as a black hole in 1992. Yet somehow, the fact that it is part of a triple star system remained hidden in plain sight until now.

This triple system has survived billions of years, a silent witness to an alternative path of black hole formation we never knew existed. Astronomers continue to find that the cosmos refuses to fit neatly into our theoretical boxes. V404 Cygni’s triple system changes how we think about the death of massive stars and the birth of the universe’s most enigmatic objects.

Source : https://studyfinds.org/black-hole-triple-massive-explosion/

A convincing Gmail scam is tricking users into giving away personal data — here is how to spot and avoid it.

If you’ve received an email from the unsuspicious no-reply@google.com claiming to be from Google, urging you to “verify your account activity” or risk your Gmail being deactivated — don’t panic, and definitely don’t click on it. A new scam targeting Gmail users is doing the rounds, and it’s worryingly convincing. The email looks like it comes straight from Google. It was first spotted and reported by X user Nick Johnson. “Recently I was targeted by an extremely sophisticated phishing attack, and I want to highlight it here. It exploits a vulnerability in Google’s infrastructure” he said in a post.

The phishing email uses the company’s branding, has the correct logo, and includes language that sounds official. “The first thing to note is that this is a valid, signed email – it really was sent from no-reply@google.com. It passes the DKIM signature check, and GMail displays it without any warnings – it even puts it in the same conversation as other, legitimate security alerts,” Johnson wrote in a post. But make no mistake — this is a phishing attack designed to steal your personal data.

The phishing email warns that your Gmail account is being reviewed due to recent activity. It asks you to verify your account by clicking on a “Review Activity” button. The message creates urgency, saying that failure to act will result in account suspension within 24 hours.

India Today Tech also reached out to Google to understand how many people had the attack affected, if someone faced loss of funds or any other severe consequence of the attack. We will update the story with the responses soon.

At the time of writing the story, Johnson has confirmed that Google has acknowledged the issue and will be fixing the bug. “Google has reconsidered and will be fixing the oAuth bug!”

What makes this scam particularly dangerous is how authentic it looks. The sender’s name is displayed as “Google,” and at a glance, the email address may even appear legitimate. But when you look closely, the email is not from a genuine Google domain. Instead, it’s sent from a strange-looking address with random characters — a common red flag in phishing attempts.

The goal of such phishing emails is definitely to trick users into entering their Gmail login details on a fake website that looks exactly like the real thing. Once scammers get hold of your credentials, they can access your emails, steal personal data, and even use your account to send more phishing emails to your contacts.

“From there, presumably, they harvest your login credentials and use them to compromise your account; I haven’t gone further to check. So how did they do it – especially the valid email? This is due to two vulnerabilities in Google’s infra that they have declined to fix.”

In some cases, these scams go a step further — prompting users to enter their recovery email, phone number, and even two-factor authentication codes. That gives scammers full control of your account, locking you out completely.

First, do not click on any links. If you’re unsure whether the message is real, open Gmail in a new tab and go directly to your account settings — don’t rely on links in the email. Check your account activity and security settings from there. Second, report the email. Gmail has a built-in feature to report phishing — simply click on the three-dot menu in the top right corner of the message and select “Report phishing.” This helps Google identify and block similar scams in the future.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/gmail-users-beware-this-google-email-is-a-scam-2711975-2025-04-21

A remarkable discovery is forcing astronomers to rethink fundamental theories about how quickly galaxies evolved in the early universe. Scientists have spotted what appears to be a fully-formed spiral galaxy, similar to our Milky Way, from just 1 billion years after the Big Bang.

Named Zhúlóng (meaning “Torch Dragon” in Chinese mythology), this ancient galactic structure bears an uncanny resemblance to the Milky Way, complete with spiral arms spanning about 62,000 light-years across. According to conventional wisdom, it shouldn’t exist this early in cosmic history.

But Zhúlóng shows that mature galaxies emerged much earlier than previously believed, in the first billion years after the Big Bang. The study, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, was led by Dr. Mengyuan Xiao, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Geneva (UNIGE).

“In the myth, Zhúlóng is a powerful red solar dragon that creates day and night by opening and closing its eyes, symbolizing light and cosmic time,’’ Xiao explains.

A Galaxy Before Its Time

Before the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) began observing the distant cosmos, astronomers generally believed that galaxies in the early universe would be chaotic, asymmetrical collections of stars and gas. The orderly spiral patterns familiar to us were thought to take many billions of years to develop.

Yet there sits Zhúlóng, sporting a central bulge where star formation has already stopped, surrounded by an actively star-forming disk with distinct spiral arms — all existing when the universe was less than 8% of its current age.

The research team spotted Zhúlóng during observations with JWST’s Near Infrared Camera as part of the PANORAMIC survey. Using advanced imaging techniques, they confirmed the galaxy’s spiral structure and measured its properties.

“This discovery shows how JWST is fundamentally changing our view of the early Universe,” says Prof. Pascal Oesch, associate professor in the Department of Astronomy at the Faculty of Science of UNIGE and co-principal investigator of the PANORAMIC program.

Breaking All the Rules

Zhúlóng isn’t just remarkable for its shape, it’s also surprisingly massive. The researchers estimate it contains roughly 11 billion solar masses worth of stars, comparable to our Milky Way today.

“What makes Zhúlóng stand out is just how much it resembles the Milky Way – both in shape, size, and stellar mass,” says Xiao.

Reaching this size so quickly after the Big Bang requires extraordinary efficiency in converting gas into stars. The research team calculated that about 30% of all available ordinary matter in the galaxy’s dark matter halo had already turned into stars — roughly 1.5 times more efficient than even the most productive galaxies observed in later cosmic periods.

Another aspect that puzzles scientists is Zhúlóng’s unusual maturity. While most extremely massive galaxies from this early cosmic era are either compact with minimal star formation or wildly irregular with explosive star formation, Zhúlóng shows signs of settling down. Its central region appears reddish and no longer forming stars, while its spiral disk continues forming stars at a modest rate of about 66 solar masses per year, relatively calm for a galaxy of this epoch.

Rewriting Cosmic History

The existence of a galaxy with these characteristics so early in cosmic history raises profound questions about our models of galaxy formation. The universe at this time was much denser than today, with frequent galaxy collisions that typically disrupt orderly structures.

The discovery of Zhúlóng adds to mounting evidence from JWST observations that galaxy formation and evolution occurred much faster than previously theorized. Throughout its operation, JWST has repeatedly revealed galaxies that are bigger, more structured, and more mature than expected at various cosmic distances.

This remarkable galaxy demonstrates that the universe could produce structures resembling modern spiral galaxies like our Milky Way in just a fraction of the time we thought necessary, suggesting we need to revise our understanding of cosmic evolution.

“How a morphologically mature galaxy that resembles nearby massive spirals can form in this environment remains an open question,” the authors write, “but the discovery of this source is a first step and provides an important constraint on galaxy formation models.”

Source : https://studyfinds.org/milky-way-twin-discovered-infant-universe/

A colossal squid has been caught on camera for the first time in the deep sea by an international team of researchers steering a remotely operated submersible.

The sighting was announced Tuesday by the Schmidt Ocean Institute.

The squid filmed was a juvenile about 1 foot (30 centimeters) in length at a depth of 1,968 feet (600 meters) in the South Atlantic Ocean. Full-grown adult colossal squids, which scientists have uncovered from the bellies of whales and seabirds, can reach lengths up to 23 feet (7 meters) — almost the size of a small fire truck.

The squid was spied last month near the South Sandwich Islands during an expedition to search for new sea life. Researchers waited to verify the species identification with other independent scientists before releasing the footage.

“I really love that we have seen a young colossal squid first. This animal is so beautiful,” said Kat Bolstad, a squid researcher at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, who helped confirm it.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/colossal-squid-captured-on-camera-a66b3dacd4643eda7ad39a996dedbed0#

NASA has discovered a large hole on Mars, measuring 328 feet, which it speculates may serve as a “portal” to underground environments that could harbor alien life.

NASA has unearthed a mysterious 328-foot-wide hole on Mars which it believes could be a “portal” leading to an underground world of alien life. Releasing the image of the crater, captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2017, NASA said that such holes could extend to underground caves which could contain Martian life. The image was shared on April 13 as part of NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day.
In its explanation, NASA said, “What created this unusual hole in Mars? Actually, there are numerous holes pictured in this Swiss cheese-like landscape, with all-but-one of them showing a dusty, dark, Martian terrain beneath evaporating, light, carbon dioxide ice.”
“The most unusual hole is on the upper right, spans about 100 meters, and seems to punch through to a lower level. Why this hole exists and why it is surrounded by a circular crater remains a topic of speculation, although a leading hypothesis is that it was created by a meteor impact,” it added.

ALIENS might be lurking on a far-off ocean planet in an “astounding” discovery, Britain’s brainiest scientists have told The Sun.

Top alien-hunting astronomers at the University of Cambridge say they’re now 99.7% confident they’ve spotted the best-ever-seen signal of biological activity – and say the planet may be “teeming with life”.

It’s taking place on a distant alien world called K2-18b, which is 120 lightyears away and roughly 2.5x the size of Earth.

Astronomers have picked out a molecule called DMS in the planet’s atmosphere. On Earth, it’s produced by the tiny algae that live in our seas. These ‘phytoplankton’ are microscopic and can’t be seen with the human eye – but in large numbers, show up as coloured patches on water.

And similar alien lifeforms might be churning it out on K2-18b.

Lead scientist Professor Nikku Madhusudhan said “there is no mechanism in the literature that can explain what we are seeing without life”.

He told The Sun: “It’s a question humanity has been asking for thousands of years. It’s a shock to the system. It takes time to recover from the enormity of it.”

SCANNING THE SKY
The astronomers used data from the James Webb Space Telescope, which launched on Christmas Day in 2021.

They’ve spotted fingerprints of two molecules: dihmethyl sulphide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulphide (DMDS) in the planet’s atmosphere.

These are only produced by life on Earth, usually microbial.

And the results are so convincing that there’s just a “0.3% probability they occurred by chance”.

It’s all taking place on a so-called Hycean world, which planet with a watery ocean and a thick hydrogen atmosphere.

Hycean comes from combining “hydrogen” and “ocean” together.

“If it is indeed a Hycean world, the planet would be covered in oceans,” Professor Madhusudhan told The Sun.

“We currently don’t know what the temperature of those oceans would be.

“But we expect it to be slightly warmer than Earth.

“On Earth, extremophiles have been known to survive at very high temperatures, so that is not itself an issue.”

WATCH IT GO BY!
We can’t directly see K2-18b because of how close it is to the host star.

So scientists have to use a genius technique to work out what’s going on there.

They watch the star that K2-18b is orbiting, and wait for the planet to pass across its face.

By analysing the star’s light during this “transit”, JWST can pick up the drop in the star’s brightness.

A small fraction of the starlight passes through the planet’s atmosphere.

And the absorption of this starlight in the planet’s atmosphere leaves “imprints” that astronomers can use to work out which gases are present.

Not only did Madhusudhan’s team spot DMS – a biosignature – in the atmosphere, they found it in huge quantities.

Normally DMS and DMDS are found in Earth’s atmosphere at rates of about one part per billions.

But on K2-18b, levels are thousands of times higher – more than 10 parts per million.

“Earlier theoretical work had predicted that high levels of sulfur-based gases like DMS and DMDS are possible on Hycean worlds,” the Cambridge professor explained.

“And now we’ve observed it, in line with what was predicted.

“Given everything we know about this planet, a Hycean world with an ocean that is teeming with life is the scenario that best fits the data we have.”

He added: “This has been one of the most fundamental questions that we as a species have asked for thousands of years,” Madhusudhan said.

“Everyone would agree that at some point in their lives, they would look at the night sky and ask: are we alone?”

ULTIMATE PROOF
But there’s still more work to be done.

The certainty level is currently three-sigma, which is 99.7%.

Madhusudhan wants to get more analysis time to reach the coveted five-sigma, which means there’s just a 0.00006% probability the results occurred by chance.

“The observation was about eight hours of JWST time,” Madhusudhan told us.

He said they’d need two or three more transits to be certain, which is 16 to 24 hours.

“We have to formally apply for JWST time and there will be a selection process,” said Madhusudhan, speaking to The Sun.

“And if they’re convinced by the case, it’ll be accepted and then the observations will be made.

You’re faced with potentially one of the biggest landmarks in the history of science.

Professor Nikku MadhusudhanUniversity of Cambridge

“But these observations are non-trivial to make. They don’t happen very frequently, especially with JWST.

“There are only around four windows of observation every year. So if these observations are approved, this would happen potentially over the next year.”

It’s also possible that the cause of the DMS is non-biological, but Madhusudhan says there’s no known mechanism for this right now.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/tech/14045828/alien-life-k218b-dms-planet-sign/

Without boots or machinery on the ground, it’s hard to tell what is a cave entrance, and what is simply a hole

A MYSTERIOUS hole on Mars could be harbouring alien life in an extensive network of underground tunnels, according to Nasa.

From orbit, scientists have captured a deep pit on the Red Planet that looks like it leads underground.

The image, titled “An unusual hole in Mars,” shows a pockmarked planet that could be hiding tons of subterranean pockets.

“There are numerous holes pictured in this Swiss cheese-like landscape, with all-but-one of them showing a dusty, dark, Martian terrain beneath evaporating, light, carbon dioxide ice,” Nasa wrote.

“The most unusual hole is on the upper right, spans about 100 meters, and seems to punch through to a lower level.”

It’s unclear what caused the hole.

Though scientists assume the circular crater that surrounds it suggests it was created by a meteor impact.

“Holes such as this are of particular interest because they might be portals to lower levels that extend into expansive underground caves,” Nasa explained.

“If so, these naturally occurring tunnels are relatively protected from the harsh surface of Mars, making them relatively good candidates to contain Martian life.

“These pits are therefore also prime targets for possible future spacecraft, robots, and even human interplanetary explorers.”

Mars has an incredibly hostile environment compared to Earth.

It fluctuates between extreme temperatures, and has a surface level radiation that would be incredibly harmful to humans.

That’s why Nasa is considering underground habitation for its future human explorers.

While humans will struggle to withstand such hazards, so will other organic life.

Martian caves may be some of the few locations humans can reach that have preserved evidence of whether life ever existed on Mars.

Nasa’s Mars Global Cave Candidate Catalogue has been keeping track of all the possible caves on Mars, with over 1,000 candidates having been discovered.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/tech/14030105/nasa-mysterious-hole-cave-tunnels-aliens-human-colonists/

Social media giant Meta could be forced to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp as a legal battle begins in the US. Owned by billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, the tech business which also owns Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.

An antitrust lawsuit from the US government now alleges that the firm made these transactions to eliminate competition and create a social media monopoly.

Although both acquisitions were approved by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at the time, the competition watchdog has continued to monitor the outcomes. If it wins the case it could force Meta to sell off both Instagram and WhatsApp.

This would mark a major change in the social media sector landscape, experts say. Mike Proulx, vice president research director at analyst firm Forrester, said the case’s possible ramifications, and the ongoing uncertainty around the future of TikTok, could see a “new social media world order” appear.

“The ramifications of this trial, coupled with TikTok’s future in limbo, potentially puts the very core of the social media market at play. No longer would Meta be its centre of gravity.

“We haven’t seen anything like this since around 2006-2011 – social media’s earliest days.

“We’d likely see a renaissance of social media start-ups looking to grab a piece of new social media world order.”

Mr Proulx said that, although Facebook is the original and centre pillar of Meta’s empire, it could struggle to compete as a social media power and may need to redirect its focus.

“Meta is trying to make Facebook cool again, but the company’s social media ‘insurance’ is – and has been for a while – Instagram.

“Without Instagram and WhatsApp, what really is Meta? Could Facebook seriously compete with a stand-alone Instagram? Can Threads monetise at scale? Doubtful. And the company absolutely should not hang its hat on its fledgling metaverse ambitions.

“Its AI (artificial intelligence) glasses are a bright spot, as is its broader AI work.

“That means, in a broken-up Meta, the company’s AI initiatives would usurp its social media roots.”

The trial, which begins in Washington DC on Monday, is expected to last several weeks, with Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and former chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg both expected to give evidence.

Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/meta-facebook-instagram-whatsapp-trial-court-zuckerberg-b2732850.html

This issue affects people who use WhatsApp on their computers (Desktop version). The government has warned that there is a high risk that hackers could steal personal data.

India’s cybersecurity agency CERT-In (Computer Emergency Response Team) has issued a high-severity security alert for WhatsApp Desktop users. In a recent advisory, the agency warned that this vulnerability could be exploited by hackers to steal personal data or even take full control of the user’s computer. Users are suggested to update their WhatsApp Desktop app to the latest version immediately to stay protected.
“A vulnerability has been reported in WhatsApp Desktop for Windows, which could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code or perform spoofing attacks on the targeted system,” the cybersecurity agency said.
Software Affected
The flaw affects WhatsApp Desktop for Windows versions prior to 2.2450.6 and could be exploited through specially crafted malicious files.

“The vulnerability exists due to misconfiguration between the MIME type and file extension, leading to improper handling of attachment openings. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by crafting malicious attachment which could execute arbitrary code when opened manually within WhatsApp. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code or perform spoofing attacks on the targeted system,” CERT-In said.

Dallas-based biotech company Colossal has announced the birth of three pups bearing the DNA signatures of dire wolves, an iconic predator last seen roaming North America over 10,000 years ago.

With their names Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi, these pups are playing to the cultural imagination, blending ancient mythology with fantasy fiction. Romulus and Remus nod to the legendary founders of Rome, raised by a wolf, while Khaleesi evokes the dire wolves of Game of Thrones.

It’s a resurrection story made for the headlines, but beneath the dramatic narrative lies a more nuanced – and more scientifically grounded – story. The birth of these pups is not the return of an extinct species. Instead, it’s a demonstration of how far we’ve come in the toolkit of synthetic biology (a field that involves redesigning systems found in nature), and a reminder of how far we still are from truly reversing extinction.

Colossal’s work follows in the footsteps of its other high-profile project: the effort to “resurrect” the woolly mammoth. As discussed in a previous Conversation article, that project began with mice carrying mammoth gene traits – early evidence that gene editing could one day produce cold-resistant elephants with mammoth-like characteristics. The dire wolf project is a similar exercise in technological potential, not biological resurrection.

So what exactly happened in the lab? Scientists at Colossal extracted ancient DNA from fossilized dire wolf remains, including a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old ear bone. From these samples, they sequenced the genome (the full complement of DNA in cells) and compared it with that of the modern gray wolf.

They identified approximately 20 genetic differences that were key to the extinct animal’s appearance. These differences represent tiny tweaks in the genetic code known as single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs.

These specific SNPs were then edited into the genome of a gray wolf using CRISPR-Cas9, a powerful gene-editing tool that allows for precision edits at the DNA level. The resulting modified cells were used to create embryos, which were implanted into surrogate domestic dogs. The pups that were born exhibit some traits thought to be characteristic of dire wolves: broader shoulders, larger bodies and pale coats.

However, this raises a critical question: how different is this animal, really?

To understand the limitations of this approach, consider our closest relatives in the animal kingdom: chimpanzees. Humans and chimpanzees share about 98.8% of their DNA, yet the behavioral, cognitive and physiological differences are clearly profound. While 98.8% sounds very similar, this translates to roughly 35–40 million differences in DNA base pairs.

Now consider that the evolutionary split between dire wolves and gray wolves took place more than 300,000 years ago – and the two populations will have been diverging genetically for much longer before that. This means there are likely to be many more genetic differences between dire wolves and gray wolves. Editing 20 SNPs – out of billions of base pairs – is a minuscule change in evolutionary terms.

The result? These animals may look a little like dire wolves, but they are not dire wolves. They are gray wolves with a few cosmetic tweaks. In this light, the project represents a remarkable demonstration of genetic engineering, rather than a literal revival of an extinct species.

That said, this is still an extraordinary achievement. Extracting usable DNA from ancient remains, accurately sequencing it, identifying meaningful genetic variants and successfully editing them, then raising animals based on that information are all milestones worth celebrating.

Positive applications – and risks

The techniques honed in this project could find applications in conservation, especially for endangered species suffering from inbreeding and genetic bottlenecks.

This work also expands the boundaries of what synthetic biology can do. The ability to dial specific traits in or out of a genome is valuable not just for scientific curiosity, but potentially for public health, agriculture and ecological restoration. But with these new tools come new responsibilities.

What role will these pseudo-dire wolves play in the wild? Would they behave like the long-extinct predators they mimic, or simply resemble them in form not function? Ecosystems are delicately balanced networks of interaction – adding a creature that is similar but not identical to a former apex predator could have unpredictable consequences.

The young wolves are reportedly living in a 2,000-acre nature reserve at a secret location. So, while the reserve is surrounded by a 10-foot fence, the wolves have plenty of room to roam and could encounter other wildlife.

Some researchers argue that instead of chasing lost species, we should focus on protecting the biodiversity we still have. Resources poured into de-extinction could arguably be better spent preserving habitats, restoring degraded ecosystems, and preventing modern extinctions.

Colossal’s dire wolf project is not a resurrection – it is an imitation. But that doesn’t mean it lacks value. It offers a glimpse into the possibilities of genetic science, and raises essential questions about what we mean when we say we are “bringing back” extinct species.

Source : https://studyfinds.org/did-colossal-dire-wolf-return-from-extinction/

The battle against common viral infections might soon include an unexpected weapon: chewing gum. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have created a specialized gum that could trap and neutralize herpes and influenza viruses before they spread or cause infection.

This innovative approach targets viruses right where they often begin their journey, in the mouth. According to the research published in Molecular Therapy, the mouth is a much more efficient transmission route for viruses compared to the nose, making it a key battlefield for preventing infections from spreading.

How Bean Protein Becomes Virus-Fighting Gum

The research team has harnessed a natural protein called FRIL (Flt3 Receptor Interacting Lectin) found in lablab beans. When formulated into chewing gum, this protein works like flypaper for viruses, trapping them and preventing them from infecting cells or being transmitted to others.

This protein stays active for nearly two years in bean powder and even longer in chewing gum. Even after 794 days at room temperature, it was still working just as well. That kind of shelf life is a big deal for making the gum useful in the real world.

Most current antivirals require cold storage and complicated manufacturing. In contrast, this bean-based approach offers a simple solution that doesn’t need refrigeration, making it more accessible.

Lab testing revealed the bean gum extract caught between 75-94% of herpes simplex virus particles by causing them to clump together. When put through a machine that mimics human chewing, over half the FRIL was released within just 15 minutes of chewing.

Impressive Results Against Common Viruses

The researchers tested their gum against four viruses: two strains of flu (H1N1 and H3N2) and two types of herpes simplex virus (HSV-1 and HSV-2). When tested with a virus level similar to what’s found in saliva, the gum was able to block more than 95% of the viruses. It worked against flu strains at relatively low doses, and also stopped both types of herpes, though HSV-1 needed a higher amount than HSV-2.

This isn’t the team’s first try at antiviral gum. They previously developed a similar product against SARS-CoV-2 that proved more than 95% effective at neutralizing various coronavirus variants in saliva samples from COVID-19 patients.

How does this work? FRIL contains sections that attach to sugar molecules found on virus surfaces. This binding causes viruses to clump together in a way that doesn’t allow them to infect cells. If any viruses do manage to enter cells, FRIL can follow them inside and block their escape from cellular compartments, further preventing infection.

Why This Matters: The Scale of Viral Infections

Robots are getting better at telling stories, but they still don’t understand what makes us cry. New research comparing human and AI storytelling reveals that while machines write more gender-progressive narratives than people do, they can’t match our ability to explore grief, loneliness, or obsession. A new study from UC Berkeley shows that computers can mimic our writing conventions while missing the emotional depth that gives stories their power.

The Pygmalion Test

The research, published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, centered on a storytelling theme as old as Western literature itself: the Pygmalion myth. This classic narrative features a human who creates an artificial being and subsequently falls in love with it. From Ovid’s ancient tale about a sculptor enamored with his statue to modern movies like “Her” or “Ex Machina,” this archetypal story has evolved throughout history.

To conduct her experiment, UC Berkeley researcher Nina Beguš recruited 250 people through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk platform and asked them to write short stories based on simple prompts about humans creating and falling for artificial beings. She then had OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 generate 80 stories using identical prompts.

Every single story, whether human or AI-authored, used scientific or technological means as the foundation for creating artificial humans. But beneath this shared framework, stark differences emerged between the two groups.

What AI Romance Novels Have in Common

The AI-written stories portrayed more progressive views on gender and sexuality than those written by humans. While human authors largely stuck to conventional gender dynamics (male creators, female artificial beings), the AI systems frequently featured female creators and were more likely to include same-sex relationships. Nearly 13% of AI stories featured same-sex pairings, compared to just 7% of human-written narratives.

The AI-written stories portrayed more progressive views on gender and sexuality than those written by humans. While human authors largely stuck to conventional gender dynamics (male creators, female artificial beings), the AI systems frequently featured female creators and were more likely to include same-sex relationships. Nearly 13% of AI stories featured same-sex pairings, compared to just 7% of human-written narratives.

This outcome challenges common assumptions about AI systems merely echoing human biases found in their training data. Instead, it indicates newer AI models may be specifically designed to produce more egalitarian content (writing that promotes or reflects equality across social categories).

Despite this progressive bend, AI storytelling showed major weaknesses. The machine-generated tales followed predictable formulas with nearly identical paragraph structures. They often relied on stock phrases and clichés, presenting simplistic moral messages about acceptance and societal advancement.

Human stories, though sometimes less polished, showed far greater creativity and emotional depth. They explored complex themes like grief, loneliness, and obsession that were largely missing from AI narratives. Some human writers introduced genuinely creative plot twists, like creators being replaced by their creations, or two artificial beings falling in love with each other.

The human stories often began with more captivating openings. One started: “Sam didn’t know she wasn’t human.” Another jumped straight into conflict: “The lover fought against his desires as hard as he could.” In contrast, AI stories typically opened with generic settings like “Once upon a time, in a bustling city nestled between mountains and sea…”

Cultural Influences and Narrative Techniques

Fingerprint analysis has been a dependable tool in crime-solving for more than a century. Investigators lean on fingerprint evidence to identify suspects or connect them to specific crime scenes, believing that every print offers a distinctive code.

Yet, a team of researchers has found that prints from different fingers of the same person can sometimes appear more alike.

This insight came from an artificial intelligence model that revealed surprising connections between prints.

Hod Lipson, from Columbia Engineering, stands out in this effort to question widely accepted forensic norms, in collaboration with Wenyao Xu from the University at Buffalo.

AI takes on fingerprints

For decades, it has been taken for granted that fingerprints from different fingers of one individual do not match. Much of this belief stems from the assumption that each finger displays completely separate ridges, loops, and swirls.

One anonymous reviewer even stated, “It is well known that every fingerprint is unique,” when confronted with the researchers’ work.

Despite such resistance, an undergraduate senior at Columbia Engineering named Gabe Guo spearheaded a study that contradicts this long-standing assumption.

By using a public U.S. government database with roughly 60,000 prints, Guo fed pairs of fingerprints into a deep contrastive network. Some pairs belonged to the same person, while others came from different people.

The artificial intelligence system became adept at telling when prints that looked different were actually from one individual, reaching an accuracy of 77% for single pairs.

In cases where multiple samples were grouped together, the accuracy soared, offering the possibility of boosting existing forensic methods by more than tenfold.

Researchers rocking the boat

Although these findings promised fresh possibilities for connecting crime scenes, the researchers faced an uphill battle during peer review.

The project was rejected by a well-established forensics journal that did not accept the suggestion that different fingers might produce prints with shared characteristics.

Undeterred, the group sought out a broader readership. The paper was turned away once again, prompting Lipson to challenge the decision.

“If this information tips the balance, then I imagine that cold cases could be revived, and even that innocent people could be acquitted,” noted Lipson, who co-directs the Makerspace Facility at Columbia.

Determined not to back away from a challenge, even if it meant disrupting over 100 years of accepted practice, the team kept refining their work.

Finally, their persistence paid off as their study was finally recognized and published in the peer-reviewed journal, Science Advances.

AI gives new clues in fingerprint analysis

Traditional methods rely on minutiae, which refer to branching patterns and endpoints in the ridges.

“The AI was not using ‘minutiae,’ which are the branchings and endpoints in fingerprint ridges – the patterns used in traditional fingerprint comparison,” Guo explained.

“Instead, it was using something else, related to the angles and curvatures of the swirls and loops in the center of the fingerprint.”

His findings suggest that experts may have overlooked important visual cues.

The collaboration included Columbia Engineering graduate Aniv Ray and PhD student Judah Goldfeder, both of whom indicated that the project’s early success could grow stronger with bigger datasets.

“Just imagine how well this will perform once it’s trained on millions, instead of thousands of fingerprints,” Ray remarked, hinting that this approach could eventually refine how investigators hunt for clues across multiple crime scenes.

Potential bias and next steps

The researchers are alert to possible data gaps. They noted that their system showed similar performance across various demographics but emphasized the need for larger, more diverse fingerprint collections.

They hope that thorough validation will address any concerns about bias before anyone adopts this technique in actual investigations.

The long-term goal is to offer law enforcement a supplementary tool that improves efficiency when cases seem tangled.

While the AI cannot officially conclude a legal matter, it can help narrow the field of suspects or connect distinct crime scenes based on partial matches.

“Many people think that AI cannot really make new discoveries – that it just regurgitates knowledge,” Lipson elaborated, pointing to a broader shift in how AI might support investigative work.

“But this research is an example of how even a fairly simple AI, given a fairly plain dataset that the research community has had lying around for years, can provide insights that have eluded experts for decades.”

AI, fingerprints, and law enforcement

This study demonstrates that artificial intelligence can spot patterns that traditional analysis methods might miss. It also highlights the value of open datasets that have been underutilized in many areas of research.

The findings may prompt forensic experts to rethink certain procedures, especially when multiple prints from the same suspect turn up at different locations.

Lipson sees a future where unexpected breakthroughs can come from fresh perspectives.

“Even more exciting is the fact that an undergraduate student, with no background in forensics whatsoever, can use AI to successfully challenge a widely held belief of an entire field,” Lipson concluded.

Source : https://www.earth.com/news/ai-proves-that-fingerprints-are-not-unique-shattering-long-held-belief-legal-implications/

A former Google employee has taken legal action against the tech giant, accusing the company of discriminating against male workers. Marco Meier, who spent nearly 13 years with Google’s ads team, filed a lawsuit alleging that a senior executive created a biased work environment that favoured women. The lawsuit claims men were systematically excluded from promotions, meetings, and leadership roles under the guise of being “too aggressive.”

Americans are increasingly waiting weeks or even months to get an appointment to see a healthcare specialist. This delay comes at a time when the population of aging adults is rising dramatically. By 2050, the number of adults over 85 is expected to triple, which will intensify the strain on an already stretched healthcare system.

We wrote about this worsening challenge and its implications for the healthcare workforce in a January 2025 report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

We are healthcare scholars who are acutely aware of the severe shortfall of specialists in America’s healthcare system. One of us, Rochelle Walensky, witnessed the consequences of this shortage firsthand as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from January 2020 to June 2023, during the critical early years of the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the physician and overall healthcare workforce shortage to the forefront. Amid the excess daily deaths in the U.S. from COVID-19, many people died of potentially preventable deaths due to delayed care for heart attacks, deferred cancer screenings and overwhelmed emergency departments and intensive care units.

Even before the pandemic, 80% of U.S. counties lacked a single infectious disease physician. Before going to the CDC, I – Dr. Walensky – was chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital. When COVID-19 hit our hospitals, we were in desperate need of more infectious disease expertise. I was just one of them.

At the local level, these infectious disease-trained subspecialists provide essential services when it comes to preventing and controlling transmissible outbreaks, carrying out diagnostic testing, developing treatment guidelines, informing hospital capacity planning and offering resources for community outreach. Each of these experts plays a vital role at the bedside and in systems management toward effective clinical, hospital and community responses to infectious disease outbreaks.

Uneven healthcare outcomes and access

For decades, experts have warned of an impending decline in the physician workforce. Now, Americans across all regions, specialties and socioeconomic backgrounds are experiencing that decline firsthand or personally.

The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis projects a national shortage of 140,000 physicians by 2036, with that shortfall spanning multiple specialties, including primary care, obstetrics, cardiology and geriatrics.

However, some geographic areas in the country – especially some of those with the poorest health – are disproportionately affected. The brunt of the effect will be felt in rural areas: An estimated 56% shortage is predicted in nonmetro areas, versus only 6% in metro areas.

States such as Massachusetts, New York and Maryland boast the highest density of physicians per 100,000 people, while states such as Idaho, Mississippi and Oklahoma rank among those with the lowest. And even in states with the highest physician density, demand may still overwhelm access.

Although doctor shortages do not necessarily cause poor health outcomes, regions with fewer physicians tend to have lower life expectancy. The mean life expectancy in Mississippi is six years lower than that of Hawaii and more than four years below the national average. This underscores the substantial differences in health outcomes depending on where you live in the U.S.

Notably, areas with fewer doctors also see higher rates of chronic conditions such as chronic pulmonary disease, diabetes and poor mental health. This crisis is further exacerbated by the aging baby boomer population, which places increasing demand on an already strained healthcare system due to rising rates – especially among those over 85 – of multiple chronic diseases, complex healthcare needs and the concurrent use of multiple medications.

How the U.S. reached this point

Some of these workforce challenges stem from the unintended consequences of policy changes that were originally aimed at improving the rigor of medical education or curtailing a once-anticipated physician glut.

For example, the 1910 Flexner Report was commissioned to restructure American medical education with the goals of standardizing curricula and improving quality. While the report succeeded at those goals, it was shortsighted in important ways. For instance, it recommended closing rather than strengthening 89 of the 155 existing medical schools at the time. This created medical school deserts that persist in some U.S. regions to this day.

Additionally, the report further divided the study of medicine, focused on disease, from the study of public health, which is focused on health care systems, populations and society. This separation has led to siloed communication and data systems that continue to hinder coordinated responses to public health crises.

Decades after the Flexner Report, in 1980, policymakers anticipated a physician oversupply based on medical school enrollment projections and government investments in the medical workforce. In response, funding constraints were introduced by Congress to limit residency and fellowship training slots available after medical school.

But by the early 2000s, discussions shifted to concerns about physician shortages. Despite the calls for reforms to address the issues more than a decade ago, the funding and training constraints have remained largely unchanged. These have created a persistent bottleneck in postgraduate medical training that requires acts of Congress to reverse.

Forces shaping the physician bottleneck

In the wake of the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, states with restrictive abortion policies are now facing an emerging and troubling workforce challenge: It may get more difficult to recruit and retain tomorrow’s medical school grads.

Research surveys suggest that 82% of future physicians, not just obstetricians, prefer to train and work in states that uphold abortion access. While it may seem obvious that obstetricians would want to avoid the increasing liabilities associated with the Dobbs decision, another point is less obvious: Most medical trainees are between the ages of 25 and 35, prime childbearing years, and may themselves want access to a full range of obstetric care.

And given that 20% of physicians are married to other physicians and an additional 25% to other health professionals, marriage within the healthcare workforce may also play a substantial role. A physician choosing not to practice in one of the 14 states with limited abortion access, many of which already rank among the poorest in health outcomes and lowest in physician densities, may not only take their expertise but also their partner’s elsewhere.

Shifting the trajectory

The doctor shortage requires a combination of solutions, starting with addressing the high cost of medical education and training. Medical school enrollment has increased by only 10% over the past decade, far insufficient to address both the shortage today and the projected growth of the aging population needing care.

In addition, many students carry large amounts of debt, which frequently limits who can pursue the profession. And existing scholarship and compensation programs have been only modestly effective in incentivizing providers to work in high-need areas.

In our New England Journal of Medicine report, we laid out several specific strategies that could help address the shortages and the potential workforce crisis. For instance:

Rather than the traditional medical education model – four years of broad medical training followed by three to seven years of residency – medical schools could offer more specialized training pathways. These streamlined programs would focus on the skills needed for specific medical specialties, potentially reducing training duration and costs.

Reforming physician compensation could also help address imbalances in the healthcare system. Specialists and subspecialists typically earn substantially more than primary care doctors, despite the high demand for primary care. Raising primary care salaries and offering incentives, such as student loan forgiveness for physicians in high-need areas, could encourage more doctors to practice where they are needed most.

Additionally, addressing physician burnout is crucial, particularly in primary care, where administrative burdens such as billing and charting contribute to stress and attrition. Reducing these burdens, potentially through novel AI-driven solutions, could allow doctors to focus more on patient care and less on paperwork.

Source : https://studyfinds.org/doctor-shortages-worsening/

The Axiom Mission 4, or Ax-4, crew will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. The Axiom Mission-4 crew, NASA said, will board a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the space station and spend up to 14 days at the orbiting laboratory.

New Delhi: Indian Airforce Officer and ISRO astronaut Shubanshu Shukla will fly into space on NASA’s Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) in May 2025, the US Space Agency said. NASA said the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is targeted to launch “no earlier than May 2025” from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
“The Axiom Mission 4 crew will launch no earlier than Spring 2025 aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the space station and spend up to 14 days at the orbiting laboratory,” NASA said in a detailed release about the mission.

The Axiom Mission 4, or Ax-4, crew will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. It will have Tibor Kapu of Hungary, Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland onboard.

The Axiom Mission-4 crew, NASA said, will board a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the space station and spend up to 14 days at the orbiting laboratory.

This mission is part of NASA’s broader plan to encourage private space travel and pave the way for future commercial space stations. With growing international cooperation, India’s participation showcases its capabilities in human spaceflight and strengthens its presence in global space missions.
Giving details about its previous Axiom mission, NASA said the first private astronaut mission, Axiom Mission 1, was launched in April 2022 for a 17-day mission aboard the orbiting laboratory. The second private mission, Axiom Mission 2, lifted off in May 2023 with four private astronauts who were in space for eight days in orbit.
The most recent Axiom Mission 3 was launched in January 2024 and the crew spent 18 days docked to the space station.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/india/indian-astronaut-shubhanshu-shukla-axiom-4-ax-4-mission-nasa-launch-on-this-date-for-space-station-may-2025-article-151337383

The frenzy to create Ghibli-style AI art using ChatGPT’s image-generation tool led to a record surge in users for OpenAI’s chatbot last week, straining its servers and temporarily limiting the feature’s usage.
The viral trend saw users from across the globe flood social media with images based on the hand-drawn style of the famed Japanese animation outfit, Studio Ghibli, founded by renowned director Hayao Miyazaki and known for movies such as “Spirited Away” and “My Neighbor Totoro”.

Average weekly active users breached the 150 million mark for the first time this year, according to data from market research firm Similarweb.
“We added one million users in the last hour,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in an X post on Monday, comparing it with the addition of one million users in five days following ChatGPT’s red-hot launch more than two years ago.
Active users, in-app subscription revenue and app downloads reached an all-time high last week, according to SensorTower data, after the AI company launched updates to its GPT-4o model, enabling advanced image generation capabilities.

Global app downloads and weekly active users on the ChatGPT app grew 11% and 5%, respectively, from the prior week, while in-app purchase revenue increased 6%, the market intelligence firm said.
However, the chatbot has been hit with a series of glitches and low-scale outages over the past week as it deals with a spike in traffic due to the popularity of its image-generating tool.
“We are getting things under control, but you should expect new releases from OpenAI to be delayed, stuff to break, and for service to sometimes be slow as we deal with capacity challenges,” the OpenAI co-founder said on Tuesday.

LEGAL UNCERTAINTY

The extensive use of the AI tool for the Ghibli effect has also led to questions about potential copyright violations.
“The legal landscape of AI-generated images mimicking Studio Ghibli’s distinctive style is an uncertain terrain. Copyright law has generally protected only specific expressions rather than artistic styles themselves,” said Evan Brown, partner at law firm Neal & McDevitt.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the data used to train its AI models and the legality surrounding its latest feature.
Studio Ghibli co-founder Miyazaki’s comments from 2016 on AI-generated images resurfaced after the trend blew up last week.
“I am utterly disgusted,” Miyazaki had said after being shown an early render of an AI-generated.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/ghibli-effect-chatgpt-usage-hits-record-after-rollout-viral-feature-2025-04-01/

Whether farmed for meat or used as subjects in medical research, animals are deeply sentient beings, whose suffering remains an ever-looming ethical frontier. Besides, breakthroughs in lab testing don’t always carry over to humans. Scientists have proposed a radical dual solution: artificially-grown human bodies incapable of feeling pain.
Stem-cell researchers at Stanford University last week published an article in the magazine MIT Technology Reviewtitled: “Ethically-sourced ‘spare’ human bodies could revolutionise medicine.”
“It may be disturbing to characterise human bodies in such commodifying terms, but the unavoidable reality is that human biological materials are an essential commodity in medicine, and persistent shortages of these materials create a major bottleneck to progress,” the piece read.

The authors blamed this “supply” shortage for the global solid organ transplant (SOT) waitlist, which in the United States alone is 1,00,000 patients long. And since animal-testing is not enough to conclusively predict human responses to drugs, painstaking decade-long clinical trials have to still be carried out.

“There might be a way to get out of this moral and scientific deadlock,” they said. “Recent advances in biotechnology now provide a pathway to producing living human bodies without the neural components that allow us to think, be aware, or feel pain.”
Pluripotent stem cells, which are among the first to form during human embryo development, were used in a recent study to create structures that mimic the process. The article also points to artificial uteruses and other breakthroughs that could potentially open pathways to lab-grown foetuses, which the scientists hope would also end the suffering of animals used for testing and meat.
However, they think it’s too early to say how such experiments would turn out, or give a definite timeline.
“We do not know whether the embryo models could give rise to living people or, thus far, even to living mice,” the authors wrote.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/technology-science/scientists-look-to-lab-grown-human-bodies-called-bodyoids-for-drug-testing-meat-article-151316135

If you rely on UPI for daily transactions, a major rule change starting tomorrow, April 1, could affect your access to the service. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has issued new guidelines to ensure safer and more efficient UPI transactions. The key change? Banks and payment apps like PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm will now deactivate UPI IDs linked to inactive mobile numbers. Users must act now to avoid disruptions.

A major security flaw in Google Chrome browser has put media outlets, government agencies, and educational institutions at risk of cyberattacks. The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-2783, was discovered by Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT). It allowed attackers to bypass Chrome’s security protections without user interaction after clicking a malicious link.

The latest version of OpenAI’s image generation technology has resulted in a flood of users sharing images on social media that have been transformed in the style of Studio Ghibli, the legendary Japanese animation studio.

On Tuesday, OpenAI launched what it called its “most advanced image generator yet,” built into GPT‑4o. That features a “natively multimodal model capable of precise, accurate, photorealistic outputs.” As it turns out, the image generator also is very good at replicating the anime style of Studio Ghibli, the company behind such popular films as “Spirited Away,” “My Neighbor Totoro” and “The Boy and the Heron.”

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, chimed in on the viral trend in a post on X Wednesday — indicating he has himself been Studio Ghibli-fied. Altman wrote, “> be me / > grind for a decade trying to help make superintelligence to cure cancer or whatever / > mostly no one cares for first 7.5 years, then for 2.5 years everyone hates you for everything / > wake up one day to hundreds of messages: ‘look i made you into a twink ghibli style haha.’”

Altman also changed his profile picture on X to a Ghibli-style image:

Reps for Studio Ghibli in North America declined to comment.

However, Hayao Miyazaki, the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, has previously expressed strong disapproval of AI-generated animation. In a 2016 meeting where he was shown an AI animation demo, Miyazaki said, “I am utterly disgusted. If you really want to make creepy stuff you can go ahead and do it. I would never wish to incorporate this technology into my work at all.” He also said, “I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself.”

More recently, Hollywood actors and other creatives have voiced concerns about efforts by OpenAI and other artificial-intelligence companies to “weaken or eliminate” protections on copyrighted works for training AI systems. In comments filed with the Trump administration‘s Office of Science and Technology Policy earlier this month, more than 400 filmmakers, actors, musicians and others objected to what they said was lobbying by OpenAI and Google “for a special government exemption so they can freely exploit America’s creative and knowledge industries.”

On Thursday, a federal judge ruled that the New York Times, along with other newspaper groups, are allowed to proceed with a copyright lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in which they seek to force the AI companies to stop using their content to train chatbots like ChatGPT. In a statement, OpenAI said it looked forward to “making it clear that we build our AI models using publicly available data, in a manner grounded in fair use, and supportive of innovation.”

Source : https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/openai-ceo-chatgpt-studio-ghibli-ai-images-1236349141/

In what may aid lakhs of snakebite victims, Indian scientists have come out with a novel diagnostic technique to determine if a person has been bitten by a venomous snake or a non-venomous one within four hours of the snakebite.

The smartphone-based method has been customised to identify the bites of the Indian cobra, Common krait, Russell’s viper, Saw-scaled viper and Indian monocled cobra – the five reptiles that are responsible for the majority of snakebite-related morbidity and mortality in India.

Currently, doctors or health attendants at rural clinics depend on their experience to determine if a particular snakebite has been caused by a poisonous snake. There is no commercial kit available for such detection.

Developed by researchers at Tezpur University and the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology, Guwahati, the new technique involves a minor blood test that can not only tell if the victim was bitten by a poisonous snake but also an approximate amount of venom in the body to help doctors fix the anti-venom dose.

“It takes about 10-15 minutes to get the results. The test can be carried out within four hours of a snakebite,” Ashish Kumar Mukherjee, principal investigator and director of the Guwahati Institute, told DH.

There are two types of snakebites – wet and dry. A snakebite from a venomous serpent can be classified as a ‘wet bite,’ which may cause minor local symptoms to severe systemic toxicity and perhaps death, or a ‘dry bite,’ which presents no local or systemic indications of envenomation.

A recent Million Death Study commissioned by the Registrar General of India has estimated that there are around 46,900 deaths per year due to venomous snakebites in India, though scientists are of the opinion that the magnitude may be far greater.

Indian peninsula hosts 52 deadly species of snakes, but the majority of the snakebites are caused by the Indian cobra (Naja naja), Common krait (Bungarus caeruleus), Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii russelii), and Saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus) that are collectively referred to as the ‘Big Four.’

The test is also applicable for a fifth snake, the Indian monocled cobra (Naja kaouthia), that is common in the North East.

The detection is done using a colourimetric assay – the colour of the reagent changes from burgundy to blue. An analysis of the image taken by smartphone cameras can also reveal the quantity of venom in the body.

The scientists have filed a patent on the novel technique and are planning to develop an easy-to-use application for smartphones.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/science/scientists-devise-smartphone-based-test-to-detect-venomous-snakes-if-diagnosed-within-4-hours-of-bite-3463914

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced a major update to ChatGPT’s image-generation capabilities after more than a year. With the update, ChatGPT can now natively create and modify images with the help of the company’s GPT-4o model. Prior to this, GPT-4o has been only able to generate and edit text and not images. With the update available now, many users, however, reported that the image generator was unable to draw “sexy women” due to the company’s content policy—something that Altman has also acknowledged.

One of the users shared their experience on the X, which caught the CEO’s attention, seemingly due to the AI-generated stud-muffin in the post. As the user asked the app to create a “sexy woman” and a “sexy man”, he only got a response for the latter. “I couldn’t generate that image because it goes against our content policy,” the AI responded, as shown in the screenshot on X.

The user further went for a detailed reason, for which ChatGPT stated, “The difference comes down to context and how content is interpreted in terms of sexualization and objectification, especially when it involves women. When generating images of men with terms like ‘sexy,’ it’s usually interpreted more in terms of confidence, physique, or fashion — things that tend to be considered stylistic or artistic. With women, they can be more easily interpreted as overly sexual or objectifying, which is where the content policy draws the line.”

In a direct response to the X user, Sam Altman stated that it was a bug and that the company would fix it. “Hguy though!” he added.

Source : https://www.news18.com/tech/sam-altman-explains-why-chatgpts-image-generator-cant-draw-sexy-women-aa-9276477.html 

Italy has handed tax demands to Meta (META.O), opens new tab, X and LinkedIn in an unprecedented VAT claim against the U.S. tech giants that could have repercussions across the European Union, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
While it has been reported that Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta and Elon Musk’s social network X were under investigation for alleged tax fraud, it had not been disclosed that Microsoft’s (MSFT.O), opens new tab LinkedIn unit was also caught up in Italy’s pilot VAT case for the tech sector in Europe.

Italy is claiming 887.6 million euros ($961 million) from Meta, 12.5 million euros from X and around 140 million euros from LinkedIn.
These figures refer to the entire period under investigation, from 2015-2016 to 2021-2022, depending on the case, but the tax assessment notice now served only covers the years for which claims are set to expire, namely 2015 and 2016.
The issue is likely to be particularly sensitive given trade tensions between the EU and the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has a good relationship with Musk, who is keen to expand his Starlink communications business in Italy.
PILOT CASE
The case is significant as it hinges on the way social networks provide access to their services.
Italian tax authorities argue that user registrations with X, LinkedIn and Meta platforms should be seen as taxable transactions as they imply the exchange of a membership account in return for a user’s personal data.
In a statement to Reuters, Meta said it would not comment on the details of this case, reiterating that it had cooperated “fully with the authorities on our obligations under EU and local law.”

It added that the company “strongly disagrees with the idea that providing access to online platforms to users should be subject to VAT.”
LinkedIn said it had “nothing to share at this time.”
X did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
The case could ultimately be extended to the 27-nation European Union since VAT is a harmonised EU tax, and force a rethink of the business model of the tech industry.
According to several experts consulted by Reuters, the Italian approach could affect almost all companies, from airlines to supermarkets to publishers, who link access to free services on their sites to users’ acceptance of profiling cookies.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Italy has actively pursued tech companies over tax. Google in February agreed to pay 326 million euros to settle a tax claim relating to the period between 2015 and 2019.

But this is the first time in such cases that a settlement agreement has not been reached, and that the Revenue Agency has handed the companies a formal assessment notice, the last step before the start of a fully-fledged judicial tax dispute.
This happened, according to three of the sources, because the case was not simply about agreeing a settlement figure but accepting a broader approach.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/technology/italy-hands-vat-bill-meta-x-linkedin-landmark-tax-case-2025-03-26/

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would be willing to reduce tariffs on China to get a deal done with TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the short video app used by 170 million Americans.
ByteDance has an April 5 deadline to find a non-Chinese buyer for TikTok or face a U.S. ban on national security grounds that was supposed to have taken effect in January under a 2024 law.

The law is the result of concern in Washington that TikTok’s ownership by ByteDance makes it beholden to the Chinese government and that Beijing could use the app to conduct influence operations against the United States and collect data on Americans.Trump said he was willing to extend the April deadline if an agreement over the social media app was not reached.
He acknowledged the role China will play to get any deal done, including giving its approval, saying “maybe I’ll give them a little reduction in tariffs or something to get it done,” Trump told reporters.
TikTok did not immediately comment.
Trump’s comment suggests the sale of TikTok’s is a priority for his administration and important enough to use tariffs as a bargaining chip with Beijing.
In February and earlier this month, Trump added levies totaling 20% to existing tariffs on all imports from China.

Getting China to agree to any deal to give up control of a business worth tens of billions of dollars has always been the biggest sticking point to getting any agreement finalized. Trump has used tariffs as a bargaining chip in the TikTok negotiations in the past.
On January 20, his first day in office, he warned that he could impose tariffs on China if Beijing failed to approve a U.S. deal with TikTok.
Vice President JD Vance has said he expects the general terms of an agreement that resolves the ownership of the social media platform to be reached by April 5.
Reuters reported last week that White House-led talks among investors are coalescing around a plan for the biggest non-Chinese backers of ByteDance to increase their stakes and acquire the video app’s U.S. operations, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/technology/trump-says-he-may-give-china-reduction-tariffs-get-tiktok-deal-done-2025-03-26/

The question has generated controversy among scientists.

Over the last decade or so, research has revealed a clear pattern: People tend to overeat ultraprocessed foods. This could be one reason they’re linked with weight gain and obesity.

What isn’t clear is why we are so prone to overeating them.

Dr Robert Califf, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, offered one hypothesis at a US Senate hearing in December: “These foods are probably addictive,” he said, adding that they may act on the same brain pathways involved with addiction to opioids and other drugs.

As recently as eight years ago, such a concept was highly controversial, said Ashley Gearhardt, an addiction researcher at the University of Michigan. She described being heckled onstage at a scientific conference in 2017 for suggesting that some ultraprocessed foods may act as addictive substances. Now, she said, more researchers have started coming around to the idea.

But a major question remains: How do you prove it?

A recent study, the largest of its kind, took a big swing at this conundrum. But its results raised more questions than answers. Here’s what we know – and don’t know – so far.

CAN FOOD GIVE YOU A DRUGLIKE DOPAMINE HIT?
One way researchers study addiction is by looking at the brain levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine – a natural signal that helps you learn to seek what you need to survive. When you eat, your brain releases the chemical, said Dana Small, a cognitive neuroscientist at McGill University in Montreal. If it’s a food you know and like, she said, just thinking about or seeing it can trigger an increase in dopamine, reminding you that it’s a good source of fuel and nudging you to eat more.

Addictive drugs co-opt this survival system by triggering a larger surge in dopamine and driving people to use them again and again, Dr Small said.

Researchers have wondered if ultraprocessed foods – especially those high in fat and sugar – cause a similarly outsized dopamine response, suggesting they could be addictive in the same way as drugs. Past research in rodents and humans has supported this idea, but the human experiments have been very small.

In the new study, scientists at the National Institutes of Health measured how people’s brains responded to drinking a high-fat ultraprocessed milkshake.

They found that while more than half of the participants had a small dopamine increase after drinking the shake, the rest had a decrease or no change. On average, the researchers concluded, there was no statistical difference in brain dopamine levels before and after drinking the shake.

The authors wrote that this result runs counter to the idea that ultraprocessed foods drive overeating by causing dopamine surges in the brain similar to those of addictive drugs.

But there’s an important caveat: The study measured brain dopamine levels with PET scans, which are commonly used in drug addiction research. These scans can’t measure small dopamine changes very well; it’s likely that the milkshakes did elicit dopamine responses in more participants, and the scans just couldn’t detect them, Kevin Hall and Valerie Darcey, the study’s lead authors who are nutrition and metabolism scientists at the NIH, wrote in a statement to The New York Times.

A few drugs, like cocaine and amphetamines, trigger dramatic surges in dopamine that are obvious on PET scans, but for others, like nicotine or opioids, the dopamine responses are smaller and not always detectable, said Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, a neuroscientist at Virginia Tech who was not involved with the study.

ULTRAPROCESSED FOODS ESPECIALLY PLEASURABLE
Dr Small was most interested in the new study’s participants who did have small increases in dopamine after drinking the shakes. These “responders,” as the study authors called them, rated the shakes as being more pleasant and said they wanted more of them compared with the other participants.

Several days after the brain scans, the researchers found that the “responders” ate nearly twice as many Chips Ahoy! cookies at a buffet lunch as the other participants.

This tracks with past research on nicotine and opioids, DrGearhardt said. People who have measurable dopamine surges after using the drugs tend to find them more pleasurable and want them more than those who don’t.

Outside researchers praised the new study for its size and rigor. But they and the lead authors said that although the main result seems to suggest that ultraprocessed foods may not be addictive, it’s not the end of the story on that question. “It’s just more complicated than we originally thought,” the study authors wrote.

Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/wellness/ultraprocessed-foods-addiction-461621

A possibility being discussed involved a relationship between Reliance Jio and OpenAI to distribute ChatGPT, according to The Information, which cited two sources familiar with the matter.

A possibility being discussed involved a relationship between Reliance Jio and OpenAI to distribute ChatGPT, according to The Information, which cited two sources familiar with the matter.A possibility being discussed involved a relationship between Reliance Jio and OpenAI to distribute ChatGPT, according to The Information, which cited two sources familiar with the matter.

A possibility being discussed involved a relationship between Reliance Jio and OpenAI to distribute ChatGPT, according to The Information, which cited two sources familiar with the matter.

OpenAI also discussed with employees cutting the ChatGPT subscription price to as low as several dollars instead of $20 a month, according to the report, which added that it is not clear if OpenAI has discussed the idea of price reduction with Reliance.

Reliance has discussed selling OpenAI’s models to its enterprise customers through an application programming interface or API, The Information report added, saying that the Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate also discussed hosting and running OpenAI models locally, so the data of local customers can be kept within India.

Source: https://www.deccanherald.com/business/companies/openai-meta-in-talks-with-reliance-for-ai-partnerships-report-3458727

President Donald Trump on Friday said he was unaware that NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore had not received overtime pay for their unexpectedly extended stay at the International Space Station (ISS). Donald Trump hinted that he might cover the overtime costs for the astronauts, who recently returned from space after staying on the ISS for nine months.

During a press briefing at the White House, Fox News’ Peter Doocy informed Donald Trump that the astronauts hadn’t received overtime pay for their extended stay at the space station, despite being entitled to $5 per day—totalling $1,430 for 286 days, The Hill reported.

“Nobody ever mentioned this to me. If I have to, I will pay it out of my own pocket? OK, I will get it for them,” Trump said.

“Is that all? That’s not a lot. For what they had to go through,” the US president added.

Trump then thanked SpaceX’s Elon Musk for returning the astronauts – Sunita Williams, Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. They returned to Earth early on Wednesday onboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which splashed down in the sea off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.

Watch the video here:

For Williams and Wilmore, test pilots for Boeing’s new Starliner capsule, an eight-day mission stretched to more than nine months as a series of helium leaks and thruster failures deemed their spacecraft unsafe. The spacecraft returned without them in September last year.

“Think of, if we don’t have him (Musk). You know, there’s only so long — even though they are in the capsule up there — the body starts to deteriorate after nine or 10 months,” Trump said at the briefing.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/sunita-williams-returns-donald-trump-unaware-of-astronauts-overtime-issue-says-will-pay-from-own-pocket-101742611620256.html

Nvidia (NVDA.O) CEO Jensen Huang believes humanoid robots are less than five years away from seeing wide use in manufacturing facilities.
Huang on Tuesday gave a keynote address in front of a packed hockey stadium during the nearly $3 trillion company’s annual developer conference in San Jose, California.

Huang unveiled software tools that he said would help humanoid robots navigate the world more easily.

Speaking to a group of journalists after the speech, Huang was asked what signs would show that AI had become ubiquitous.
Among other answers, Huang said it may be “when, literally, humanoid robots are wandering around, which is not five years away. This is not five-years-away problem, this is a few-years-away problem.”
The manufacturing industry would likely adopt humanoid robots first because that industry has well-defined tasks that robots can handle in a controlled environment, he said.
“I think it ought to go to factories first. And the reason for that is because the domain is much more guard-railed, and the use case is much more specific,” Huang said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/technology/nvidia-ceo-humanoid-robot-revolution-is-closer-than-you-think-2025-03-19/

General Motors (GM.N), will use artificial intelligence chips and software from Nvidia (NVDA.O), to develop autonomous vehicle technology for its vehicles and improve workflow at its factories, the companies said on Tuesday.
Traditional automakers have struggled to commercialize autonomous technology that has been more challenging and expensive than expected but has emerged as a way to boost sales and rake in subscription revenue from motorists.

The companies plan to work together to build AI systems using Nvidia’s platforms to train AI manufacturing models for factory planning. GM also plans to use Nvidia’s autonomous tech, for future advanced driver-assistance systems.

Asked about financial terms, a GM spokesperson said the companies have a strategic collaboration on using AI in manufacturing and GM will buy chips from Nvidia for driver-assistance technology.

A slew of automakers and suppliers, including Toyota (7203.T), and Hyundai (005380.KS), have partnered this year with Nvidia to develop their autonomous driving capabilities in the face of competition from Tesla (TSLA.O), which uses proprietary technology to run its Full Self-Driving system.

GM used Nvidia’s chips to power its self-driving Cruise robotaxis. But it started developing custom chips in-house to reduce cost and dependency before it shut down the robotaxi business last year to focus instead on AV technology for personal vehicles.
GM has forecast that its Super Cruise driver-assistance technology would earn about $2 billion in total annual revenue within five years. Super Cruise is free for three years, after which customers are offered subscriptions for $25 a month or $250 a year.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/gm-use-nvidia-ai-chips-software-automate-vehicles-factories-2025-03-18/

The image was taken in Mare Crisium, a vast lunar basin in the Moon’s northern hemisphere.

Texas-based private aerospace firm Firefly Aerospace has unveiled a stunning image from the Moon’s surface, captured by its Blue Ghost lunar lander.

The image showcases the rare ‘diamond ring’ effect—a celestial phenomenon created when sunlight streams through lunar valleys during an eclipse.

Firefly Aerospace’s official X account posted the breathtaking photo on March 14, writing, “#BlueGhost got her first diamond ring! Captured at our landing site in the Moon’s Mare Crisium around 3:30 am CDT, the photo shows the sun about to emerge from totality behind Earth. Hope to have more shots to share soon! #BGM1.”

The image was taken in Mare Crisium, a vast lunar basin in the Moon’s northern hemisphere, where Blue Ghost successfully landed as part of its first mission, BGM1, on March 2.

The landing was a major milestone for the startup Firefly and the second by a commercial company after Houston-based Intuitive Machines Inc. landed a robotic spacecraft intact on the lunar surface in 2024, according to Bloomberg.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/science/aerospaces-blue-ghost-captures-breathtaking-diamond-ring-effect-on-the-moon-see-photo-101741975391496.html

Google and Meta are clashing over kids’ online safety, blaming each other while evading responsibility.

The ongoing battle between Google and Meta over kids’ online safety has intensified, with both companies accusing each other of evading responsibility. Google recently called out Meta and other social media platforms for backing laws that shift the burden of age verification to app stores. Meanwhile, Meta argues that app stores should take more responsibility.
Google Slams Meta
Google’s criticism comes after Utah became the first U.S. state to pass legislation requiring app stores like the Google Play Store and Apple App Store to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent before minors can download apps. While Meta, Snap, and X supported the new law, Google opposed it, calling it “concerning” and claiming it fails to address the actual risks children face online.
The company argues that the responsibility for age verification should fall on social media platforms, not app stores. Kareem Ghanem, Google’s public policy director, stated that the law allows platforms like Meta to escape accountability, despite being the primary space where children engage with online content.

Google’s Alternative Proposal
To counter Utah’s law, Google proposed its own framework, which suggests that age verification should only apply to specific apps deemed risky rather than all apps. It also wants app developers, not app stores, to determine what protections are necessary.

Critics argue that Google’s proposal is simply a way to avoid taking responsibility. By putting the decision in developers’ hands, Google creates a loophole that could allow unsafe apps to slip through the cracks. Apple, in its latest online safety report, raised concerns that this approach could lead to excessive data collection from children, as developers may ask for sensitive identification details to comply with regulations.
Meta Shifts Blame to App Stores
Meta, on the other hand, sees things differently. The company welcomed Google’s acknowledgement that app stores can share age data with developers but questioned how Google would decide which apps need this information. Meta argues that the easiest way to protect minors is to put parents in control by making app stores responsible for obtaining parental consent.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/technology-science/google-and-meta-play-the-blame-game-while-kids-online-safety-remains-at-risk-article-119032505

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully lifted off from Florida on Friday with four crew on board. It means Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams can finally come home after their eight-day mission was extended to nine months because of technical problems.

A long-awaited rocket with a replacement crew for two stranded NASA astronauts has finally launched to the International Space Station (ISS).

US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have been stuck on the ISS for nine months, having had their journey home repeatedly pushed back.

The Crew-10 mission was initially scheduled to launch the replacement crew of four astronauts from Florida on Wednesday, but a last-minute issue with the rocket’s ground systems forced a delay.

NASA said on Thursday that SpaceX, headed and founded by tech billionaire Elon Musk, had resolved the issue – flushing a suspected pocket of air out of a hydraulic clamp arm – and that the weather was 95% favourable for a Friday launch.

The crew is now expected to arrive at the ISS on Saturday night. They are NASA’s Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, who are both military pilots, along with Japan’s Takuya Onishi and Russia’s Kirill Peskov, both former airline pilots.

They will spend the next six months at the space station, releasing Mr Wilmore and Ms Williams who have been on the ISS since June 2024.

The pair originally planned to go to space for just eight days but got stuck on the station after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft started experiencing problems.

The mission has become entangled in politics as Donald Trump and his adviser Elon Musk claimed – without evidence – that former President Joe Biden left the astronauts on the station for political reasons.

NASA said the two astronauts have had to remain on the ISS to maintain its minimum staffing level.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/rocket-with-replacement-crew-for-nasa-astronauts-stranded-for-nine-months-finally-launches-13328607

Spotify paid the music industry $10bn (£7.7bn) in 2024, which the streaming service said was the highest annual payment from any single retailer in history.

But the figures come as a heated debate continues about how much money artists and songwriters receive in royalties.

Earlier this year, several Grammy-nominated songwriters boycotted an awards event hosted by Spotify in a row about their streaming earnings.

As the new figures were published, a spokesperson for Spotify said the responsibility for distributing the money it pays lay with record labels and publishers.

The company said it pays royalties to rights holders, adding that it does not have “visibility” on where the money ultimately goes because earnings are based on artists’ individual contracts with their labels.

A spokesperson said: “Spotify does not pay artists or songwriters directly. We pay rights-holders, these are typically record labels, music publishers, collection societies.

“These rights-holders then pay artists and songwriters based on their individual agreements.”

The amount of money earned by artists will vary, but a committee of MPs heard in 2021 that the performer ultimately earns about 16% of a stream’s overall value.

That would mean an artist whose music generated £100,000 on Spotify might only receive £16,000 in royalty payments, before tax.

However, Spotify is not the only streaming service to generate revenue for artists, and many pop stars make more money from other income streams such as live tours.

Spotify said more than two-thirds of all music revenue goes “straight to the recording and publishing rights-holders”, and added that, like other streamers, Spotify does not pay on a per-stream basis.

The annual figures were published in Spotify’s Loud and Clear report – part of the company’s aim to provide transparency on how it pays the music industry.

The amount Spotify paid this year was an increase on the more than $9bn (£7bn) it handed over in 2023.

The report highlighted that the number of artists generating annual royalties between $1,000 (£770) and $10m had tripled since 2017.

Taylor Swift was named Spotify’s top artist globally with more than 26 billion streams, in the year she released her double-length album The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.

Swift herself was part of the debate about streaming royalties in 2014, when she removed her music from Spotify as part of a boycott, eventually re-joining the platform in 2017.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy9d53rx7jxo

Look, we all know AI has both its advantages (e.g. offering convenient assistance, quick content, and sometimes reliable information) and disadvantages (e.g. stealing our jobs and potentially replacing humans altogether, but I digress).

However, one facet of AI that many people overlook is its impact on our cognitive abilities. A recent paper from researchers at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University explored this exact concern.

“Used improperly, technologies can and do result in the deterioration of cognitive faculties that ought to be preserved,” the paper states.

The researchers added that “by mechanizing routine tasks and leaving exception-handling to the human user, you deprive the user of the routine opportunities to practice their judgment and strengthen their cognitive musculature, leaving them atrophied and unprepared when the exceptions do arise.”

work harder, not smarter?

In today’s fast-paced world, it’s hard to even find the time to sit and enjoy a simple cup of coffee in the morning. Working smarter rather than harder feels like the only way to keep up and survive sometimes.

Of course, we can cut back on our social media consumption and doomscrolling, but utilizing the tools we have in front of us, like AI, is merely a form of adapting. For example, rather than going to a library and scouring multiple books, spending hours searching for information and resources on a specific topic, we can now access that information almost immediately on the Internet. Could you imagine if that was never an option? I’d rather not.

Just because technology is convenient doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad. However, we do want to acknowledge the impact that it has on our brains and our cognitive abilities. This is especially true when it comes to generative AI, which is arguably the most concerning tech development in recent years.

The paper concluded: “While GenAI can improve worker efficiency, it can inhibit critical engagement with work and can potentially lead to long-term overreliance on the tool and diminished skill for independent problem-solving.”

Additionally, “Higher confidence in GenAI’s ability to perform a task is related to less critical thinking effort. When using GenAI tools, the effort invested in critical thinking shifts from information gathering to information verification; from problem-solving to AI response integration; and from task execution to task stewardship.”

This removes a bulk of our mind’s “dirty work,” so to speak—but is it forming a lazy habit for our brains?

AI could Be Making You Dumb, But That Might Be the Least of Your Worries

One can argue that outsourcing certain parts of our mental workload allows us to invest more energy into other things, like our creativity or emotional intelligence. However, overreliance on such technologies can, of course, have adverse effects.

The researchers concluded that their work “suggests that GenAI tools need to be designed to support knowledge workers’ critical thinking by addressing their awareness, motivation, and ability barriers.”

Look, if the world suddenly went totally off the grid and we had zero access to the Internet, we can pretty much guarantee we’d all be fucked—at least here in the US. But to be honest, our declining mental cognitive habits are really the least of our worries.

Source : https://www.vice.com/en/article/ai-makes-you-lazy-and-stupid-if-you-let-it/

Artificial intelligence (AI) has undergone a massive transformation over the past decade, evolving from narrow applications in machine vision and predictive modelling to the more complex and versatile world of generative AI (GenAI). The recent popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and the emergence of similar GenAI models since then, has made this space more competitive.
Leading this shift is Nagarro, a global product engineering company that has been at the forefront of AI innovation. In conversations with Anurag Sahay, MD and Head of Data and AI at Nagarro, and Ananda Sengupta, MD, Head of Telecom at the company, we explored how Nagarro is differentiating itself in the competitive AI landscape, tackling challenges, and ensuring responsible AI development.

Ice could be present at more locations right beneath the Moon’s surface at the poles than previously thought, a study of data collected by the Chandrayaan-3 mission has suggested.

Large, yet highly local, changes in surface temperatures can directly affect the forming of ice, and looking into these ice particles can reveal “different stories about their origin and history”, lead author, Durga Prasad Karanam, Faculty, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad told PTI.

This can also tell us about how ice accumulated and moved through the Moon’s surface over time, which can provide insights into the natural satellite’s early geologic processes, he said. The findings are published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission, launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from Bengaluru, achieved a soft landing near the Moon’s south pole on August 23, 2023. The landing site was named the ‘Shiv Shakti Point’ three days later on August 26.

For this study, the researchers analysed temperatures measured at and to a depth of 10 centimetres beneath the lunar surface. Measurements were taken by the ‘ChaSTE’ probe on-board the Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander.

The lander touched down at the edge of the Moon’s south pole region, about 69 degrees south latitude.

At this landing site — “a Sun-facing slope angled at six degrees” — the authors found that temperatures peaked at about 82 degrees Celsius and dropped to -170 degrees Celsius in the night.

However, barely a metre away from the landing point — a flat surface — temperatures peaked at about 60 degrees Celsius.

“That slight slope resulted in an increased solar radiation at the ChaSTE penetration point,” Karanam said.

Further, the team developed a model of how slope angle can affect surface temperature at a high lunar latitude, such as the latitude of the landing site.

The model indicated that, for slopes facing away from the Sun and towards the Moon’s nearest pole, a slope inclined at an angle greater than 14 degrees may be cool enough for ice to accumulate close to the surface.

The slope conditions suggested by the model were found to be similar to those of landing points, proposed for NASA’s manned mission to the Moon’s south pole — the ‘Artemis’.

The authors, therefore, suggested that potentially, there could be multiple places on the Moon where ice can form and be accessed more easily than previously thought.

In response to PTI’s question on the chances of ice turning into water on the Moon, Karanam said, “Water in liquid form cannot exist on the lunar surface because of (an) ultra-high vacuum. Therefore, ice cannot transform into liquid, but would rather sublimate to vapour form.” “As of the present understanding, Moon might not have had habitable conditions in the past,” Karanam said.

However, ice is a potential resource for future on-site exploration and habitability of the Moon, and that more measurements, such as those from ChaSTE, are needed to gain a comprehensive picture, he added.

“Techniques and strategies need to be developed for extraction and usage of ice for long term sustainability on the Moon,” the lead author said.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/science/chandrayaan-3-data-suggests-says-ice-may-exist-on-moon-at-more-locations-than-previously-thought-7864373

When someone loses a hand, today’s prosthetic options force painful compromises. Rigid prosthetics offer strength but can’t handle delicate objects gently. Soft robotic alternatives provide gentleness but lack gripping power. And neither option lets users actually feel what they’re touching.

We’ve all been there. You’re in a meeting, your phone buzzes with an Instagram notification, and suddenly your fingers itch to check it. But what’s actually happening inside your body during that moment of craving? A new study from Durham University has finally mapped the physiological rollercoaster we experience during those quick Instagram checks—and more importantly, what happens when we’re forced to resist the urge to scroll.

Checking social media has become engrained in the daily routines of billions worldwide. Despite the ubiquity of this behavior, surprisingly little was known about its immediate impact on our bodies and minds until now. Unlike previous research focusing on internet use broadly, this investigation zeroed in specifically on Instagram—one of the most visually-oriented and popular platforms among young adults.

Dr. Michael Wadsley and Dr. Niklas Ihssen’s study, titled “The psychophysiology of Instagram,” tracked what happens inside our bodies during typical Instagram sessions and subsequent periods when usage is halted. Their findings reveal a troubling pattern: brief Instagram engagement triggers reward-based arousal and deep attentional immersion, while stopping triggers stress responses—regardless of whether someone exhibits problematic social media habits or not.

In a commentary on The Conversation, Dr. Ihssen himself explains the significance: “What we found was that, relative to the news reading condition, scrolling away on Instagram led to a marked slowing of participants’ heart rate while, at the same time, increasing their sweating response.” He adds, “From other research we know that such a pattern of bodily responses shows that someone’s attention is fully absorbed by a highly significant or emotional stimulus in their environment – it’s a state of simultaneous excitement and deep immersion into something very meaningful to us.”

Instagram’s Insta-effects

The research team monitored heart rate, skin conductance (which measures emotional arousal through tiny changes in sweat gland activity), and subjective feelings across three 15-minute phases with 54 Instagram users. Participants first completed a baseline reading phase, followed by an Instagram browsing phase, and finally a phase where they were forced to stop using Instagram while receiving notifications.

During Instagram use, participants experienced a significant decrease in heart rate compared to baseline—a sign of deep attentional focus similar to what happens when we’re completely absorbed in a task. This heart rate slowdown occurred alongside increased skin conductance, indicating heightened pleasurable arousal—essentially, the reward center of the brain activating.

This combination reveals users enter a distinctive mental state characterized by profound immersive engagement while simultaneously experiencing heightened arousal—a potent mixture that likely contributes to social media’s powerful appeal.

“Importantly, from the control condition we knew that it was not just being on the phone or reading that caused this bodily response,” writes Dr. Ihssen. “So there seems to be something special about social media that can easily engross us.”

What Happens When We Stop Scrolling?

Perhaps most revealing was the body’s response when participants were forced to stop using Instagram, especially while receiving notifications they couldn’t check. Heart rates increased, skin conductance readings climbed even higher, and participants reported significant increases in stress, anxiety, and social media cravings.

“The most intriguing effect in our study happened when we interrupted participants at the end of their Instagram stint and asked them to go back to reading another news article,” Dr. Ihssen explains in his Conversation post. “Rather than snapping out of the excitement and returning to a calmer state, participants’ sweating response increased further, while heart rate also increased rather than slowed down further.”

These bodily changes paint a picture of what might be happening inside billions of people multiple times throughout their day: cycles of immersion, reward, and subsequent stress when usage stops. The fact that these responses occurred regardless of whether someone scored high or low on problematic social media use measures raises important questions about how these platforms affect us all.

What makes social media so compelling isn’t just its addictive design features but something more fundamental to human nature. “Our previous study shows that it is primarily the social aspect of social media that drives most people to use it so intensively,” writes Ihssen. “This also means that – in contrast to drugs – social media taps into basic human needs: we all want to belong and to be liked. So if we recognize the existence of ‘social media addiction’, we might also need to recognize a ‘friendship addiction.’”

Beyond ‘Addiction’: A Universal Response

With more parents, educators, doctors, and users themselves becoming aware of the impacts from social media “addiction,” this research offers valuable physiological evidence of its power. While stopping short of confirming social media addiction as a formal diagnosis (none currently exists), the study demonstrates that even brief social media sessions trigger measurable changes in our bodies similar to patterns seen in reward-seeking behaviors.

The discovery that Instagram usage creates a state comparable to what psychologists call “motivated attention”—a heightened focus toward emotionally significant information—helps explain why scrolling through Instagram can feel so absorbing. The platform delivers an endless stream of novel, emotionally significant, and personally relevant content—perfect for continuously capturing our attention.

The Stress-Relief Paradox

Interestingly, previous research found that using social media before or after stressful events can actually buffer physiological stress responses. The heart rate deceleration observed during Instagram use in this study helps explain this phenomenon—social media may temporarily induce a state of attentional immersion that counteracts stress-related physiological arousal.

However, this comes with a significant downside: when usage stops, users experience this powerful rebound of stress-related physiological activation and subjective distress. This creates a potentially problematic cycle—social media temporarily reduces stress, but stopping usage increases it, potentially driving people back to the platform for relief.

Most concerning are the implications for the billions of brief social media sessions occurring worldwide each day. If each session involves cycles of reward-driven immersion followed by stress when usage stops, we might be subjecting ourselves to numerous micro-cycles of physiological and psychological stress daily.

For the average Instagram user who checks the app ten times daily, this could mean ten daily cycles of immersion and withdrawal—each one potentially contributing to accumulated stress. Moreover, if each cycle reinforces the association between Instagram use and stress relief, it could strengthen habitual usage patterns over time.

Engineered for Engagement

The research methodology cleverly mimicked natural usage patterns by examining brief 15-minute windows—much closer to how people actually use these platforms in everyday life, with the average session lasting 10-20 minutes.

Even more ingenious was the cessation phase design, where participants received notifications on their phones but were prohibited from checking them—a common real-world scenario many people experience during meetings, classes, or other situations where checking social media is inappropriate or impossible.

A picture emerges of social media platforms expertly designed to exploit fundamental attentional and reward mechanisms in the human brain. The content—friends’ photos, entertaining videos, personally relevant information—naturally triggers attention and reward anticipation, creating a deeply immersive experience that temporarily reduces stress.

Source : https://studyfinds.org/what-happens-to-your-body-during-an-instagram-session/

Scientists trying to bring back the woolly mammoth have created a woolly mouse.

Colossal Biosciences unveiled plans in 2021 to revive the woolly mammoth – and later the dodo bird – attracting investors, headlines and critics alike.

The Texas-based biotech company has since focused on identifying the key traits of extinct animals with the goal of genetically engineering them into living animals, according to chief executive Ben Lamm.

Alongside bringing back species that went extinct, the company hopes their work can be used to help with conservation efforts.

But other scientists have mixed views of their work and whether it will be helpful.

On Tuesday, Colossal Biosciences said its researchers had edited seven genes in mice embryos to create a mouse with long, thick, woolly hair.

They nicknamed the extra-furry rodent a “colossal woolly mouse.”

The company now plans to genetically modify Asian elephants to give them woolly mammoth traits – but critics have argued that this is different from actually bringing a species back from extinction.

“You’re not actually resurrecting anything – you’re not bringing back the ancient past,” said Christopher Preston, a wildlife and environment expert at the University of Montana, who was not involved in the research.

He added: “You might be able to alter the hair pattern of an Asian elephant or adapt it to the cold, but it’s not bringing back a woolly mammoth. It’s changing an Asian elephant.”

The results have not yet been published in a journal or vetted by independent scientists.

The feat “is technologically pretty cool,” said Vincent Lynch, a biologist at the University of Buffalo, who was not involved in the research.

Alongside the mouse being given different hair, in a press release, Colossal Biosciences said the rodent had also gained the woolly mammoth’s accelerated fat metabolism.

Both were said to be likely related to cold tolerance.

These genetic variations were already present in some living mice, the company’s chief scientist Beth Shapiro said, adding: “We put them all together in a single mouse.”

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/scientists-trying-to-bring-back-woolly-mammoth-create-a-woolly-mouse-13321512