Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 377 for March 15.

March 14, 20253 min readLife on Earth May Have Been Jump-Started by MicrolightningCharged water droplets generate sparks that can forge organic compoundsBy Cody Cottier edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier AM Studios/500px/Getty ImagesEarth, in its infancy, swirled with all the gases needed to construct life. But they couldnt just assemble themselves into the building blocks of biology. That process, called prebiotic synthesis, required a jolt from the outside. Lightning was an obvious suspect. So in 1952 a young chemist named Stanley Miller filled a flask halfway with water, topped it with methane, ammonia and hydrogen to mimic the planets early atmosphere and then flung a miniature lightning bolt into that fertile soup.In this landmark experiment, Miller produced several amino acids out of inorganic molecules. (Amino acids combine to form proteins, which in turn combine to form living organisms.) He thus showed how life could have found its first foothold. But real lightning would have struck infrequentlyand mostly in open ocean, where organic compounds would have quickly dispersed.Seven decades later, new research points to a more realistic catalyst: water itself. Today in Science Advances, Stanford University chemist Richard Zare and his colleagues report that organic molecules with carbon-nitrogen bonds can be formed by simply spraying water into a mix of atmospheric gases. The researchers basically replicated the chemical reactions from Millers experiment, but this time those reactions were achieved with a reliable energy source. Unlike lightning, Zare says, water sprays are everywhere. Each waterfall and wave, he suggests, brought a spark of opportunity for life to emerge.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Its all because of the difference in electrical charge between water droplets. When small, negatively charged droplets come near large, positively charged ones, they sometimes discharge, producing a flash of luminescence the researchers call microlightning. And it turns out that these interactions, like Millers electricity, create organic by-products: in its watery, gaseous stew, Zares team detected the amino acid glycine, as well as the nucleobase uracila key component of RNA.Study co-author Yifan Meng, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford, ran the physical experiment. At first, Meng recalls, he and his colleagues were more primarily interested in microlightning itself. But then we saw the clear evidence of carbon-nitrogen bond formation, he says. This is something fundamental to biological molecules. It was really incredibly exciting.To get life going, however, it wouldnt have been enough for these compounds to form once; thats why random lightning strikes were likely a nonstarter. Single molecules, called monomers, would have needed a repetitive process to give them time to link up in long molecular chains, called polymers: it takes many amino acids to make a protein and many nucleobases to make a strand of RNA. We need the building blocks to get concentrated somewhere, Zare says.The ideal environment for that, he argues, would have been rock crevices near water sprays. The wet-dry cycles that come with such terrain are known to foster polymerization, potentially giving rise to the complex structures that became the first single-celled organisms. David Deamer, a biochemist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who was not involved with the study, found Zares conclusions compelling. Whether in a pond, a lake or a geyser, Deamer says, these molecules would have accumulated wherever there was wave action or waterfalls.This initial test did not generate all of lifes prerequisites, but Meng notes that other important compounds might have been present at undetectable levels. If we can run the experiment for longer, he says, we should be able to detect more. Just as later elaborations on Millers work produced a wider range of molecules, future research could confirm that microlightning supports full-blown prebiotic synthesis.There are competing hypotheses as to how organic molecules first formed. Some experts believe they originated around deep-sea hydrothermal vents, while others think they caught a ride to Earth from somewhere else in our galaxy. NASA scientists announced in January that 14 amino acids, along with all five nucleotide bases in RNA and DNA, had been found in the asteroid Bennu. Given that extraterrestrial objects routinely pummeled our planet in the early days, Deamer says, literally, the compounds necessary for life were falling out of the sky.No one knows what really happened when life emerged around four billion years ago. But these findings lend evidence to what Miller proposed back in the 1950salbeit with a twist. As he told an interviewer in 1996, nobody questioned the chemistry of the original experiment.... The chemistry was very solid. Perhaps now the spark that set that chemistry in motion is, too.

March 14, 20253 min readAncient DNA Shows Stone Age Europeans Voyaged by Sea to AfricaRoughly 8,000-year-old remains unearthed from present-day Tunisia held a surprise: European hunter-gatherer ancestryBy Ewen Callaway & Nature magazine Stone Age people might have crossed the Mediterranean on wooden canoes, navigating from island to island by sight. Chronicle/Alamy Stock PhotoThousands of years before Odysseus crossed the wine-dark sea in Homers epic poem The Odyssey, hunter-gatherers might have island-hopped their way to Africa across the Mediterranean.The first genomic study of ancient people from the eastern Maghreb region present-day Tunisia and northeastern Algeria shows that Stone Age populations who lived there more than 8,000 years ago were descended, in part, from European hunter-gatherers.The discovery, reported on 12 March in Nature, is the first direct evidence of trans-Mediterranean sea voyaging during this time, although archaeological finds have hinted at cultural exchange between European and North African hunter-gatherers.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Using ancient genomes, researchers have mapped the emergence of agriculture in the Middle East 12,000 years ago and its spread to Europe, but the southern Mediterranean has been largely neglected.Theres not been much of a North African story, says David Reich, a population geneticist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, who co-led the study. It was a huge hole.Crossing from EuropeWorking with researchers in Algeria and Tunisia, as well as Europe, Reichs team sequenced DNA from the bones or teeth of 9 individuals from eastern Maghreb archaeological sites, who lived between 6,000 and more than 10,000 years ago.All carried local hunter-gatherer ancestry, similar to that of ancient people from what is now Morocco, identified in earlier studies. But unlike those western Maghreb hunter-gatherers whose ancestry was largely replaced by European farmers probably arriving through the Strait of Gibraltar local ancestry persisted in Tunisia and Algeria long after the arrival of farmers from Europe and the Middle East.This fits with evidence that people in the eastern Maghreb continued to hunt local animals such as land snails and forage wild plants, even while farming imported sheep, goats and cattle. Agriculture didnt take off in the region until much later. Maybe, says Reich, the resilience of local ancestry is related to resistance to farming practices.The genome of a man from a Tunisian site called Djebba held a major surprise: about 6% of his DNA could be traced back to European hunter-gatherers. The researchers estimate that his Maghrebi ancestors mixed with European hunter-gatherers around 8,500 years ago. There are weaker signs of these encounters in a woman from the site.Canoe voyagesThe precise source of the mans European ancestry could not be pinpointed, but Sicily several hundred kilometres from the coast of Tunisia and smaller isles between the two continents are possibilities.Obsidian from one such island, Pantelleria, has been discovered in Tunisian archaeological sites, notes study co-author Giulio Lucarini, an archaeologist who specializes in Africa at Italys National Research Council Institute of Heritage Science in Rome.Hunter-gatherers from Europe and North Africa could have traversed the Sicilian Strait in long wooden canoes, navigating from island to island by sight. Many potential stopovers are now submerged, making it hard to find further evidence for these voyages, Lucarini adds.The discovery of European hunter-gatherer ancestry in North Africa is important, says population geneticist Rosa Fregel, at the University of La Laguna in Tenerife, Spain. It shows that the Mediterranean was no great barrier for Stone Age people. Future studies, she expects, might well turn up more surprises on both sides of the sea.This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on March 12, 2025.

God of War celebrating 20th anniversary with a free Ragnark update and some classic Kratos skinsPlus 67 inches of World Serpent.Image credit: Eurogamer/Sony News by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on March 14, 2025 God of War's Kratos has had a busy life: he's birthed a teenager, slain the gods, and grown the kind of luscious beard that would make a lumberjack fume - all that and he's only 20 years old! And to celebrate Kratos and the God of War series' big two-oh, Sony is releasing a free update for 2022's Ragnark that'll include some classic-inspired skins.Starting next Wednesday, 20th March, God of War Ragnark players on PC and PlayStation can download a free update adding, among other things, the Dark Odyssey armour and appearance for Kratos - both inspired by the classic black-and-gold skin players could unlock after beating 2007's God of War 2 on God Mode difficulty. There's the swirly shoulder sheen and glowing white eyes of the anniversary skin itself, plus the Dark Odyssey Breastplate, Dark Odyssey Bracers, and Dark Odyssey Belt - all of which can be accessed from any Lost Items chest in the base game or automatically while in Valhalla.Players can also apply Dark Odyssey appearances to the Guardian Shield, Dauntless Shield, Stone Wall Shield, Shatter Start Shield, Onslaught Shield, Spartan Aspis Shield, and Rnd. And over in the weapon corner, there are Dark odyssey appearances for the fully upgraded versions of the Leviathan Axe, Blades of Chaos, and Draupnir Spear. All these come with their own Dark Odyssey attachments, so if you fancy giving Kratos a Dark Odyssey Knob, have at it. Sony notes all the above will gain the 'Edit Appearance' feature in next week's patch.God of War Ragnark's Valhalla DLC launched at the end of 2023.Watch on YouTubeAnd as for companions, the black and gold aesthetic carries over to two bits of Dark Odyssey armour for Freya and Atreus. There's the Dark Odyssey Witch Frock for Freya, which comes with some fetching golden tassels, and the largely leather-based Dark Odyssey Vestment for Atreus.That's everything in God of War Ragnark's free update, but the 20th anniversary celebrations are set to continue in other realms - most specifically, the actual Earthly one. As detailed in Sony's announcement, there's a two-volume God of War retrospective book on the way, alongside art prints, t-shirts, an exhibition at California's Gallery Nucleus, and 67 inches of World Serpent to enjoy. The latter comes in the form of a Jrmungandr plushie that's also a hand puppet and even includes a little magnetised Leviathan Axe crammed into its mouth."Back in 2005 when the first God of War released, no one at Santa Monica Studio anticipated the success this series would have," adds Sony. "Every creative endeavour carries the hopes of those who shaped it that they might be able to carve a legacy in the industry. What makes those hopes a reality has always been the support of players who chose to pick up the game and go on a journey with us." Here's to another 20 years Kratos; may your beard never retract inward.

We struggle to think of anything analogous in the history of the automotive industry, in which a brand has lost so much value so quickly, wrote JP Morgan analysts this week. They were describing the reputation crisis facing Tesla, one of the worlds leading electric vehicle manufacturers. The problem for Tesla is straightforward: their CEO, Elon Musk, has embraced hard-right politics. He has supported the neo-Nazi-friendly AfD party in Germany and even made a gesture that looked an awful lot like a Nazi salute at Donald Trumps inauguration. (Nazis were certainly thrilled by it.) Musk has a leading role in a presidential administration that is waging war on the civil service and gutting climate and environmental policies.Musks political swing is a brand disaster for Tesla, because their product is electric cars. That means that their most likely consumers are Democrats. The Republican Party broadly dislikes electric cars and has promised a fossil future. While Tesla owners have a mix of politics, Gallup polling has found that 71 percent of Republicans would not consider owning an electric vehicle (compared with 17 percent of Democrats). Its not purely ideological, because Republicans are more likely to live in areas with less charging infrastructure [while] [c]ities and areas with more progressive governments typically have more plugs available. But because Teslas are expensive and charging an electric car can be inconvenient, climate consciousness and the appeal of the green movement is a major reason why people buy them. With their combination of luxury and eco-friendliness, Teslas long ago became the car of choice for virtue-signaling Democrats, and in fact a major problem for EVs is that they are seen as political statements, not as cars. Musk has now made sure virtue-signaling Democrats want nothing to do with his company. He couldnt have more enthusiastically embraced the MAGA movement. He spent hundreds of millions of dollars on getting Trump back into power and is personally supervising Trumps attack on regulatory agencies. In doing so, Musk is showing contempt for the very people most likely to want to buy his cars (professional class Democrats), and hes poisoning his brand. Driving a Tesla is now like driving a big red MAGA hat, and some have nicknamed it the Swasticar. (As with the hats, its best use might be as a people repellent.) The press is full of stories quoting Tesla owners who became embarrassed by their cars:"I got it because it was great for the environment, and at the time he was more on the liberal side of politics," [said one owner.] But, she added, she felt that Musk by last fall had become "volatile and turned radically right." "I wouldn't want people to think I was a Trumper or that I am associated with Elon, because he is so tied to the brand I am so happy I sold it, because if I was driving it today, in the current climate I would be so embarrassed."Of course, these are just anecdotes. But Tesla has taken a serious hit to its stock price, which was only temporarily reversed when Donald Trump turned the White House lawn into a Tesla showroom. (Ironically, Trumps endorsement may have actually hurt Tesla even more, because it only exacerbated the very problem facing the company.) Financial publications report that Musk has done little to reassure investors and patience is wearing thin even among Musks most bullish supporters.Teslas stockholders and board members have long tolerated the fact that Musk doesnt give Tesla his full attention, since hes also the CEO of three other companies (SpaceX, Twitter/X, and xAI, as well as being involved in two others, Neuralink and The Boring Company). His inattention was immaterial as long as the share price kept going up, which for a long time it did, to the point where it looked like an unsustainable bubble. The interest of Tesla shareholders is in making money, not in efficiently and effectively bringing about a green transition. They therefore had no reason to object when Musk demanded a $50 billion pay package or created the worlds ugliest truck, which has been recalled multiple times and is seeing its demand dry up. (To me, the Cybertruck looks like the car of choice for a death squad in a dystopian movie.) Its a different story when Musks antics begin to affect the bottom line, which is why investors are getting spooked. Eighty-five percent of them now believe Musks politics are having a negative or very negative effect on the company, and they stand to lose quite a bit of money if he continues to show no interest in fixing the brand. Protests have now broken out at Tesla dealerships, flyers have appeared in the Bay Area demanding that owners sell their cars, liberal owners have put stickers on their Teslas disavowing Elon, and Teslas have even been vandalized.Boycotts are not always an effective weapon, but in the case of Tesla, protesters may have found an important way in which the worlds richest man can be pressured, or at least punished, over his politics. If Elon Musks presence harms Tesla enough, a huge portion of his own net worth will be wiped out, and with it some of his power, because Musk uses Tesla stock as collateral for loans and sells the stock in order to buy things. A collapsing Tesla stock genuinely erodes Elons economic power. If the stock is hurt enough, Teslas board will have no choice but to remove Musk as CEO in order to save the company.This makes a strong case for an organized, disciplined, and total boycott of Tesla. Musk is doing catastrophic damage to the United States right now by helping a president who wants to destroy the social safety net, consumer protection, and the environment. Musk putting USAID into the wood chipper has already destroyed vital social programs in developing countries and has likely consigned many vulnerable poor people to disease and death. (That he did this with glee shows that he is a deeply evil man.) There are not many levers of power that the dissatisfied can use to stop or slow down Musk and Trump. But the boycott may be surprisingly powerful. The method is simple: first, dont buy a Tesla. Very easy, because most of us werent considering it anyway. There are other electric cars on the market. Many are cheaper than Teslas. But then go further. Friends dont let friends buy Teslas. If you know someone with a Tesla, encourage them to sell it. Dont even take a ride in a Tesla. It should feel like driving a big red MAGA hat. Protests outside dealerships should escalate.This is a peaceful method of registering dissatisfaction. (No, do not destroy cars and Tesla dealerships! A protest becomes popular when it has the clear moral high ground.) It shows that Musk cannot rely on the public to continue buying his cars while he slashes federal programs. It will make Elon Musk panic, even if he doesnt show it. It will severely undermine his empire. It might even bring an end to DOGE, if it truly threatens the future of his company and he decides to prioritize saving Tesla over serving Trump.Republicans are clearly alarmed by a Tesla boycott. Trump denounced it as illegal, which it is not, since anyone can decide what car theyd like to buy. They are already trying to portray a Tesla boycott as hypocritical or somehow internally inconsistent. Oh ho ho, you are in favor of EV mandates and yet you boycott the leading EV manufacturer. Guess you dont care about climate change! But its precisely because we care about climate change that we dont want the EPA destroyed, and Musk has allied himself with climate deniers and exposed that he never really cared about the effects of global warming. Its no different to boycott Tesla than it would have been to boycott Ford because Henry Ford was pro-Nazi. That wouldnt have meant an opposition to combustion engines, and boycotting Tesla says nothing about ones stance on EVs or climate. At the same time as we try to undermine Tesla specifically, we should be demanding a real Green New Deal that will lead America full speed ahead toward a complete switch to renewable energy, which must include a rapid and dramatic reduction in fossil fuel emissions.Musk has saddled himself to a movement that wants to undermine the EV transition. Thats pretty foolish. His cars should, by now, have a virtually nonexistent customer base: is the Cybertruck supposed to appeal to people who vote Trump but also care about the climate? Good luck finding those peopleand getting them to shell out $100,000 for an ugly, poorly-made truck, one that people will throw eggs at, and will be booed and pelted with Mardi Gras beads if it tries to join a parade in New Orleans. Who wants the grief of being a Tesla owner in the Trump era?As we know, capitalist companies are amoral in their pursuit of profit. It is therefore up to us, the public, to punish this company by peacefully stigmatizing the purchase of Musks products and doing everything we can to drive the stock price to zero.

Forced out.Zynga has announced that it will be shutting down servers for the free-to-play shooter Star Wars: Hunters on 1st October 2025.In a blog post shared on the official website, the developer shared that "We understand this news may be disappointing and want to assure you that this decision was not made lightly. Your passion and dedication to the game and its community have meant the world to us...", confirming what would be coming to the game.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Knight and pay.If you're anything like us, then you probably have a rather large soft spot for Shovel Knight, Yacht Club Games' delightful series of throwback platformers. If you're even more like us, then that'll probably mean that you'll really dig this new range of Shovel Knight clothing.The new collection from Insert Coin Clothing is now available to pre-order and you have to believe us when we say that we're crazy about the campfire jumper.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Google will replace Google Assistant on Android phones with Gemini later this year, the company announced on Friday. Google said in a blog post that itll upgrade more users from Google Assistant to Gemini over the coming months. Later this year, Assistant will no longer be accessible on most mobile devices or available from app stores.Additionally, well be upgrading tablets, cars and devices that connect to your phone, such as headphones and watches, to Gemini, the company added. Were also bringing a new experience, powered by Gemini, to home devices like speakers, displays and TVs.Google said itll share more details with users in the next few months, and that, until then, Assistant will continue to operate on the aforementioned devices.Google notes it has worked to improve the Gemini user experience ahead of the Assistant wind-down, especially for users relying on various Assistant functions. For instance, Google has added several highly requested features to Gemini on Android devices, such as the ability to play music, support for timers, and an option to take actions directly from a users lock screen.The move to drop Assistant in favor of Gemini isnt surprising, especially considering Google launched its Pixel 9 smartphone linewith Gemini as the default virtual assistant. Google notes that Gemini has more advanced capabilities than Assistant (in theory, at least), and provides new ways of getting help and info on topics via tools like Gemini Live and Deep Research.

This week, Google released a family of open AI models, Gemma 3, that quickly garnered praise for their impressive efficiency. But as a number of developers lamented on X, Gemma 3s license makes commercial use of the models a risky proposition.Its not a problem unique to Gemma 3. Companies like Meta also apply custom, non-standard licensing terms to their openly available models, and the terms present legal challenges for companies. Some firms, especially smaller operations, worry that Google and others could pull the rug on their business by asserting the more onerous clauses.The restrictive and inconsistent licensing of so-called open AI models is creating significant uncertainty, particularly for commercial adoption, Nick Vidal, head of community at the Open Source Initiative, along-running institutionaiming to define and steward all things open source, told TechCrunch. While these models are marketed as open, the actual terms impose various legal and practical hurdles that deter businesses from integrating them into their products or services.Open model developers have their reasons for releasing models under proprietary licenses as opposed to industry-standard options like Apache and MIT. AI startup Cohere, for example, has been clear about its intent to support scientific but not commercial work on top of its models. But Gemma and Metas Llamalicensesin particular have restrictionsthat limit the ways companies can use the models without fear of legal reprisal.Meta, for instance, prohibits developers from using the output or results of Llama 3 models to improve any model besides Llama 3 or derivative works. It also prevents companies with over 700 million monthly active users from deploying Llama models without first obtaining a special, additional license.Gemmas license is generally less burdensome. But it does grant Google the right to restrict (remotely or otherwise) usage of Gemma that Google believes is in violation of the companys prohibited use policy or applicable laws and regulations.These terms dont just apply to the original Llama and Gemma models. Models based on Llama or Gemma must also adhere to the Llama and Gemma licenses, respectively. In Gemmas case, that includes models trained on synthetic data generated by Gemma.Florian Brand, a research assistant at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, believes that despite what tech giant execs would have you believe licenses like Gemma and Llamas cannot reasonably be called open source.Most companies have a set of approved licenses, such as Apache 2.0, so any customlicenseis a lot of trouble and money, Brand told TechCrunch. Small companies without legal teams or money for lawyers will stick to models with standard licenses. Brand noted that AI model developers with custom licenses, like Google, havent aggressively enforced their terms yet. However, the threat is often enough to deter adoption, he added.These restrictions have an impact on the AI ecosystem even on AI researchers like me, said Brand.Han-Chung Lee, director of machine learning at Moodys, agrees that custom licenses such as those attached to Gemma and Llama make the models not usable in many commercial scenarios. So does Eric Tramel, a staff applied scientist at AI startup Gretel.Model-specific licenses make specific carve-outs for model derivatives and distillation, which causes concern about clawbacks, Tramel said. Imagine a business that is specifically producing model fine-tunes for their customers. Whatlicenseshould a Gemma-data fine-tune of Llama have? What would the impact be for all oftheirdownstream customers?The scenario that deployers most fear, Tramel said, is that the models are a trojan horse of sorts. A model foundry can put out [open] models, wait to see what business cases develop using those models, and then strong-arm their way into successful verticals by either extortion or lawfare, he said. For example, Gemma 3, by all appearances, seems like a solid release and one that could have a broad impact. But the market cant adopt it because of itslicensestructure. So, businesses will likely stick with perhaps weaker and less reliable Apache 2.0 models.To be clear, certain models have achieved widespread distribution in spite of their restrictive licenses. Llama, for example, has been downloaded hundreds of millions of times and built into products from major corporations, including Spotify.But they could be even more successful if they were permissively licensed, according to Yacine Jernite, head of machine learning and society at AI startup Hugging Face. Jernite called on providers like Google to move to open license frameworks and collaborate more directly with users on broadly accepted terms.Given the lack of consensus on these terms and the fact that many of the underlying assumptions havent yet been tested in courts, it all serves primarily as a declaration of intent from those actors, Jernite said. [But if certain clauses] are interpreted too broadly, a lot of good work will find itself on uncertain legal ground, which is particularly scary for organizations building successful commercial products.Vidal said that theres an urgent need for AI models companies can freely integrate, modify, and share without fearing suddenlicensechanges or legal ambiguity. The current landscape of AI model licensing is riddled with confusion, restrictive terms, and misleading claims of openness, Vidal said. Instead of redefining open to suit corporate interests, the AI industry should align with established open source principles to create a truly open ecosystem.

The Brooklyn Mirage opened ten years ago in Bushwicks Avant Gardner complex. Its since garnered a reputation for attracting world-class acts, and putting on some of the best shows in New York City. The venue has been closed these past few months for major renovations, but Brooklyn Mirage is slated to reopen on May 1. Avant Gardner called the upgraded locale a boldly reimagined venue. The renovations were carried out by Avant Gardners in-house design and production team, together with design studios Hard Feelings and Studio Greenbank.The new performance area is 90-feet wide, and can accommodate shows of any type and genre. (Courtesy Avant Gardner)From floor to ceiling the updated Brooklyn Mirage will be a digital-heavy environment, with features that result in an immersive performance and entertainment space for those on stage and in the audience. Sides of the venue will be enveloped by a fully kinetic floor-to-ceiling shutter system that can be configured as desired, Avant Gardner said in a statement.A monumental heavy timber structure measuring 197 feet by 164 feet, and rises 65 feet tall, frames the Brooklyn Mirage. Avant Gardner said it is among the largest timber buildings of its kind in the country, setting a new sustainability benchmark for large-scale event structures. The structure itself was fully pre-manufactured and CNC-cut, Avant Gardner said, leveraging the latest prefabrication technology. This is coupled with what the venue team calls Mirage 4.0, the worlds first fully kinetic shutter system of this scale in a live music venue, Avant Gardner added.This shutter system has 30K resolution, 100 million pixels, and more than 3,000 tiles. This feature is accompanied by a new state-of-the-art, custom sound system, replete with over 100 precision-calibrated speakers and subwoofers.A state-of-the-art sound system was installed. (Courtesy Avant Gardner)The new performance area is 90-feet wide, and can accommodate shows of any type and genre. This, along with an industry-leading 400,000-pound roof rigging capacity, helps every guest feel like theyre close to the stage. Opera style balconies were installed over the dance floor, albeit without obstructing sight lines. The Brooklyn Mirage has always been a place to dance, to lose oneself in moments of pure, electrifying energy. Its a space where people, community, and culture converge to create unforgettable memories, Josh Wyatt, Avant Gardner CEO, said in a statement.Opera style balconies were installed over the dance floor, albeit without obstructing sight lines. (Courtesy Avant Gardner)When we decided to rebuild the venue from the ground up, we aimed to honor its legacy while expanding the dance floor, creating immersive side-quest spaces, and pushing the boundaries of music, art, and technology, Wyatt continued. This is not just an upgradeits a rebirth. The New Mirage will be everything fans worldwide love about this spacewhile delivering a completely new, mind-blowing sensory experience. New York City deserves a venue that evolves with the culture, and thats exactly what were creating.There are already 100 shows confirmed for 2025. The lineup will include Sara Landry, Alesso, The Martinez Brothers, Peggy Gou, Cloonee, and Anjunadeep, to name just a few. More acts will be announced in the coming months.