'What's the craic?'People drinking beer wearing St. Patrick's Day costumes. Pressmaster/Shutterstock Greetings like "Any craic?" and "How's the craic?" most likely confuse touristsbecause craic is pronounced like "crack."The most straightforward definition of "craic" is fun or enjoyment, but the phrase "What's the craic?" can be a substitute for "How are you?" A typical response is "divil a bit," which means "not much."'Away with the fairies'An Irish sports fan wearing face paint. Reuters The Irish saying "away with the fairies" is used when someone isn't facing reality or is living in la-la land.This phrase got its origin thanks to the folk tales about fairies picking people up and taking them away, The Phrase Finder reported.'Acting themaggot'A woman at a St. Patrick's Day parade. Tristan Fewings/Getty Images In the Emerald Isle, if your friends are getting rowdy or making a fool of themselves, you'd say they are "acting the maggot."This phrase could also be used to talk about anything that isn't acting properly, like if your phone is on the fritz or the trains are running way behind schedule.'On me tod'An Irish landscape. Noradoa/Shutterstock "On me tod" translates to "on my own." People will say this when they're going out alone or just alone in ageneral sense.The phrase is said to come from Tod Sloane, an American jockey whose parents were absent, leaving him a lone wolf during his childhood.He was a successful horse racer in the West, but when he moved across the pond, he was made fun of for his riding style and, therefore, "alone" once more.'Look at the state o' you!'A drunk man passed out behind his beer at a bar. Zoriana Zaitseva/Shutterstock "Look at the state o' you!" implies that a person's attire, personal hygiene, intoxication level, or general demeanor is worrisome.It's a popular exclamation used in inner Dublin. If his drinking companion gets "wrecked" at the pub, one might also describe him as being in a "bleedin' state."'As happy as Larry'A person dressed up for St. Patrick's Day. Scott Barbour/Getty Images People often say they or their friends are "as happy as Larry" when they have no worries or concerns.While this saying may have originated in New Zealand, LBC reported, it has grown popular halfway across the globe in Ireland and the UK.'Story horse?'A person kissing the Blarney Stone. Thomas Barrat/Shutterstock "What's the story, horse?" abbreviated as "story horse?" is how you ask a buddy what's up.It's a less breezy greeting than its American counterpart and invites the other person to really dive into what's been going on in life.'What eejits'People packed into Dublin's popular Temple Bar area to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Charles McQuillan/Getty Images. "What eejits" is basically another way of saying "what fools" or "what idiots."This is a playful phrase used when calling out your friends for being silly, drunk, or foolish, The Cambridge Dictionary reported.'Sure you know yourself'The countryside of Killarney, Ireland. Shutterstock "Sure you know yourself" essentially means "you understand" or "it's up to you."This slang saying is quite popular andoften used as a reply to questions like, "What were you thinking?" or "How are you?"It can be used when you want to avoid decision-making or a lengthy explanation.'Take your point and the goals will come'Irish sports fans. Charles Platiau/Reuters Ireland is a big country for football. When talking about the sport, this idiom means that players should take any shotthey might get, preferably the easiest one.'Suffering from a double dose of original sin'A person picking an apple off a tree. Miguel Villagran/Getty Images A mischievous child or person might be described as "suffering from a double dose of original sin."The Bible proposes that when Adam ate the forbidden fruit, he cast a state of sin on all mankind. Today, if a child is particularly mischievous, he's said to have been twice cursed by Adam's slip-up.'A fine thing'A woman toasting wine at dinner. Southworks/Shutterstock An attractive person might be referred to as a "fine thing." In an Irish accent, it might sound more like "fine ting."'Mot'People holding hands. Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images Eventually, you might also make a "fine thing" your "mot."The word derives from "maith," the Irish word for "good," "well," or "like" and is used to refer to someone's girlfriend.''Tis only a stepmother would blame you'Irish sports fans. Alex Grimm/Getty Images This one is a tad unfair to stepmothers everywhere.It basically means there's no need to be embarrassed or feel bad about committing a small offense, especially if the deed is so insignificant that only a jealous, belittling stepmother could find fault with you.'Sucking diesel'A person counting money in their wallet. Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/Getty Images When you've fallen into good fortune thanks to your own hard work not the good ol' luck of the Irish you'd say that you are "sucking diesel now," The Cambridge Dictionary reported.This phrase is a way to pat yourself on the backabout things going well in your life.'May the road rise up to meet you'An Irish couple getting married. Alex Vog/Shutterstock You may recognize this popular blessing (in Irish Gaelic: Go n-ir an bthar leat) from Catholic weddings or on cross-stitched pillows in your nan's house.One of the main characteristics of Celtic Christianity is the use of images of nature to show how God interacts with people. "May the road rise up to meet you/ May the wind be always at your back/ May the sun shine warm upon your face ..." uses everyday images to mean may God remove obstacles in your journey through life.'Your son is your son today, but your daughter is your daughter forever'Dublin, Ireland. Getty Images "Your son is your son today, but your daughter is your daughter forever" is one of the more misogynistic sayings.It means a man is only a son until he takes a wife, but as a daughter gets older, she will stay near the family, draining it of money and time for years to come.'Black stuff'Guinness on table. Frantisekf/Shutterstock You order a pint of "black stuff" at the bar, referring to a pint of Guinness, which is actually a deep ruby-red color, not black.'Chancer'A person walking on a tightrope. Alexander Shcherbak/Getty A "chancer" is a slightly insulting way to describe someone who's unafraid to take risks.This could refer to a major risk, or simply something you call your friend who's chatting up someone who's out of his league.'Delira and excira'Ireland fans at the Rugby World Cup on September 27, 2015. Andrew Couldridge/Reuters "Delira and excira" means "delighted and excited."The phrase was popularized by Irish radio host Gay Byrne on his morning radio show, Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase & Fable reported.Whatever you do, don't let an Irish person catch you calling St. Patrick's Day "St. Patty's Day."A person wearing shamrock sunglasses. Natacha Pisarenko/AP Any true Irish person will tell you that it's St. Paddy's, not St. Patty's.Many are pretty passionate about putting an end to misspellings and mispronunciations, so on St. Patrick's Day, don't be surprised if you hear people at the local pub having a heated discussion about it.

2025-03-17T12:20:38Z Read in app Manus is one of the latest contenders in China's AI race. VCG/VCG via Getty Images This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? China's AI race is heating up, with new models making waves in the industry.One new contender is Manus, an AI agent being hailed as the next potential "DeepSeek moment."Here are five key players to watch.China's AI scene is heating up, with new models rivaling top US players and rattling the stock market.One of the latest contenders is Manus, an AI agent that some are calling China's next "DeepSeek moment."But it's not alone. In March, Alibaba and Baidu unveiled AI models they said matched or outperformed DeepSeek while being more efficient.With Chinese AI models gaining ground fast, here are five key players to watch.1. DeepSeek's R1DeepSeek was the first Chinese AI startup to shake up the industry. In January, its new model sent some US tech stocks plunging and raised questions about whether the US lead in AI has slipped.The startup, based in Hang Zhou, was founded in 2023 by hedge fund entrepreneur Liang Wenfeng.After buying thousands of Nvidia chips, Wenfeng built DeepSeek's R1 reasoning model on its V3 base model, training it on around 2,000 Nvidia H800 chips at an overall cost of roughly $5.6 million, the startup said.That's a fraction of what top players like Meta and OpenAI are spending. Mark Zuckerberg has said Meta plans to spend over $60 billion this year as it doubles down on AI.Despite its lower cost, its R1 model rivals top competitors like ChatGPT's o1, DeepSeek said.Its impact on the AI chip market was immediate: Nvidia's stock plunged nearly 17%, wiping hundreds of billions from its market cap.Microsoft CEO's, Satya Nadella, wrote on X in January: "Jevons paradox strikes again!" suggesting that as AI becomes more efficient and accessible, demand will only skyrocket.Marc Andreessen, the cofounder of storied Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, took it a step further. He called DeepSeek's R1 "AI's Sputnik moment," likening it to the Soviet satellite launch that triggered the space race.But DeepSeek's R1 has its limits. While it appears capable of doing much of what ChatGPT can, it couches answers related to sensitive issues in China.2. Alibaba's QwQ-32BAlibaba has become a key player to watch after it open-sourced its QwQ-32B model in early March. The company said the model used less data than DeepSeek.The move sent Alibaba's stock surging 8% over two days, while Nvidia took another hit.Alibaba said its QwQ-32B model, with one-fifth of the parameters of DeepSeek-R1, is designed for efficiency.The model is now open-source on platforms, including Hugging Face. Open-source models allow for the free and open sharing of software to anyone for any purpose.Alibaba's shares in Hong Kong and its secondary listing in New York are up nearly 67% so far this year, though its $353.9 billion market cap is still much smaller than Amazon's $2.08 trillion.The company has been on a hot streak. Last month, its stock surged after a partnership with Apple to bring AI features to iPhones in China. Shares also climbed on news of Xi Jinping meeting with the country's tech moguls, including from Alibaba.Early this month, the company announced plans to invest at least 380 billion Chinese yuan, or $53 billion, in cloud computing and AI infrastructure over the next three years.3. Tencent's YuanbaoTencent's AI chatbot Yuanbao topped China's iOS App Store in early March, surpassing DeepSeek as the most downloaded free app, Bloomberg reported.Tencent, based in Shenzhen, operates China's biggest social media app WeChat which is used by nearly 1.4 billion people.Last month, the company added a download button for Yuanbao in WeChat, making the AI chatbot more accessible to the app's users, the South China Morning Post reported.Yuanbao is now the third most downloaded free app in China's iOS App Store, leading behind DeepSeek and ByteDance's Doubao. Doubao is a ChatGPT-like conversational bot.In February, Tencent integrated DeepSeek's R1 into several of its products, including WeChat's search feature and a virtual companion in its evergreen game Peacekeepr Elite, Bloomberg reported last week.The report added that Tencent also launched a Hunyuan Turbo edition that it says delivers answers faster than DeepSeek.4. ManusManus has just become China's latest AI sensation.According to multiple reports, it was built by Chinese startup Monica, which appears to be a subsidiary of Butterfly Effect. Manus' privacy policy said that Butterfly Effect is a Singapore-registered entity.Researchers at Monica said Manus is the world's first fully autonomous AI agent. Unlike chatbots that require multiple inputs, it can complete complex tasks like sorting rsums, analyzing stocks, scraping data, and even building websites after a single prompt.According to Manus' website, it outperforms OpenAI's Deep Research model on the GAIA benchmark, a tool for comparing models.Following its debut last week, some users questioned whether Manus was built from scratch, suggesting it might be more of an AI wrapper leveraging other models, like Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet.Yichao 'Peak' Ji, the cofounder of Manus, said in a post on X on Monday that the product uses Claude 3.5 Sonnet v1 and fine-tuned Alibaba's Qwen models.Dean Ball, an AI policy researcher, said in a Sunday X post that it's "wrong to call Manus a 'DeepSeek moment'" because it goes even further."DeepSeek was about replicating capabilities already achieved by American firms," Ball said. "Manus is actually advancing the frontier. The most sophisticated computer using AI now comes from a Chinese startup, full stop."But others are calling it overhyped. TechCrunch's Kyle Wiggers and Pleias cofounder Alexander Doria said they found Manus prone to factual errors, execution failures, and endless loops during tests.AI researcher Luiza Jarovsky also raised concerns about data privacy, asking where Manus stores its data and whether China has access.For now, access to Manus requires an invitation.5. Baidu's Ernie 4.5 and Ernie X1China's competitor to Google, Baidu, this month released two newer versions of its AI model, Ernie.Ernie X1 is a reasoning model that Baidu claimed could "deliver performance on par with DeepSeek R1 at only half the price."The model has "stronger understanding, planning, reflection, and evolution capabilities," Baidu added.Ernie 4.5 is a revamped version of the company's foundational model, which Baidu said "outperforms GPT-4.5 in multiple benchmarks while priced at just 1% of GPT-4.5."With the release of these updated models, Baidu said it would integrate Ernie X1 and Ernie 4.5 into its search engine and wider product suite.Ernie X1's reasoning model is significantly cheaper than OpenAI's o1, with prices just under 2% of OpenAI's model.From June, Baidu's foundational model is set to be open-sourced, the company announced on X.

For a chance at a youthful complexion, you could slap rendered cow fat on your face, rub snail slime into your wrinkles, or get a salmon sperm facial right after a microneedling treatment. You read that right: These are things actual people are doing. Influencers, celebrities, and everyday consumers alike are touting the youthful glow such animal-derived products bring to their complexion.For some consumers, opting for a product like beef tallow is an intentional decision to move away from the conventional skincare products typically sold at the drug store or Sephora. Its understandable every day, it seems, were told of new horror about how forever chemicals and microplastics are embedded into our environment and bodies. From food to skincare, US consumers have shown they want to distance themselves from potentially unhealthy or toxic ingredients. Theyre looking for products that market themselves as clean, concerned that the ingredients in typical treatments are worsening issues like acne or are harmful for long-term health. Beef tallow is a type of MAHA-ism for beauty (and for food, too). One surprising thingIve struggled with bad eczema flare-ups my whole life, so I know what its like to be frustrated with endlessly dry and patchy skin.But according to Sentient, the benefits of beef tallow as a skincare product are largely unremarkable. And while some may see relief for their skin ailments, it could also worsen their issues. Just like any product for the skin, there is no one-size-fits-all solution.The cosmetics industry sold over $400 billion worth of products in 2023, with skincare making up the sectors largest category. Its easy to get sucked into the rabbit hole that is becoming beautiful, especially in a world that is all about maximizing self-improvement. Skincare, in particular, is a personal issue for me Ive had eczema my whole life, and when Im having a particularly bad flare-up, I feel insecure and desperate for a cure. Theres nothing wrong with wanting to feel good about yourself.But there is an ethical problem if feeling good about yourself comes at the expense of animals and thats increasingly the case with these new clean beauty trends. The cosmetics sector has long and, at times, quietly depended on animals, much like the agriculture and fashion industries. Way before folks were spending $44 on beef tallow whipped with chamomile, everyday products like hair-strengthening shampoos featured keratin (usually derived from animal fur or hooves), lipstick pigments depended on carmine (ground-up bugs), and anti-aging moisturizers incorporated collagen (a structural protein found in animal hides and fish skin). Thats not including animal testing to ensure the safety of ingredients in cosmetics. While some consumers are intentionally seeking out animal-derived products and treatments, plenty of consumers arent necessarily concerned about whats in their cosmetics, or are perhaps unaware of how a certain science-y sounding ingredient is sourced. Instead, they orient more toward whats trendy or seemingly effective. Whatever the reason may be for using animal-based skincare and beauty products, were still ignoring a larger problem. Just because something comes from an animal, it doesnt mean the process of getting into our hands is clean or natural. And even if some of these animal-derived products have beneficial properties for our skin, it still comes at a cost bigger than we realize. In reality, many of these beauty trends that claim to be against the toxic nature of mainstream wellness or those touting the benefits of animal-based products are upholding the very industries that are harming our planet. And in turn, its harming ourselves a steep cost for beauty.Clean living, dirty consequencesWhen I saw beef tallow hawked on social media, one question immediately came to mind: How were these businesses sourcing their animal ingredients? That led me to look up beef tallow for skin on Amazon, where there were pages upon pages of results. They all used similar language to describe their product: ancestral, natural, organic. Most of the sellers advertised themselves as small businesses and included images of cows on their product packaging, to further hammer home that what youre purchasing differs from big, mainstream beauty. Beef tallow for skin is made by taking the fat of a cow and rendering it until its ready to be whipped into a cream-like moisturizer. So where are these cows to begin with? Of the nine products I looked at with 300 reviews or more on Amazon, only one named a small farm in Virginia as a supplier. The others simply listed that their tallow came from grass-fed cows. While the term grass-fed may suggest to some consumers the pinnacle of animal welfare and sustainability, the reality is far more complicated. For starters, virtually all cows spend most of their lives on pasture eating grass; its only until their final months that theyre moved into feedlots, which are pastureless, outdoor dirt pens in essence, factory farms for cattle. (Per USDA guidelines, grass-fed cows are never supposed to enter feedlots and remain on pasture during their final months, though the agency doesnt go on to ranches to verify them and theres a long history of meat companies misleading the public on these types of claims.) Feedlots are worse for animal welfare, but grass-fed beef has its own sustainability problems, so there are tradeoffs between the two systems. But ultimately, sustainability and animal welfare claims on animal products are poorly regulated, and its even harder to trace/verify these claims once they wind up on a skincare product. This cattle ranch in Coalinga, CA is one of the largest feedlots in the United States. Vince Penn / We AnimalsTerms like sustainability, farm-raised, so forth, are pretty broad, said Glynn Tonsor, an agricultural economist and assistant professor at Kansas State University. Theres not an internationally accepted standard that you got to cross-check on. So language like grass-fed doesnt help determine the source of the beef or how high-quality it is but businesses use them anyway in marketing their products because theyre aware these terms appeal to consumers and elicit a sense of naturalness and quality. One of the beef tallow moisturizers on Amazon with over 700 reviews had no website to find any other information just an Amazon storefront with other beef tallow beauty products. It also advertised its beef tallow as organic, a claim that should make you raise your eyebrow because the US Department of Agriculture does have regulations for food products labeled as organic. While the USDA doesnt oversee cosmetics, beauty products with agricultural ingredients can be organic-certified by the USDA if they meet the standards. Theres hardly any organic beef production, says Richard Sexton, a University of California Davis agricultural economist, when I asked him about beef by-product sourcing. I dont really know how they can say that the by-products are organic.Tonsor added another way to think about vague claims on products: If somebody tries to sell you gluten-free water, dont pay a premium for it. And while grass-fed can give off the vibe of a more green, natural, or sustainable process, its actually worse for the climate, says Matthew Hayek, an assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University. Grass-fed trades off not eating corn and soy for living longer, requiring more land, and producing more greenhouse gasses, the 2024 Future Perfect 50 honoree told me. Over a third of methane emissions from human activity comes from our agricultural practices, with cattle being the main driver. (Cattle burps are rich in methane). Big environmental impacts like global greenhouse gas emissions can feel abstract, but for the people living near big cattle operations, the externalities from these facilities are anything but. Hundreds to thousands of beef cattle can be found on a singular feedlot, and they generate huge amounts of manure. In the US, factory farms including those raising cows, pigs, and chickens produce nearly a trillion pounds of waste a year, which ends up in giant piles, massive lagoons, or sprayed onto neighboring fields as fertilizer. People who live within miles of factory farms report terrible stenches that keep them indoors and force them to have their windows closed.When animal waste breaks down, it forms pollutants like ammonia gas. Ammonia emits a deeply unpleasant smell, and exposure can lead to symptoms like headaches, irritated eyes, skin, and lungs. One study found that there are 12,700 premature deaths annually attributed to increased fine particulate matter pollution (largely driven by ammonia) from the production of animal-based food. And 4,000 of those deaths are specifically attributed to beef cattle. Communities near factory farms have also reported animal waste polluting their waterways with nitrates. So while grass-fed beef tallow for skin has been popularized by content creators on platforms like TikTok for it being natural and clean because its animal-derived, its likely that its helping bolster an industry thats polluting local communities and our planet. Tallow isnt the only cattle by-product used in skincare that has serious environmental consequences. A 2023 collaborative investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, The Guardian, Center for Climate Crime Analysis, ITV, and O Joio e O Trigo found that collagen operations in Brazil drove the deforestation of at least 1,000 sq. mi of tropical forest as well as violence against Indigenous peoples occupying that land. Brazil is the worlds largest exporter of beef, and as demand for collagen booms, more land will be needed to raise cattle. The cattle industry has driven 80 percent of Amazon forest loss in Brazil, according to the investigation. Even calling beef tallow or collagen by-products undermines how useful they can be as profit-makers to the meat industry, even if they generate far less money than the parts we eat. If something fetches a price, then its not a by-product, Hayek said. Its another revenue generating production stream. Its a co-product. The strangeness of snail slime and salmon spermSourcing for even more niche animal-based products, like snail mucin and salmon sperm skincare treatments, is not as easy to track as beef. Both were popularized in South Korea, a leader in the cosmetics and skincare industry. Snail mucin has made a recent comeback in the US with popular products like COSRXs snail essence formula, which has nearly 4,000 reviews on Ulta, a cosmetics chain. An article from Racked reported that the process for sourcing and extracting snail mucin is intentionally mysterious because beauty companies dont want their competition to know the technology they use. A 2022 Business Insider video showed just that, however, uncovering how one snail production hub in Italy extracted their mucin. After receiving the snails from local snail farms, the small creatures were placed inside machines where they were sprayed with an acidic solution that caused the snails to excrete their slime. The institution said it was a cruelty-free process, but after repeating this process a few times, the snails were euthanized and were used for cooking and other cosmetic products. Salmon sperm facials are much newer to the scene than snail mucin. In South Korea, the process involves injecting polydeoxyribonucleotide (PDRN), which are fragments of DNA from salmon sperm, all over the face. In the US, salmon DNA injections have not been approved by the FDA, so cosmetic spas often apply PDRN topically after microneedling in order for the product to be absorbed. Jennifer Aniston, who has received a salmon sperm facial, had the same question as I did when I first heard about these treatments: How do you get salmons sperm? she asked the Wall Street Journal in 2023. I called up eight cosmetic spas to ask where they sourced their salmon DNA, and scoured several others websites for any details. While there appears to be at least a few PDRN products being used by professionals, the one that came up the most was Rejuran. Their website for cosmetic spas says they source PDRN from wild salmon in Korea, and their retail US website says they seek ways to reduce their environmental impact across their operations. I emailed Rejuran for more details about where the salmon comes from for their PDRN-based products, as well as if their environmental efforts extend to how they source their salmon. They have not yet responded.Most of the fish we use today comes from aquaculture production, which farms fish and other aquatic life, while the rest is wild caught in fisheries. While fish has less of an environmental impact than other animals commonly used for consumption (like cows), fisheries still come with their fair share of sustainability issues, like damaging seabeds, unintentionally catching other marine animals, and overfishing. The individualism of clean beautyIf you take an extra minute or two to think about it, the strangeness of using animals for something as superficial as perfect skin starts to set in. Couple that with obscure sourcing practices, harmful environmental impacts, and questionable animal welfare practices, and the cost of it all starts to add up. But when you feel the pressure to look a certain way, its easy to gloss over how the sausage or in some cases, serum gets made.The desire to have a healthy body, to have access to healthy food and water, and for our environment to be free from harmful toxins is a right we all deserve. This newest iteration of skincare trends advertised as clean, natural, and animal-derived, however, ultimately does nothing to make that goal a reality.Want to let go of animal products in your skincare routine? Heres how to start:This list by Shop Like You Give a Damn lays out common beauty and skincare ingredients that are always, often, or sometimes animal-derived. Next time youre shopping for a new moisturizer or serum, you can use the list to cross-reference and determine which products are free of animal-based ingredients.Theres no official definition of clean beauty, but the general idea refers to skincare and cosmetics that exclude ingredients that could be harmful to our bodies, like parabens. Much of this parallels the rise of returning to clean living and ancestral diets. People are cutting out dyes, preservatives, and ultra-processed foods in favor of eating high protein, animal-based diets and using only non-toxic products. Its a lifestyle thats been around for a while but its making a strong comeback in tandem with the Make American Healthy Again movement. As it tends to be with wellness and beauty, this revitalized uptick in animal-based beauty is deeply individualistic. Heres how you can look younger longer, heres how you can be more beautiful, heres how you can remove toxins from your body. The prioritization of personal validation over communal health encourages people to trust surface-level statements about whats clean and whats not at face value. Its true that nearly everything humans do is extractive one way or another, but thats not a reason to avoid acknowledging our participation in that cost. If people want to get real about healthier communities and a cleaner world, it cant be done alone by individually buying your way toward there. Its much harder and more complicated than that, and I know that the average person doesnt have the resources to seriously address these issues.Stronger regulations for both the food and beauty industry could take the responsibility off of consumers and instead put it on companies. In 2022, the US passed the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act, which intended to do this very thing by giving the Food and Drug Administration regulatory power over cosmetics. But according to Allure, advocates feared that implementation would be delayed after Donald Trump won the 2024 election due to potential FDA cuts. Just last month, hundreds of employees at federal health agencies, including the FDA, were fired.In the meantime, maybe a small step in the right direction is to look away from our reflection in the mirror, pay more attention to what were consuming, and to dig a little deeper if the cost supporting industries that are contributing to local air and water pollution, climate change, and questionable animal welfare practices is worth the price.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Throughout his first term as president, Donald Trump repeatedly threatened to leave NATO, an alliance that in his view allows other countries who dont spend enough on their own defense to get a free ride on US security guarantees. His former national security adviser John Bolton has written that he believes Trump would have followed through on the threat if hed been reelected in 2020. This term, though, despite deepening tensions with Europe, Trump hasnt said much about leaving the alliance. His secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has avowed, The United States remains committed to the NATO alliance and to the defense partnership with Europe. Full stop. At this point, the better question is whether Trump has effectively made the alliance irrelevant. The US is still a NATO member. But Trump has consistently undermined its core principle that members will treat any attack on another members territory as an attack on their own, and come to the attacked members aid. This principle of mutual defense only works if both the allies and their adversaries believe that its credible that countries would actually put the lives of their own citizens on the line to defend allies. In the case of Trump and NATO, the guarantee is getting a lot harder to believe. Would Donald Trump choose to go and fight for Estonia? said Dalibor Rohac, a senior fellow and expert on European politics at the American Enterprise Institute. I think at some level, it requires a suspension of disbelief to think that he would.Trumps second term has already been far more alarming, from a European perspective than the first, thanks to actions including Trumps abrupt pivot toward Russia in the Ukraine war, the Oval Office humiliation of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his new tariffs, JD Vances combative speech at the Munich Security Conference, the territorial threats toward NATO members Canada and Denmark, and reports that the president is considering redeploying troops from Germany to Russia-friendly Hungary. European leaders might have thought of Trumps first term as an aberration, a bizarre four years followed by a return to normalcy. His return to the White House made clear they may be dealing with a very different United States going forward one whose security commitments cant be taken for granted in the long run, even if Trump is replaced by another Joe Biden-style transatlanticist in four years.Recent statements from European leaders suggest they are not so confident about the credibility of Americas commitment to the alliance. I want to believe that the US will stand by our side, but we have to be ready for that not to be the case, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a recent televised speech to the nation.Strategic autonomy from Washington has long been a priority for Macron, and something of a French tradition dating back to the formation of the alliance. It was more surprising to hear Germanys likely incoming Chancellor Friedrich Merz, hailing from a center-right party with a strong transatlanticist tradition, say that After Donald Trumps statementsit is clear that the Americans are largely indifferent to the fate of Europe and that Europe must work as quickly as possible to achieve independence from the US.Some of this work will involve steps to increase defense spending, military readiness, and aid to Ukraine that are already underway. There have also been increasing conversations on the continent about developing an independent nuclear deterrent, outside of Washingtons control. Either way, its clear that the alliance that has been the bedrock of Western security strategy for nearly 80 years is no longer what it was. Without actually leaving it, Trump may have simply made NATO irrelevant.Does the heart of the NATO treaty even still exist?The core of the NATO alliance is spelled out in Article 5 of the alliances founding treaty: The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all. In the event of such an attack, each member pledges to such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.In practice, this guarantee was an effective deterrent to first the Soviet Union, and then Russia, because of the involvement of the United States, the NATO country with by far the largest conventional military and nuclear arsenal. Washington has had fierce disagreements with other NATO members in the past: the war in Iraq, for example. Trump is also hardly the first president to suggest that Americas core interests lie elsewhere Barack Obama also tried to execute a pivot to Asia or that European countries should take more responsibility for their own defense. But the current hostility to the very idea of the alliance is unprecedented. It has been core to every administration until now to affirm in a positive way that the United States is committed to the defense of Europe, that it is committed to Article 5, said Ivo Daalder, who served as US ambassador to NATO during the Obama administration. That is the cornerstone of our engagement in the world.But, Daalder added, Trump has, from 2016 onwards, put question marks behind that commitment.Its not just Trumps threats to leave the alliance. He has called into question whether the US would follow its obligations under the treaty at all. In 2020, he reportedly told European officials, in a closed-door meeting, You need to understand that if Europe is under attack, we will never come to help you and to support you. During his 2020 campaign, he said he would invite Russia to do whatever the hell you want to delinquent members of the alliance. During a recent meeting with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said his biggest problem with NATO is that he doubts whether the mutual defense clause would work in practice, saying, If the United States was in trouble and we called them, we said, we got a problemdo you think theyre going to come and protect us? Theyre supposed to. Im not so sure.Article 5 has been invoked exactly once since NATOs founding in 1949: after the 9/11 attacks on the United States. The alliance did come to Americas aid. Soldiers from over a dozen NATO countries died in the war in Afghanistan that followed. The other ostensible reason for Trumps ire during his first term was the failure of most NATO members to meet a target, set in 2014, of spending at least 2 percent of their GDP on defense. In 2021, just six member countries hit that goal.But things have changed since then: 23 of the alliances 32 members now meet the 2 percent target.Trump can, with some justification, take a victory lap for this change (though Vladimir Putin surely deserves more credit). And during a meeting at the White House last week, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praised him for prodding members to spend more. But Trump has also upped the ante, saying European countries should be spending 5 percent on defense, more than any NATO country, including the United States currently spends. NBC recently reported that Trump is considering calibrating Americas NATO membership so that it is not bound to defend countries that dont meet a set spending target. Its hard to imagine how this would work in practice. The countries on NATOs Eastern flank, like Poland and the Baltic countries, which are the most concerned about being attacked by Russia, are already spending the most on defense. (Officials from these countries often point out that they spend more, as a percentage of GDP, than the United States.) And the right-wing parties in Europe that the Trump administration has publicly aligned itself with, including Viktor Orbns Fidesz and Frances National Rally, are the ones blocking higher defense spending at both a national and continent-wide level. Trumps calls for higher spending often seem less like a genuine policy demand than a cudgel to wield against an alliance he doesnt much care for in the first place. Trumps statements, Daalder said, have weakened the confidence that allies feel to the point that, I would argue, allies now are no longer convinced that, in fact, the United States is committed to Article 5.And if they are no longer convinced, its fair to ask whether Article 5, de facto, still exists. Europes nuclear futureFor the moment, the dominant strategy for European governments is to kind of try to act as if NATO didnt exist and make sure that they are ready to face the dangers alone, Rohac said. Some of this will involve increasing defense spending and increasing and building up conventional capabilities. Parties in Germany, for instance, agreed this week to a historic deal to exempt defense spending from the countrys constitutionally enshrined limits on government borrowing. But from its founding, the NATO alliance and Article 5 have also been tied to nuclear strategy and French President Charles de Gaulles famous question of whether the US would be willing to trade New York for Paris in the event of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.The ability of the United States to reassure allies that its willing to destroy itself in a nuclear war to defend them is a difficult case to make under the best of circumstances, Daalder said. Its a nearly impossible case to make under the present circumstances.Even before Trump returned to office, there had been increasing debate on the continent about whether Europe needs to build out nuclear deterrence independent of Washington. Currently, two European countries have nuclear weapons of their own. Britains are assigned to NATO, and experts question whether its program could even survive without US support; France has a fully independent deterrent. The US also maintains an arsenal of around 100 B61 gravity bombs the smallest nukes in the US arsenal but still big enough to kill thousands if detonated over a city in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Turkey.In his recent speech, Macron repeated an offer he has made several times in the past to extend the protection of Frances nuclear arsenal to other European countries. In a recent speech, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was taking Macrons offer seriously and that Poland must reach for the most modern capabilities also related to nuclear weapons and modern unconventional weapons.The ability to rely on the US for nuclear deterrence is one reason far fewer countries have nuclear weapons today than many expected at the dawn of the nuclear age. For instance, the US convinced what was then West Germany to renounce the development of nuclear weapons of its own in exchange for protection under the US nuclear umbrella. But if allies concluded that extended deterrence is a sham, further proliferation seems inevitable.Russia is watchingIf NATO allies their doubts about the reliability of Article 5, it seems inevitable that the alliances adversaries may start to doubt it as well. The war in Ukraine has, in many ways, been the ultimate demonstration of the value of NATO: Despite billions of dollars in weapons and aid crossing Ukraines borders, Russia has not directly attacked Poland or any other NATO countrys territory. Hostile as he may be to NATO, Putin does appear to respect Article 5. But for how long? With the threats that Russia is voicing toward the Baltic states, toward Poland, toward Finland, of course we are worried, Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene said during a meeting with reporters on a recent visit to Washington. Their military capability is growing even while waging full-scale war in Ukraine.Given the difficulties its had and is still having in Ukraine, its hard to imagine Russia launching an all-out invasion of another country, let alone a NATO member, in the next few years. But Russia has been carrying out more alleged gray zone attacks on Western countries, ranging from election interference to maritime sabotage to arson. Responding and deterring attacks like these is already a challenge, given the difficulties involved in definitely attributing them to Russia and the fact that they fall short of the kind of armed aggression envisioned in the NATO treaty. But they could well get more aggressive if NATOs commitment to mutual defense starts to look less ironclad. A future, more Europe-led NATO would likely be focused more on the alliances original purpose of deterring Russian aggression on the continent, rather than the overseas deployments in places like Afghanistan and Libya. For some European policymakers, there is a silver lining to Trumps attitude Though they may not appreciate the crudeness of his approach, many concede he has a point that Europe should take greater responsibility for its own defense and make more of the decisions about its own defense priorities, rather than letting Washington set them. But thats going to require a new way of thinking. What will we do for leadership? asked Nick Witney, a British former diplomat and EU official, now with the European Council on Foreign Relations. For 80 years, thats always been easily solved. We go and ask the Americans, and whatever they say, thats what we should do. The past 80 years may have been an era in which Europe felt uncomfortably dependent on the US for security, but its also been a period of unprecedented peace on the continent. A future with less American presence in the alliance will require new ways of thinking and risk old sources of trust reemerging. Some policymakers have raised concerns about the rest of Europe relying on French nuclear weapons as a deterrent, given the real possibility France too could be governed by Russia-friendly right-wing populists in a few yearsTrumps actions and statements undoubtedly call the future of US participation in NATO into question, Witney added. But no one quite wants to let go of the security blanket.See More:

Fans of Magic The Gathering had been concerned that Wizards of the Coast would move away from the game's own lore in favour of Universes Beyond, but it appears that's not the caseTech10:48, 17 Mar 2025Updated 10:51, 17 Mar 2025The concept art for Aetherdrift looks phenomenal(Image: Florian De Gesincourt)Magic The Gathering has been going for decades at this point, but has inarguably gained more of a mindshare in recent years thanks to its 'Universes Beyond' crossovers.These have brought dozens of franchises into the card game, including Doctor Who, Assassin's Creed, Fallout, and even some Fortnite cards.Article continues belowThat shift has fans feeling a little concerned that Magic would be leaning more into Universes Beyond than its own established lore and characters, but Mark Rosewater, the game's head designer, has shot down that idea in a recent update to his Q&A blog.Here's what Rosewater had to say.Cloud and Sephiroth can do battle in cardboard forms(Image: Wizards of the Coast/Square Enix)Posting on his blog, where he often responds to game design queries, Rosewater was asked by a fan about the response to the game's most recent in-universe sets (colloquially referred to as 'Universes Within')."Not to be a Negative Nelly but most Universes Within sets have been received as average at best (save for Bloomburrow) while all the Universes Beyond have sold like hotcakes. If this trend continues do you see a world where Universes Within are scrapped entirely?"If you were panicking that Magic's own Multiverse would be sacrificed at the altar of borrowing other IP, Rosewater has good news."The last four in-Multiverse sets (Bloomburrow, Duskmourn, Foundations, and Aetherdrift) all did well.""And Outlaws of Thunder Junction looks like its going to end up in spitting distance of expectations. Only Murders at Karlov Manor did poorly.""So, no. I do not expect us to scrap in-Multiverse sets."Article continues belowWe previewed Aetherdrift ahead of launch and said we expect it to be a fun set, and we're excited for the next set, Tarkir Dragonstorm.For more on Magic The Gathering, the Final Fantasy set got a full reveal last month, with Spider-Man cards being shown not long after, while the door is open for more Square Enix partnerships.For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.

Intergalactic: Heretic Prophet inspired by Elden Ring player freedomAdam StarkeyPublished March 17, 2025 11:35am Naughty Dog is reaching for the stars (Sony Interactive Entertainment)It seems The Last Of Us developers next game takes cues from Elden Ring and purposefully wants to make you feel lost and confused.Naughty Dog finally revealed its next game during last years The Game Awards but it didnt really explain what the game is and there are still a lot of unanswered questions about it.As shown in the reveal trailer, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet swaps the gritty realism of The Last Of Us for an 80s inspired sci-fi adventure. You play as Jordan A. Mun, a bounty hunter who finds herself stranded on a distant planet called Sempira, whose communication with the outside universe went dark hundreds of years ago.While we know the premise, the gameplay of Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is largely a mystery although it seems to be some kind of third person actioner. An insider, however, has now claimed the game is inspired by FromSoftwares juggernaut epic, Elden Ring.This rumour stems from MinnMax podcast host Ben Hanson, who teased in October last year that somebody very in the know who worked on the game had compared Naughty Dogs next title before it was officially announced to a game with a lot of player freedom.While he didnt reveal the point of comparison at the time, Hanson teased the cited inspiration in the latest episode of The MinnMax Show.I think its fine to say it now, that game was Elden Ring, is what it was compared to, Hanson said. If Id have said, Naughty Dogs next game is like Elden Ring, then that reveal trailer comes out, I feel like we would have been lit on fire.While he doesnt go into any further detail about what this comparison means, this comes after Neil Druckmann, the director behind Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, teased that he wanted players to feel lost without any AI companion.In an interview with film director Alex Garland, Druckmann said: So many of the previous games weve done, theres always, like, an ally with you. I really want you to be lost in a place that youre really confused about what happened here, who are the people here, what was their history.And in order to get off this planet again, no one has been heard from this planet for 600 years or so if you ever have hoped to have a chance to get off, you have to figure out what happened here.What kind of game is Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet?When combined together, this suggests Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is an open world game something the studio has experimented with in the past through designated open areas in The Last Of Us Part 2 (the Seattle section) and Uncharted 4: A Thiefs End (the jeep sequence in Madagascar).Theres a chance this Elden Ring inspiration, however, could be related to the storytelling. Back in 2023, Druckmann said he was intrigued by Elden Ring and how it doesnt rely on a traditional narrative to tell its story.Im more recently intrigued by stuff like Elden Ring and Inside that doesnt rely as much on traditional narrative to tell its story, Druckmann told The Washington Post. Some of the best storytelling in The Last Of Us is cinematics, but a lot of it is in gameplay, and moving around the space, and understanding the history of a space by just looking at it and examining it.To me, right now, thats some of the best joy I get out of games that trust their audience to figure things out. [Games] that dont hold your hand, thats the stuff Im really intrigued by going forward.More TrendingHe added: That doesnt mean we will never have dialogue, or cut scenes, I think those are tools in your toolbox And I think theres a way to push that stuff forward, at least for the kind of games we make at Naughty Dog.Im really intrigued, again, never resting on our laurels and trying something a little bit new, a little bit different, that not everybodys going to like, but thats OK. And the stuff that were working on now, I can tell you the teams are very excited by the different projects we have at Naughty Dog.While it remains to be seen how this will translate into the final game, more freedom in the narrative or gameplay is certainly an exciting thought considering the polished execution of Naughty Dogs past projects.Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet doesnt have a release date (or even a year) yet, but its set to be released at some point on PlayStation 5. Could Naughty Dogs next game be like The Lands Between? (Bandai Namco)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

This controllers so popular with Super Smash Bros. players that Nintendo re-released it twice for the Wii U and Switch entries (Nintendo)New leaks for the Nintendo Switch 2 suggest that GameCube games and Metroid Prime 4 are coming to the console.Its been more than 20 years since the Nintendo GameCube and fans refuse to let its controller go. So much so that Nintendo felt compelled to release a GameCube controller adapter for the Wii U, alongside the consoles iteration of Super Smash Bros.Said adapter is compatible with the Nintendo Switch as well, if only for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and its not unreasonable to assume the same will probably be true for the Nintendo Switch 2 when it eventually launches this year (possibly in June).Alternatively, Nintendo may just make a new kind of GameCube controller altogether, which is what seems to be suggested by a new filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).Last week, it was discovered, through FCC filings, that the Switch 2 will feature faster Wi-Fi and amiibo support. So, it should come as no surprise that some fans have been keeping a close eye on the FCCs website for any more information about Nintendo.Over the weekend, fans on the Famiboard forums soon spotted a filing for a new wireless Bluetooth game controller; one that has the same BEE designation code as the previous Switch 2 filings.While there are no images or descriptions that give away what it looks like, the lack of any mention of NFC functionality (which is used for scanning amiibo figures) points to it not being for the new Joy-Cons or a hypothetical Switch 2 Pro controller.Plus, there is an accompanying diagram that shows where the controllers label will be printed on its rear. This is just a fan theory for the time being, but Famiboards user Pokemaniac has pointed out that if you overlay the diagram over a GameCube controller, the positions of the labels perfectly match. You can always count on Nintendo fans to notice granular details like this (FCC/Famiboards)Are GameCube games coming to Nintendo Switch Online?So it seems like Nintendo plans to release a new wireless GameCube controller for Switch 2, much like the wireless N64 controller that launched to coincide with N64 games being added to the Switchs online service.In fact, this similarity could point to Nintendo finally bringing GameCube games to the service, which has been a popular demand for years. Although, with the controller labelled for Switch 2, this could mean GameCube games will be exclusive to the newer console and serve as an incentive for Switch owners to upgrade.In related news, an updated Nintendo patent (spotted and shared by MikeOdyssey on X) mentions using AI resolution upscaling. This only further feeds into the theories that the Switch 2 will feature higher resolutions and thus improved visuals.More TrendingWith any luck, Nintendo will have something to say about these findings during the Switch 2 showcase scheduled for early April. There are no official details for what will be shown but, aside from a closer look at the console, there are bound to be several new game reveals.Will Metroid Prime 4 be at the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct?The already teased Mario Kart 9 (or whatever it ends up being called) is bound to make an appearance and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is also widely expected. It was originally announced as a Switch 1 title but its unclear if therell be a Switch 2 specific version or if itll just work via backwards compatibility.Thats still unclear but a tweet by YouTuber Kiwi Talkz, who has spoke to people at Metroid Prime series developer Retro Studios, claims that the game will definitely be part of the Direct, even going as far as to imply itll be the biggest game reveal.In less than a month in the Switch 2 Direct youll see that Nintendo and Retro were keeping their cards close to their chest with Metroid Prime 4 for this exact moment, he wrote. The true unveiling will blow everything else in the direct out of the water. Ever since that reveal trailer, there have been suspicions of Metroid Prime 4 also launching for Switch 2 (Nintendo)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Elon Musk is attempting to destroy the federal government by crippling the agencies that deliver public services, keep Americans air and water clean, tell us what the upcoming weather looks like, and protect us from predatory corporations. Conservative governments across the country are so impressed with this effort that they, too, want to destroy themselves and screw over their constituents. Business Insider reports that a handful of state and local governments are copying Musks slash-and-burn playbook and looking to cull wasteful government programs. The initiatives are taking place in at least 18 states, counties, and towns, BI claims. The outlet reports: The push is happening through executive orders and legislative action as governors, state lawmakers, and business executives promise to root out what they view as waste and fraud within state governments. And theyve adopted quirky names, including the GOAT committee in Wisconsin and FLOGE in Florida. One state even has a BullDOGEr on the case. The self-immolating impulse on display here would be funny if it werent so pathetic. Misguided and uninformed Americans seem to believe that key serviceslike education, water, roads, and weather reportswill be less expensive if they are privatized. Unfortunately, they are completely and totally wrong. Instead, cutting public funding usually just means that your life is about to get much harder. One conservative state legislators comments, sourced by BI, show the thought process here: Assemblyman Alex Sauickie of New Jersey, a Republican who sponsored a DOGE bill in his state, said efficiency in spending was king. Were going to have to make those decisions and say, Hey, we cant be funding minor league ballparks or tennis courts or dominoes clubs with taxpayer money,' he said. The state auditor would lead the group, alongside 20 members of the public. Yeah, a free minor league ballpark? That just cannot stand. Cut the funding and let the townspeople build their own ballpark. Thatll be a lot more efficient and inexpensive for everybody. It should be obvious at this point that Musk is not making the government more efficient, nor is he saving taxpayers money. A recent report showed that federal spending hit a new record last month. Indeed, government spending in February was $36 billion higher than last February, when Biden was in office. Thats because most of the agencies that Musk is terrorizing represent minuscule fractions of federal spending (meaning that, for the money, they are actually quite efficient). A majority of federal spending is on entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, which Americansincluding Trumps baseoverwhelmingly support keeping.True dyed-in-the-wool government efficiency fans should have no fear, however, because Musk seems to want to get rid of those programs, too. DOGE has made numerous attacks on the Social Security Administration and seems determined to downsize and hamstring it. Musk recently called Social Security a Ponzi scheme.

The Evolution of Public Bathhouses: From Necessity to ExperienceSave this picture!Am Kaiserstrand Bathhouse / Lang+Schwaerzler. Image Bruno Klomfar - Tom MaldenerHistorically, public bathing was a fundamental necessity for hygiene, giving rise to communal bathhouses in regions where private bathrooms were a rarity. In Japan, for instance, sento bathhouses emerged during the early Edo period, serving as essential facilities when most households lacked their own bathing spaces. Similarly, in other parts of the world where plumbing and water management were considered luxuries, shared public baths became vital components of urban life. Over time, these spaces evolved beyond their functional role, becoming venues for socializing, relaxation, and a temporary escape from daily routines.However, in the modern era, private bathrooms have become ubiquitous in contemporary homes, effectively addressing the hygiene concerns that once made public bathhouses indispensable. With the rise of alternative social spacescafs, fitness centers, bars, and jazz loungesthe traditional communal bath no longer serves the same essential function. While some may still appreciate the social aspect of public bathing, the inconvenience of changing clothes and getting wet in front of strangers can deter many from engaging in the experience.As a result, today's public bathhouses have shifted their focus, offering experiences that extend beyond mere hygiene. Depending on cultural and regional influences, contemporary bathhouses now integrate elements such as music, bars, wellness programs, and connections to nature. By curating unique experiences that cannot be easily replicated at home, these modern bathhouses continue to remain relevant, occasionally causing a growth in the desire for public baths, adapting to contemporary lifestyles while preserving the communal spirit of their origins. Related Article Public Pools as Public Spaces: The Role of Swimming and Bathing in Cities From Luxury to Lifestyle: The Rise of Everyday Wellness BathhousesOperators of spas and public bathhouses are witnessing a shift in how people perceive and engage with wellness. Increasingly, wellness is no longer seen as a luxury or an occasional indulgence but rather as an intentional, regular practice. This shift has led to a growing demand for accessible, community-centered spaces that provide opportunities for daily healing within the neighborhoodoffering a respite from the stresses of work and home life. Rather than requiring the high costs associated with massage parlors or private spa treatments, public bathhouses serve as a more affordable alternative, creating a welcoming space for relaxation and renewal within one's own neighborhood.At Sense of Self Bathhouse, a diverse range of bathing experiences redefines traditional notions of wellness. Moving beyond the standard heated pools, the facility offers mineral baths, steam rooms, saunas, a vegetated air-bath courtyard, and a series of temperature-controlled plunge pools. Through thoughtful spatial planning and design, the bathhouse eliminates excessive corridors and transitional spaces, ensuring a seamless flow between different functions. By integrating changing areas into circulation zones and strategically placing pools and baths in close proximity, the layout maximizes efficiency, centralizes the plumbing system, and enhances the overall user experience. In doing so, Sense of Self Bathhouse exemplifies how contemporary public baths can evolve to meet modern wellness needs while maintaining a strong connection to their communal roots.Sense of Self Bathhouse / Setsquare Studio + Chamberlain Architects + Hearth StudioSave this picture!Society Hotel Bingen / Waechter ArchitectureSave this picture!PANPURI Hot Spring / A-ASTERISKSave this picture!The Contemporary Bathhouse: Music, Art, and Community in WaterSome contemporary public bathhouses are redefining their role by fostering a sense of community beyond bathing. By incorporating elements such as bars and live DJ sets, these spaces merge relaxation with social engagement, creating a modern alternative to traditional nightlife. Unlike pubs or clubs, where socializing often revolves around alcohol consumption, these bathhouses offer a healthier, more immersive settingone where the act of submerging in water itself provides a mental and physical reset. The change in environment allows visitors to detach from their daily routines, even if just for 15 minutes, offering a brief but impactful escape from the stresses of everyday life.At Koganeyu, this reimagined sense of community is further enhanced through careful design and artistic collaboration. Beyond adding a bar and DJ booth, the bathhouse sheds its outdated imagemoving away from the perception of being old, dark, or overly traditional. Instead, it emerges as a dynamic and youthful space, energized by material choices such as stainless steel, beige-toned tiles, and birch-like plywood. To reinforce this transformation, artists Yoriko Hoshi and Iichiro Tanaka were invited to create contemporary artworks that contribute to the bathhouse's new identity. No longer just a functional facility, Koganeyu becomes a vibrant cultural hubone that seamlessly blends relaxation, art, and social interaction in a contemporary reinterpretation of the public bathhouse experience.Komaeyu Public Bathhouse / Schemata Architects + Jo NagasakaSave this picture!Koganeyu / Schemata ArchitectsSave this picture!Beyond the Built: How Public Baths Blur the Line Between Architecture and LandscapeBeyond serving as communal wellness hubs, public bathhouses present a unique opportunity for architecture to explore the relationship between the built environment and nature. Many of these bathhouses become destinations in their own right, carefully designed to merge with their natural surroundingswhether nestled within striking landscapes or seamlessly integrated into their topography. As a design discipline, architecture has long sought to dissolve the boundaries between human-made structures and the natural world. But how can architects further this dialogue through the spatial and experiential qualities of a bathhouse? Can water itself, as both an element and a medium, serve as the ultimate bridge between architecture and nature? And when immersed in water, does the human mind enter a liminal spacea state of being that transcends the division between the built and the organic?The Retreat at Blue Lagoon Iceland exemplifies this seamless integration of architecture and nature. Designed by BASALT Architects, the 10,000m complex appears and disappears within its breathtaking volcanic landscape, at times submerged beneath the earth, at other moments emerging from the milky blue geothermal waters. Thoughtfully curated openings within the structure frame views of the surrounding terrain, immersing visitors in nature while maintaining the comfort of a controlled architectural environment. The deliberate interplay between natural and artificial elementslava rocks, mineral-rich waters, and the building's sculpted formscreates a sensory ambiguity, blurring the line between what is organic and what is constructed. In this setting, the human body becomes an active participant, fully engaged in an experience where architecture, water, and nature coalesce into a singular, fluid entity.Am Kaiserstrand Bathhouse / Lang+SchwaerzlerSave this picture!Spa Pavilion / smartvollSave this picture!Karlshamn Cold Bath House / White ArkitekterSave this picture!The Retreat at Blue Lagoon Iceland / BASALT ArchitectsSave this picture!FLYT Bathing Installations / Rintala Eggertsson ArchitectsSave this picture!Image gallerySee allShow lessAbout this authorJonathan YeungAuthorCite: Jonathan Yeung. "The Evolution of Public Bathhouses: From Necessity to Experience" 17 Mar 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1028017/the-evolution-of-public-bathhouses-from-necessity-to-experience&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Librairie Avant-grade in Shangri-La / Zhaoyang ArchitectsSave this picture! Ce WangArchitects: Zhaoyang ArchitectsAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:1513 mPhotographsPhotographs:Ce Wang More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. The Shanghai-la Librairie Avant-garde is located in Wugong Village, Xiaozhongdian Town, and is renovated from three traditional Tibetan farmhouses. These existing houses are typical "Shanpian" houses commonly found in the Zhongdian area. This style of Tibetan dwelling is unique to the high-altitude regions of Shangri-La, which experience abundant rain and snow. It represents a quintessential adaptation of Tibetan farming and pastoral culture to the local climate and environment, utilizing locally available materials and tailored to the specific conditions of the area.Save this picture!Save this picture!Design strategiesDue to the very limited project budget, we could only make renovations based on the existing structure. In fact, even if the budget were more generous, we see no reason to demolish the old to build anew. Although these three Tibetan houses are aged, their main wooden structures are free from insect damage or rot, and they possess considerable structural redundancy. These houses have preserved the scenes of farming and pastoral life in the Shangri-La region before the era of electrification. We also feel a responsibility to revitalize them as cultural heritage of the Zhongdian area, treating the houses and the adjacent fields and pastures as an anthropological text to guide future visitors and readers of the bookstore to experience and understand this land.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!From a functional perspective, the main issue with these three Tibetan houses lies in their roofs. The "wooden shingles" of the "Shanpian houses" are made from fir wood, which is abundant in the vast forests of Shangri-La. Fir wood, characterized by its loose texture and straight grain, is manually split into shingles using a wedge-splitting method. Each shingle is about 2-3 cm thick, approximately 20 cm wide, and 90-120 cm long, known as "Shanpian." The split shingles have natural small grooves on their surfaces, which aid in water drainage. However, over time, they still decay. There is even a local saying: the larger the house built by ancestors, the greater the burden on descendants. This is mainly because the "wooden shingles" are actually quite expensive, and their maintenance and replacement represent a long-term financial burden. The three Tibetan houses of the Pioneer Bookstore, having been left unused and unmaintained for a long time, have roofs full of holes, unable to withstand the erosion of rain and snow, leading to cracks and even partial collapse of some rammed earth walls. Consequently, most newly built Tibetan houses in the area have replaced their sloping roofs with lightweight iron sheets, and the "Shanpian" has been reduced to a decorative or "tradition-preserving" element.Save this picture!Save this picture!The climate in Shangri-La is quite harsh. The cold winter sets in every November and lasts until April of the following year when the land slowly begins to recover. By the time the plateau is cloaked in green again, it is already May. The months of June, July, and August constitute the rainy season, with abundant rainfall. Often, the sky is covered with thick clouds, and it only clears up by evening. Even in summer, one can occasionally feel a damp chill. The plateau experiences intense sunlight, and winters are frequently clear and sunny. Modern Tibetan residential houses have developed a sunroom system. A common practice is to enclose the entire south-facing courtyard with glass, creating a large greenhouse that heats the interior of the house. This approach has become increasingly popular and refined in recent years, to the extent that in Shangri-La City, the prefectural capital, sunrooms have become a standard feature in all new residential constructions. This contemporary vernacular architecture has inspired the primary strategy for our renovation of these three Tibetan houses.Save this picture!Being performative is the fundamental stance of this renovation project. Since the main wooden structure is intact, we strive to preserve it; since the rammed earth walls can shield against wind and rain and offer excellent thermal performance, we repair the damaged or collapsed sections and retain them. Since the roof is already ruined and the traditional "wooden shingle" roofing system has been phased out by the times, there's no need for sentimentalitywe replace it with a new system.Save this picture!Save this picture!Transformed from a Tibetan house to a bookstore, the building's function shifts from a home to a public space. The first priority is to improve the overly dim interior by allowing more sunlight into the building. Local experience has proven that sunrooms are suitable for Shangri-La's long winters, so we decided to place a lightweight steel roof directly on the original wooden structure of the Tibetan house. We replaced the "wooden shingles" with polycarbonate panels that allow adjustable light transmission and installed electric curtains beneath them to regulate the amount of light entering the interior based on weather conditions. The slope of the roof follows the original form of the "Shanpian house," and the deep overhang of the pitched roof is retained to continue protecting the rammed earth walls from rain damage. From the exterior, the appearance of the Tibetan house standing on the land remains largely unchanged, with only the roofing material becoming slightly lighter and thinner. The once hidden home is suddenly bathed in sunlight, and the living scenes within the traditional Tibetan house are illuminated like museum exhibits, while simultaneously transforming into a new form of public daily life. I believe this can become an appropriate expression of a countryside bookstore.Save this picture!Save this picture!Adaptive reuseThe three Tibetan houses are designated from east to west as the bookstore, a cultural and creative products shop, and a caf, respectively. Accordingly, we adapted the original spaces of the Tibetan houses to meet these three distinct functional needs. The bookstore required a definitive, large space, embodying the atmosphere of a "temple of words" (as described by Yunnan based poet Yu Jian) to meet the expectations of visitors. Although Wugong Village is only half an hour's drive from the high-speed rail station and the highway exit, the region has not yet become a mature destination, and most visitors come specifically for the experience. Therefore, we carved out a two-story atrium in the center of the first Tibetan house, with bookshelves lining the walls and a surrounding wooden structure forming a gallery on the second floor. All books are placed within easy reach, facilitating browsing and reading.Save this picture!Save this picture!The cultural and creative products shop does not require a large area, so we placed it on the second floor of the second Tibetan house. The entire ground level, including the courtyard space, was designed as the living quarters for the bookstore staff. To ensure adequate ventilation and natural light in the staff dormitory, a section of the floor adjacent to the western back wall was removed to create an indoor atrium.Save this picture!The caf needed to emphasize its operational functionality, as the second floor, while bright and comfortable, was insufficient in space; the ground floor's livestock pen was too low, creating a confined and oppressive atmosphere. Therefore, we excavated the ground of the livestock pen by 45 centimeters, expanding the base of the rammed earth wall to form seating, and the original stone pedestals used as column bases were supported by newly cast concrete blocks, unexpectedly achieving a raised and displayed effect for the livestock pen. The caf did not require a large, open space, and the existing room divisions of the old Tibetan house naturally provided spatial zoning and settings for the caf, especially the living space around the hearthfeaturing shrines, murals, wooden window frames, and water pavilionswhich was inherently intriguing.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Circulation and landscapingOn the southern faade of the "Shanpian house," a log cabin-style wooden box was embedded in the rammed earth wall, originally used as a granary (since rammed earth walls are not breathable, the wooden shell ensured ventilation for the granary). After the granary was removed, a more than three-meter-wide opening was left in the rammed earth wall. I then conceived the idea of constructing a concrete corridor at this location, which would guide visitors to walk out from the second floor of the bookstore and gradually approach the ground from a height. This simple sense of ceremony indeed alters the relationship between the old Tibetan house and the land, but I believe it is appropriate, as experiencing the land is just as important as experiencing the Tibetan house. Even from a purely functional perspective, the distance between the houses is too great (56 meters between the bookstore and the cultural and creative products shop, and 38 meters between the cultural and creative products shop and the caf). How to link the three houses together to create a continuous experience is also a key consideration in this renovation.Save this picture!Save this picture!To avoid encroaching on farmland, the bookstore's corridor extends out and then bends back, landing at the courtyard gate. It then follows the ridges of the fields southward to an outdoor platform. Here, there was originally a low wall, serving as a kind of boundary marker. This location is set apart from all three Tibetan houses, offering a vantage point to view the entire scene. From there, one can approach the cultural and creative products shop to the west, climb half a flight of steps to reach a terrace, from which one can overlook the continuous pine forest stretching all the way to the distant Haba Snow Mountain. Passing through the interior of the cultural and creative products shop, a 30-meter-long ramp is elevated above the barley fields, leading directly to the back door of the caf courtyard. The caf's corridor extends straight out towards the reservoir, allowing for a view of the vast forest in the distance before descending the steps to approach the deeper natural surroundings.Save this picture!Material and constructionThe budget for this project was extremely tight. The construction team was also determined through the government's bidding process and was a rural construction team. Based on our years of experience in rural practice, under such conditions, we could only opt for the most conventional construction methods, and our expectations for the outcome had to allow ample room for error during the construction process. Compounding the situation was the fact that the original Tibetan houses were built without any concept of basic geometric precision. There were no perfectly vertical columns, no completely parallel beams, and not a single truly level floor. Throughout the renovation process, we constantly had to deal with various uneven and irregular situations.Save this picture!Save this picture!In this era of rapidly vanishing traditional craftsmanship, even in Yunnan, natural materials and handcrafted methods are becoming scarce and expensive, and may even conflict with increasingly pervasive environmental regulations. Perhaps the more remote the countryside, the more it should utilize industrialized construction systems. The lightweight steel structure and polycarbonate panel roof were the most worry-free aspects of the entire construction process (except for the unforeseen leveling process of the wooden structural beams). The main entrance canopy of the bookstore and the three corridors extending towards the land were cast in concrete. Considering the limited formwork technology and precision of the rural construction team, we simply used the wooden shingles removed from the old Tibetan house roofs as formwork. The deep grain of the wooden shingles resulted in a very mottled surface on the cast concrete, which, as it turned out, matched the overall rough construction style. Another use for the recycled wooden shingles was as cladding for the gable ends of the pitched roofs and as ceiling panels for the overhanging sections. These weathered wooden shingles, coated with varnish, took on a dark brown hue, adding a composed tone between the whitewashed walls with straw fibers and the shiny corrugated panels. Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officeZhaoyang ArchitectsOfficeMaterialsMaterials and TagsPublished on March 17, 2025Cite: "Librairie Avant-grade in Shangri-La / Zhaoyang Architects" 17 Mar 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1027841/librairie-avant-grade-in-shangri-la-zhaoyang-architects&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save? / You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! 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