Never trust the suits (Rockstar Games)You might be entitled to up to $3 million of in-game currency within GTA Online, although there are some awkward caveats.While the world anticipates the arrival of GTA 6, Rockstar continues to roll out updates for GTA Online, to keep players glued to GTA 5.The game continues to be successful 12 years later, with an enhanced PC version having arrived earlier this month and boosting it back up the PC charts, and now Rockstar is trying to entice lapsed players back into the fold with a new offer.As advertised by Rockstar, anyone who hasnt played GTA Online within the past 60 days on their Rockstar Games account can claim up to $3 million of in-game currency. To obtain the full amount though, you still have to pay.If you meet the above requirement, you can obtain $1 million entirely free. You just have to have a Rockstar Games account, link it to your respective platform, and claim it on the website. The support page notes, however, that anyone who has been suspended or banned is ineligible.If you are eligible and complete these steps, $1 million will be deposited into your Maze Bank within 72 hours.When it comes to claiming the remaining $2 million though, things get stickier. To claim $1.5 million, you have to buy one of the games shark cards, specifically either the Great White, Whale, or Megalodon card. These are priced at 14.99, 37.99, and 74.99, respectively, with the extra $1.5 million being added on top of what you purchase.More TrendingThe remaining $500,000 is added if you purchase a GTA+ subscription, which costs 6.99. GTA+ subscribers usually get $500,000 a month as part of the subscription, and while its not clear, we expect this offer means an extra $500,000 on top of that.In other words, the real free offer is just $1 million of in-game currency, with the rest available only if you buy additional money or services.According to publisher Take-Two, GTA 6 is on track to launch in autumn 2025 but if youre struggling with the wait try out a fan recreation of the games map in GTA 5. GTA 6 is coming this year, apparently (Rockstar Games)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

They are powerful triggers of an inverse placebo effect

AI chatbots and critical thinking courses might help

Marc Webbs musical adaptation of Disneys Snow Whitea remake of the studios first fairytale film, a landmark 1937 release that helped launch its entertainment kingdommay have had the most unrealistic expectations put on it. But rest assured: it delivers its own endearing spin on the original story while faithfully homaging the animated classics major touchstones. And most importantly, theres no denying Rachel Zegler carries the film with the best vocal performance of any live-action Disney Princess. Now, the original animated Snow White is obviously an enshrined work of art, mostly because it was the first feature-length cartoon fairytale ever produced in the United States, and the beginning of Disneys historic legacy in feature-length theatrical animation. There had been nothing like it before, and that in and of itself is probably the hardest thing for the live-action adaptation to overcome. What is this film doing besides being just another of Disneys live-action releases? Back in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story had to be efficient and simply appeal to the masses of that era. Walt Disney and his animators couldnt do much expanding on the classic Grimm fairytale; their focus was more on the technical side, as the multi-plane cameras animated tech was essentially a prototype, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the experiment. So the expectation that this live-action version will exactly mirror what came before is unrealistic. Its not Disneys first live-action adaptation, and the world of 2025 is very different than that of the late 1930s. A modern, live-action film has the space to play with the originals straightforward take on Snow White, giving it much needed updates cleverly penned by Erin Cressida Wilson.Theres more room to give Snow White (Zegler) and her love interest Jonathan (Andrew Burnap) a more believable meet-cute, and most importantly give our princess a more Disney Renaissance-era core motivation. Zegler imbues Snow authentically with an innocence and naive kindness that evolves into a different form of strength for young girls to look up to, a welcome change from the animated Snows role as a reactive character who lets the saving happen to her. Its an evolution thats done deftly, without sacrificing the love story essential to the tale. Theres no girlboss-ification here; shes still a princess who meets a boy who happens to be a bandit from her village, and falls in love despite their opposing places in the kingdom. This is a love story, with a manic pixie dream boy from from the wrong side of the kingdom, and Snow Whites coming of age journey. Disney And it works because Webb has had a knack for love stories since 500 Days of Summer, which took a dysfunctional relationship and made it feel idyllic and big in the main characters head. He also made the Amazing Spider-Man films, in which Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy made a superhero feel more human through his very real connection to the woman he loved and lost. In Snow White, Webb captures Zegler and Burnap channeling old Hollywood chemistry that harkens to It Happened One Night and Shall We Dancebut also some Princess Bride and Aladdin too. Witnessing that heartfelt first love between Snow and Jonathan makes them so easy to root for, and helps make this latest Disney live-action feel more like a sweeping musical romance. And thats how Webb, along with musical duo Pasek and Paul and choreographer Mandy Moore, homage the original in a surprisingly faithful way. So while Im Wishing, One Song, and Someday My Prince Will Come have been omitted here, the film still conveys that timeless feeling of romance that propelled old Hollywood movies toward their happy endings. Its giving Fred and Ginger in the forest with musical numbers like Princess Problems, and again Princess Bride, with Burnap distractingly looking like a young Cary Elwes. Zegler is undeniable bringing in relatable chemistry through her stunning singing; Burnap meets her at her level, especially in my new favorite Disney duet A Hand Meets a Hand. In these moments, Snow Whites combination of actors, music, dance numbers, and director is a winning one.The film only really stumbles with two glaring things: the atrocious looking CG Dwarfs and Gal Gadot being sorely lacking as the Evil Queen. Just casting a beautiful woman isnt enough, Gadots Evil Queen doesnt serve diva in the way the legendary villain role needed. Gadot struggles to create a compelling performance, and her musical numbers make you wish someone with a stronger signing experience had been cast instead. In the Queens new villain song for the film, All Is Fair, Gadot struggles, sounding almost as if her her voice has been put through post-processing thats a few steps beyond simple autotune. They couldnt even hide she didnt actually perform the song; the scene is filled with too many cut-aways for what should have been a big showstopper. My head was spinning from the cuts jumping all over the place particularly when shes supposed to hit a high note and she didnt even care to make it look like she was taking the proper breaths and just lip synced. Walt Disney Pictures And the Dwarfs, oof. They tried, reallyI mean, they at least dont look dead-eyed, and come closer to appearance to, say, Dobby in Harry Potter, but they still looked just off. The only thing that saves the Dwarfs is the voice cast, who all really capture the endearing energy of the beloved magical creatures. We wish that the magic aspect connecting them had made a bit more sense, we see them have a mystical connection with the gems they mine but thats itsoits definitely a loose thread to say the least. Its better here than the choices made in the past with CG Disney sidekicks, but there had to be a better way that wouldve split the difference, and allow the actors performances to shine through the technical aspects, one that people prefer over hard-to-look-at uncanny valley humanoid creatures. Having two major elements of the Snow White tale just miss the mark is now something of an unfortunate tradition in the Disney live-action remake franchise. Even Cinderella, which is touted as one of the best, removed the main characters songs and Beauty and the Beast had an autotuned Belle. With Snow White at least we get new songs that create a new storybook romance for a generation who can learn wishes can come true if you rise to meet them and they can come with prince.Overall Snow White is an enchanting musical with an empowering message to stand with your people against a vain and evil tyrant. And it mostly accomplishes that save for the misuse of digital enhancements, which fans still wont like. Disneys rocky history with its live-action remakes hits a decently charming note in Snow White, but perhaps likely not one that will instil the trends detractors with confidence ahead of even more coming along the way, like Lilo & Stitch and Tangled. One things for sure, at least: Zegler has earned her place as this generations Snow White, and the franchise is all the better for it. Snow White hits theaters this Friday, March 21.Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Theres nothing Hollywood loves more than a big comebackand Coyote vs. Acme may be getting its second chance. The live-action/animation hybrid starring John Cena and the Looney Tunes was shelved by Warner Bros. in late 2023, to the disappointment of its creative team as well as the handful of insiders whod gotten a chance to see it. But now, a happy ending appears to be in sight, as a new report in Deadline says Ketchup Entertainment is negotiating for the movies rights. If that name sounds familiar, its because Ketchup is the same company that rescued The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie from WBs discard pile; like Coyote vs. Acme, the sci-fi comedy starring Daffy Duck and Porky Pig was originally intended for a streaming release. However, with Ketchup at the helm, its now on the big screenmaking it the first fully animated theatrical feature starring the Looney Tunes characters. Deadline notes that Ketchup has a similar theatrical plan for Coyote vs. Acme, should the deal come together, and gives some background on whats at stake here. Despite test-screening well, the project became a high-profile casualty of WB cost-cutting two years ago and it has been sitting on the shelf for more than a year, the trade writes. (Pop culture fans will recall the Batgirl movie was probably the most high-profile title amid that purge.) Additionally: The studio reportedly screened the movie to a string of buyers in early 2024 with a price tag of around $70M, which is how much the film is said to have cost. Studio sources claim to us that they didnt get any offers at the time. Deadline writes that Ketchup is negotiating an all-rights acquisition in the $50M range, adding the pact isnt finalized and theres still a chance it doesnt make but its heading in the right direction. Should it get over the line, the film would get a theatrical release in 2026. Though the Looney Tunes have long been intertwined with Warner Bros.the earliest shorts were released in the 1930sits lately seemed the studio, particularly under the tenure of CEO David Zaslav, is increasingly eager to move on from its lengthy cartoon history. Just as The Day the Earth Blew Up was having its theatrical moment under the Ketchup banner, Warner Bros. pulled all of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons from Max, meaning fans have had to scramble to track down the vintage antics of Bugs Bunny and friends.What do you think about this upturn for Coyote vs. Acme? Will you be seeing it in theaters if you get the chace? Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

It sounded like the plot of a disaster movie: a mysterious disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) appeared to jump from a bat to three children who ate it. They died within two days of developing symptoms. Those symptoms included diarrhea, vomiting, and internal bleeding. Within 21 days of the first reported case, 53 people had died and more than 400 developed symptoms. People were, to put it lightly, getting worried.Scientists had initially feared this spread could represent another Ebola-like crisis since that disease originated in animals, then jumped to humans, sickening and killing a large number of people. People can now rest a bit easier, since the diseases origins appear to have been linked to contaminated water. At a World Health Organization (WHO) press conference, a WHO expert said that, in the hardest hit villages, people tended to share the same water source.If it is a contamination, it will be easy to contain, Steve Ahuka, a virologist at the National Institute of Biomedical Research in Kinshasa said at the news conference. Ahuka is testing patient samples from affected communities.Examining the Infectious DiseaseBefore finding the source of the cases, scientists first ruled out Ebola and Marburg hemorrhagic viruses via testing, according to a WHO report. Those viruses also appeared as unlikely culprits, because death after symptoms generally happens over a longer period of time.About half the people tested were positive for malaria. That disease likely killed dozens of people in another part of Congo in 2024.The assumption that the disease originated in a bat is not particularly far-fetched. The WHO has long been concerned about diseases jumping from animal to human in places where wild animals are often consumed. The WHO estimates that such outbreaks in Africa increased by over 60 percent over the past decade.There have long been concerns about diseases jumping from animals to humans in places where wild animals are popularly eaten. The number of such outbreaks in Africa has surged by more than 60 percent in the last decade, the WHO said in 2022.Read More: What You Need To Know About The Marburg VirusComplex Disease OriginsIt may be difficult to identify a single cause for numerous sicknesses in the DRC. Since 2025, scientists have identified multiple clusters of undiagnosed illnesses within two health zones of the DRCs Equateur province. Those clusters of undiagnosed illness have sickened 1,096 people in all age groups, causing 60 deaths, according to the WHO report. Although the cases include a range of symptoms includes fever, headache, chills, sweating, achy bodies, runny or bleeding noses, cough, vomiting, and diarrhea, it is possible that more than one disease could be causing them, since those symptoms cover a broad range of illnesses.Some illnesses and deaths could be caused by a combination of issues. For instance, last year several people in the DRC died of respiratory infections that were worsened by malaria.Although the possible resolution of the outbreak initially attributed to an infectious bat isnt exactly a Hollywood ending, it is still a better result than a scenario equivalent to a streaming series about people fleeing from a killer virus.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Before joining Discover Magazine, Paul Smaglik spent over 20 years as a science journalist, specializing in U.S. life science policy and global scientific career issues. He began his career in newspapers, but switched to scientific magazines. His work has appeared in publications including Science News, Science, Nature, and Scientific American.

Climate change is affecting the environments in which we live more and more every year. Along with that, these drastic changes are starting to take a toll on our mental health, as well, especially for young adults.An international research team has taken an interest in what kind of effects climate change is having on adolescent mental health, and the results they have uncovered are concerning.A Mental Health CrisisIn a study published in the Journal of Climate Change and Health, researchers assert that climate change is a mental health crisis. They are particularly concerned with how it is affecting adolescent well-being in the areas most severely experiencing climate crises in the present.One of those areas is Madagascar, where the research for this study took place. The team collected survey data from 83 adolescents and also ran focus groups with 48 participants from six different rural villages.The most common response across all the data was that young people suffered from extremely high levels of anxiety, depression, and worry about the current and future impacts of climate change. An overwhelming number of respondents described themselves as feeling hopeless about their future, with one participant going as far as saying that life is a misery.This research makes it clear that climate change is not just an environmental issue it is a mental health issue as well, said Kristin Hadfield, associate professor in the School of Psychology and Trinity Centre for Global Health at Trinity College Dublin, in a press release. We found that chronic climate stressors not just extreme weather events are already shaping adolescent mental health.Chronic Climate StressorsHadfield and her team identified three main ways that climate change affected adolescent mental health. The first is a disruption of coping mechanisms. The second is the loss of household resources, with many respondents expressing deep distress over their families struggles.The third way climate change affects mental health is through uncertainty about the future. Food insecurity is a particularly strong factor in all of these areas, and the data collected on this issue is sobering.Of those young people who participated in the survey, 90 percent said that their households had run out of food in the past year. Another 69 percent admitted that they had gone at least an entire day without food. Even more concerning is the fact that some adolescents witnessed people in their community starve to death.Madagascar as Ground ZeroClimate change is to blame for the scarcity of food and resources in Madagascar, which is causing a mental health crisis among adolescents.Madagascar is an island nation located in the Indian Ocean and is one of the least developed countries in the world. The majority of the population is dependent on subsistence farming for their livelihoods, both personal and economic.Southern Madagascar is one of the areas most severely affected by climate change in the world. It experienced its first climate-change-induced famine in 2021.From water scarcity to heat waves to flooding, the effects of climate change for the Madagascan farming communities are extreme and are causing unprecedented levels of climate-related stress in children and young adults.Adolescents in Androy, Southern Madagascar, speak of famine, fear, and futures stolen by drought and sandstorms. With crops failing and water scarce, many adolescents are forced to leave their communities to survive, while those who stay face hunger, lost education, and deep despair, said Nambinina Rasolomalala from the Catholic University of Madagascar in a press release.The team hopes their study will shed light on the growing concern and connection between climate change and mental health and will increase future research in low- and middle-income countries.Read More: The Domino Effects of a Global Food ShortageArticle SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Journal of Climate Change and Health. There is no hope; only strong wind: How climate change impacts adolescent mental health in southern MadagascarAs the marketing coordinator at Discover Magazine, Stephanie Edwards interacts with readers across Discover's social media channels and writes digital content. Offline, she is a contract lecturer in English & Cultural Studies at Lakehead University, teaching courses on everything from professional communication to Taylor Swift, and received her graduate degrees in the same department from McMaster University. You can find more of her science writing in Lab Manager and her short fiction in anthologies and literary magazine across the horror genre.

The newest iteration of Boston Dynamics Atlas humanoid robot is already disconcertingly nimble, with its ability to run, perform backflips, and toss around heavy objects. So maybe theres some comfort to be had in knowing that, if nothing else, it might take a bit before the bipedal bot surpasses human breakdancing capabilities. At least thats what it seems like after seeing Atlas new moves.In a one-minute video posted to YouTube on March 19, the slimmed-down robot can be seen walking and running easily enough, but its a different story once it gets down on all fours. It can now crawl like a frog on its nub-hands and knee joints (although its overall movement remains somewhat stiff and awkward). Its helicopter leg sweeping and rolling techniques, however, could use some work.According to Boston Dynamics, the new physicalities are demonstrating policies developed using reinforcement learning with references from human motion capture and animation. These come about a month after the company announced a partnership with the Robotics & AI Institute focused specifically on reinforcement learning projects to level up the humanoid robot. The collaboration is specifically aimed at translating mobility-based simulations to physical performance, improving whole body loco-manipulation, and advancing ways to utilize the Atlas robots entire body.At the time, Boston Dynamics said it would periodically release updates on this collaborative work, including publications and demonstrations with Atlas. The Walk, Run, Crawl, RL Fun video appears to be the first entry in this series, which to be fair, is pretty impressive since its only been a few weeks since the collaboration began. It might not win any breakdancing competitions just yet, but its already definitely better than a lot of people can manage. It remains to be seen what pastime Atlas will learn nextmaybe a waltz?The post Humanoid robots are breakdancing, with mixed results appeared first on Popular Science.

The photo, titled Cosmic Fireworks, won the Skyscapes category of the 2023 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, hosted by the Royal Observatory Greenwich. Credit: Angel AnShareOn May 19, 2022, two astrophotographers set up near the sacred lake of Pumoyongcuo on the southern Tibetan Plateau captured a vibrant display streaking across the Himalayan sky. Over a single night, Angel An and Shuchang Dong recorded over 100 red sprites, bursts of brilliantly colorful electrical discharges known for both their color and ethereal patterns. Rarely seen secondary jets also joined the atmospheric phenomena, as well as the first-known images in Asia of ghost spritesgreenish glowing that is sometimes seen near the base of an evenings ionosphere. One of the photos was so striking that it even went on to win the Skyscapes category of the Royal Observatory Greenwichs 2023 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.While these dramatic sprite fireworks displays are well-known, little is understood about how and why they form. However, researchers at Chinas University of Science and Technology are beginning to unravel red sprite behavior thanks in part to the astrophotographers work. Their results, published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, illustrate the complex celestial interactions that can occur far above us.Before they began to study the Himalayan red sprites, Gaopeng Lu and his colleagues encountered a problem: While visually arresting, An and Dongs recordings of the 2022 outbreak werent timestamped. Without these reference points, Lus team could not match the sprites to their parent lightning discharges. They came up with a creative workaround: While they didnt know exactly when the sprites occurred, they could figure out where they formed in the night sky. By matching the coordinates of 95 of the sprites with multiple orbital satellite trajectories and star chart positions, researchers managed to pinpoint each electrical events time to within a one second margin of error. From there, they could link around 70 percent of the red sprites to their parent lightning events, then examine those discharges.This event was truly remarkable, said Gaopeng Lu in an accompanying statement. By analyzing the parent lightning discharges, we discovered that the sprites were triggered by high-peak current positive cloud-to-ground lightning strikes within a massive mesoscale convective system.A mesoscale event is a large complex of thunderstorms that include weather systems like lake-effect snow, squall lines, and tropical cyclones, depending on their location. In the case of the May 2022 event, the sprites formed inside an area stretching over 77,220 square miles from the Ganges Plain of northeast India to the Tibetan Plateaus southern foothills. It also featured the highest number of sprites ever recorded in South Asia, most of which featured a positive polarity with peak currents topping +50 kiloamperes (kA).Lu and his team now believe thunderstorms in the Himalayas may produce some of Earths most complex and intense upper-atmospheric electrical discharges that are likely on par to those documented in the US Great Plains and off European coasts. The teams findings also have important implications for how experts can better characterize regional thunderstorms in the future, including how their physical and chemical attributes affect adjacent areas.Their novel timestamping approach isnt limited to red sprite revelations, either. Any citizen scientist with the right know-how can now also use the studys methodology for their own meteorological work.

NewsTechA hopping robot shows off its squirrel-like skillsThe robot can take flying leaps and adjust its landing just like squirrels do A one-legged robot can hop from one narrow pipe to another and land balanced, like a squirrel leaping between branches.Justin K. YimBy Meghan Rosen1 hour agoSalto the robot is acting a little squirrelly.The jumping bot can take a flying leap and land on a narrow pipe just like a squirrel soaring from branch to branch. Its the first time scientists have been able to get arobot to land balanced on such a tiny target, says engineer Justin Yim, whose team reported the results March 19 inScience Robotics.Weve been inspired by squirrels, says Yim, who worked on the project at the University of California, Berkeley and is now at theUniversity of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.