While there may be debate about whether iOS 19 will be a UI revolution or evolution, there does seem to be a consensus view on app icons. Namely, that they are likely to switch from squircles squares with rounded corners to circles.Whether one looks better than the other is of course a matter of subjective judgement. But there is a small problem with circular icons If you look at current iPhone icons, they can be broadly divided into three:An underlying square designAn underlying circular designNo inherent shapeLet me show you what I mean by this. The Home and Wallet apps are a good example of an underlying square design the graphics are square (or at least rectangular, tending to square), so can be as large as desired within the squircular space:In contrast, some apps use circular graphics, with Safari and Spotify good examples. Theres again no real constraint on the size of a circular graphic within a squircle we can see here that Apple has chosen to use most of the available space while Spotify uses a bit less of it:Finally, there are graphics which simply fill the available space, and have no inherent shape. The Notes and Map icons are examples of these:If iOS 19 adopts circular icons, then clearly theres no issue with circular app graphics as now, these can use as little or as much of the available space as desired. Similarly, graphics which fill the space can adapt to any shape.But for square graphics, they will have to shrink to fill the available space within a circular shape. This could make them harder to spot at a glance. We can see this with the Reddit and Slack icons in our mockup at the top of the piece.Of course, Im in no way suggesting this is a major usability barrier. Developers would be free to rework their icons into circles, or to fill the space. But I would argue that circular icons are just a little less space-efficient.Do you have a preference for squircles over circles? Please share your thoughts in the comments.Highlighted accessoriesAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Mar 27, 2025The Hacker NewsBrowser Security / Data ProtectionWhether it's CRMs, project management tools, payment processors, or lead management tools - your workforce is using SaaS applications by the pound. Organizations often rely on traditional CASB solutions for protecting against malicious access and data exfiltration, but these fall short for protecting against shadow SaaS, data damage, and more.A new report, Understanding SaaS Security Risks: Why CASB Solutions Fail to Cover 'Shadow' SaaS and SaaS Governance, highlighting the pressing security challenges faced by enterprises using SaaS applications. The research underscores the growing inefficacy of traditional CASB solutions and introduces a revolutionary browser-based approach to SaaS security that ensures full visibility and real-time protection against threats.Below, we bring the main highlights of the report. Read the full report here.Why Enterprises Need SaaS Security - The Risks of SaaSSaaS applications have become the backbone of modern enterprises, but security teams struggle to manage and protect them. Employees access and use both sanctioned and non-sanctioned apps, each entailing their own types of risk.Non-sanctioned apps - Employees often upload data files to SaaS applications, exposing the data to an unknown scope of viewers. This is in itself a violation of privacy. In addition, productivity SaaS apps are often targeted by adversaries since they are aware of the information goldmine that awaits them.Sanctioned apps - Adversaries attempt to compromise SaaS app user credentials through password reuse, phishing and malicious browser extensions. With those credentials, they can access the apps and then spread across corporate environments.Breaking Down SaaS Risk Mitigation CapabilitiesSecurity solutions that mitigate the aforementioned SaaS risks, need to provide the following capabilities:Granular visibility of all users' activities within the application.The ability to deduce that a malicious activity might be taking place.Terminating malicious activity.The Limitations of CASBTraditionally, CASB solutions were used to secure SaaS apps. However, these solutions fall short when it comes to covering both sanctioned and unsanctioned apps, across managed and unmanaged devices.CASB solutions are made up of three main components: Forward Proxy, Reverse Proxy and API Scanner. Here's where they are limited:Forward Proxy - Cannot provide access control on unmanaged devicesReverse Proxy - Cannot prevent data exposure on unsanctioned appsAPI scanner - Cannot prevent malicious activity within sanctioned appsPlus, CASB solutions lack real-time granular visibility into app activity and have no ability to translate that into active blocking.The Browser as the Ultimate Security Control PointA paradigm shift is required: Securing SaaS applications directly at the browser level. Access and activity in any SaaS application, sanctioned or not, typically entails establishing a browser session. Hence, if we build the SaaS risk analysis capabilities into the browser, it would also be trivial for the browser to treat detected risks as a trigger for protective action terminating the session, disabling certain parts of the web page, preventing download\upload, and so on.Browser Security vs. CASB: The ShowdownBrowser SecurityCASBUnsanctioned AppsDiscovery of Shadow SaaSYesPartialData exposure preventionYesPartialIdentity exposureYesNoSanctioned AppsMalicious accessYesPartialData exposureYesYesData exfiltrationYesNoData damageYesNoBrowser Security provides the following advantages:100% Visibility Detects every SaaS application in use, including shadow IT.Granular Enforcement Applies real-time security policies at the user's point of interaction.Seamless Integration Works with identity providers (IdPs) and existing security architectures without disrupting user experience.Unmatched Protection Prevents unauthorized access, data leakage, and credential misuse across all devices, whether managed or unmanaged.Read more about SaaS risk management and browser security protection in the white paperFound this article interesting? This article is a contributed piece from one of our valued partners. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

Lisa Morgan, Freelance WriterMarch 27, 20258 Min ReadNils Ackermann via Alamy StockData silos have been plaguing organizations since before the data analytics gold rush. Sadly, data silos remain an issue in many organizations, which calls into question the reliability of AI outputs.Data silos are making it much harder for agents to get unified insights based on a holistic view of the data about an object of interest, such as a customer or an employee, or just a single user, says Michael Berthold, CEO and co-founder of data analytics platform provider KNIME. For example, agents struggle with isolated data sources, [like] a human having to go to the CRM to see information about a company and the current contract history, then go to the support system to find out more about ongoing technical issues, and then also check the online forum to see if employees of the customer posted something there.According to a recent Gartner survey, 63% of organizations either do not have or are unsure if they have the rightdatamanagement practices for AI. In fact, Gartner predicts that through 2026, organizations will abandon 60% of AI projects unsupported byAI-ready data.How Data Silos Form and What to Do About ThemTool vendors are trying to make the flow of data between systems easier by providing integrations with other tools. Similarly, an agent will benefit from having one place to go to get information about a customer.Related:Michael Berthold, KNIMEMichael Berthold, KNIMEIn an ideal world, all data would be integrated. That was the promise of data warehouses years ago, and its still what is being promised. Especially companies with more legacy data and systems will continue to have data silos, says Berthold.AI models require high-quality data to deliver optimal performance. Poor data leads to underperforming models, which can cost organizations tens of millions of dollars or more, according to Gordon Robinson, senior director, data management R&D at data and AI solution provider SAS.Inconsistent data across silos means different parts of an organization may track similar data independently, leading to discrepancies and the lack of a single source of truth, says Robinson. Data silos also can lead to incomplete AI model training. When AI models are trained on fragmented data rather than a comprehensive dataset, they fail to reach their full potential and deliver optimal insights.Josh Weinick, a sales engineer at AI-powered cybersecurity automation platform Blink Ops has seen cases in which a chatbot is unable to provide accurate customer support because it doesnt have access to sales or product data living in another departments separate system.Related:Most silos are caused by a mix of legacy infrastructure, organizational culture and inconsistent data standards. When teams cling to their own systems and definitions, or when older technology doesnt integrate well with modern AI platforms, its easy for silos to form, says Weinick. Mergers and acquisitions can also play a role. Newly acquired business units often bring their own tech stacks, which stay isolated unless leadership prioritizes integration.Without leadership buy-in and a culture of data sharing, departments tend to guard their data.Ashwin Rajeeva, co-founder and CTO at enterprise data observability company Acceldata says data silos restrict AIs access to complete, high-quality data, which leads to biased models, inconsistent insights and unreliable automation.Fragmented datasets make it difficult for AI agents to understand context, reducing their effectiveness in decision-making and business impact, says Rajeeva. Eliminating silos is essential for AI to scale, improve efficiency and deliver meaningful enterprise value.The root causes of the data access problem are legacy infrastructure, multi-cloud environments, decentralized data ownership and weak governance.Related:A data-first AI strategy focused on governance, interoperability, and observability is key. Enterprises should implement automated data quality checks, real-time monitoring and lineage tracking to ensure AI models operate on accurate, consistent data. Aligning data strategy with business objectives and fostering cross-functional collaboration accelerates AI adoption and impact, says Rajeeva.Gokul Naidu, senior manager at SAP says silos can cause gaps in model training and may require manual consolidation or cross-team requests.By the time information is merged, it may already become outdated, slowing the feedback loop for AI driven optimizations and reducing potential ROI, says Naidu. When I wear a FinOps hat I see that silos obscure the value of unit economics, such as cost per transaction, cost per user, and limit the ability to measure how each service or feature contributes to overall business value.In his view, cultural resistance to sharing, a lack of standards and governance, legacy apps and technical debt contribute to data fragmentation, making it difficult to establish a unified data strategy. To overcome them, he suggests doing the opposite, which is promoting a culture of sharing, having a unified data strategy, and using automation and observability.Paul Graeve, CEO at IT system data services provider The Data Group points to SaaS systems. Specifically, organizations are not investing the time, energy, and money necessary to load SaaS data into a data warehouse where the organization can own the data, clean it, and effectively use the data for any important business initiative.Your data is locked away in all these SaaS platforms scattered around the globe. This can be scary considering your data is your most valuable asset, says Graeve. The only way you can effectively and efficiently use your data for AI, analytics, portals -- for any initiative -- is to consolidate all your data into a one-version-of-the-truth data warehouse. Until you have your data in one place where you can see it, fix it, enrich it and efficiently use it, youre going to struggle successfully implementing any AI initiative.Paul Graeve, The Data GroupPaul Graeve, The Data GroupArmando Franco, director of business modernization services at TEKsystems Global Services, says data silos limit access to comprehensive training data, reducing model accuracy, and introducing inconsistencies due to conflicting governance and duplication. They also create inefficiencies in automation and decision-making, as AI agents require real-time access to unified data. Additionally, fragmented data poses security and compliance risks, potentially leading to regulatory violations if governance is not properly enforced.These challenges stem from outdated IT infrastructure, business unit fragmentation, and a lack of a unified data strategy, says Franco. Legacy systems were not designed for interoperability, while different departments using specialized tools create barriers to integration. Without centralized governance, enterprises struggle with inconsistent data management, and siloed AI initiatives lead to duplicated efforts and conflicting model outputs. Addressing these issues requires modernizing IT systems, fostering cross-team collaboration, and implementing a cohesive data strategy.Why Some Enterprises Struggle More Than OthersThe longer an organization exists, the more likely it is to be struggling with data silos.If a company has been around for a while, it will have different tools and systems, and the act of unifying it all is doomed from the start. Even worse, if that company bought a couple of other companies in recent years that brought along their own tools and data solutions, says KNIMEs Berthold. Dont dream of waiting for the famous data warehouse to solve everything. Dont try to put a bandage on the problem by starting to copy around data so it all creates a data swamp in one central location.Instead, its important to have a data integration, aggregation and analytics layer in place that allows everybody and AI agents to access a unified view. Berthold says organizations should ensure the technology in that layer is well-documented so future colleagues can understand its functionality and update it as data moves or new data sources are added.According to SAS Robinson, data silos within organizations often form around products or business functions, so many organizations still struggle to unlock the full potential of their data.The best way to overcome these challenges is by implementing a strong data governance framework within your organization. With increasing regulatory demands and the rising frequency and cost of data breaches, robust data governance is no longer a choice -- its a necessity, says Robinson. A successful data governance program starts with understanding what data you have, assessing its quality and tracking how it is used across the organization.Additionally, techniques like entity resolution can help create a single, unified view of data by integrating information from disparate silos into a centralized repository. However, many organizations have yet to invest in strong data governance. Meanwhile, AI governance is emerging as a crucial focus, especially as new AI regulations continue to evolve.Effective AI governance must be built on a solid foundation of robust data governance, says Robinson. If you havent invested in data governance or your current platform lacks robustness, this should be your top priority. Its no longer optional. Its a fundamental necessity for any data-driven organization today.In addition to that, Blink Ops Weinick says organizations should prepared to invest in modern data integration and metadata management and put strong security and governance frameworks in place from the start, so fears around compliance or breaches dont create massive delays.Most importantly, focus on cultivating a cross-functional mindset, says Weinick. Demonstrate quick wins by bringing together two siloed data sets to address a pressing business problem, then celebrate and scale those successes across the enterprise.About the AuthorLisa MorganFreelance WriterLisa Morgan is a freelance writer who covers business and IT strategy and emergingtechnology for InformationWeek. She has contributed articles, reports, and other types of content to many technology, business, and mainstream publications and sites including tech pubs, The Washington Post and The Economist Intelligence Unit. Frequent areas of coverage include AI, analytics, cloud, cybersecurity, mobility, software development, and emerging cultural issues affecting the C-suite.See more from Lisa MorganReportsMore ReportsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also Like

Brian Bronson, Chief Executive Officer, Orion InnovationMarch 27, 20252 Min ReadAleksey Odintsov via Alamy StockWe need to do something with AI. This familiar refrain came from a client recently but with an unusual twist. Instead of developing their AI LLM as quickly as possible, they wanted to build a governance framework first to guide their AI initiative.This conversation sparked an important realization: Strategic AI governance, when done right, serves as a powerful technology enabler.The pressure to adopt AI has reached a fever pitch; organizations feel they dont exist if theyre not doing AI. However, this pressure often leads to rushed implementations that can damage a business or product roadmap rather than enhance it.A healthcare provider that we recently spoke with learned this the hard way.After rushing out with a new AI transcription system to keep pace with a competitor, the system had to be shut down when they discovered it inadvertently included sensitive patient information in meeting summaries.The takeaway: Successful AI implementations share a common thread. They treat governance as an acceleration framework, not an obstacle. This requires fundamentally rethinking how we approach technology governance.Strategic ReviewsTraditional yes/no governance approaches don't work for AI. A more effective strategy focuses on a development program that creates clear pathways to deployment based on risk levels and business impact. For example, projects using established AI models with limited customer impact can move through a rapid approval process, while those involving sensitive data or custom AI development receive a more thorough review. A financial services client adopted this model with remarkable results; their teams quickly identified the appropriate governance pathway for each AI project, eliminating the uncertainty that typically slows implementation.Related:Regular strategic reviews prove crucial. Brief, focused assessments of new AI capabilities and their business impact help catch potential issues early while identifying new opportunities. Beyond bureaucracy, it's about creating feedback loops that accelerate safe deployment while driving innovation. Teams can spot potential issues before they impact operations, transforming governance from a checkpoint into a competitive advantage.The most successful organizations have made their governance programs into strategic assets. The key question shifts from How fast can we implement AI? to How can our governance program enable faster, safer AI adoption?Start With the Business CaseA critical starting point is clear business objectives rather than technology. When teams propose AI implementations, the first question should be, What specific business process are we trying to enhance? This clarity helps build focused governance around real needs rather than hypothetical risks.Related:The enterprises succeeding with AI aren't those moving the fastest; they're moving strategically. Instead of viewing governance as a necessary burden, they should see it as a way to accelerate their AI strategy. Effective governance enables sustainable innovation that minimizes risks. In an environment where everyone feels pressured to claim they do AI the real competitive advantage comes from doing it strategically and systematically.This insight from that initial client conversation holds true: Strategic AI governance, properly designed, becomes the very engine that drives innovation forward.About the AuthorBrian BronsonChief Executive Officer, Orion InnovationBrian Bronson is CEO of Orion Innovation, a leading digital transformation and product development services firm with over 6,400 associates worldwide. A seasoned technology industry executive, Brian previously served as EVP of US Telecom, Media, and Entertainment at Capgemini, and led Radisys as President & CEO through a strategic transformation. With over 25 years of global leadership experience, Brian focuses on helping organizations maximize the impact of next-gen technologies like GenAI to drive innovation and growth.See more from Brian BronsonReportsMore ReportsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also Like

Glaciers generally move so slowly you cant see their progress with the naked eye. (Their pace is glacial.) But these massive bodies of ice do march downhill, with potentially planet-altering consequences. Theres a lot we dont understand about how glaciers move and how soon some of the most significant ones could collapse into the sea. That could be a problem, since melting glaciers could lead to multiple feet of sea-level rise this century, potentially displacing millions of people who live and work along the coasts. A new group is aiming not only to further our understanding of glaciers but also to look into options to save them if things move toward a worst-case scenario, as my colleague James Temple outlined in his latest story. One idea: refreezing glaciers in place. The whole thing can sound like science fiction. But once you consider how huge the stakes are, I think it gets easier to understand why some scientists say we should at least be exploring these radical interventions. Its hard to feel very optimistic about glaciers these days. (The Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica is often called the doomsday glaciernot alarming at all!) Take two studies published just in the last month, for example. The British Antarctic Survey released the most detailed map to date of Antarcticas bedrockthe foundation under the continents ice. With twice as many data points as before, the study revealed that more ice than we thought is resting on bedrock thats already below sea level. That means seawater can flow in and help melt ice faster, so Antarcticas ice is more vulnerable than previously estimated. Another study examined subglacial riversstreams that flow under the ice, often from subglacial lakes. The team found that the fastest-moving glaciers have a whole lot of water moving around underneath them, which speeds melting and lubricates the ice sheet so it slides faster, in turn melting even more ice. And those are just two of the most recent surveys. Look at any news site and its probably delivered the same gnarly message at some point recently: The glaciers are melting faster than previously realized. (Our site has one, too: Greenlands ice sheet is less stable than we thought, from 2016.) The new group is joining the race to better understand glaciers. Arte Glacier Initiative, a nonprofit research organization founded by scientists at MIT and Dartmouth, has already awarded its first grants to researchers looking into how glaciers melt and plans to study the possibility of reversing those fortunes, as James exclusively reported last week. Brent Minchew, one of the groups cofounders and an associate professor of geophysics at MIT, was drawn to studying glaciers because of their potential impact on sea-level rise. But over the years, I became less content with simply telling a more dramatic story about how things were goingand more open to asking the question of what can we do about it, he says. Minchew is among the researchers looking into potential plans to alter the future of glaciers. Strategies being proposed by groups around the world include building physical supports to prop them up and installing massive curtains to slow the flow of warm water that speeds melting. Another approach, which will be the focus of Arte, is called basal intervention. It basically involves drilling holes in glaciers, which would allow water flowing underneath the ice to be pumped out and refrozen, hopefully slowing them down. If you have questions about how all this would work, youre not alone. These are almost inconceivably huge engineering projects, theyd be expensive, and theyd face legal and ethical questions. Nobody really owns Antarctica, and its governed by a huge treatyhow could we possibly decide whether to move forward with these projects? Then theres the question of the potential side effects. Just look at recent news from the Arctic Ice Project, which was researching how to slow the melting of sea ice by covering it with substances designed to reflect sunlight away. (Sea ice is different from glaciers, but some of the key issues are the same.) One of the projects largest field experiments involved spreading tiny silica beads, sort of like sand, over 45,000 square feet of ice in Alaska. But after new research revealed that the materials might be disrupting food chains, the organization announced that its concluding its research and winding down operations. Cutting our emissions of greenhouse gases to stop climate change at the source would certainly be more straightforward than spreading beads on ice, or trying to stop a 74,000-square-mile glacier in its tracks. But were not doing so hot on cutting emissionsin fact, levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose faster than ever in 2024. And even if the world stopped polluting the atmosphere with planet-warming gases today, things may have already gone too far to save some of the most vulnerable glaciers. The longer I cover climate change and face the situation were in, the more I understand the impulse to at least consider every option out there, even if it sounds like science fiction. This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Reviews weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.

Here are the features, safety concerns and budget options you should keep in mind when choosing a smartwatch for your child.

Commentary: Both series sit in the Top 10 lineups on Netflix and Max.

March 27, 20255 min readLet Kids Be Little LawyersFinding Loopholes Can Sharpen Their Social SkillsA new study finds that when young kids find loopholes, or sneaky work-arounds, for instructions, they must apply advanced social and language skillsBy Charlotte Hu edited by Lauren J. Young"Im not alone, Ive got my trusty sidekick!" Emilija Milenkovic/Getty ImagesMany parents will find this scenario familiar: Tomer Ullman, a parent and a cognitive scientist at Harvard University, told his then five-year-old to put down a tablet. But instead of putting it away completelyas Ullman actually wantedthe child set the device down on a table and continued to watch videos on it. Ullman remembers being upset but intrigued by the behavior.He and his fellow scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, some of whom shared similar parenting experiences, were inspired to investigate childrens exploitation of language loopholesinstances in which kids technically do what adults ask of them but completely violate the true intent of the request. Sometimes these common alternative interpretations are purposeful mischief; at other times, theyre an honest misunderstanding. But research shows that some young children seem to use them as a genuine way to avoid orders without getting into trouble. The new study, published in Child Development, suggests that such clever rule-bending behavior may actually show that a child is starting to better understand languageand other people.Cognitive scientist and co-lead study author Sophie Bridgers had previously analyzed how children decide to help others, a key element for social interactions. But cooperation is not always black and white, especially when kids and adults have conflicting goals. Theres actually this whole gray area in between, says Bridgers, who was a postdoctoral researcher at M.I.T. when the new study was conducted and is now a researcher at Google DeepMind. Sometimes you dont want to cooperate, but it might feel risky to outright refuse. We started to be curious about the strategies [kids] used to handle this tension. Hearing anecdotes from Ullman, who is senior author of the new study, and other parents led Bridgers to investigate whether loopholes might be one such strategy.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Bridgers and her colleagues surveyed 260 U.S.-based parents to get a sense of how widespread loophole-finding behavior was in their children. Many parents shared rich examples of loopholesfor example, a child who was told to hold hands when crossing the road held their own hand instead of their parents and a kid told not to go outside alone took the dog with them instead of waiting for an adult.The seeming universality of the loopholes reported by parents demonstrates that the behavior can be generalized to a range of real-world situations. That parent survey led to a series of follow-up studies, the first of which evaluated a separate set of 108 children aged four to nine to find whether they considered loopholes to be a compliant or noncompliant behavior, or a middle ground between the two. The researchers had the kids read a story and judge how much trouble the child in the scenario would get into if they used a loophole. An additional follow-up study examined another group of 140 children aged five to nine to determine their ability to create a loophole for a given scenario on the spot.The multianalysis report revealed that four-year-olds were unable to distinguish loopholes from noncomplianceparticipants thought that the kid in the story would get into the same amount of trouble whether they used a loophole or entirely disregarded a parents requests. But participants aged five to eight appeared to view loopholes almost as a way to get off on a technicality; they understood what the parent was asking for and how the child used a loophole to take advantage of the lack of specificity in the command. This age group viewed loopholes as a way to get into less trouble than noncompliance. The age range is also when parents see their children gradually using more loopholes, Bridgers says.There are social norms and rules that children are learning around eating, play, their house chores, homework, bedtime, personal hygiene, Bridgers says. Theyre testing all of these boundaries.The researchers found that kids could reliably come up with loopholes quickly on demand by age eight, with their skill increasing between age five and seven. The ability to understand the intended meaning behind words and derive alternative or multiple meanings from a phrase are language skills that strengthen in children between the ages of five to seven, Bridgers adds. These skills not only allow kids to use loopholes but also let them grasp more complex figures of speech such as irony, metaphor and sarcasm.Being able to infer the implied meaning and context from indirect requests, as well as using metaphors and puns, tend to require a higher order of language development, says Laura Wagner, a professor of developmental psychology at the Ohio State University, who was not involved in the study. According to Wagner, this is the first time Ive seen anybody actually looking at children genuinely exploiting loopholes and demonstrating that not only do they understand that theres a double meaning [in what their parents may be saying] but what the social implications of that are, she says.Wagner thinks the cognitive skills needed to find loopholes are similar to those used for lying, which is also an advanced language skill. Children under the age of three or four are notoriously bad liars because they really are bad about figuring out what other people actually know, she says.Kids get better at lying around the same age that they get better at coming up with loopholes. Bridgers suggests that could be because other cognitive skills develop in parallel in early childhood. This includes the emergence of theory of mind, the point at which children really start grasping the idea that other people have their own set of beliefs and representations of reality. Additionally, children begin to use their inference of others beliefs, goals and perspectives to calculate the costs and benefits of their actions.Planning actions that take not only [a childs] own goals but other peoples goals into account are potentially related to loophole behavior, Bridgers says.Parents may not appreciate having a child who is good at lying or is constantly circumventing orders. But this does show that theyre integrating lots of language knowledge [and] social knowledge, Wagner says. Plus, these activities are acts of creative problem-solving.These are all behaviors that we have in our social tool kit, Bridgers says. Lying is one way to get around conflicting goals; partial compliance is another way.Its not always such a bad thing for children to act like little lawyers, as Bridgerss team refers to kids who employ such behaviors. After all, these children are learning to navigate inherently ambiguous social interactionsand having fun with it.People have a lot of ways to communicate beliefs and goals: through language, actions, subtle subtext and a myriad of cultural cues and social norms. Thats a noisy system where information can be lost, Bridgers says. Recognizing how loopholes work can get you thinking differently about the way that you communicate and negotiate with others.

March 27, 20255 min readHow Microplastics Get into Our FoodKitchen itemssponges, blenders, kettlesare abundant sources of microplastics that we all consumeBy Marta Zaraska edited by Gary StixPlastic cutting boards generate microplastic particles Rebeca Mello/Getty ImagesWhen Amy Lusher moved in with her partner, one of the first things she did was get rid of all the plastic kitchenware in their household and replace it with items made of glass, wood and stainless steel. As a senior researcher in microplastics at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Lusher was acutely aware of how all the chopping, whisking, scraping and heating we do when preparing meals may release tiny particles of plastic into the food we eat. Its coming from our cooking. Its coming from our packaging. Its in most of our bottles, she says.By now scientists like Lusher have found microplastics coming off dishwashing sponges, blenders, kettlesyou name it. According to one 2024 study, plastic cookware may contribute thousands of microplastic particles each year to homemade food. Old plastic kitchenware was the worst culprit, and the researchers also concluded that microplastic shedding may be exacerbated by heating cookware or using hard or sharp utensils on it.Researchers have been trying for years to determine how many microplastic particles humans ingest when consuming everything from seafood to beer to honey. According to one estimate, every American consumes between 39,000 and 52,000 microplastic particles every year.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Microplastics are tinysmaller than five millimeters in size. Some are directly manufactured by humans, such as beads in exfoliating scrubs or glitter. Others result from environmental degradation of larger objects, such as plastic bottles or toys. Microplastics are released in quantities far beyond human imagination, says Lei Qin, a food scientist at Dalian Polytechnic University in China. By one estimate, 10 to 40 million metric tons of microplastics are released into the environment per yearabout two to six times the weight of the Great Pyramid of Giza.They then accumulate inside our body. Studies have found microplastics in human brains (roughly the amount in a heaping teaspoon of table salt), as well as in our stomach, lungs and bones. Researchers have linked microplastics with a higher risk of stroke, inflammatory bowel disease and dementia. We are at an early stage, but there is growing evidence that exposure to microplastics is linked to inflammation, coronary artery disease and neurodegenerative impairment, says John Boland, a chemist at Trinity College Dublin. And although scientists have been looking for a while now at how much microplastic we may be ingesting with seafood or tap water, its only really been in the last few years that weve started looking at exposure through things that we touch, things that we handle, especially in the kitchen, Lusher says.To explore what is it exactly that happens with plastics in the kitchen, Lusher and her colleagues from the U.K. and Norway prepared jelly. They used either old or new plastic cookware to heat water, stir the jelly mixture, store it, chill it and cut it into pieces. The result: jelly prepared with new plastic cookware had about nine microplastic particles per sample on average, and jelly made with the old plastic cookware had 16. In other words, when jelly was made with worn-out items, it had 78 percent more microplastics than when it was prepared with new ones. "[Old cookware items] tend to release more plastic, probably because theyve already become brittle, Lusher says.Other research also lends evidence that wear and tear generates high levels of microplastic particles. Take cutting boards: in one study, when plastic boards were used to cut meat, up to 196 microplastic particles were incorporated into each ounce of meat, while none were found in meat that had been prepared on a bamboo board. Slicing ingredients and pushing a knife along the board to move them may also be worse than simply pressing with a knife to chop them, another study showed. Its the friction, the metal against the plastic, Lusher says.Friction is also the mechanism by which blenders with plastic jars can release large amounts of microplastics. When scientists in Australia used a blender to crush ice blocks, the way you might when making, say, a frozen margarita, they found that billions of plastic particles were released in just 30 seconds of blending. If the ice block has a sharp edge, like some hard food, it can peel off lots of plastic, says Cheng Fang, a chemist at the University of Newcastle, Australia, and the studys senior author.Scrubbing dishes with a sponge can also release hundreds of tiny plastic particles in just 30 seconds. The good news is that rinsing the dishes well afterward removes most of the residue. The bad news: the sponge microplastics go down the drain and accumulate in the environment, so they may end up in our food anyway.Opening and closing plastic bottleswhich also creates frictioncan also generate microplastic residues. Youre shearing off plastic pieces all the time, Boland says. In fact, according to one study, most microplastics in bottled water originate from twisting the cap. Each time you open and close a plastic bottle, the study found, you produce about 500 microplastic particles.Heating plastic kitchenware is a source of particles as well. Warming it up, like you may do in a microwave, Boland says, dramatically accelerates the release of microplastics. In a 2025 study, disposable plastic cups that were filled with scalding 95-degree-Celsius water released 50 percent more microplastics than cups filled with cooler, 50-degree-C water. Plastic kettles, too, could be a problem. The simple act of boiling water in a new kettle will leave you with between six million and eight million microplastic particles per cup, Boland and his colleagues found. Fewer and fewer particles are released with each successive use, however. In their study, after 40 boils in the kettle, only 11 percent of the initial microplastic load leached into the water.While it might be tempting to compare the numbers of microplastics released from various sources side by side, Lusher warns that it would be like comparing apples to pears. Thats because, she says, different labs use different methodologies: some count only larger microplastics, and others include nanoplastics (particles smaller than 0.001 mm). Some control for lab microplastic pollution, and others dont. If the handling of the data is totally different between each study, then theres absolutely no point comparing it, she says.Lusher says that this absence of methodological standards makes it hard to clearly identify the worst microplastic offenders in our kitchens. It still makes sense to try to reduce the amount of plastic that we are exposed to, simply because we still dont know what the long-term effects will be on health.There are a few things you can do as well to lower the microplastic load produced in your kitchen. First of all, replace any plastic cutting boards with wooden ones if possible, and if you have a plastic kettle, consider swapping it for a stainless-steel product. (Make sure the lid is not plastic.) Substitute plastic storage containers with glass ones. If you do buy a new plastic kettle, boil and pour out the water in it a couple of times before preparing your first hot drink. And if you use plastic cutting boards, try to make sure they are relatively new.From a broader perspective, we could develop plastics that dont shed easily into food. If there are no alternatives, what can you do to the plastic to make it safer? Boland says. Potentially, for example, manufacturers could create kettles with an inner lining that would prevent microplastic leakage during boiling. (Bolands experiments suggest that it could be possible.) While such safer products may be technically feasible, he says, substantive change likely wont happen without regulations that push the industry to make better plastics. We need the regulators to drive industry to do the right thing, he says.

So, it turns out that I've been pronouncing Balatro wrong all this time, and now feel like a total spade. I really don't know how to deal with this revelation, it's left me rather flush-ed. Read more