Even after turning himself into a laughing stock in the gaming world for blatantly cheating, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk hasn't given up the hobby just yet.During a Saturday livestream of himself playing the free-to-play action RPG Path of Exile 2 (PoE 2) — which allegedly served as an "airborne continuity test" of SpaceX's Starlink on board his private jet — Musk was ruthlessly bullied by other players in the game's chat, as spotted by Polygon.After repeatedly dying to the game's first boss, Musk rage quit roughly 30 minutes into the stream.Gamers reportedly accused the billionaire of having "NO FRIENDS" and charge that he "WILL DIE ALONE," while also looking "DUMB AND UGLY." Touché!One player said that his estranged daughter Vivian Wilson "was right" for having recently claimed that Musk was terrible at "Overwatch."Musk's personal path of exile from the gaming community kicked off earlier this year when gamers started to catch on that the richest man in the world was secretly paying talented PoE 2 gamers to build up highly-leveled characters that made it look like he was proficient at the RPG — a bizarre scheme Musk later admitted to.Considering the latest commentary, little love has been lost since then — especially now that anti-Musk sentiment has risen to all-time high levels. Gamers, after all, aren't immune to his abhorrent behavior and indiscriminate dismantling of the US government with the help of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.Musk appeared rattled during Saturday's stream, saying little in response to the barrage of mockery. He did, however, use a disgusting slur against the intellectually disabled to take a stab at his haters, a term he has seemingly grown fond of."There's a lot of r*tards in the chat," he said at one point.Despite several users encouraging the CEO to activate the game's "Do Not Disturb" command or hide the chat, Musk allowed the bullying to continue. It remains unclear whether he knows how to use either of those functions.And his gaming chops on the whole? They left plenty to be desired."Elon Musk just rage quit his Twitter stream after repeatedly dying to a tutorial boss in the new PoE2 patch on hardcore," one X-formerly-Twitter user wrote.The schadenfreude among PoE 2's established player base was very real."Based on his current gameplay, there's no possible way he's getting out of Act One," said New Zealand game streamer who goes by Quin69TV during a response video, referring to the opening section of the game's storyline.Quin69TV had already raked Musk over the coals, calling him out as a fraud earlier this year."He's just going to keep dying over and over again," he added gleefully.Share This Article

Apr 08, 2025Ravie LakshmananMobile Security / Vulnerability Google has shipped patches for 62 vulnerabilities, two of which it said have been exploited in the wild. The two high-severity vulnerabilities are listed below - CVE-2024-53150 (CVSS score: 7.8) - An out-of-bounds flaw in the USB sub-component of Kernel that could result in information disclosure CVE-2024-53197 (CVSS score: 7.8) - A privilege escalation flaw in the USB sub-component of Kernel "The most severe of these issues is a critical security vulnerability in the System component that could lead to remote escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed," Google said in its monthly security bulletin for April 2025. "User interaction is not needed for exploitation." The tech giant also acknowledged that both the shortcomings may have come under "limited, targeted exploitation." It's worth noting that CVE-2024-53197 is rooted in the Linux kernel and was patched last year, alongside CVE-2024-53104 and CVE-2024-50302. All three vulnerabilities, per Amnesty International, are said to have been chained together to break into a Serbian youth activist's Android phone in December 2024. While CVE-2024-53104 was addressed by Google in February 2025, CVE-2024-50302 was remediated last month. With the latest update, all three vulnerabilities have been fixed, effectively plugging the exploit path. There are currently details on how CVE-2024-53150 has been exploited in real-world attacks, by whom, and who may have been targeted in those attacks. Users of Android devices are advised to apply the updates as and when Android original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) release them. Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE    

In the world today, it seems that politics are always at the top of mind. But some people are more political and more politically passionate than others — partially thanks to the brain itself. According to a paper published in the journal Brain, there are circuits in our minds that contribute to our levels of political intensity, and researchers recently revealed these circuits, identifying which brain regions are involved. “We didn’t find brain networks tied to liberal or conservative ideology, but we identified circuits that influence the intensity of political engagement across the political spectrum,” said Jordan Grafman, a paper author and a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Northwestern University, according to a press release.Ultimately, the results reveal that the regions of our brain that control our cognition and emotion influence our levels of political passion — a result with clear cultural and clinical implications. Political Passion in the BrainOf course, there are all sorts of factors that are tied to our interest in politics, and the brain itself is one of them. But the brain regions that are involved in increasing or decreasing our political passion aren’t well-recognized.Setting out to identify which parts of the brain influence a person’s political intensity, researchers turned to veterans. Studying the brains and the political behaviors of veterans with brain injuries and without, the researchers determined which parts of the brain are behind the strength of our political beliefs. In particular, while brain injuries in the prefrontal cortex were tied to increased political passion, brain injuries in the amygdala were tied to decreased political passion. These results suggest that the brain regions associated with cognitive control and emotion are deeply involved in mediating our political intensity, with injuries that dull our cognitive control increasing our intensity and injuries that dull our emotions doing the opposite. “While most people have not sustained brain injuries akin to those experienced by the veterans in the study, our findings tell us what neural circuits are at play for the population at large,” Grafman said in the release. Indeed, the implications of this research are wide ranging, as a recognition of the brain’s involvement in our political passion could improve our ability to communicate and collaborate on politics overall. It could also inform brain injury assessments in clinical settings, Grafman said in the release, as increases or decreases in political intensity could be indicative issues in the prefrontal cortex or the amygdala.“Like other aspects of social behavior, assessments should consider asking whether a patient has experienced changes in their political attitudes since their brain injury,” he added in the release.Brain Injury Insights To determine the association between brain injuries and political behavior, the researchers turned to the results of the Vietnam Head Injury study, which Grafman has led for decades, since his own service in the U.S. Air Force. In one portion of the study, the brain injuries and the political behaviors of almost 160 veterans were assessed, the former through neuroimaging and the latter through surveys. Conducted between 2008 and 2012, the surveys assessed the veterans’ political behaviors before and after their injuries, which were sustained around 40 to 45 years prior.Analyzing the results of this study, the researchers determined whether injuries in specific parts of the brain were associated with specific political behaviors. According to the researchers, the associations that they found — between injuries in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala and political passion — were not attributable to outside factors, such as age, personality, or party affiliation. The result “allows us to better assess meaningful aspects of life,” said Grafman in the press release. “We expect this research will point to ways we can assist patients in recovering from brain injuries.”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:Sam Walters is a journalist covering archaeology, paleontology, ecology, and evolution for Discover, along with an assortment of other topics. Before joining the Discover team as an assistant editor in 2022, Sam studied journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

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Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Apple typically pushes out major iOS upgrades every September, alongside new iPhones—you may recall the launch of iOS 18. Those big software upgrades are followed by ‘point’ releases that squash outstanding bugs, improve security and stability, and occasionally introduce new features. That’s the case with iOS 18.4, which brings more with it than most minor iOS updates. It’s rolling out to compatible iPhones now. From extra tools in Image Playground, to ambient music to relax you or send you off to sleep, here’s what’s new in the iOS 18 update. Priority notifications iOS 18.4 will prioritize notifications for you. Screenshot: Apple Apple Intelligence can now prioritize iPhone notifications, selecting which you need to see first and create AI-written summaries. Apple says the AI will identify “important and time-sensitive” alerts, and move them to the top of the stack on the lock screen and in the Notification Center (you can still swipe up to see all notifications). While most of this runs automatically, you do get some control over which apps are included in the notification priority calculations (so you can exclude less important apps). From Settings on iOS, tap Notifications then Prioritize Notifications: From here you can turn the feature on and off, and choose which apps are included. Ambient music Check out the new ambient music options. Screenshot: Apple Your iPhone can now help you chill out or concentrate better, with a selection of free ambient music playlists. These background sounds have previously been available in iOS, but with iOS 18.4 they get a more prominent spot on the interface, and you can access them from the Control Center (swipe down from the top right corner of the screen). Tap the + (plus) button in the top left corner to add a new widget, then find the Ambient Music heading: You can pick from Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing. Tap any widget to start playback, which is kept separate from Apple Music and happens through the built-in iOS player you can get to through the Control Center. Sketches in Image Playground iOS 18.4 adds a new sketch option to Image Playground. Screenshot: Apple As long as you’ve got Apple Intelligence enabled on your iPhone (via Apple Intelligence & Siri in Settings), you’ll find the Image Playground app installed on your iPhone. Launch the app, which is actually just labeled Playground in iOS itself, and you can tap the + (plus) button to start making AI art. Use the text box at the bottom of the screen to enter your prompt, or choose one of the suggestion shortcuts. None of this is new in iOS, but if you tap the + (plus) button down in the bottom right corner, you get a choice of three image styles: Animation, Illustration, and Sketch. That last option, which is quite a useful one, is new in iOS 18.4. Other new features in iOS 18.4 Visual Intelligence is now available via the Action button. Screenshot: Apple There are other new features dotted around iOS 18.4 too, including new emojis, and the ability to pause downloads from the update page in the App Store. If you’ve got any of the iPhone 16 phones or an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, meanwhile, you can now launch Visual Intelligence via the Action button (tap Action Button in Settings). You’ll also find a new food hub in Apple News, while CarPlay gets a tweak too—with iOS 18.4 installed, you might see three rows of app shortcuts instead of two (if your car dashboard is big enough). Look out for a few minor tweaks in Photos as well, giving you more control over how images are sorted and displayed.

Nature, Published online: 07 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00995-3Success gives hope to scientists and advocates who managed to get millions of dollars in grants restored.

The AstroMaster 102AZ is one of Amazon's best selling beginner telescopes and rated for its ease of use and versatile performance.

This was super fun to make! submitted by /u/Punkinut [link] [comments]

The London Assembly, whose role is to hold the mayor to account, said Khan should allocate more funds to these schemes and pressure central government to hand over more cash. Assembly members also argued in a report released on Thursday (3 April) that Khan and the Greater London Authority (GLA) should work to remove barriers and ensure more black, global majority and working-class Londoners are involved in community-led trusts (CLTs) and housing co-operatives. CLTs are initiatives set up by local groups to build housing and other types of buildings that they then manage. They are usually non-profits and aim to keep rents and costs low so local people can remain living in their own neighbourhood, despite rising house prices and rents elsewhere.Advertisement The London Assembly estimates there are just 15 CLTs in the capital, representing a tiny part of the capital’s housing mix. But they are growing in number, up from just one in 2010. Some 548 operate across the country, according to the Community Land Trust Network. The main problem for CLTs is money – both to build homes and to work their way through the paperwork required to set up as providers. It is difficult to get bank loans as they don’t have a development track record to point to. This tends to make them reliant on government grant funding. Ministers gave Khan and the GLA £38 million in 2018 for a Community Housing Fund. This would enable 500 homes to be built by CLTs and housing co-operatives. It initially had a deadline of 2023 to hand out the money, although this timeframe was later removed. Seven years on, £24 million of the £30 million dedicated to capital funding has been allocated, while all of the revenue funding has been handed out. Despite 80 per cent of capital funds being disbursed, just 117 homes funded by this scheme have been started over the past four years, with 93 completed – less than a fifth of the target.Advertisement ‘This shows that, even with this dedicated source of funding, it is hard for the community-led sector to develop housing,’ the London Assembly said. ‘The removal of the deadline for delivery poses a real risk of drift and weakens the incentive for the GLA to progress completion of these 500 homes.’ CLTs and housing co-operatives can also apply for a separate, much larger source of government funding: the £4 billion Affordable Homes Programme. But getting hold of this money is harder – projects need to already have planning permission, for which they need cash. Furthermore, the Affordable Homes Programme is only for capital funding, not revenue. The London Assembly said that the GLA should continue to lobby the government for more funding for the Community Housing Fund, and to allow Affordable Homes Programme money to be allocated to revenue as well as capital spending. It also said that the GLA should give more money to the Community Led-Housing London, an organisation that helps CLTs and housing co-operatives progress their projects. Sanya Polescuk, an architect who founded NW3 CLT, a CLT in Hampstead, said the hub had been of huge importance to her project. NW3 CLT has permission to build 14 flats, eight of which are designated ‘affordable’ and will remain as such forever. Polescuk said that thanks to funding and mentorship from the hub and GLA, NW3 CLT and project architect Mole should be able to start building this year. ‘It is only with the increased funding, support and advice through Community-Led Housing London that we and community groups like ours stand a chance in the highly competitive and market-driven housing environment we live in London,’ she told the AJ. Report authors also recommended that the GLA require CLTs and co-operatives that receive its funding to record the ethnicity and income of people who live in the homes they build. They claimed that this would shed light on the perception that people from ethnic minorities were missing out on these kinds of homes, and help the GLA work out how to tackle the problem if it exists. Other recommendations included releasing authority land to CLTs and co-operatives for building, and helping these groups buy new homes in GLA housing schemes. Comment: Sem Moema, chair of the GLA Housing Committee London is in an acute housing crisis, and fixing it will require many different approaches. Expanding London’s housing co-operative and community land trust sector can be one part of the solution. By being rooted in the needs of local people and communities, these projects deliver housing while building community power and encouraging a sense of belonging. They demonstrate how housing not built around profit can succeed – all while strengthening a sense of local place. More can be done to facilitate partnership working. Our report shows how many co-operatives and community land trusts are filled with hard-working people, and there is a clear role for local authorities in facilitating connections and encouraging projects to move quickly and get built. A holistic view is also important, particularly in how the sector can help combat health and other inequalities. However, the sector has its problems. It is currently too small, partly because there are so many barriers to projects succeeding. It can move very slowly, with developing a single project often taking up to 15 years. ‘Bureaucracy should  be removed’ Much more needs to be done to allow projects to get off the ground quickly, and our report makes suggestions as to how this can be encouraged. Bureaucracy should  be removed, and creativity, partnerships and joined-up thinking encouraged between local government, co-operative housing and community land trusts, and other stakeholders to ensure projects progress. Availability of land to co-operatives and community land trusts is also an issue. Both the GLA and local authorities have been reluctant to release land, making it hard for community groups to get projects off the ground. Similarly, while a number of the co-operatives and community land trusts who we heard from through the course of this inquiry have successfully accessed upfront grant funding for feasibility studies, far too many struggle and fall at this first hurdle. More land needs to be released to community groups so more projects can be developed, and the sector expanded.

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 8.