Why it matters: A new "grand coalition" is set to debut in the Bundestag, Germany's federal parliament. Led by Friedrich Merz, the incoming government plans to boost spending on science and technology - while extending a not-so-subtle invitation for ostracized US researchers to relocate and continue their work in Europe. Germany's three largest political parties have agreed to form a new government, uniting the center-right Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union with the center-left Social Democrats. While grand coalitions are nothing new, the incoming mix of ideologies includes some notably ambitious proposals for science and technology policymaking. The 144-page agreement - expected to win formal approval from all three parties in the coming weeks - outlines plans for a new "super-high-tech ministry" to oversee research, technology, and aerospace. The plan calls for splitting the current Ministry of Research and Education, transferring research responsibilities to the new ministry, and assigning education to the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth. Volkswagen Foundation CEO Georg Schütte called the plan a smart "realignment" of portfolios that naturally belong together. He argued that research is deeply tied to technology and aerospace, while splitting science from education mirrors a similar division within the Council of the European Union - one of the bloc's two central legislative bodies, alongside the European Parliament. The grand coalition led by CDU leader Friedrich Merz is betting big on a scientific revival in Germany. The new super-ministry will target specific research and technology priorities, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, biotechnology, microchip development and manufacturing, and fusion energy. The plan calls for Germany to pursue an ambitious goal: building the world's first operational fusion reactor. Germany has not yet assigned a budget to the proposed super-high-tech ministry, but the coalition agreement outlines a clear funding trajectory. It pledges to raise annual support for the country's major research organizations by 3 percent annually through 2030. // Related Stories The grand coalition agreement also includes plans to empower "scientific freedom," with funding decisions tied to strictly science-driven criteria and nothing more. Oncologist and researcher Eva Winkler said this goal should be a no-brainer. However, the current polarization coming from the US is putting even the most ordinary principles to the test. Germany may soon become a destination for researchers leaving the United States, where unprecedented budget cuts under the second Trump administration have forced even NOAA scientists to clean toilets. The new European government is preparing an initiative called "1000 Minds," to make Germany more attractive to science and research professionals. Creating a smoother path to recruit valuable US and international talent could be the right move to reach that goal, Winkler suggests.

Sony is one of the most prolific names in the world of TVs, and we’ve had the opportunity to test several of the company’s midrange and premium models over the last few years. Believe it or not, there are still some older Sony sets available to purchase brand-new. While looking through Walmart deals, we came across this fantastic offer on an awesome Sony:  For a limited time, the Sony 75-inch X850K Series 4K LED is on sale at Walmart for $650. The full MSRP on this model is $1,300.  Released in 2022, the Sony X850K is a midrange LED TV that delivers a bright and colorful picture and solid contrast levels. The TV gets bright enough to watch most SDR content in well-lit rooms and even manages to throw some impressive HDR highlights. There’s no local dimming feature, but the X850K may not be built for perfection. It’s going to give you an excellent picture nonetheless. Related The TV has four HDMI ports, two of which are HDMI 2.1 certified. If you’re a console or PC gamer, you’ll want to use ports 3 and 4 to get as little tearing and input lag as possible. Thanks to VRR and ALLM support, the X850K automatically switches to Game Mode when a PlayStation or Xbox is detected. And because you’ll be working with a native 120Hz refresh rate, you can expect smooth motion when watching sports and action movies, too.  The X850K brings a smart TV experience powered by Google TV OS. The platform gives you access to popular apps like Netflix and Disney Plus, as well as hundreds of free live TV stations and other web-connected features.  It’s only a matter of time before it can’t be found in stores at all anymore. Save $650 when you purchase the Sony 75-inch X850K Series 4K LED right now, and be sure to check out our lists of the best Sony TV deals, best TV deals, and best soundbar deals for even more discounts on top Sony screens! Editors’ Recommendations

Let the games begin Here’s the latest on NASA’s Lunar Gateway, a program many people want to cancel The NASA official in charge of Gateway briefed Ars on the program's challenges and achievements. Stephen Clark – Apr 14, 2025 4:29 pm | 1 Artist's concept of the Lunar Gateway's habitation and power and propulsion modules in orbit around the Moon. Credit: NASA Artist's concept of the Lunar Gateway's habitation and power and propulsion modules in orbit around the Moon. Credit: NASA Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more In one way or another, the Lunar Gateway has lingered around the periphery of NASA's human exploration program since the Obama administration. Back then, the elements that eventually coalesced into the Gateway were geared toward a nebulous initiative to capture a small asteroid and reposition it closer to Earth. Under direction from the first Trump administration, NASA ditched the asteroid idea and repackaged the concept to become a mini-space station in orbit around the Moon. NASA officials justified the Lunar Gateway program by highlighting its utility as a staging point or safe haven for astronauts traveling to and from the surface of the Moon. Crews could launch from Earth and travel to the Moon's vicinity inside NASA's Orion spacecraft, connect with the Gateway, and then float into their lunar lander already docked with the outpost. When plans for the Gateway came together nearly a decade ago, officials hailed the lunar station as a way to help lunar landers reach the Moon's south pole, where scientists believe large quantities of water ice reside in the bottoms of dark craters. At the time, NASA said the Gateway would also offer additional living space for astronauts beyond the relatively cramped quarters of the Orion crew capsule or small lunar landers. NASA cited other reasons for the Lunar Gateway program. It would help NASA gain experience sustaining human crews 1,000 times farther from Earth than the International Space Station. Gateway's design is about one-sixth the mass of ISS, with provisions to support astronauts for missions lasting up to 90 days when complete. The core of Lunar Gateway, called the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), will have 12-kilowatt Hall thrusters, the highest-power electric propulsion system ever sent into space. On future missions, these fuel-efficient engines could push heavy cargo into deep space and help enable human expeditions to Mars. That all sounds nice, but... Now, the justification for Lunar Gateway is less technical and more political. Many of the objectives listed above no longer make sense, or they could be met through other means. NASA will now use a much more voluminous lunar landing craft with its own muscular propulsion system—SpaceX's Starship—than engineers envisioned when work started on Gateway. Starship and NASA's second lunar lander, to be built by Blue Origin, doesn't need to dock with an outpost like Gateway to reach the surface of the Moon. In fact, docking Starship to the Gateway presents its own set of challenges. The Gateway's maneuvering thrusters weren't designed to keep the station stable with a massive spacecraft like Starship attached to it. You might say the Gateway is not only unnecessary, but an impediment to NASA's goals. If NASA wants a permanent outpost at the Moon, why not put it on the lunar surface? These are questions some space community stakeholders have asked since before the Gateway was even a line item in NASA's budget. If you ask NASA officials and other Gateway supporters today why it's important, you'll probably get an answer underscoring the program's international flavor. NASA is in charge of the Gateway's first two components, the PPE module and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), which will provide spartan accommodations to sustain the station's initial crews for up to 40 days. But it's true that most of the pieces required to complete Gateway's assembly will come from international partners. Europe and Japan will provide a larger habitation module to accommodate astronauts for up to 90 days, the United Arab Emirates has agreed to build an airlock to add spacewalking capability to the Gateway, and Canada is developing a robotic arm. The European Space Agency (ESA) is also responsible for the Gateway's refueling and communications systems. Maxar Technologies is building the Power and Propulsion Element for NASA's Lunar Gateway in Palo Alto, California. Credit: NASA All told, international partners will pay about 60 percent of the cost of developing and building the Gateway, according to Amit Kshatriya, deputy associate administrator for NASA's Moon to Mars program. That sounds like a pretty good deal for NASA, but it still leaves the US space agency with a hefty bill. NASA has spent more than $3.5 billion on the Gateway program since its official start in 2019, and the agency is responsible for operating and resupplying the station once it is in space. At a recent event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Kshatriya said NASA's international partnerships have been "one of the great results" of the International Space Station program. The Lunar Gateway, he said, is important for "cultivating that and making sure it endures." There are other ways international partners can contribute to NASA's human exploration program. For example, Europe already builds service modules for the Orion spacecraft designed to ferry astronauts to and from Earth. Japan has agreed to develop a pressurized rover for astronauts to drive on the Moon. The focus of NASA's Artemis program is currently on the Moon—as it has been since the first Trump administration—with an eye toward building experience for future human voyages to the red planet. The balance between the Moon and Mars could shift in the second Trump administration, thickening the cloud of uncertainty about the Gateway's value to NASA. Behind schedule and over budget For now, the Gateway's first two modules are scheduled for launch at the end of 2027. That's five years later than the schedule NASA released six years ago. NASA currently projects it will cost the US government about $5.3 billion to build, launch, and activate the PPE and HALO in space. The two modules will launch together on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. Officials blame changing requirements for much of the delays and rising costs. NASA managers dramatically changed their plans for the Gateway program in 2020, when they decided to launch the PPE and HALO on the same rocket, prompting major changes to their designs. Jared Isaacman, Trump's nominee for NASA administrator, declined to commit to the Gateway program during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee on April 9. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the committee's chairman, pressed Isaacman on the Lunar Gateway. Cruz is one of the Gateway program's biggest backers in Congress since it is managed by Johnson Space Center in Texas. If it goes ahead, Gateway would guarantee numerous jobs at NASA's mission control in Houston throughout its 15-year lifetime. "That’s an area that if I’m confirmed, I would love to roll up my sleeves and further understand what’s working right?" Isaacman replied to Cruz. "What are the opportunities the Gateway presents to us? And where are some of the challenges, because I think the Gateway is a component of many programs that are over budget and behind schedule." The pressure shell for the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module arrived in Gilbert, Arizona, last week for internal outfitting. Credit: NASA/Josh Valcarcel Checking in with Gateway Nevertheless, the Gateway program achieved a milestone one week before Isaacman's confirmation hearing. The metallic pressure shell for the HALO module was shipped from its factory in Italy to Arizona. The HALO module is only partially complete, and it lacks life support systems and other hardware it needs to operate in space. Over the next couple of years, Northrop Grumman will outfit the habitat with those components and connect it with the Power and Propulsion Element under construction at Maxar Technologies in Silicon Valley. This stage of spacecraft assembly, along with prelaunch testing, often uncovers problems that can drive up costs and trigger more delays. Ars recently spoke with Jon Olansen, a bio-mechanical engineer and veteran space shuttle flight controller who now manages the Gateway program at Johnson Space Center. A transcript of our conversation with Olansen is below. It is lightly edited for clarity and brevity. Ars: The HALO module has arrived in Arizona from Italy. What's next? Olansen: This HALO module went through significant effort from the primary and secondary structure perspective out at Thales Alenia Space in Italy. That was most of their focus in getting the vehicle ready to ship to Arizona. Now that it's in Arizona, Northrop is setting it up in their facility there in Gilbert to be able to do all of the outfitting of the systems we need to actually execute the missions we want to do, keep the crew safe, and enable the science that we're looking to do. So, if you consider your standard spacecraft, you're going to have all of your command-and-control capabilities, your avionics systems, your computers, your network management, all of the things you need to control the vehicle. You're going to have your power distribution capabilities. HALO attaches to the Power and Propulsion Element, and it provides the primary power distribution capability for the entire station. So that'll all be part of HALO. You'll have your standard thermal systems for active cooling. You’ll have the vehicle environmental control systems that will need to be installed, [along with] some of the other crew systems that you can think of, from lighting, restraint, mobility aids, all the different types of crew systems. Then, of course, all of our science aspects. So we have payload lockers, both internally, as well as payload sites external that we'll have available, so pretty much all the different systems that you would need for a human-rated spacecraft. Ars: What's the latest status of the Power and Propulsion Element? Olansen: PPE is fairly well along in their assembly and integration activities. The central cylinder has been integrated with the propulsion tanks... Their propulsion module is in good shape. They're working on the avionics shelves associated with that spacecraft. So, with both vehicles, we're really trying to get the assembly done in the next year or so, so we can get into integrated spacecraft testing at that point in time. Ars: What’s in the critical path in getting to the launch pad? Olansen: The assembly and integration activity is really the key for us. It’s to get to the full vehicle level test. All the different activities that we're working on across the vehicles are making substantive progress. So, it's a matter of bringing them all in and doing the assembly and integration in the appropriate sequences, so that we get the vehicles put together the way we need them and get to the point where we can actually power up the vehicles and do all the testing we need to do. Obviously, software is a key part of that development activity, once we power on the vehicles, making sure we can do all the control work that we need to do for those vehicles. [There are] a couple of key pieces I will mention along those lines. On the PPE side, we have the electrical propulsion system. The thrusters associated with that system are being delivered. Those will go through acceptance testing at the Glenn Research Center [in Ohio] and then be integrated on the spacecraft out at Maxar; so that work is ongoing as we speak. Out at ESA, ESA is providing the HALO lunar communication system. That'll be delivered later this year. That'll be installed on HALO as part of its integrated test and checkout and then launch on HALO. That provides the full communication capability down to the lunar surface for us, where PPE provides the communication capability back to Earth. So, those are key components that we're looking to get delivered later this year. Jon Olansen, manager of NASA's Gateway program at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credit: NASA/Andrew Carlsen Ars: What's the status of the electric propulsion thrusters for the PPE? Olansen: The first one has actually been delivered already, so we'll have the opportunity to go through, like I said, the acceptance testing for those. The other flight units are right on the heels of the first one that was delivered. They'll make it through their acceptance testing, then get delivered to Maxar, like I said, for integration into PPE. So, that work is already in progress. [The Power and Propulsion Element will have three xenon-fueled 12-kilowatt Hall thrusters produced by Aerojet Rocketdyne, and four smaller 6-kilowatt thrusters.] Ars: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) outlined concerns last year about keeping the mass of Gateway within the capability of its rocket. Has there been any progress on that issue? Will you need to remove components from the HALO module and launch them on a future mission? Will you narrow your launch windows to only launch on the most fuel-efficient trajectories? Olansen: We’re working the plan. Now that we're launching the two vehicles together, we're working mass management. Mass management is always an issue with spacecraft development, so it's no different for us. All of the things you described are all knobs that are in the trade space as we proceed, but fundamentally, we're working to design the optimal spacecraft that we can, first. So, that's the key part. As we get all the components delivered, we can measure mass across all of those components, understand what our integrated mass looks like, and we have several different options to make sure that we're able to execute the mission we need to execute. All of those will be balanced over time based on the impacts that are there. There's not a need for a lot of those decisions to happen today. Those that are needed from a design perspective, we've already made. Those that are needed from enabling future decisions, we’ve already made all of those. So, really, what we're working through is being able to, at the appropriate time, make decisions necessary to fly the vehicle the way we need to, to get out to NRHO [Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit, an elliptical orbit around the Moon], and then be able to execute the Artemis missions in the future. Ars: The GAO also discussed a problem with Gateway's controllability with something as massive as Starship docked to it. What's the latest status of that problem? Olansen: There are a number of different risks that we work through as a program, as you'd expect. We continue to look at all possibilities and work through them with due diligence. That's our job, to be able to do that on a daily basis. With the stack controllability [issue], where that came from for GAO, we were early in the assessments of what the potential impacts could be from visiting vehicles, not just any one [vehicle] but any visiting vehicle. We're a smaller space station than ISS, so making sure we understand the implications of thruster firings as vehicles approach the station, and the implications associated with those, is where that stack controllability conversation came from. The bus that Maxar typically designs doesn't have to generally deal with docking. Part of what we've been doing is working through ways that we can use the capabilities that are already built into that spacecraft differently to provide us the control authority we need when we have visiting vehicles, as well as working with the visiting vehicles and their design to make sure that they're minimizing the impact on the station. So, the combination of those two has largely, over the past year since that report came out, improved where we are from a stack controllability perspective. We still have forward work to close out all of the different potential cases that are there. We'll continue to work through those. That's standard forward work, but we've been able to make some updates, some software updates, some management updates and logic updates, that really allow us to control the stack effectively and have the right amount of control authority for the dockings and undockings that we will need to execute for the missions. Stephen Clark Space Reporter Stephen Clark Space Reporter Stephen Clark is a space reporter at Ars Technica, covering private space companies and the world’s space agencies. Stephen writes about the nexus of technology, science, policy, and business on and off the planet. 1 Comments

In the ‘unsolvable task’, puppies are shown a reward they can’t access. Those that look to humans for help tend to be easier to trainJarno Niemi A set of cognitive tests for puppies can predict how brave, energetic, self-controlled and trainable they will be as adults. Knowing this can help owners tailor teaching styles, adapt expectations and generally better understand their pets’ abilities and limitations, says Saara Junttila at the University of Helsinki in Finland. “These traits are not necessarily good or bad,…

The RMS Titanic and its doomed voyage have captured people's interest since the tragedy 113 years ago, on April 15, 1912.The ship and its passengers were once again brought back into the spotlight when the wreckage was found on September 1, 1985, seven decades after it sank.Among those passengers was Millvina Dean, who was just 2 months old when the ship went down. She was the youngest survivor of the tragedy.Learn more about Dean's remarkable life, including her service during World War II, her relationship with her newfound fame, and why she never saw "Titanic," one of the highest-grossing films ever. Millvina Dean was just 9 weeks old when she boarded the Titanic in 1912 with her parents and older brother. Millvina Dean and her mother. Public domain The youngest passenger aboard the Titanic, she boarded the ship with her mother, Georgette, her father, Bertram Frank, and her brother, Bertram Vere, on April 10, 1912, before the ship set sail from Southampton, England. But she wasn't supposed to be on the Titanic at all. The Dean family boarded the ship after a coal strike canceled their original trip. The Titanic. Topical Press Agency/Getty Images The family was supposed to cross the Atlantic on a different White Star Line ship, according to the Los Angeles Times' obituary of Dean. However, a coal strike led to the cancellation of their original voyage. The White Star Line offered them third-class tickets on the Titanic instead. Her family was leaving the UK to move to Kansas City to join her father's cousin. Millvina Dean received many letters from Titanic scholars. Ian Cook/Getty Images The Deans were going to Missouri to be with her father's cousin, who owned a store in Kansas City, according to Millvina Dean's obituary in The New York Times. Her father was going to co-own the store after the Deans sold the pub they owned in England. On April 14, 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg and later sank. Dean, her mother, and her 2-year-old brother survived, but her father died. A lifeboat from the Titanic. Ralph White/CORBIS/Corbis/Getty Images Dean said her father felt the ship collide with the iceberg, which might have saved his family's lives."I think it was my father who saved us," Dean told the Los Angeles Times. "So many other people thought the Titanic would never sink, and they didn't bother. My father didn't take a chance."Dean, her mother, and brother were put on lifeboat 13, as reported by BBC News.The survivors on lifeboats were later picked up by the RMS Carpathia and taken to New York City. But Dean's father was among the more than 1,500 people who died in the tragedy. Dean said she believed it was true that White Star Lines employees had prevented third-class passengers from going above deck and potentially escaping the sinking ship, The New York Times reported."It couldn't happen nowadays, and it's so wrong, so unjust. What do they say? 'Judy O'Grady and the colonel's lady are sisters under the skin.' That's the way it should have been that night, but it wasn't," she said. When the Deans returned to England aboard the Adriatic, passengers lined up to hold the baby. A small baby pictured on the deck of the Carpathia, which pulled stranded survivors from lifeboats. Carl Simon/United Archives/Universal Images Group/Getty Images Three weeks after the sinking of the Titanic, the RMS Adriatic took some survivors back to England. Dean, her mother, and brother were on board."Passengers who knew what the family had been through lined up to hold baby Millvina, the youngest survivor of the Titanic. To keep the line moving, a ship's officer ordered that no one could hold the baby for more than 10 minutes," wrote Mary Rourke of the Los Angeles Times in Dean's obituary. Dean didn't learn about the true horrors of the Titanic until she was 8 years old when her mother finally told her. Millvina Dean at a Titanic exhibit in 2003. John Stillwell - PA Images/PA Images/Getty Images "My mother would never speak of it, because it was her husband and they were only married four years. He was strikingly handsome. I didn't know anything about it until I was 8 years old. And then my mother got married again. That's when I first heard about the Titanic, and about my father going down, everything like that," she told the Belfast Telegraph in 2009.In another interview with the Irish Times, the Los Angeles Times reported, Dean said that her mother suffered severe headaches every day after the sinking. Millvina and Bertram Dean were educated using money from the Titanic Relief Fund, a charity formed in England to support survivors. Millvina Dean and a street that was named after her. Ian Cook/Getty Images The White Star Line rather infamously didn't accept any liability for the Titanic's sinking for years, even though the tragedy left almost all of its passengers with no money, no possessions, and in many cases, no breadwinner — many families lost their husbands and fathers since they couldn't get on lifeboats.The Wall Street Journal reported in 2003 that four years after the crash, the White Star Line agreed to pay the US $665,000, or roughly $430 per passenger.In 2025, that'd be around $12,972 each. During World War II, she worked in the British Army's map-making office. A World War II-era map. Culture Club/Getty Images According to the Los Angeles Times, after the war, she worked as a secretary in an engineering office for 20 years. She never publicly spoke about the Titanic until 1985, when the shipwreck was found. Millvina Dean at another Titanic exhibition. GERRY PENNY/AFP/Getty Images "Nobody knew about me and the Titanic, to be honest, nobody took any interest, so I took no interest either," she said, according to The New York Times. "But then they found the wreck, and after they found the wreck, they found me."For decades after, Millvina Dean attended many Titanic exhibitions, conventions, and events. She also traveled to different schools to tell her life's story. Dean never watched James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster "Titanic." She would sign posters, though. NANCY PALMIERI/AP Even though Dean had said she didn't feel a huge connection to her father since she never really knew him, she couldn't watch any movies or documentaries about the Titanic."Because that's the ship on which my father went down. Although I didn't remember him, nothing about him, I would still be emotional. I would think: 'How did he go down? Did he go down with the ship or did he jump overboard?'" she told the Belfast Telegraph in May 2009, weeks before her death. Her brother Bertram, pictured right, died on the 80th anniversary of the iceberg collision in 1992. He was 81. Survivors Eva Hart and Bertram Dean (left and right) with scientist Robert Ballard (center), who led the deep-sea expedition to film the wreck of the Titanic. PA/PA Images/Getty Images Her mother lived to be 96, dying in 1975, according to The New York Times. In 1997, Millvina Dean finally successfully crossed the Atlantic from Southampton to New York City aboard the Queen Elizabeth II. Millvina Dean on the water. Xavier DESMIER/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images Eighty-five years after the ill-fated maiden voyage of the Titanic, Dean finally completed the journey from Southampton to New York City, reported the Deseret News.According to United Press International, after she arrived in NYC in August, she then journeyed to Kansas City to visit the neighborhood that would've been hers, if everything had gone to plan. She auctioned off some of her Titanic memorabilia later in life, including the mailbag her mother carried their possessions in after the sinking. A 100-year-old suitcase that was filled with clothes was donated to Millvina Dean. Ben Birchall - PA Images/PA Images/Getty Images After breaking her hip in 2006, Dean began living in a nursing home. To help with expenses, she auctioned off some items that had been with her family on the Titanic, including a suitcase that sold for $18,650. In total, she raised $53,906, according to NBC News. James Cameron and "Titanic" stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio donated thousands of dollars toward her nursing home costs in 2009. Kate Winslet, James Cameron, and Leonardo DiCaprio at the Golden Globes. Hal Garb/AFP via Getty Images Reuters reported that the trio behind "Titanic" donated $30,000 to Dean after her longtime friend Don Mullan challenged them to."I laid down the challenge to the 'Titanic' actors and directors to support the Millvina Fund and I was delighted with the generosity they have shown in meeting that challenge," Mullan told the Irish Examiner in 2009. Millvina Dean died in 2009 at 97. She was the last living survivor of the Titanic. Flowers where Millvina Dean's ashes were scattered. Johnny Green/PA Images/Getty Images Millvina Dean's ashes were scattered by her partner, Bruno Nordmanis, at the Southampton Docks, where the Titanic left for its first and only voyage, NBC News reported.

On Friday, four Republican members of the North Carolina Supreme Court issued an order attempting to disenfranchise more than 5,000 of the state’s voters. This order is part of an ongoing effort by Judge Jefferson Griffin, a Republican and the losing candidate in a recent state supreme court race, to overturn Democratic state Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs’ reelection in that race.Four of the state’s Republican justices, in other words, are attempting to unseat one of their own Democratic colleagues and replace her with the Republican who lost his bid to unseat her.Riggs’s victory over Griffin was very close, which is why canceling several thousand votes may be enough to change the result of this election. By official tallies, Riggs beat Griffin by just 734 votes.Griffin’s attempt to steal this election closely resembles an even more famous court case about a contested election: Bush v. Gore (2000). Bush addressed the nail-bitingly close 2000 presidential election in Florida. Initial tallies showed Republican George W. Bush with just a 537 vote lead, and whoever prevailed in Florida would also win a term in the White House.Democrat Al Gore, meanwhile, sought a recount of some Florida ballots in the hopes that this recount would push him over the top. But we’ll never know if Bush or Gore was the proper winner of the 2000 presidential election because the Supreme Court effectively halted that recount in Bush.The stunning thing about the North Carolina Supreme Court’s recent decision, in a case known as Griffin v. North Carolina State Board of Electors, is that the four Republican justices behind that decision somehow managed to recreate the exact same constitutional violation that drove the Supreme Court to shut down the recount in Bush. That’s not easy to do. One reason why Bush is widely criticized as a partisan decision is that the five justices in the majority went to great pains to limit their decision to the “present circumstances” before the Court — implying that Bush’s victory was a good-for-this-ride-only decision involving facts that are unlikely to arise again. But now they have arisen in the Griffin case.The specific legal violation identified in Bush v. Gore was that the Florida Supreme Court ordered just three counties — counties that tended to favor Democrats — to recount their ballots, a problem exacerbated by the fact that each of these three counties used different procedures to conduct this recount. A majority of the justices concluded that this piecemeal procedure was not allowed and the state supreme court had an obligation to “assure uniformity” of election rules throughout the state.In Griffin, meanwhile, the four Republican justices ordered voters disenfranchised in just four North Carolina counties — all of which favor Democrats — while leaving similarly situated voters in other counties untouched. That’s the exact same thing the Florida Supreme Court did in Bush. A state supreme court cannot apply non-uniform rules after an election has already happened.For the moment, the state supreme court’s attempt to steal Riggs’s seat is on hold — a federal judge issued a temporary order forbidding the state from certifying the result of the election until after this case is fully litigated in federal court. But under Bush, there’s only one conclusion the federal courts should reach in this case: that North Carolina’s Supreme Court cannot selectively toss out ballots.Which voters are being disenfranchised?Griffin primarily involves military and overseas voters who cast their ballot using either an online or paper form permitting them to vote absentee. Though North Carolina state law generally requires voters to show a photo ID before they can vote, the state’s administrative code provides that military and overseas voters are “not required to submit a photocopy of acceptable photo identification” when they cast their ballot.Indeed, according to lawyers representing several voters the state supreme court is attempting to disenfranchise, it was impossible for military and overseas voters to submit a copy of their ID even if they wanted to. Many of these voters cast their ballot using an online portal maintained by the state, but that portal neither asked voters to provide ID nor “[provided them] with a means of doing so.”Nevertheless, a majority of the state supreme court ruled on Friday that these voters’ ballots are presumptively invalid because they did not comply with a different provision of state law that requires the state to establish rules governing the use of ID by absentee voters. The state supreme court’s decision does allow these voters to “cure deficiencies arising from lack of photo identification” within 30 days, but it is unclear how this curing process will even work.The state’s decision to hold an election under one set of rules and then change those rules after the election in just four Democratic counties violates the Constitution in at least two ways.The first is that several federal appeals courts have ruled against states that attempted to retroactively change their election rules after an election took place. In Griffin v. Burns (1978), for example, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that the Rhode Island Supreme Court could not toss out a stack of ballots “after the results of the election were in,” pointing to the fact that the state’s top elections official had previously “advertised, issued, and sanctioned” the ballot forms that the state supreme court later tried to invalidate.The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on whether a state can retroactively change its election procedures, so it is possible that the justices will break with these appeals court decisions.The second constitutional violation arises under Bush. And because Bush was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, its rule clearly should apply to the dispute between Riggs and Griffin. Under Bush, the North Carolina Supreme Court might have been allowed to disenfranchise military and overseas voters throughout the state. But it cannot disenfranchise these voters in just four Democratic counties while counting military and overseas ballots elsewhere. Again, Bush said state supreme courts must “assure uniformity” when they announce a new election rule after the election has already happened.The good news for Riggs is that the Fourth Circuit, the appeals court that oversees North Carolina, has a 9-6 Democratic majority among its active judges. So that court is unlikely to tolerate the state supreme court’s violation of the Constitution. It remains to be seen, however, whether the GOP-controlled US Supreme Court decides to get involved in this case. If it does, it is difficult to predict how it might rule.See More:

Grab the PS5 cheap while you can (Sony Interactive Entertainment) SHOPPING – Contains affiliated content. Products featured in this Metro article are selected by our shopping writers. If you make a purchase using links on this page, Metro.co.uk will earn an affiliate commission. Click here for more information. If you’re looking to pick up a Sony PS5 before the price increase, several UK retailers have deals on a cheap Astro Bot bundle. Amid looming US tariffs and ‘fluctuating exchange rates’, Sony has announced another price increase for the PlayStation 5 in the UK. This increase only applies to the digital edition console without a disc drive, with the price set to go up by £40 from £389.99 to £429.99. The standard edition with a disc drive and the PS5 Pro remain unaffected, priced at £479.99 and £699.99 respectively. While this price hike is live now on PlayStation Direct, many UK retailers are still selling the digital console on the cheap – so it’s perhaps the best time to pick one up. At the time of writing, the best deal right now is on EE.co.uk, which has a digital edition console with the excellent Astro Bot for £329.00. That’s £100 cheaper than the newly revised price, and comes with a game that usually costs £60, so it’s a pretty huge steal. More Trending The same bundle is also available on Very.co.uk, albeit at the slightly higher price of £339. How to save money on a Sony PS5 amid price rises If you’re simply after the digital PS5 console before it jumps up in price, other retailers have unchanged listings you can take advantage of. PlayStation 5 digital edition with Astro Bot – £329 (EE.co.uk) PlayStation 5 digital edition with Astro Bot – £339 (Very.co.uk) PlayStation 5 digital edition – £344 (Amazon) PlayStation 5 digital edition – £389.99 (Argos) PlayStation 5 digital edition – £389.99 (John Lewis) If you’re looking to pick up a disc drive, Sony has said it is dropping the price to £69.99 to ease the increased cost of the console itself, so you’re better off waiting until the reduction comes into effect. The PlayStation 5 might be somewhat short on exclusives when compared to its predecessor, but Death Stranding 2: On The Beach and Ghost of Yōtei are both set to launch on the console this year. Astro Bot is one of the best PS5 exclusives (Sony Interactive Entertainment) Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. GameCentral Sign 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

Halloween Ends alum Rohan Campbell is donning the slasher Santa hat for the new Silent Night, Deadly Night.

Vista Alegre House / LEIVA arquiteturaSave this picture!© Lucas FrankHouses•Santo Antônio da Patrulha, Brazil Architects: LEIVA arquitetura Area Area of this architecture project Area:  240 m² Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2024 Lead Architect: Nathana Serena More SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. Designed for a couple who dream of living a more relaxed lifestyle in retirement, the Vista Alegre house stands out as the focal point of a 4-hectare site, which will eventually include other structures, such as a vegetable garden, leisure areas, a deck on the lake, a chicken coop and a greenhouse, all of which were already planned in the masterplan project, so that the site is functional and productive.Save this picture!The name "Vista Alegre" was chosen because it’s the name of the street where the couple met, which tells us a lot about the type of work carried out on the site: everything was carefully thought out. The house was designed to be built in two phases: the first as a weekend home, as it is now; and the second as a permanent home, which will include an extension with two suites and a laundry room.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!In the Vista Alegre house, we prioritized practical, economical, connected architecture with great thermal comfort. The structure functions as a modulated grid of concrete and exposed bricks, divided into two sectors: A narrow strip facing south, where the service areas are concentrated, such as the external tank, the kitchen counter, the access, the gourmet area and the external shower. This configuration centralizes the plumbing installation, making it more economical;Save this picture!And the social use area is supported by the previous one, with its exposed roof, where the living areas are located, all facing north. This provides thermal comfort and takes advantage of the best views, including the guest room, living room, dining room and gourmet area.Save this picture!Because it is in the south of Brazil, where the seasons are well defined, the eaves that extend on the north front are reduced, allowing the winter sun to illuminate the entire interior of the house, while protecting it from the summer sun. An important strategy used in this project was the decision not to make topographical changes, taking advantage of the considerable unevenness of the terrain to position the swimming pool in a suspended position, strategically positioned to offer a privileged view of the sunset, passively heating the water. The remaining space was used to create a storage area for tools and equipment, optimizing the construction and respecting the terrain. The exposed wooden trusses and the ceiling, which follow the slope of the roof, contrast with the brutality of the concrete and exposed bricks, as well as the tile details and the choice of furniture. The result is a low-maintenance house with a rustic and cozy country house feel.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less About this officeLEIVA arquiteturaOffice••• Published on April 14, 2025Cite: "Vista Alegre House / LEIVA arquitetura" [Casa Vista Alegre / LEIVA arquitetura] 14 Apr 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1028730/vista-alegre-house-leiva-arquitetura&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 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

In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through how to render your characters and environment separately in Unreal Engine 5 using Stencil Layers, giving you more control during post-production inside Nuke. This technique is essential for artists looking to enhance their cinematic shots, perform isolated color grading, defocus backgrounds, and composite like a pro. What you’ll learn: 1- How to activate and configure Movie Render Queue 2- Exporting in EXR format and why it's useful 3- Setting up Stencil Layers for subject-background separation 4- Using Nuke to composite and tweak individual elements 5- Benefits of disabling tone mapping for linear workflow Assets used in this video: 🔗 Tokyo Environment: https://www.bigmediumsmall.com/tokyo-back-alley 🤖 Robot Character (FAB): https://www.fab.com/listings/bc38ffb5-9ddb-4b29-a565-cdfc59758b8c https://www.fab.com/listings/69240f43-d821-4d4c-b5bd-e51eb28cac5c Watch Next: 🎥 My Render Settings for Movie Render Queue in UE5: 🔗 https://youtu.be/s10HJSkwJks 👍 Like the video if you found it helpful and don’t forget to subscribe for more Unreal Engine cinematic and technical breakdowns! #UnrealEngine5 #UE5Tutorial #MovieRenderQueue #NukeCompositing #RenderPasses #StencilLayers #PostProduction #CinematicRendering #VFXPipeline #Cyberpunk