A half-marathon in Beijing featured a road race between human runners and 21 robot models—and showed how far robots still are from being able to mimic human activity.

Carbon sequestration Rover finds hints of an ancient Martian carbon cycle Rather than cycling, some of Mars' carbon took a one-way trip into rocks. Jacek Krywko – Apr 18, 2025 1:22 pm | 8 A view of Gale Crater showing the rover's path up Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/MSSS A view of Gale Crater showing the rover's path up Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/MSSS Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Mars has not always been a seemingly lifeless red desert. We have evidence that billions of years ago it had a warm, habitable climate with liquid water in lakes and flowing rivers, which is somewhat confusing, given that Mars is much farther from the Sun than the Earth and that the Sun was much less bright back then. “In order for Mars to be warm enough to host liquid water, there must have been a lot of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” says Benjamin Tutolo, a researcher at the University of Calgary. “The question we’ve been asking for at least 30 years was where the record of all this carbon is.” Tutolo led a new study of rock samples collected by the Curiosity rover that might have answered this question. The tallest sediment stack The mystery of Mars’ missing carbon stems from two seemingly conflicting results. On the one hand, we have already found dried riverbeds and lakes on the surface of Mars, so we know there must have been liquid water on its surface at some point. To account for the presence of this water, every Martian climate model we have run indicates that huge amounts of atmospheric carbon were needed to provide a sufficient greenhouse effect to keep the surface temperature above freezing. But the data we were getting from satellite observations of Mars found much less carbon in the Martian soil than those climate models would suggest. “So, either the models were incorrect—and there’s no good reason to believe that—or there really was lots of carbon in the Martian atmosphere,” Tutolo says. The only way to resolve that mystery was to put boots on the ground and look for that carbon. Or wheels. Curiosity rover was called Mars Science Laboratory for a reason. It went to the red planet fitted with a suite of instruments, some of which even the newer Perseverance was lacking. These enabled it to analyze the collected Martian rocks on the spot and beam the results back to Earth. “To get the most bang for the buck, NASA decided to send it to the place on Mars called the Gale Crater, because it was the tallest stack of sediments on the planet,” Tutolo says. The central peak of Gale Crater was about 5 kilometers tall, created by the ancient meteorite impact. The Curiosity mission started near the bottom of the crater, at the base of a formation called Aeolis Mons, or Mount Sharp, where NASA expected to find the earliest geological samples. The idea then was to climb up Mount Sharp and collect samples from later and later geological periods at increasing elevations, tracing the history of habitability and the great drying up of Mars. On the way, the carbon missed by the satellites was finally found. An imperfect cycle Tutolo’s team focused their attention on four sediment samples Curiosity drilled after climbing over a kilometer up Mount Sharp. The samples were examined with the rover’s Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument, which uses X-ray diffraction to determine their composition. It turned out the samples contained roughly between 5 and 10 percent of siderite. “It was an iron carbonate, directly analogous to a mineral called calcite found in sedimentary rocks like limestone. The difference is it has iron in its cation site rather than calcium,” Tutolo explained. “We expected that because Mars is much richer in iron—that’s why it is the red planet.” The siderite found in the samples was also pure, which Tutolo thinks indicates it has formed through an evaporation process akin to what we see in evaporated lakes on Earth. This, in turn, was the first evidence we’ve found of the ancient Martian carbon cycle. “Now we have evidence that confirms the models,” Tutolo claims. The carbon from the atmosphere was being sequestered in the rocks on Mars just as it is on Earth. The problem was, unlike on Earth, it couldn’t get out of these rocks. “On Earth, whenever oceanic plates get subducted into the mantle, all of the limestone that was formed before gets cooked off, and the carbon dioxide gets back to the atmosphere through volcanoes,” Tutolo explains. Mars, on the other hand, has never had efficient plate tectonics. A large portion of carbon that got trapped in Martian rocks stayed in those rocks forever, thinning out the atmosphere. While it’s likely the red planet had its own carbon cycle, it was an imperfect one that eventually turned it into the lifeless desert it is today. But Tutolo’s work didn’t provide all the answers. Persisting mysteries The problem is, the missing Martian carbon found by Tutolo’s team doesn’t explain everything about its past climate. Even with huge amounts of carbon dioxide (enough to give Mars one Earth atmosphere’s worth of pressure), Tutolo thinks it would still be quite challenging to warm the planet. Another mystery that remains is that Martian habitability was seemingly intermittent and fluctuating. “It doesn’t seem like the full first billion years were warm and wet on Mars, so how do we place constraints on the habitable conditions on Mars?” Tutolo wonders. But before tackling more far-reaching questions, his team wants to work on new Mars climate models that will reflect these new findings. Tutolo suspects some of the siderite was redissolved and returned some of its carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The new models he wants to set up will attempt to pinpoint the timing of this process—how long the carbon stayed trapped in the siderite and how much of it was potentially cycled back. “That would enable habitability for longer than if it was just permanently sequestered,” Tutolo says. “That’s the big thing I’m going to work on but have been too busy to get to.” Science, 2025.  DOI: 10.1126/science.ado9966 Jacek Krywko Associate Writer Jacek Krywko Associate Writer Jacek Krywko is a freelance science and technology writer who covers space exploration, artificial intelligence research, computer science, and all sorts of engineering wizardry. 8 Comments

The author grew up in the US immersed in Korean culture Courtesy of the author 2025-04-19T14:16:01Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? My parents raised us in the US but immersed in Korean culture. To my sister and me my parents' friends were like aunts and uncles. Being raised alongside other children of immigrants was so special. I know my mom's kimchi by taste. I can also recognize that of her friends', who would often stop by my childhood home with reams of other Korean side dishes, or "banchan."Because of them, I have always associated the sound of a doorbell with food. They would pass onto us Tupperware of pickled vegetables and seasoned roots, my mom would return the favor with her own plastic containers packed to the brim, and so the cycle would go on.My parents moved from Korea to the US in the 70s and made sure me and my siblings were still experiencing Korean culture despite being abroad. We were connected to culture through foodThis side-dish whirligig is a common practice across Korean communities, referred to "nanum munhwa". Directly translated, it means a culture of sharing. Making banchan is time-consuming, arduous work, yielding dishes with short shelf lives. It thus makes sense to make the dishes in bulk and share them with others. My mom, who grew up on a farm along Korea's countryside, recalls having to bring her own mother's fare to her neighbors and friends. She dreaded having to make these deliveries at night, she tells me.She and her friends would bring that same culture of sharing to America, albeit with a few modifications. With different ingredients to improvise old recipes, they concocted their own staple versions of banchan: kimchi made with kohlrabi, pickled radish wraps made with roast beef. And side dishes were not delivered between neighbors trekking across farms, but by way of Volvo Station Wagons and Subaru Foresters.These side dishes, though, meant much more than just good eats. Connected within this culture of sharing was a network of first-generation parents who had emigrated from Korea to America, many of whom I still consider a core part of my upbringing.They were like familyMy parents' friends emulated a quasi-Korean, quasi-American citizenry in ways that went beyond good neighborly samaritan. For my sisters and I, they were also de facto aunts and uncles. Consequently, their children were our de facto cousins. Our families shared every Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother's Day and Father's Day together. We would tag along on each other's day trips and extended holidays. Clothes, games, toys were exchanged, swapped, handed down. And being the youngest, I always had my pick of the crop.To this day, there is no perfect word to describe what exactly those within this network mean to me. To call them my friends is ungenerous, and to call them family is a fib. What's more is I do have extended family — actual extended family — in Korea. Still, with my blood relatives oceans away, it only seemed right to let those around me err on the side of kinship. Connected by heritage, they define to me what it means to be Korean. To this day, my title for my so-called "cousins" translates to "older sister" or "older brother".I grew up around other children of immigrantsI have also grown up with a feeling of gratitude, a common sentiment among children of immigrants. Connected by our parents' decision to move abroad, many of us raised within this community would carry with us a deep appreciation that would come to characterize our generation's experience. Sometimes, though, I wonder if it will define that of the third.A new generation is taking shape today. Proudly, it includes my niece, Sloane. At times, my sisters and I consider how our upbringing will shape hers. It seems the proof will be in the pudding, however. My parents live close by, and are playing a strong role in her upbringing. And Sloane, like many others, is being raised in a multicultural household — inspired by the values of her parents and her parents' parents.In our growingly multigenerational community, the dedication to bringing forward our Korean-ness lives on. From language to food, Sloane and others within our community are surrounded by reminders of their roots. And while many of the neighborhood kids I grew up with have moved across the country, we are sure to remind those around us they are more family than friends. Distance means we can no longer deliver to each other fresh side dishes on a daily basis. But when we do visit each other, we bring gifts and reminders of our new homes. We can only hope that the experience of the third generation will be as enriching as it was for us, contoured by our parents' ability to lean on one another. Recommended video

Good news, Andor fans: sounds like season two more than sticks the landing. Following the first episode’s premiere at Star Wars Celebration Japan, social media impressions began pouring in for the entire season. Much like the first, there’s been pretty high praise praise even amid critiques of it being a bit scattershot because of its “three episodes=one year” structure. Despite that, those with early access do feel the show ends in a complete, decisive way overall. It doesn’t look like it’ll be beating the “best Star Wars in years” allegations any time soon, and will enrich eventual later viewings of both Rogue One and Star Wars Rebels. Check out the reactions below, which are galatically high. © Bluesky And here’s thoughts from our very own Sabina Graves,Germain Lussier and James Whitbrook. Publié par @thatladygraves View on Threads © Bluesky Look for more substantial reviews from press (including us!) on Monday, April 21. Three episodes will air each week from that point on, and we’ll have our recaps and thoughts on these arcs shortly after they air. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Cura's House / Atelier AAVVSave this picture!© Lourenço Teixeira de Abreu, Pedro Galvão LucasResidential Architecture, Renovation•Rua do Cura, Lisbon, Portugal, Portugal Architects: Atelier AAVV Area Area of this architecture project Area:  300 m² Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2024 Photographs Photographs:Lourenço Teixeira de Abreu, Pedro Galvão Lucas Lead Architects: Francisco Cardoso, Frederico Albuquerque, Pedro Durão, Sebastião Ribeiro More SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. As with other important things in life, it is difficult to set fixed rules for the rehabilitation of a building. And just like with those other important things, we prefer to take the risk of the journey, the mysterious but committed process, impossible yet inevitable, of pursuing the right way. At Casa do Cura, the historical and imagined memories of a corner between the Lapa and Madragoa neighbourhoods blended with the spatial possibilities of a new wooden structure, a conscious trace of the old building's nature, and with the building's narrow space in the city, to uncover a free constellation of spaces, open to new stories.Save this picture!Save this picture!The rehabilitation of a building is, at its essence, a matter of identity. If the ruined remnants of the past are a faint, sometimes cherished memory of what we once were, the opportunity for reconstruction is a window to an uncertain, sometimes desired future that we have yet to become. Standing before the profound question of what an abandoned building wants to be, pre-conceived ideas on how to proceed, whether driven by nostalgia or by a contemporary impulse, aren't enough. What seems certain is that it poses, in its entirety, the challenge of the architectural project. It's about not letting go of the old or the new, listening to the stones that remain and the wind that carries them, putting everything on the table at once, and seeking, amidst the noise and silence, the design of a construction that has its own order and, within that order, uncovers a form we didn't yet know.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!At Casa do Cura, it was the ruin of a traditional construction system and the tight space of the building in the city that showed us how to build. A new structure, where the same pine wood, spanning across the full depth of the building, defines the possibility of a light construction core that, between the inherited solid walls, can freely shape the space.Save this picture!Save this picture!Thus, beyond the painted wood and the light walls that connect to the solid ones in continuous plaster, we brought in clay, which in Lisbon is always found on rooftops, bringing it also to its place on the floor, a familiar stone for strength, and a foreign one for distinction, and we used remnants to mark the entrance, with the door number made from earth gathered at the construction site, and an old stone serving as the first step.Save this picture!Along this journey, we aimed to create a house that could continue to be many houses, where the street level floor and the attic were what their names evoke in our memory, and that was, rather than a functionally organized space, a constellation of spaces that, being opened by the freedom found in the span of the structure, would keep room for the stories that time might bring.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less Project locationAddress:Rua do Cura, Lisbon, PortugalLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeAtelier AAVVOffice••• Published on April 19, 2025Cite: "Cura's House / Atelier AAVV" 19 Apr 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1028706/casa-do-cura-residential-building-atelier-aavv&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

Live reconstruction of a Bonapartenykus specimen by Abel G. Montes. (Image Credit: Meso et al. 2025, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/))NewsletterSign up for our email newsletter for the latest science newsPaleontologists in Argentina recently found the first unambiguous evidence that a group of theropod dinosaurs had hollow bones capable of holding air sacs – an ability that helps birds fly, according to a study published in PLOS One.The discovery adds to a growing body of research that has revealed that all theropods and sauropods may have had bones with air sacs.“This is one feature that they inherited [from a common ancestor],” says Guillermo Windholz, a paleontologist at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and the National University of Rio Negro. “This is the reason why actual birds fly — it’s a really crazy feature.”Dinosaurs with Hollow BonesAlvarezsaurids were a group of theropod dinosaurs that lived mostly in Argentina in the Late Cretaceous roughly 83 million years to 86 million years ago. They weren’t huge — the smallest of them were roughly chicken-sized while the largest ones found were about 10 feet to 13 feet long from snout to tail.It's unclear what these creatures ate, though based on their teeth, they were carnivorous, Windholz says.Birds today have hollow bones, which give space for soft tissue air sacs that are connected to the lungs. These features help lighten the bodies of birds — important especially for flight.Pterosaurs and some dinosaurs also have hollow bones, though it’s not entirely clear that these features allowed space for air sacs. One study published in 2022 found that some of the oldest known avemetatarsalians — the ancestors of birds, pterosaurs, and dinosaurs — did not have traces of air sacs. Neither did ornithischians, one of the three major groups of dinosaurs alongside theropods and sauropods. But all saurischians so far examined did have these features.Examining Hollow Bones with CT ScansMost dinosaur bones are merely examined on the outside — determining whether they are hollow would require cracking them open. As such, while some are believed to be hollow, many dinosaur bones haven’t been examined thoroughly enough to prove for sure that the cavities inside vertebrae are somehow connected to the lungs. This means it’s difficult to determine whether these cavities contain air sacs similar to birds today.But technology like CT scans have allowed for a more thorough examination of the insides of fossils.In the recent study, Windholz and his colleagues did just that, and scanned 11 vertebrae from various Bonapartenykus ultimus specimens.The CT scans revealed that the B. ultimus vertebrae were indeed hollow — not exactly a surprise since most other theropods and sauropods examined had hollow bones. But not all vertebrae are pneumatic — some theropods have tail vertebrae that didn’t fill with air, Windholz says.But the scans allowed Windholz and his colleagues to see that these hollow cavities inside the vertebrate were connected to the outside through cortical openings called foramina. Essentially, these are passages in which air might have traveled from the dinosaur’s lungs to the inside of vertebrae and back.Why Did Dinosaurs Have Hollow Bones?Windholz’ recent study has helped improve paleontologists’ knowledge of the use of these hollow cavities in theropods — it has confirmed that at least in alvarezsaurids, the cavities were used for air sacs.It’s more difficult to determine why these creatures needed hollow bones and air sacs in their vertebrae. For fast-moving theropods, hollow bones may have helped to increase their speed by lightening their load.But if this is true, then why do large sauropods also have hollow bones? These large creatures, which presumably walked around on four solid legs, wouldn’t have been trying to take flight, after all. Some scientists have speculated that the hollow bones may have helped them lighten their superlative mass as they moved around, but there isn’t necessarily a consensus about this, Windholz says.The 2022 study suggested that sauropods, pterosaurs, and theropods may have all evolved air sacs in their bones independently from one another. But this may be because the vertebrae from a more recent common ancestor from the avemetatarsalians, that does have evidence of air sacs, has yet to be examined or discovered.If there is a common ancestor, it’s also possible that hollow bones were a relic from the ancestors of these dinosaurs, Windholz says. What may have been useful in saurischians, for example, may have been essentially useless — a Mesozoic appendix — in sauropods and theropods.At least until birds and their direct ancestors came along and used these air-filled bones to take flight.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:Joshua Rapp Learn is an award-winning D.C.-based science writer. An expat Albertan, he contributes to a number of science publications like National Geographic, The New York Times, The Guardian, New Scientist, Hakai, and others.1 free article leftWant More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/monthSubscribeAlready a subscriber?Register or Log In1 free articleSubscribeWant more?Keep reading for as low as $1.99!SubscribeAlready a subscriber?Register or Log In

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 James Cameron wasn’t near the penguins this time around, but he is extremely familiar with their environment. “When I went to Antarctica myself, I had a Nikon still camera adapted to the cold with special lubricants,” he tells Popular Science. “I went to the South Pole and the film shattered in my hand when I tried to change it. The camera froze up. I took a video camera, I wrapped it in a heating pack and it [died] in two minutes. I have a good sense of what it takes to take conventional equipment into that environment and survive.” Emperor penguin chicks taking their first swim in Atka Bay, Antarctica. CREDIT: National Geographic/Bertie Gregory. BERTIE GREGORY This time, the legendary director of Titanic, Terminator 2, the Avatar series, and more served as an executive producer for National Geographic’s three-part documentary Secrets of the Penguins. The latest in the award-winning series, Secrets of the Penguins represents the culmination of a two-year excursion around the world. Over 70 scientists and filmmakers traversed the globe from Cape Town and the Galapagos islands all the way to Antarctica’s Ekström Ice Shelf to observe these iconic flightless birds.  On the Ekström Ice Shelf, a three-person film crew withstood a total of 274 days documenting a 20,000-strong Emperor penguin colony. The team captured never-before-seen footage there of chicks navigating drift ice, penguins using their beaks to climb out of a crevice, and even a bonded pair of adults appear to practice rolling a future egg using a snowball stand-in. While Cameron didn’t endure the subzero temperatures for Secrets of the Penguins, he still helped edit down the resulting hundreds of hours of footage into the new three-part series. And he’s grateful the team came prepared with more than just a Nikon. Emperor chicks peeking out over a mount. CREDIT: National Geographic/Alex Ponniah. Alex Ponniah “Just getting systems adapted to the cold and the heat in the tropics [required] cutting edge drone technology,” he says. “They used the DJI drones which are very, very good for this type of thing. GoPro, Osmo, Canon—I mean, you name it.” What particularly interested Cameron—himself a pioneer in underwater and deep-ocean filmmaking technology—were the custom rigs designed to glimpse penguin colonies up close and personal. [ Related: Poop stains reveal four previously unknown Emperor penguin colonies. ] “[They have] to be able to get low and to move in amongst the penguins,” says Cameron. “It’s a personal acclamation. They have to get comfortable with some weird new thing in their environment, but after three days they’re kind of over it.” He also cites the need for lowlight cameras due to the Antarctic’s unique sunlight conditions. “A lot of stuff for that liminal environment when the sun is just skirting along the horizon and eventually just goes. You’re in kind of a constant twilight for a couple weeks,” Cameron says. A small group of adult Galapagos penguins sharing a rock with a Blue-Footed Booby. CREDIT: National Geographic/Bertie Gregory. BERTIE GREGORY While Past Secrets of series entries focused on octopuses, whales, and elephants, Cameron says the themes are part of what sets this new series apart from previous entries. “Look, you can’t study penguins without bumping up against climate change… [but] thematically, we wanted to present the wonder of nature and not beat people over the head with a guilt trip about our behaviors as human beings,” he said. “[But] they’re always being encroached upon, they’re always being negatively impacted. Although Cameron says they tried their best not to be “too Cassandran” about the situation, he admits that the effects of warming temperatures were more striking than in previous seasons. Two chinstrap parents. CREDIT: National Geographic/Bertie Gregory. BERTIE GREGORY “Penguins live in these marginal coastal environments. Many are in Antarctica, and it’s being impacted. The polar regions are being impacted first and most strongly by climate change,” he says. However, Cameron emphasizes the main aim of Secrets of the Penguins isn’t despair at all, but hope. “The goal of the series is to take a new generation of viewers and cause them to have a sense of love and wonder at nature,” he says. “If we respect nature and we respect its wisdom about how these animals have learned to adapt and survive, maybe that will influence our behavior when push comes to shove.” Filmmakers Bertie Gregory, Ben Joiner, and Sara Matasik with Emperor penguin chicks waiting at the sea ice edge before their first swim in Atka Bay, Antarctica. CREDIT: National Geographic/Bertie Gregory. Bertie Gregory For Cameron, the world is still full of people dedicated to conservation and the celebration of nature. “I like to think that’s the case, that we’re capable of that. I think many people are. Unfortunately, not enough people who are currently in power are,” he concedes. “But you know, you never know. We do our best.” Secrets of the Penguins premieres April 20 at 8PM EST on National Geographic, with all episodes becoming available to stream the following day on Disney+ and Hulu.

Nature, Published online: 16 April 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-01129-5Metformin could reduce people’s risk of certain age-associated blood cancers, but more work is needed to identify who is likely to benefit.

A three-part documentary on penguins' hidden lives will reveal a number of never-before-seen moments. Here's what executive producer James Cameron said about what to expect.

Finally Posted this piece on Artstation! But I see mistakes everywhere after 24hrs Animation especially (she's a cyborg, so maybe i can get away with it T.T) even tho there's minimal movement. Every time I scroll through, it feels like everyone’s a master artist pumping out insane work nonstop. I end up comparing myself and feelin like I’ll never catch up. It’s inspiring, sure—but also overwhelming. I always ended up deleting my uploads later Anyhow this is a step forward for me (even subd to Artstation Pro) Here's a link to the post for still renders + other angles if u want to check https://www.artstation.com/artwork/bgPvqm submitted by /u/kimruqt [link] [comments]