Cyanobacteria blooming in Lake Windermere, UKAshley Cooper pics/Alamy Communities around the world trying to manage blooms of toxic algae and cyanobacteria already know they have to control nutrient pollution. But now it seems they may have another factor to worry about: too much artificial light. “You have light pollution in urbanised areas where you may also have a nutrient pollution problem,” says Hans-Peter Grossart at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Germany. “It could be that the combination of both favours cyanobacteria blooms.”

The quest for long, healthy life—and even immortality—is probably almost as old as humans are, but it’s never been hotter than it is right now. Today my newsfeed is full of claims about diets, exercise routines, and supplements that will help me live longer. A lot of it is marketing fluff, of course. It should be fairly obvious that a healthy, plant-rich diet and moderate exercise will help keep you in good shape. And no drugs or supplements have yet been proved to extend human lifespan. The growing field of longevity medicine is apparently aiming for something in between these two ends of the wellness spectrum. By combining the established tools of clinical medicine (think blood tests and scans) with some more experimental ones (tests that measure your biological age), these clinics promise to help their clients improve their health and longevity. But a survey of longevity clinics around the world, carried out by an organization that publishes updates and research on the industry, is revealing a messier picture. In reality, these clinics—most of which cater only to the very wealthy—vary wildly in their offerings. Today, the number of longevity clinics is thought to be somewhere in the hundreds. The proponents of these clinics say they represent the future of medicine. “We can write new rules on how we treat patients,” Eric Verdin, who directs the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, said at a professional meeting last year. Phil Newman, who runs Longevity.Technology, a company that tracks the longevity industry, says he knows of 320 longevity clinics operating around the world. Some operate multiple centers on an international scale, while others involve a single “practitioner” incorporating some element of “longevity” into the treatments offered, he says. To get a better idea of what these offerings might be, Newman and his colleagues conducted a survey of 82 clinics around the world, including the US, Australia, Brazil, and multiple countries in Europe and Asia. Some of the results are not all that surprising. Three-quarters of the clinics said that most of their clients were Gen Xers, aged between 44 and 59. This makes sense—anecdotally, it’s around this age that many people start to feel the effects of aging. And research suggests that waves of molecular changes associated with aging hit us in our 40s and again in our 60s. (Longevity influencers Bryan Johnson, Andrew Huberman, and Peter Attia all fall into this age group too.) And I wasn’t surprised to see that plenty of clinics are offering aesthetic treatments, focusing more on how old their clients look. Of the clinics surveyed, 28% said they offered Botox injections, 35% offered hair loss treatments, and 38% offered “facial rejuvenation procedures.”  “The distinction between longevity medicine and aesthetic medicine remains blurred,” Andrea Maier of the National University of Singapore, and cofounder of a private longevity clinic, wrote in a commentary on the report. Maier is also former president of the Healthy Longevity Medicine Society, an organization that was set up with the aim of establishing clinical standards and credibility for longevity clinics. Other results from the survey underline how much of a challenge this will be; many clinics are still offering unproven treatments. Over a third of the clinics said they offered stem-cell treatments, for example. There is no evidence that those treatments will help people live longer—and they are not without risk, either. I was a little surprised to see that most of the clinics are also offering prescription medicines off label. In other words, drugs that have been approved for specific medical issues are apparently being prescribed for aging instead. This is also not without risks—all medicines have side effects. And, again, none of them have been proved to slow or reverse human aging. And these prescriptions are coming from certified medical doctors. More than 80% of clinics reported that their practice was overseen by a medical doctor with more than 10 years of clinical experience. It was also a little surprising to learn that despite their high fees, most of these clinics are not making a profit. For clients, the annual costs of attending a longevity clinic range between $10,000 and $150,000, according to Fountain Life, a company with clinics in Florida and Prague. But only 39% of the surveyed clinics said they were turning a profit and 30% said they were “approaching breaking even,” while 16% said they were operating at a loss. Proponents of longevity clinics have high hopes for the field. They see longevity medicine as nothing short of a revolution—a move away from reactive treatments and toward proactive health maintenance. But these survey results show just how far they have to go. This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here.

The CFPB terminated thousands of employees this week. J. David Ake/Getty Images 2025-04-18T14:28:32Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau terminated 90% of its staff. A copy of a termination notice reviewed by BI said employees will lose access to work systems on Friday night. It's Trump's latest move to gut a federal agency created to prevent another financial crisis. President Donald Trump is moving forward with his promise to slash a top federal consumer watchdog.The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began sending termination notices to nearly 90% of its employees on Thursday night, slashing the agency spearheaded by Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2011 with the aim of preventing another financial crisis like the one that sparked the Great Recession.Over the past decade, the CFPB has filed lawsuits against major companies, including student lenders and banks like Capital One, over accusations of predatory behavior. It has also returned billions of dollars to consumers and introduced new rules to crack down on medical debt and overdraft fees."I regret to inform you that you are affected by a reduction in force (RIF) action," a copy of the notice viewed by Business Insider from Russell Vought, acting director of the CPFB and director of the Office of Management and Budget, said. "This RIF action is necessary to restructure the Bureau's operations to better reflect the agency's priorities and mission.The notice added that employees will "retain access to work systems" until 6 pm ET on Friday, and that after that deadline, "system access will be discontinued, and you will be placed in an administrative leave status through your official separation date as outlined above."The National Treasury Employees Union wrote in a legal filing on Thursday that Vought sent reduction-in-force notices to "the vast majority of CFPB employees." The notices, as first reported by Fox Business, went out to about 1,500 employees, slashing the agency's workforce by nearly 90%. The CFPB sent those numbers to BI."As one would expect with a RIF of that size, the plaintiffs have been told that entire offices, including statutorily mandated ones, have or soon will be either eliminated or reduced to a single person," the NTEU wrote in the legal filing.These termination notices come just one week after a federal judge ruled on April 11 that the CFPB could move forward with firing some employees deemed unnecessary to carry out the CFPB's "statutory duties." It followed an earlier ruling from a federal judge that froze the CFPB's earlier attempts at terminations, calling them a "hurried effort to dismantle and disable the agency entirely."Business Insider reported on Wednesday that the CFPB laid out new priorities for the agency in an internal memo sent to employees. The memo, viewed by BI, said the CFPB would "shift resources from enforcement and supervision that can be done by the States."That included plans to "deprioritize" student-loan oversight, medical debt, consumer data, and digital payments.These changes are part of Trump and the DOGE office's efforts to slash the government workforce to reduce spending. Elon Musk, DOGE's unofficial leader, has previously said he wanted to "delete" the CFPB entirely, writing "CFPB RIP" in a February post on X.Warren wrote in a statement on Thursday night that "Trump just gutted almost all CFPB staff, so the agency can't do its job of helping Americans who get scammed by big banks and giant corporations.""Dismantling the CFPB in the face of a court order blocking an illegal shutdown is yet another assault on consumers and our democracy by this lawless Administration, and we will fight back with everything we've got," she said.The OMB and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.Have a tip or story to share? Contact this reporter via email at asheffey@businessinsider.com or Signal at asheffey.97. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely. Recommended video

Overwatch 2's new mode is a lot to take in, layered on top of an already complex game, so Daily Star asked Game Director Aaron Keller how the team is planning to integrate newcomersTech14:43, 18 Apr 2025Updated 14:44, 18 Apr 2025Expect Stadium matches to be chaotic(Image: Blizzard)Overwatch 2 has big things coming next week with its latest season. We've already got an in-game perks system, while the new Stadium mode will take cues from a surprising source of inspiration.The mode, which offers a "best of 7" format with intense battle across multiple modes, locks players into a single Hero but lets them tweak it with surprising new items in the Armory, purchased with cash in each match.‌It's a really neat twist on Overwatch, leaning on MOBA-like systems, but as part of a recent interview series, I asked Game Director Aaron Keller if the sheer volume of mechanics and features makes it hard for a newcomer to get on board.Here's what he had to say.Article continues below"We've done a lot of work to make it easier for a new player to jump into Stadium. One of the biggest pieces of the Stadium game mode is the Armory, where you unlock different items and powers for your Heroes and try to put together the best build you can for that particular match," Keller explained."Systems like that can be a little bit intimidating because, by design, there is intentional complexity to them," he admits."We want this game mode to have a ton of depth. We want people to be theory-crafting what the best builds are. You know, we've had conversations internally on like 'What's the best low-cost survival item in Stadium?'"‌"We want people to be able to kind of argue back and forth on that, but that does make it a little bit harder to just jump into the mode.""So we've done several things that I think make it easier for newer or first-time Stadium players to jump into it."The first one is that we've divided our abilities into two types; There are items and then there are powers. And powers are the things that are the most transformative to your Hero, and every hero has 12 of those to pick from.‌"The trick here, though, is that you can only select an item on Rounds 1, 3, 5, and 7, but It doesn't cost any currency to select that power. So the moments where you're making a big adjustment to your hero, we've really constrained."We also have something called the 'example builds' tab, and what that is a tab in the Armory where a player can click over to, and it has two builds available that are put together by designers on our team."So if you don't want to try to take all the time to figure out what the right build is for your Hero, you can just pick one of those two. You can look at the barrier build for Reinhardt and just select the different items at the different times available to you over the course of the match, and you'll kind of like instantly have a viable build that you can use."‌Get your team together for Stadium(Image: Blizzard)So, could Stadium bring back lapsed players?‌"I'll jump on a soapbox for a second," Keller said towards the end of our chat. "It's been really exciting to see players' reception to Stadium and even as we've opened up this preview server, the team has really, really loved hearing about how much fun players are having.""So, you know, if you're watching any of that or if, or if you're reading any of the articles on Stadium, as a player that's on the sidelines, I would encourage you that now is the time to jump into Overwatch."For more on Overwatch 2, check out our chat with Keller about the huge undertaking moving Overwatch 2 to a third-person perspective for Stadium.Article continues belowFor the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.‌‌‌

The Switch 2 preorder train is back on its rails. Close to two weeks after pausing preorders, citing Trump’s ongoing tariff chaos, Nintendo set the new date for when you can take your place in line to April 24. If you were praying at your shrine to Shigeru Miyamoto that the Switch maker wouldn’t increase the price, don’t worry. The Switch 2 will still cost you $450 for the console, or $500 if you get it bundled with Mario Kart World. The console will still launch June 5. Preorders for those living in Canada are now also set for April 24. While the price for the console and the $500 bundle with Mario Kart World won’t change, accessories will cost more than their original suggested price. The Switch 2 Pro controllers and Joy-Cons 2 are increasing by $5 to $85 and $95, respectively. The Switch 2 Camera peripheral will set you back $55. ”Other adjustments to the price of any Nintendo product are also possible in the future depending on market conditions,” Nintendo said in its announcement for the new preorder date. The preorder process remains the same as before. If you’re a Switch Online subscriber, you can get in line to get one directly from Nintendo. You must have had an active subscription for 12 months or more and have 50 hours or more of total playtime with the original Switch. Those who already signed up to their place in line should receive an email on or after May 8 with preorder information. Nintendo fans will have just 72 hours to complete their preorder before the link goes dead. There are also plenty of third party sellers willing to take your money. You can go through Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart, or whichever is your preferred online retailers.  If you’re honestly hoping to get one on launch day, preordering online is your best bet. At the same time, stressing over a console launch may not be the best way to spend your days until June 5. Maybe you can wait a bit and see if its the sort of console you need in your life once reviews start rolling out closer to release date. We’ll be here to offer our thoughts when the time comes.

1640 14th St Commercial & Offices / HGASave this picture!© Eric Staudenmaier•Santa Monica, United States Architects: HGA Area Area of this architecture project Area:  38871 ft² Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2024 Photographs Photographs:Eric Staudenmaier Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers:  Kebony, LiveRoof, Lumos Solar, ParkPlus, Schüco, Studio Cortez, Wallbox More SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. 1640 14th St is a ground-up, mixed-use commercial complex commissioned by Los Angeles-based developer Redcar Ltd. and designed by the Santa Monica studio of HGA. The property was envisioned to serve as a resilient and sustainable platform for a mix of commercial activities focusing on long-term community well-being in the heart of Santa Monica, California. Located in a historically industrial neighborhood on the site of a former tow yard, the three-story urban infill project features three floors of creative office space and a ground-floor, street-facing restaurant—all organized around a central courtyard.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!1640 14th St's airy design gives expression to a series of objectives set by the client that address the health and productivity of its occupants and enhance the diversity of amenities available to the local community. Amplifying the City of Santa Monica's urban planning objectives, the development increases the walkability of the surrounding area as a pedestrian-focused link in an area split by the interstate that divides North and South Santa Monica. A garden paseo connects a park to the north, initiating a series of mid-block passageways in support of a larger civic master plan, designed to create more inclusive pedestrian networks in the range of mass transportation and connected to the coast.Save this picture!On the ground floor, a 2,500-square-foot restaurant space opens to the paseo and street, creating an inviting community amenity that revives the site for public use. The resulting shared commons, in conjunction with key design elements that seamlessly blend indoor and outdoor experiences, encourage walking and spontaneous gathering. 36,000 square feet of creative office space occupy the building's first, second and third floors in double-height environments daylit by north-facing clerestories. Their curved shape is derived from the curved stick frame roofs of historic warehouses in the area, truncated, they give the building its distinct profile along its main façade as well as animate and define the roofscape. Private outdoor terraces are integrated on all floors for tenant use.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Resiliency and sustainability conceived through the lens of human well-being comprehensively inform the building's design and operation and are highlighted through natural ventilation, daylighting and the integration of landscape. A cornerstone element of the building's sustainable design is the trellis-mounted solar photovoltaic system on the rooftop deck that exceeds Santa Monica's current ZNE Reach Code requirements by more than double to reduce its resource footprint burden on municipal infrastructure. Along with multiple passive strategies, the building utilizes natural, regional and locally sourced materials to further limit its carbon footprint, such as locally fabricated custom steel windows and doors. Despite extensive glazing, increased cooling equipment capacity is not needed in the building, and transparency is maintained through the use of high-performing, highly shaded glass that predominantly faces north. Additionally, operable windows in the building's window wall system enable cross-ventilation.Save this picture!Save this picture!Beyond energy efficiency, the overall sustainability of the building is furthered by its capacity to foster the health and wellness of both its occupants and the larger physical and cultural setting in which it resides, as it returns private space to public use. This can be seen in elements such as the building's paseo, a central social feature, landscaped to provide varied opportunities for gathering. The paseo epitomizes the design's emphasis on the importance of nature in contributing to a sense of well-being and its value in creating a setting for socializing and community building that links to all primary circulation pathways on the building's exterior. The rooftop garden continues the close collaboration with the natural environment, where the solar trellises serve a dual purpose in providing shade for tenants to comfortably gather in another outdoor location surrounded by extensive native plantings.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less Project locationAddress:Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this office Published on April 18, 2025Cite: "1640 14th St Commercial & Offices / HGA" 18 Apr 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1028539/1640-14th-st-commercial-and-offices-hga&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

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Living longer, healthier, and happier lives is a priority for many people. Oftentimes, we look to the food we eat as a way to optimize our well-being and extend our lifespans.As fad diets and supplement trends come and go, one dietary recommendation that seems to remain constant is adding more plant-based foods into your daily meals. There has long been an association between animal-based products, especially of the processed variety, and increased health risks. Specifically, sourcing the majority of your protein intake from animal products can lead to a host of chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers.A new study from the University of Sydney adds to the chorus of plant-based praises. In the study, published in Nature Communications, plant-based protein is directly linked to a longer life in adults.“Our study suggests a mixed picture when it comes to comparing the health impacts of meat versus plant-based protein at a population level,” said Caitlin Andrews in a press release. “For the under-fives, a food system that supplies large amounts of animal-based proteins and fats – such as meat, eggs, and dairy – lowered rates of infant mortality. However, for adults, the reverse was true, where plant-based proteins increased overall life expectancy.”Read More: The Benefits of Eating a Plant-Based DietPlant-Based Diets & Life Expectancy In this study, researchers were interested in figuring out if a certain type of protein consumed by a population impacted that population’s lifespan. They focused on comparing average life expectancies between countries that consume either more plant-based proteins or more animal-based proteins. What they discovered was that countries with more plant-based proteins in their diet overwhelmingly had longer adult life expectancies. Plant-based proteins include foods like chickpeas, tofu, legumes, nuts, and whole grains. Those populations who have more of these proteins in their daily diet lower their risk of chronic diseases and have lower average mortality rates. The authors also found that plant-based diets contribute to the communities known for having the longest life expectancies in the world. These cities include Okinawa, Japan; Ikaria, Greece; and Loma Linda, California. A Global StudyMore specifically, the study analyzed food supply data from 101 countries worldwide. This data spanned a 60-year period, from 1961 to 2018. Some of the data studied included how much food each country produced, as well as the amount of calories, proteins, and fats available for consumption in each location. They also accounted for differences in population size and wealth distribution when analyzing the data sets.The 101 countries in the study represent a wide range of food systems. Some of the countries have more animal-based protein in their diets, such as Australia, the U.S., Sweden, and Argentina. Others, like Pakistan and Indonesia, consume more plant-based proteins.The countries that are more dependent on animal-based proteins, like the U.S., had a relatively lower life expectancy than those from countries with widely available plant-based options, such as India. Overall, the study highlights the benefits of incorporating more plant-based foods into our diets, not just for our health but for the planet, too.“Protein is a crucial part of the human diet, but as eating habits change and developed countries look to decarbonize, where we get our protein from has come under greater scrutiny,” said lead investigator Alistair Senior in a press release. “The knowledge that plant-based protein is associated with a longer life is really important as we consider not only how our diets impact our own longevity, but the health of the planet.”This article is not offering medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.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:As the marketing coordinator at Discover Magazine, Stephanie Edwards interacts with readers across Discover's social media channels and writes digital content. Offline, she is a contract lecturer in English & Cultural Studies at Lakehead University, teaching courses on everything from professional communication to Taylor Swift, and received her graduate degrees in the same department from McMaster University. You can find more of her science writing in Lab Manager and her short fiction in anthologies and literary magazine across the horror genre.

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Did you know that approximately 5,100 people between 13 to 24 years-old visited the emergency room for injuries related to using their phones while on the move between 2013 and 2022? Or that around 3,200 ER visits for the same demographic during that time period related to fireworks? These are the sorts of things the Consumer Protection Safety Commission (CPSC) wants everyone to know—it’s a huge part of their job, after all. But a couple years ago, CPSC’s social media specialist Joseph Galbo decided to educate the nation about these and other important safety issues through the power of song. “Goes without saying, but it’s rare for any government messaging to be an overnight success with young people,” he tells Popular Science. If any consumer protection PSA has resonated with “the Kids” in recent years, it’s largely thanks to Galbo. Since 2016, the federal employee has overseen one of the strangest and most entertaining outreach messaging campaigns in modern US regulatory history. Through a mix of absurdist internet memes, purposefully clunky Photoshop jobs, and a dedicated social media presence, to convey some of the most mundane aspects of everyday existence: child safety locks, recall alerts, and the importance of regularly replacing your smoke detector’s batteries. “We’ve had a lot of success from our social media strategy over the years, but one of the things you have to look out for when you’re doing something successfully is getting complacent,” says Galbo. “But we think people want to see more than just the obvious from CPSC. We think people want to see innovation, and extra effort, and a willingness to do and try new things.” Over nine months, Galbo, coworkers, musicians, and the CPSC’s public relations partner channeled all that energy into We’re Safety Now Haven’t We: Volume 1, a five-track EP featuring bass-thundering dancehall, electro-beats, and funk-infused songs about… ATV safety, among other important precautions. “Helmet… Goggles… Boots… Jacket,” a Daft Punk-esque robotic narrator tells listeners on “Offroad Adventure.” “Push the limits, feel the thrill / but don’t forget, to keep it real”Then there’s “Protect Ya Noggin’,” a 2-minute-35-second hip-hop throwback focused on that most common (and unfortunately chronically ignored) subject of helmets. The track was actually the first one commissioned by CPSC, and helped dispel any initial worries that Galbo’s team had bitten off more than they could chew—another important thing to avoid, by the way. “That was a big moment for everyone because it really convinced us that not only could this idea work, but we had the potential to make some actual bangers,” he said. Creative, bizarre CPSC projects like We’re Safety Now Haven’t We aren’t a luxury for Galbo’s team– they’re a necessity. The Bureau has never had a mountain of discretionary funds, even before the ongoing, (arguably unlawful) federal budget slash-and-burn devastation. “We’re a smaller federal agency with a limited budget, we try to invest in creative assets that we know will last,” explains Galbo. “We wanted to create an album that would have broad appeal and not sound immediately dated… songs that sounded current to today, but would also still sound great five or ten years down the road.” The strategy is paying off already. Because while We’re Safety Now Haven’t We may sound like an early contender for the songs of Summer 2025, it’s not a new release. It’s from back in 2023. But as any good social media team knows, you leverage current cultural touchstones to drive home your message—like the second weekend of California’s massive annual Coachella music festival taking place April 18-20. “Sometimes kids need a bit to figure out how and when they want to use what you make to have some fun,” says Galbo. “The initial success after we released the album was great, but we’re really looking forward to all the ways we can use this music in the years to come.” Until then, kids: Protect ya noggin’. Oh, and about that title? When asked about it, Galbo offers a classic CSPC-branded explanation. “We’re Safety Now Haven’t We is a play on the eternal life-saving benefits of being committed to safety,” he says. “We’re safe now and haven’t we always been?”