A diver swims alongside the worlds largest coral colony, located in the Solomon Islands. Manu San Flix / National Geographic Pristine SeasResearchers have made a gargantuan discovery thats as large as two basketball courts, visible from space, at least 300 years old and brimming with marine life: Its the worlds largest coral, found in the southwest Pacific Ocean.Scientists and filmmakers spotted the massive coral in the Solomon Islands in October and announced the news this week. They had been filming near the island of Malaulalo for National Geographics Pristine Seas project, which aims to promote the creation of new marine protected areas. The team was working in partnership with the government of the Solomon Islands.Coral reefs are made up of many different, genetically distinct coral colonies. But the recently discovered organism is its own unique colony, consisting of millions of individual animals, called polyps, that are genetically identical. The polyps belong to a species called Pavona clavus.The newly identified coral is mostly made up of knobby protrusions in a drab brown colorbut it also has more vibrant areas of blues, reds and yellows. Scientists spotted fish, crabs, shrimp and other marine creatures using the coral for shelter and breeding.At about 112 feet wide, 105 feet long and 18 feet tall, the coral is enormous. Its so big that scientists initially thought it was a shipwreck. They also had to measure the organism in stages, because their underwater measuring tapes were not long enough to capture its colossal size in one go.The coral is longer than a blue whale, the largest animal on the planet. Its close to the size of a cathedral, says Manu San Flix, an underwater cinematographer and marine biologist who first spotted the coral, to CNNs Laura Paddison. Measuring the sprawling coral proved tricky. Manu San Flix / National Geographic Pristine SeasThe as-yet-unnamed coral takes the crown from the previous record-holder, an organism in American Samoa affectionately known as Big Momma thats around 21 feet tall.Based on its gargantuan size, researchers say the newly discovered coral is likely between 300 and 500 years old.When Napoleon was alive, this thing was here, San Flix tells Voxs Benji Jones. At first, the team thought the brown blob they spotted underwater might be a shipwreck. Manu San Flix / National Geographic Pristine SeasThe corals discovery was welcome news to the leaders of the Solomon Islands, who say this new claim to fame could help boost conservation efforts and funding, as well as attract the attention of tourists and scientists.We want the world to know that this is a special place and it needs to be protected, says Trevor Manemahaga, the Solomon Islands minister of environment, to BBC News Georgina Rannard.But, although it may be located in a remote, hard-to-reach part of the world, the coral is not safe from global warming and other human threats, says Enric Sala, a National Geographic explorer in residence and founder of the Pristine Seas initiative, in a statement. The coral is so big it can be seen from space. Steve Spence / National Geographic Pristine SeasThe sprawling corals discovery was officially announced one day after the International Union for Conservation of Nature revealed that 44 percent of the 892 known species of warm-water, reef-building coral are at risk of extinction. Coral face myriad threats, including rising ocean temperatures caused by climate change, overfishing, pollution and diseases.Weve known for decades that coral reefs are on the frontline of the global climate and biodiversity crises, and this new result only reconfirms this, says David Obura, a marine ecologist who co-chairs the IUCNs coral specialist group, in a statement. Without relevant decisions from those with the power to change this trajectory, we will see the further loss of reefs, and progressive disappearance of coral species at larger and larger scales.Still, the finding of this huge coral in the so-called Coral Triangle is reason for optimism. Its size and longevity suggest that some corals may be resilient to threats and adaptable to changes in their environment.The existence of large and old corals is a sign of hopethat its not too late to protect, conserve and restore the oceans while fighting against climate change, says David M. Baker, a marine scientist at the University of Hong Kong, to NBC News Peter Guo.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Animals, Climate Change, Coral Reefs, Endangered Species, New Research, Oceans, Pacific Ocean, Water, wildlife, World Records

Viz Pro of the Week Congratulations to Wellington Franzo (@franzao.f) for winning this week's "Viz Pro of the Week" on CGarchitect.com!His interpretation of the Beijing Daxing International Airport beautifully brings Zaha Hadid Architects design to life.https://tinyurl.com/vizpro03november2024Don't forget to check out their profile on CGarchitect.com to explore their full portfolio.#VizProOfTheWeek #CGarchitect #ArchViz #Inspiration #DesignInspiration #ArchitecturalVisualization #3Drendering #3D #Architecture #3dvisualization #render #3drender #3dmodeling #vray #coronarender #unreal #sketchup #3dsmax

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Valve accused of "allowing the proliferation of hate" on SteamADL's Center on Extremism says it has discovered "millions of examples of extremist and hateful content"Image credit: Valve / Steam News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Nov. 14, 2024 The Anti-Defamation League has accused Valve of "allowing the proliferation of hate" on its digital platform and storefront, Steam.Analysing data on an "unprecedented, platform-wide scale", the ADL's Center on Extremism said that of the 458+ million profiles, 152+ million profile and group avatar images, and 610+ million comments on user profiles and groups, it found "millions of examples of extremist and hateful content, including explicit hate symbols."As reported by Eurogamer, in all, the analysis located 1.8m "unique pieces" of extremist or hateful content, with 1.5m million unique users - and over 70,000 groups - that used "at least one potentially extremist or hateful symbol, copypasta or keyword on the platform."Furthermore, 820,000+ avatars were identified as having extremist or hateful symbols, including swastikas and hateful reimaginings of the "Pepe" meme. The report suggests that "these numbers are likely to be conservative.""While Steam appears to be technically capable of moderating extremist and hateful content on its platform, the spread of extremist content on the platform is due in part to Valve's highly permissive approach to content policy," the organisation said."In rare notable cases, Steam has selectively removed extremist content, largely based around extremist groups publicised in reporting or in response to governmental pressure. However, this has been largely ad hoc, with Valve failing to systematically address the issue of extremism and hate on the platform."The ADL is now urging Valve to adopt policies prohibiting extremism and hate, and enforce the policies "accurately at scale."

Many Cats Studios appoints second Impact cohort to champion disabled gaming professionalsAfter a successful inaugural year, Many Cats wants to "continue this important work"Image credit: Impact / Many Cats News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Nov. 14, 2024 Many Cats Studios has announced the cohort for its second Impact campaign, an initiative dedicated to showcasing and celebrating the talents of disabled and neurodivergent UK-based games industry professionals."Bringing representation across disability and neurodiversity conditions," this year's cohort includes industry professionals bringing representation of visual impairment, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), audio processing issues, autism and ADHD, and Type 1 diabetes.The cohort - detailed below - will have access to peer support and join a network of disabled and neurodivergent individuals as "part of a supportive community."Olivia Arnell, Art Producer, Sponge HammerLauranora Swain, Junior Tools UX Developer, Frontier DevelopmentsJonas Gawe, Community & Events Lead, Into GamesBen Sightless Kombat Breen, Accessible Gaming Officer, RNIBHollie Page, Associate Programmer, Electric Square / Lively StudioiPetrichora "Chora", Content Creator, Freelance"There has been a lot of success with Impact last year so we at Many Cats really wanted to continue the important work," said Harriet Frayling, project lead for Impact at Many Cats Studios."The first year cohort really found lifelong friends in each other and supported each other through the challenges and successes of being a disabled or neurodivergent person working in the UK games industry."Many Cats have lots of plans for community engagement with Impact, bringing more chances for the cohort to find opportunities and successes with their careers. We plan to build our Discord community so any disabled or neurodivergent individual can share their voice and experiences, this includes connections across the world, not just the UK!"

Epic Games has given the green light for the Internet Archive to host installation files for Unreal and its immediate follow-up, Unreal Tournament.According to a post within the OldUnreal Discord server (and spotted by ResetEra), the archiving website now hosts images of the two games' original discs. Players can download those disc image files (which are here and here) individually, or use OldUnreal's previously released Windows-only installers for the games (Unreal here, Tournament here) to automatically download and install the Archive's files, in turn making the two arena shooters fully playable again.Both games were pulled from sale years ago, but with Epic's approval, get to live on as a part of video game history. The arena shooter franchise helped establish Epic as a developer, and its various sequels and spinoffs were used to showcase the game engine of the same name.Epic and Unreal's long, complex historyHowever, Epic's overall relationship with Unreal is...complicated. Officially, the series came to an end with Unreal Tournament 3 in 2007, as Epic put its then-full attention on the Gears of War series and its MOBA Paragon. An attempt was made to revive the franchise with a new installment made in Unreal Engine 4 (and simply titled Unreal Tournament), but that was later canceled as Epic elected to focus on Fortnite, and the series was officially shelved.In 2022, Epic officially killed the Steam servers for several older games, including the Unreal project's alpha and Unreal Tournament 3. The latter was meant to be revived on Steam as the free-to-play Unreal Tournament 3X, but that appears to have been quietly canceled last summer.Still, this new development provide a win for the series, along with game preservation and historians of the medium, which is always a plus.In 2000, then-Epic programmer Brandon Reinhart wrote a post-mortem on Unreal Tournament's development, which you can read here.

Sam Lake, the creative force behind Remedy Entertainment, is the winner of the New York Game Awards' Andrew Yoon award for its ceremony on January 21, 2025.The distinction has previously gone out to "game changers" in the industry, including Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann, Xbox head Phil Spencer, and Hideo Kojima. Lake has been recognized for being a "true visionary whose work continues to pave the way for narrative-focused game design and visually striking universes.""You know a Remedy game when you see it, largely due to Sam Lakes impact on the worlds he creates," wrote NYVGCC president Harold Goldberg. "Its really cool to see how his 20-year career at Remedy has touched so many of our members and interns at the Circle, and we are thrilled to have him join the roster of esteemed game changers previously recognized with the Andrew Yoon Legend Award.Lake joined Remedy as a writer for its debut title, 1995's Death Rally. Over the years, he's written or been the creative director (or both) on nearly every game developed by the studio, from the original Max Payne games to Alan Wake, Quantum Break, and the Remedy-made story campaigns for Smilegate's Crossfire X. He most recently wrote, directed, and acted in 2023's Alan Wake II, which became Remedy's fastest-selling title and saw critical acclaim.Of the sequel, NYVGCC executive director Ryan Callahan remarked how it "[isn't] often you see a video game studio deliver a superb sequel to a title a decade later, but its even rarer to see how it resonates with fans and spawns a whole connected universe comprised of its past franchises. I dont think anyone expects anything less from someone like Sam Lake."In addition to games, Lake also co-wrote two Alan Wake books and a Max Payne comic book. This past summer, Remedy struck a deal with Annapurna to adapt Alan Wake and Control for TV and film, but his involvement in those projects is currently unknown.The New York Game Awards will air on Tuesday, January 21, 2025. Ahead of Alan Wake II's release last year, Game Developer with Lake about its co-lead Saga Anderson (and having two protagonists in general), and going all-in on live-action video.

Robin Zeng, the founder of the worlds largest EV battery company, says Tesla CEO Elon Musks big bet on 4680 cylindrical cell technology is going to fail and never be successful. Zeng, the chairman of Chinas Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), tells Reuters that when Musk visited China in April, We had a very big debate, and I showed him. He was silent. He doesnt know how to make a battery.Teslas tabless 4680 cells, which are used in some of its cars, including the Cybertruck, are supposed to have five times more energy capacity, and the company announced in September it had produced 100 million of them. A recent report by The Information said Musk had given the team working on the batteries an end of the year deadline to deal with costs and other problems.CATL batteries, meanwhile, go inside everything from Tesla vehicles in China to Ford EVs in North America like the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning. The company specializes in lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP), which generally dont get as much range as various cylindrical cell units used in many Tesla vehicles. While Zeng wasnt impressed with Musks battery knowledge, he thought he was good with chips, software, hardware, and mechanical things.Zeng also commented that Musks problem is overpromising timelines, which he often does habitually, especially regarding Full Self-Driving technology. Maybe something needs five years. But he says two years. I definitely asked him why. He told me he wanted to push people.