Baldurs Gate 3added official modding tools with its seventh major update in September, and it instantly became apparent that demand for mods among the games massive player base for high. The acclaimed RPG has developed a thriving modding community already, and its only continuing to growth.In fact, in a Steam post detailingBaldurs Gate 3supcoming Patch 8, developer Larian Studios has announced that the game has crossed 70 million mod downloads. Less than a month ago, that number stood at over 50 million. Larian Studios has also revealed that players have collectively uploaded more than 3,000 mods.The aforementioned Patch 8 is sure to keepBaldurs Gate 3alive and kicking when it arrives in 2025, with Larian having revealed that upon its release, the update will add cross-play, 12 new subclasses, and a long-awaited Photo Mode.Baldurs Gate 3is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Fallout 76continues to quietly enjoy steady and consistent success for Bethesda, and its player base continues to see gradual growth.In a recently published post asking fans to vote forFallout 76at the upcoming Steam Awards, Bethesda revealed that the online RPG has now crossed 21 million players across all platforms in its lifetime. Earlier this year, in June, the game was confirmed to have crossed 20 million players.Bethesda has kept up impressive support forFallout 76since its launch six years ago, with a number of expansions, free updates, ongoing events, and more. Earlier this year, the company released the Skyline Valley update, bringing a new region of the map for players to explore. The games next free update, dubbed Gleaming Depths, goes live on December 3, touting a new raid, C.A.M.P. pets, and more.Fallout 76is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC, and is playable on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S via backward compatibility.

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An Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) licks nectar from the Ethiopian red hot poker flower (Kniphofia foliosa). Adrien LesaffreMost flowering plants need pollinators, relying on bees, bats, birds and more to help them produce seeds and fruits. Sometimes, in rarer cases, a small carnivore puts themself up for the job. Now, scientists say the Ethiopian wolf, the worlds rarest wild dog, might be the first known large carnivore to pollinate, as the canines lick red hot poker flowers to get their sweet fix.In a new study published in EcologyThe wolves lick the flowers like ice cream cones, says lead author Sandra Lai, an ecologist at Oxford University in England, to the New York Times Elizabeth Anne Brown. She adds that watching the wolves is like a scene from a storybook.The new images leave no doubt that the wolves drink nectar, as Tom Gable, a biologist at the University of Minnesota who studies wolf diets but was not involved with the study, adds to the publication.Fewer than 500 Ethiopian wolves remain in the wild, with agriculture and diseases taking a toll on their population. They live among the Ethiopian highlands and feed on smaller mammals, such as giant mole rats and common grass rats. Though they tend to form packs, the canines are usually solitary hunters.Researchers studying these animals had previously seen them licking nectar. To document this behavior, they followed six different wolves over four days in May and June 2023. It usually went like this: The wolf approached the flower stalk and licked the flowers at the bottom, focusing on those that were more mature and contained the most nectar.Ethiopian Wolf Licks Nectar from Ethiopian Red Hot Poker FlowersWatch on For large carnivores, nectar-feeding is very unusual, due to the lack of physical adaptations, such as a long tongue or specialized snout, Lai tells New Scientists Graeme Green. Most flowers are also too fragile or have too little nectar to attract large animals, she explains.To the best of our knowledge, the authors write in the paper, the observations we report here highlight the Ethiopian wolf as the only large carnivorous predator documented consuming nectar.Some wolves had more of a sweet tooth than others: Though all six drank nectar, one female wolf visited 30 blooms in a single feeding session. The behavior also appeared to be widespread, spanning wolves from different packs. They might have learned it from other wolves, the researchers write in the study.The nectar of the Ethiopian red hot poker appears to be very sweet. Claudio Sillero, founder and director of the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Program, or EWCP, says he has tried the nectar himselfand that it was pleasantly sweet, according to a statement from Oxford University.When I later saw the wolves doing the same, I knew they were enjoying themselves, tapping into this unusual source of energy, adds Sillero, who is also a co-author of the study.The researchers suggest the nectar isnt a meaningful source of nutrition and instead might be a sweet treat for the wolves. Lai tells the New York Times that monitors with the EWCP report the animals go for the flowers as a little treat after hunting their meat meal.Notably, the researchers warn that merely drinking nectar does not mean the wolves are effective pollinators. Lai and her team are hoping to confirm actual pollination by wolves, though that is harder to do, as it involves answering more questions, such as determining the pollen load on the wolves muzzles and whether their visits actually lead to fruiting.For her part, Lai is interested in the social learning aspect of this behavior, she tells New Scientistthe researchers have even seen adults bringing their young to the flower fields.More conservation work will be needed to protect the wolves and flowers, as well as the natural habitats that support them, researchers say. TheEWCPaims to help conserve the highlands of Ethiopia forits people and wildlife.And in regard to the wolves and flowers, this unique interaction cant be seen anywhere else in the world, Lai tells the New York Times. Thats worth preserving, she says.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Africa, Animals, Biology, Conservation, Ecology, Endangered Species, Flowers, Mammals, New Research, Plants, Pollinators, Wolves

A 2019 drought allowed researchers to excavate some of the typically waterlogged canals. Belize River East Archaeology ProjectRoughly 4,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers in Central America built a network of canals and ponds to trap fish. Their system could have captured enough seafood to feed 15,000 people each year, according to a study published this month in the journalScience Advances.Its really interesting to see such large-scale modifications of the landscape so earlyit shows people were already building things, Claire Ebert, an archaeologist at the University of Pittsburgh who was not involved in the research, tells theAssociated Press Christina Larson.The fish-trapping network is located in what is now Belize. It spans nearly 16 square miles and is the oldest known system of its kind in Central America.In 2017, researchers used drones and Google Earth imagery to investigate the system, which is located within the bounds of the Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Belize. They found 167 excavated trenches and close to 60 ponds, asScience News Bruce Bower reports.Then, in 2019, a drought in the region made it possible for them to excavate the typically waterlogged canals.The researchers took samples, which they sent off for radiocarbon dating and other analyses. The results suggest the ancient fisheries were built between 2200 and 1900 B.C.E., before the rise of Maya civilization. The systems age was a surprise, as researchers assumed it had been built by the Maya.It never occurred to us that hunter-gatherers around 4,000 years ago might have engaged in this sort of collective, huge construction effort on this scale because nothing like it had ever been found or recorded in Central America before, says study co-authorEleanor Harrison-Buck, an anthropologist at the University of New Hampshire, toNew Scientists Becky Ferreira. The zig-zagging canals were visible on Google Earth imagery and drone footage. Harrison-Buck et al. / Science Advances, 2024The system was built around the same time as a major drought. What was once a perennial wetland became a seasonal marshland, with flood waters receding every spring and summer.When the wetlands were submerged, freshwater fish and other aquatic creatures would have been able to swim freely throughout the zig-zagging trenches. But when the waters receded, the fish likely became trapped in the ponds, where hunter-gatherers could have easily speared them.Some archaeologists have suggested that the drought led hunter-gatherers to become increasingly reliant on domesticated plants likemaize. But researchers didnt find anymaize pollen in the canals. Instead, they think the hunter-gatherers began relying more on fish-trapping, as well as drought-resistant plants like amaranth.For Mesoamerica in general, we tend to regard agricultural production as the engine of civilization, but this study tells us that it wasnt just agricultureit was also potential mass harvesting of aquatic species, says Harrison-Buck in astatement.Pre-Maya hunter-gatherers may have built the system, but their Maya descendents did eventually start using it around 3,000 years ago. They may have returned year after year for annual fish harvests and social gatherings, which could have eventually morphed into more permanent settlements.The abundant seafood could have supported a growing and increasingly sedentary population, and such intensive investments in the landscape may have helped give rise to the complex Maya civilization, says study co-authorMarieka Brouwer Burg, an anthropologist at the University of Vermont, in the statement.Today, the canals and ponds are mostly full of sediment. But even after 4,000 years, they still work as intended. Locals inform us that the ponds still concentrate fish during the dry season, the researchers write.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Archaeology, Central America, Fish, Food, Food History, History, Mayas, New Research

Big Time Studios is adding PvP gameplay to its NFT-based action-RPG title, Big Time, starting on December 2.Read More

Hugging Face launches SmolVLM, a compact and efficient vision-language AI model, offering businesses a cost-effective solution for advanced AI implementation without sacrificing performance.Read More