CommentFrom horror on a North Sea oil rig to the adorable Astro Bots, our video games columnist Jacob Aron had a lot of fun in virtual worlds this year 4 December 2024 AstrobotTeam AsobiCompared to some years (I am thinking of 2023 and its wealth of offerings, from Cocoon to Viewfinder), 2024 has been a bit slower for must-play video games, particularly for the science and technology-themed titles I like to highlight for a New Scientist audience. But that isnt to say there was nothing to enjoy far from it! so here are my picks for the year.Astro Bot (Team Asobi)I suspect this charming platformer (see main image) will be at the top of many game-of-the-year lists, and it would certainly deserve that spot. It is an unashamed

This article first appeared in The Checkup,MIT Technology Reviewsweekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first,sign up here. Theres a new film about IVF out on Netflix. And everyone in the field [of reproductive medicine] has watched it, according to one embryologist I spoke to recently. Joy is a lovely watch about the birth of the field, thanks to the persistent efforts of Robert Edwards, Jean Purdy, and Patrick Steptoe in the face of significant opposition. The team performed much of their key research during the 1960s and 70s. And Louise Brown, the first test tube baby (as she was called at the time), was born in 1978. Its remarkable to think that within 40 years of that milestone, another 8 million babies had been born through IVF. Today, it is estimated that over 12 million babies have resulted from IVF, and that the use of reproductive technology accounts for over 2% of births in the US. IVF is a success story for embryo research. But today, valuable embryos that could be used for research are being wasted, say researchers who gathered at a conference in central London earlier this week. The conference was organized by the Progress Educational Trust, a UK-based charity that aims to provide information to the public on genomics and infertility. The event marked 40 years since the publication of the Warnock Report, which followed a governmental inquiry into infertility treatment and embryological research. The report is considered to be the first to guide recognition of the embryos special status in law and helped establish regulation of the nascent technology in the UK. The report also endorsed the 14-day rule, which limits the growth of embryos in a lab to this two-week point. The rule, since adopted around the world, is designed to prevent scientists from growing embryos to the point where they develop a structure called the primitive streak. At this point, the development of tissues and organs begins, and the embryo is no longer able to split to form twins. The embryos studied in labs have usually been created for IVF but are no longer needed by the people whose cells created them. Those individuals might have completed their families, or they might not be able to use the embryos because their circumstances have changed. Sometimes the embryos have genetic abnormalities that make them unlikely to survive a pregnancy. These embryos can be used to learn more about how humans develop before birth, and to discover potential treatments for developmental disorders like spina bifida or heart defects, for example. Research on embryos can help reveal clues about our fundamental biology, and provide insight into pregnancy and miscarriage. A survey conducted by the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority, which regulates reproductive technology in the UK, found that the majority of patients would rather donate their embryos to research than allow them to perish, Geraldine Hartshorne, director of the Coventry Centre for Reproductive Medicine, told the audience. Despite this, the number of embryos donated for research in the UK has dropped steeply over the last couple of decades, from 17,925 in 2004 to 675 in 2019a surprising decline considering that the number of IVF cycles performed increased steadily over the same period. There are a few reasons why embryos arent making it into research labs, says Hartshorne. Part of the problem is that most IVF cycles happen at clinics that dont have links with academic research centers. As things stand, embryos tend to be stored at the clinics where they were created. It can be difficult to get them to research centersclinic staff dont have the time, energy, or head space to manage the paperwork legally required to get embryos donated to specific research projects, said Hartshorne. It would make more sense to have some large, central embryo bank where people could send embryos to donate for research, she added. A particular problem is the paperwork. While the UK is rightly praised for its rigorous approach to regulation of reproductive technologies, which embryologists around the globe tend to describe as world-leading, there are onerous levels of bureaucracy to contend with, said Hartshorne. When patients contact me and say Id like to give my embryos or my eggs to your research project, I usually have to turn them away, because it would take me a year to get through the paperwork necessary, she said. Perhaps theres a balance to be struck. Research on embryos has the potential to be hugely valuable. As the film Joy reminds us, it can transform medical practice and change lives. Without research, there would be no progress, and there would be no change, Hartshorne said. That is definitely not something that I think we should aspire to for IVF and reproductive science. Now read the rest of The Checkup Read more from MIT Technology Review's archive Scientists are working on ways to create embryos from stem cells, without the use of eggs or sperm. How far should we allow these embryo-like structures to develop? Researchers have implanted these synthetic embryos in monkeys. So far, theyve been able to generate a short-lived pregnancy-like response but no fetuses. Others are trying to get cows pregnant with synthetic embryos. Reproductive biologist Carl Jiangs first goal is to achieve a cow pregnancy that lasts 30 days. Several startups are using robots to fertilize eggs with sperm to create embryos. Two girls are the first people to be born after robot-assisted fertilization, says the team behind the work. From around the web Mexicos Sinaloa cartel is recruiting young chemistry students from colleges to make fentanyl. Specifically, the students are being tasked with the often dangerous job of trying to synthesize precursor chemicals that must currently be imported. They also try to design stronger versions of the drug that are more likely to get users hooked. (New York Times) Billionaire Greg Lindberg is running his own baby project. Having duped, misled, and paid off a series of egg donors and surrogates, the disgraced insurance tycoon currently has 12 children, nine of whom were born in the last five years or so. He is the sole parent caring for eight of them, despite facing significant jail time since being convicted of bribery and pleading guilty to money laundering and fraud conspiracy charges for crimes unrelated to the baby project. The scale of his project is an indictment of the US fertility industry. (Bloomberg Businessweek) The UK government has agreed to a contract for more than 5 million doses of a vaccine designed to protect people from the H5 bird flu virus. The vaccine is being procured as part of pandemic preparedness plans and will be used only if the virus starts spreading among humans. (UK Health Security Agency) Last week, MPs voted in favor of a bill to legalize assisted dying in England and Wales. In the past few months, the debate over the bill has included horror stories of painful deaths. Most deaths are ordinary, but we all stand to benefit from talking about, and understanding, what death involves. (New Statesman) An unknown disease has killed 143 people in southwest Congo, according to local authorities. The number of infections continues to rise, and the situation is extremely worrying. (Reuters) Brian Thompson, the 50-year-old CEO of US health insurance company UnitedHealthcare, was fatally shot in New York city on Wednesday. The New York Times is reporting that bullet casings found at the scene appear to have been marked with the words "delay" and "deny." The words may refer to strategies used by insurance companies to avoid covering healthcare costs. (New York Times)

MIT Technology Review Explains: Let our writers untangle the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand whats coming next. You can read more from the series here. This week, China banned exports of several critical minerals to the US, marking the latest move in an escalating series of tit-for-tat trade restrictions between the worlds two largest economies. In explicitly cutting off, rather than merely restricting, materials of strategic importance to the semiconductor, defense, and electric vehicle sectors, China has clearly crossed a new line in the long-simmering trade war. At the same time, it selected minerals that wont cripple any industrieswhich leaves China plenty of ammunition to inflict greater economic pain in response to any further trade restrictions that the incoming Trump administration may impose. The president-elect recently pledged to impose an additional 10% tariff on all Chinese goods, and he floated tariff rates as high as 60% to 100% during his campaign. But China, which dominates the supply chains for numerous critical minerals essential to high-tech sectors, seems to be telegraphing that its prepared to hit back hard. Its a sign of what China is capable of, says Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan research nonprofit in Washington, DC. Shots have been fired. What drove the decision? Chinas announcement directly followed the Biden administrations decision to further restrict exports of chips and other technologies that could help China develop advanced semiconductors used in cutting-edge weapon systems, artificial intelligence, and other applications. Throughout his presidency, Biden has enacted a series of increasingly aggressive export controls aimed at curbing Chinas military strength, technological development, and growing economic power. But the latest clampdown crossed a clear line in the sand for China, by threatening its ability to protect national security or shift toward production of more advanced technologies, says Cory Combs, associate director at Trivium China, a research firm. It is very much indicative of where Beijing feels its interests lie, he says. What exactly did China ban? In response to the USs new chip export restrictions, China immediately banned exports of gallium, germanium, antimony, and so called superhard materials used heavily in manufacturing, arguing that they have both military and civilian applications, according to the New York Times. China had already placed limits on the sale of most of these goods to the US. The nation said it may also further restrict sales of graphite, which makes up most of the material in the lithium-ion battery anodes used in electric vehicles, grid storage plants, and consumer electronics. What will the bans do? Experts say, for the most part, the bans wont have major economic impacts. This is in part because China already restricted exports of these minerals months ago, and also because they are mostly used for niche categories within the semiconductor industry. US imports of these materials from China have already fallen as US companies figured out new sources or substitutes for the materials. But a recent US Geological Survey study found that outright bans on gallium and germanium by China could cut US gross domestic product by $3.4 billion. In addition, these are materials that US politicians will certainly take note of, because they touch on many forms of security: economic, energy, and defense, Baskaran says. Antimony, for example, is used in armor-piercing ammunition, night-vision goggles, infrared sensors, bullets, and precision optics, Baskaran and a colleague noted in a recent essay. Companies rely on gallium to produce a variety of military and electronics components, including satellite systems, power converters, LEDs, and the high-powered chips used in electric vehicles. Germanium is used in fiber optics, infrared optics, and solar cells. Before it restricted the flow of these materials, China accounted for more than half of US imports of gallium and germanium, according to the US Geological Survey. Together, China and Russia control 50% of the worldwide reserves of antimony. How does it affect climate tech? Any tightened restrictions on graphite could have a pronounced economic impact on US battery and EV makers, in part because there are so few other sources for it. China controls about 80% of graphite output from mines and processes around 70% of the material, according to the International Energy Agency. It would be very significant for batteries, says Seaver Wang, co-director of the climate and energy team at the Breakthrough Institute, where his research is focused on minerals and manufacturing supply chains. By weight, you need way more graphite per terawatt hour than nickel, cobalt, or lithium. And the US has essentially no operating production. Anything that pushes up the costs of EVs threatens to slow the shift away from gas-guzzlers in the US, as their lofty price tags remain one of the biggest hurdles for many consumers. How does this impact Chinas economy? There are real economic risks in Chinas decision to cut off the sale of materials it dominates, as it creates incentives for US companies to seek out new sources around the world, switch to substitute materials, and work to develop more domestic supplies where geology allows. The challenge China faces is that most of its techniques to increase pain by disrupting supply chains would also impact China, which itself is connected to these supply chains, says Chris Miller, a professor at Tufts University and author of Chip War: The Fight for the Worlds Most Critical Technology. Notably, the latest announcement could compel US companies to develop their own sources of gallium and germanium, which can be extracted as by-products of zinc and aluminum mining. There are a number of zinc mines in Alaska and Tennessee, and limited extraction of bauxite, which produces aluminum, in Arkansas, Alabama, and Georgia. Gallium can also be recycled from numerous electronics, providing another potential domestic path for US companies, Combs notes. The US has already taken steps to counter Chinas dominance over the raw ingredients of essential industries, including by issuing a $150 million loan to an Australian company, Syrah Resources, to accelerate the development of graphite mining in Mozambique. In addition, the mining company Perpetua Resources has proposed reopening a gold mine near Yellow Pine, Idaho, in part to extract antimony trisulfide for use in military applications. The US Department of Defense has provided tens of millions of dollars to help the company conduct environmental studies, though it will still take years for the mine to come online, noted Baskaran and her colleague. Wang says that Chinas ban might prove shortsighted, as any success in diversifying these global supply chains will weaken the nations grip in the areas it now dominates. What happens next? The US is also likely to pay very high economic costs in an escalating trade war with China. Should the nation decide to enact even stricter trade restrictions, Combs says China could opt to inflict greater economic pain on the US through a variety of means. These could include further restricting or fully banning graphite, as well other crucial battery materials like lithium; cutting off supplies of tungsten, which is used heavily in the aerospace, military, and nuclear power sectors; and halting the sale of copper, which is used in power transmission lines, solar panels, wind turbines, EVs, and many other products. China may also decide to take further steps to prevent US firms from selling their goods into the massive market of Chinese consumers and industries, Miller adds. Or it might respond to stricter export restrictions by turning to the USs economic rivals for advanced technologies. In the end, its not clear either nation wins in a protracted and increasingly combative trade war. But its also not apparent that mutually assured economic damage will prove to be an effective deterrent. Indeed, China may well feel the need to impose stricter measures in the coming months or years, as there are few signs that President-elect Trump intends to tone down his hawkish stance toward China. Its hard to see a Trump 2.0 de-escalating with China, Baskaran says. Were on a one-way trajectory toward continued escalation; the question is the pace and the form. Its not really an if question.

The Harris campaign has $1.8 million cash after spending over $1 billion in the 2024 race.Harris continually raked in money during her 107-day presidential campaign against Donald Trump.But Harris could not overcome the headwinds against her party, coming up short in the swing states.After President Joe Biden stepped aside as the Democratic nominee last summer, the party felt an enormous jolt of energy as Vice President Kamala Harris embarked on a 107-day presidential campaign against Donald Trump.Throughout her campaign, Harris raised more than $1 billion, a stunning figure that mirrored the quick rise of her campaign.But Trump, now the president-elect, defeated Harris in the general election, with the vice president coming up short in the swing states.New federal filings show that the Harris campaign had $1.8 million remaining in the bank after spending over $1 billion against Trump in the presidential race.In the filings, the Harris campaign also reported that it had no debts.The filings reveal the pace of spending for the Harris campaign, which began with heightened enthusiasm from Democrats and major donors who had grown despondent over Biden's chances after a disastrous debate against Trump raised questions about his ability to mount a robust reelection campaign.From October 17 through November 25, which included some of the most frenzied stretches of the campaign through the postelection period, Harris raised $160 million and spent over $270 million. The Trump campaignraked innearly $87 million during that same periodand spent $113 million, the president-elect's campaign filings indicated.Harris held large rallies in swing states like Georgia and Pennsylvania throughout her campaign, especially in the immediate weeks leading up to the election. And despite the vice president's financial advantage over Trump, she had to boost her profile to an electorate that had long expected Biden to be the nominee and was uncertain about her positions on various issues from tackling inflation to her approach to foreign policy.The new FEC report also seemingly puts to rest any talk that the Harris campaign is heavily in debt, a notion that the campaign rejected last month when it told The New York Times that "there will be no debt" on the filings.But in the weeks since the general election, Democrats have still received fundraising appeals from the Harris operation. The "Harris Fight Fund" is the postelection operation of the general election "Harris Victory Fund" and is touted as a way to help provide accountability for the Trump administration.The Democratic National Committee's newest filings revealed that it had over $47 million in cash on hand, while its rival, the Republican National Committee, had nearly $43 million in the bank.Business Insider reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.

UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in New York City on Wednesday, the police said.The NYPD said Thompson, 50, appeared to be killed in a targeted attack.Police officials say they have reason to believe the suspect has left New York City.Police believe the suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan left New York City shortly after fleeing the scene Wednesday, as investigators broaden the scope of their dayslong manhunt.Police told CNN they believe the suspect left the city via the Port Authority's George Washington Bridge Bus Station on the northern edge of Manhattan."We have video of him entering the Port Authority bus terminal. We don't have any video of him exiting so we believe he may have gotten on a bus," NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said in an interview published Friday. "Those buses are interstate buses. That's why we believe he may have left New York City," Kenny said.New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch told CNN the man wanted for the killing has been "traveling and walking around the streets of New York City largely in a mask, with his face covered. We had to go through lots of video evidence to get that one money shot with the mask down."The NYPD on Thursday released what Tisch called the "money shot" surveillance images giving the clearest picture yet of the suspected shooter in the early Wednesday killing of Thompson. Tisch told CNN police released those photos of the suspect not wearing a mask because they wanted a "wider audience to see the picture outside of New York City.""We are right now processing a tremendous amount of evidence in this case," the NYPD commissioner told the news outlet.Tisch said authorities already have "lots of forensic evidence," including fingerprints and DNA evidence.There's also a "massive camera canvass" of the suspected gunman's movements through New York City, Tisch told CNN.A law enforcement official told the outlet on Friday that investigators had also found a backpack in Central Park that they believed belonged to the suspect.The official said investigators had not officially confirmed where the bag had come from and that it was being taken for tests.As investigators work to identify the suspect, an NYPD spokesperson told Business Insider in an email on Saturday that the suspect "could possibly be a disgruntled employee or a disgruntled client."The spokesperson did not say what evidence the department has that leads investigators to believe so.Thompson was fatally shot outside Manhattan's New York Hilton Midtown hotel early Wednesday morning in what the police have described as "a brazen, targeted attack."Friday marks the third day of an intense manhunt for the shooting suspect, whose image was captured on surveillance cameras in the hours before Thompson was shot multiple times on the sidewalk outside the hotel in the heart of Manhattan.Thompson was set to speak at UnitedHealth Group's 8 a.m. investor conference when a hooded gunman opened fire from behind, striking him at least once in the back and at least once in the right calf, the police said."Every indication is that this was a premeditated, pre-planned, targeted attack," Tisch told reporters Wednesday at a press conference hours after the shooting, which the police said took place at 6:46 a.m. outside 1335 6th Avenue."It appears the suspect was lying in wait for several minutes," Tisch added.The police said the gunman fled the scene first on foot and then on an electric bike, which he rode into Central Park.The NYPD is offering a $10,000 reward for tips leading to the gunman's arrest. The FBI said it is also offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the gunman's arrest and conviction.Kenny, the NYPD chief of detectives, told CNN on Friday that investigators do not yet know the suspect's identity.Investigators are still pursuing additional leads. According to multiple reports, they were conducting forensic tests on a discarded cell phone, protein bar wrapper, and water bottle.How the suspect arrived in New York is becoming clearer. According to multiple reports, authorities believe he may have traveled to the city ten days before the shooting, on November 24, on a bus that originated in Atlanta and dropped him off at Manhattan's main bus depot, the Port Authority Bus Terminal. It was not yet clear where along the route he boarded the bus.The Atlanta Police Department announced Friday that it was contacted by NYPD and will be providing assistance in the investigation as needed. NYPD released images of the suspect in Brian Thompson's killing. DCPI/NYPD The unmasked images of the wanted man were captured at a hostel on New York City's Upper West Side, a law enforcement official told CNN, when an employee asked the man to lower his face mask."That little flirtation between the two of them, in some good-humored way, actually yielded what is so far the most significant clue to identifying him," CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, John Miller, said.The new photos will speed the chase considerably, Salvatore Tudisco, a retired NYPD homicide detective, told BI.Tudisco led the city's last big manhunt for a murdered CEO, Gokada founder Fahim Saleh, whose killer was captured in three days by traces on credit card, cell phone, and surveillance camera evidence."That's the best option to send it across the country, and someone will know him," the ex-detective said of the latest images.A facial-recognition trace will be less of an option, he added, because the hostel surveillance images do not show the suspect's full face."The ears are missing. The eyes, too," he said. "Facial recognition works better when the perp is facing forward."Investigators can still try to run the photo through state driver's license and arrest databases, he said, though some states require a judge to issue a warrant before state driver's licenses can be used as evidence in an arrest and beyond.On Friday, The New York Times reported that the suspect used a fake New Jersey ID to book a room at the hostel, citing an unnamed senior law enforcement official.Shooter was 'proficient in the use of firearms,' police saidUnitedHealth Group, the parent company of UnitedHealthcare, said in a statement, "We are deeply saddened and shocked at the passing of our dear friend and colleague Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare.""Brian was a highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him," the statement said. "We are working closely with the New York Police Department and ask for your patience and understanding during this difficult time. Our hearts go out to Brian's family and all who were close to him."Kenny said at the NYPD's press conference in the aftermath of the shooting that the gunman arrived on 6th Avenue about five minutes before Thompson."The shooter steps onto the sidewalk from behind the car. He ignores numerous other pedestrians, approaches the victim from behind, and shoots him in the back," Kenny said. "The shooter then walks toward the victim and continues to shoot."Kenny added that the shooter's weapon appeared to jam during the attack."From watching the video, it does seem that he's proficient in the use of firearms, as he was able to clear the malfunctions pretty quickly," Kenny said.Surveillance footage captured the incident, showing the gunman firing his weapon as Thompson, wearing a blue suit jacket, was walking several feet in front of him.A law-enforcement source, who is not authorized to talk to the press, told Business Insider that the gun appeared to be equipped with a silencer. The source added that the gunman "definitely knew" where Thompson was going to be. UnitedHealth Group canceled its investor day shortly after reports of the shooting broke. Paul Squire/ BI The police said officers found Thompson unconscious and unresponsive two minutes after the shooting. Emergency responders rushed him to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:12 a.m.Police have not identified a motiveThe shooting occurred blocks from Midtown holiday tourism landmarks, including Radio City Music Hall and Rockefeller Center, whose Christmas tree lighting took place Wednesday night.By late Wednesday morning, six evidence cups remained on the taped-off section of the sidewalk where the shooting happened."That's covering the shell casings," an officer at the scene told BI, declining to give their name because they were not authorized to talk to the media.UnitedHealth Group canceled its "investor day" conference shortly after reports of the shooting broke.Investigators have not yet determined a motive for the killing.Kenny said investigators were combing through Thompson's social media and interviewing employees and family members and would be talking to law enforcement in Minnesota, where Thompson lived and where UnitedHealth Group and UnitedHealthcare are based.Thompson's wife, Paulette Thompson, told NBC News in an interview that her husband had been receiving threats."Basically, I don't know, a lack of coverage?" she said. "I don't know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him."The police department in his hometown of Maple Grove, Minnesota, told BI it hadn't been notified of any threats he might have received. Theresa Keehn, the Maple Grove police administrator, initially said Maple Grove had no record of calls for service to his house, but the department later said it had responded to a 2018 call from Paulette Thompson. An incident report said she had been walking to bed when she saw the front door deadbolt turn and grew afraid someone was inside the house. The police did not find anyone inside the house.An unnamed senior law enforcement official told NBC News that shell cases found at the scene were inscribed with the words "deny," "defend," and "depose." BI has not independently confirmed the description of the evidence, and an NYPD spokesperson didn't return a request for comment.Jay M. Feinman, an author and legal professor who specializes in insurance law, torts, and contract law, wrote a similarly titled book "Delay Deny Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It."The book is dubbed an expos of insurance injustice and explains how people can be more careful when shopping for insurance policies and what to do when pursuing a disputed claim.The NYPD said Thompson arrived in New York City on Monday and was staying at a hotel across the street from where he was shot.Police in Maple Grove, Minnesota, told BI homes of Thompson and his wife in a suburb outside Minneapolis were targeted with fake bomb threats Wednesday evening, more than 13 hours after the shooting. The police marked evidence at the scene of the shooting. Laura Italiano/BI Thompson was remembered as a 'hardworking Midwest guy.'Thompson spent 20 years at UnitedHealth Group and served as CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the health-benefits unit, since April 2021.While announcing his promotion, the company said Thompson would "drive continued growth across the global, employer, individual, specialty, and government benefits business while continuing the company's focus on ensuring access to high-quality, affordable healthcare."Leaders in the healthcare industry shared their condolences in the hours after Thompson's death.UnitedHealth's shares were broadly unchanged after the shooting. They've gained about 12% in the past 12 months, less than the 32% increase in the S&P 500 but outperforming competitors including CVS Health, Humana, and Elevance Health. During its third-quarter results in October, it gave what UBS called a "more conservative than usual" outlook for fiscal 2025. Ahead of Wednesday's investor day, it gave more detailed guidance for next year, forecasting revenue of $450 billion to $455 billion and adjusted earnings of $29.50 to $30 a share. The company also suffered a ransomware attack that disrupted pharmacy deliveries earlier this year.By Wednesday afternoon, UnitedHealth Group had removed the names of its executives from its website, an archived version of its site shows. Some executives also appeared to have deleted their LinkedIn profiles, though it's not clear when.Thompson had previously served as CEO of the group's government programs, running its programs for Medicare and Medicaid recipients.Minnesota's governor, Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, said in a statement on the social-media site X that the shooting death was "horrifying news and a terrible loss for the business and health care community in Minnesota.""Minnesota is sending our prayers to Brian's family and the UnitedHealthcare team," Walz said.Thompson's former brother-in-law, Bassel El-Kasaby, told Business Insider that Thompson was "a good guy, very successful and very humble just a decent, hardworking Midwest guy.""Whoever did this is a coward and a loser," El-Kasaby said.Correction: December 4, 2024 An earlier version of this story misstated Thompson's work history at United Health. He worked at the company for 20 years but was not an executive there for 20 years.Update December 7, 2024: This story was updated as the manhunt continued.

Twenty-five years ago, millions of people were nervously looking ahead to New Years Eve.When the clocks struck midnight, they wondered, would they lose power? Would planes fall from the sky? Would banks collapse and the world order crumble?Such nightmarish fantasies were never truly based in reality, but the public genuinely feared that the computer systems society had become increasingly reliant on would fail at the stroke of midnight, ushering in a dark beginning to the year 2000.For years, computer engineers and government officials had worked on what was then called the Year 2000 problem, also known as the Millennium Bug. Starting in the 1950s and 60s, programmers stripped the first two digits of the year from code in order to save time and money. The assumption was that the code would be replaced long before the turn of the millennium.But in the following decades, engineers began to sound the alarm that if computer systems switched from 1999 to 1900, it would cause massive disruptions, affecting the electric grid, nuclear power plants, hospitals, supermarkets, government agencies, and home computer users.In the final months and weeks of 1999, officials expressed optimism that the crisis would be averted, and that the countless hours and billions of dollars invested in the problem had minimized its impact. But that didnt stop people panicking and stocking up on food, water, and weapons. Celebrities weighed in on whether they were freaking out or not. The Simpsons episode Lifes a Glitch, Then You Die parodied the fears.But New Years Eve came and went, and the impact turned out to be relatively minor. As a result, Y2K has become somewhat of a punchline and an exaggerated threat, despite the unsung heroes who worked diligently behind the scenes to prepare.In 1999, actor and recent Saturday Night Live cast member Kyle Mooney, then 15 years old, felt somewhat let down by the anticlimactic ending to the Y2K panic.Twenty-five years later, he has directed his debut film, Y2K, which imagines a nightmare scenario far beyond what anyone had predicted. Sean Rameswaram talked to Mooney about his memories of Y2K and what it was like revisiting late 90s culture with a cast that was mostly born after the event he depicts.Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. Theres much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.Sean RameswaramTell us about the thing you made.Kyle MooneyI made a movie called Y2K, wrote it with my pal Evan [Winter], and its somewhat based on our lives. I was 15 when Y2K happened. He was 14. And for those of us who were alive during Y2K, it was a letdown and nothing really happened. And I think Ive always been sort of minorly obsessed with that. So one day the idea struck me to make a movie about teenagers go to a party and Y2K actually happens. I pitched it to Evan and we started working on it.Sean RameswaramAmazing. Can you tell us what you were doing on New Years Eve, 1999? Kyle MooneyI hung out with my friend Mark. We watched the MTV New Years Eve special. So I would have, I guess, been enjoying Carson Daly riffing with Kathy Griffin. I dont know that I was particularly super nervous or frightened as to what could happen when midnight arrived. But my mom prepped and she got some goodies just in case, I guess, the world was destroyed in some way or another. In the moment, it just sort of came and went. I dont know what thought I gave to it until I just started, again, minorly obsessing over it. It would just hit me every once in a while. But I dont really know that I put much immediate thought into it in the moment.Sean RameswaramAnd of course, you cast your movie with a bunch of teenagers. I wanted to ask whether something about this buildup and this letdown felt sort of essentially teenage to you.Kyle MooneyIm sure that is true. The story we were always interested in telling was, to a degree, a riff on teen culture of the era, specifically, like, all of these movies were coming out that were geared toward us. It was Shes All That, Cant Hardly Wait, American Pie, 10 Things I Hate About You. To a degree, I dont know that I thought in terms of, like, this is speaking to teenagedom as much as like, this is sort of like the culture that was being blasted to me, and I wanted to return to that.Sean RameswaramUnlike all those movies you just named, this movie takes a fairly dark turn. As much as youre willing to share with people, what happens when the clocks strike 12 in Y2K, your movie?Kyle MooneyAt midnight, the machines go crazy and start killing people, essentially. Its weird. I dont feel like Ive ever made anything that has maybe been so violent, but I was really excited by just taking left turns and doing something that elicits reaction. I really hope that if people see it, you know, there are some laughs, there are some tears, and there are some moments of like, Oh my shit, thats fucking crazy. Sean Rameswaram[Laughs.]Kyle MooneyDid I say, Oh my shit? Sean Rameswaram[Laughs.] You did.Kyle MooneyOh my shit. I kind of dont hate that.Director Kyle Mooney with the movies stars, actors Rachel Zegler and Jaeden Martell. Nicole RivelliSean RameswaramWeve also got a long lineage of movies in which technology turns on us and terrorizes us. And Y2K, your movie, is the latest. Why do we love to watch technology try and kill us? Did you think about that while you were making this movie?Kyle MooneyI think that fear is constantly present. I feel like with the introduction of electronics and robotics, theres always been that thought that, like, when is the point that these things are going to turn on us? And even in the course of working on this movie, we started in 2019 and now its 2024 that its coming out. Weve seen an evolution of AI and its seemingly become more threatening and more real than even it was when we first started talking about this.Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, Julian Dennison in Y2K. Nicole RivelliSean RameswaramA lot of the actors in your movie werent even alive on New Years Eve 1999. Did you have to have, like, Camp Y2K, where you kind of gave them the essentials of what life was like back then?Kyle MooneyWe made playlists for them. We sent them lists of movies to watch. And, you know, any phrase or reference they didnt know, obviously, wed fill them in. It was really on them to decide how much they wanted to invest in learning about the culture and the time. I think the characters, even though they are these archetypes of the period and some of them are very distinctly late 90s, early 2000s, there is a universal quality to them I think that even our young actors could relate to the vulnerability of being this age.Sean RameswaramY2K, beyond your movie even, is having a moment. I mean, there are Y2K vintage clothing stores. Charli XCX, who had a huge year, has a song on her album called Von Dutch. Did the fact that Y2K is back in so many ways you know, kids using digital point-and-shoot cameras again help you sell this movie to A24? Kyle MooneyI think so. I mean, I cant say that Im like the king of the zeitgeist by any means, you know what I mean? But you kind of got a sense that Y2K as a fashion aesthetic was coming back. But its grown in the time from the conceptualization to now. And now I feel like Im just lucky that were getting it out in time because were probably at a moment where people will be sick of it after this, you know what I mean? And we could be like a month or two away.Sean RameswaramDo you think we can learn anything from Y2K, from your experience making this movie?Kyle MooneyYou know, Y2K was something that we were overprepared for. And, like we said, nothing happened. There were people working on these computers and making sure that we were ready. So there are these unsung heroes. Who knows what would have happened if they hadnt done the work that they did? But I think weve seen in our fairly recent culture and history that there are moments that we were not prepared for and that then kind of shifted our lives. And so there is something to always be thoughtful about, like, Okay, we should maybe take this somewhat seriously and think about it and make sure were all good if something bad were to happen. Lets not be super obsessive about it, but lets be smart about it.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Theres often a threshold for how weird something can sound beyond which most people stop taking it seriously. One of the quickest ways to kill a conversation, for example, is to start telling someone about that strange dream you had. Perhaps an even more surefire way to land on the far side of that threshold is to tell them about your trip on one of the most bizarre, powerful, and under-studied psychedelic drugs: DMT, or, if you speak chemistry, N,N-dimethyltryptamine.Tales of hyperdimensional worlds populated by various intelligent creatures tiny machine elves eager to teach you the universes secrets or giant praying mantises that seem to harvest human emotions are commonplace in DMT trip reports. Because these trips are so bizarre, even compared to other psychedelics, DMT has largely lived on the fringes of the ongoing revival in psychedelic research and therapy. Ketamine clinics are spawning left and right. MDMA therapy teeters on the brink of government approval. Legal psilocybin centers are set to open across multiple states. But DMT, once called the nuclear bomb of the psychedelic family by Harvard psychologist and psychedelic hype-man Timothy Leary, has lagged pretty far behind in mainstream attention and scientific interest.Thats slowly starting to change. We unashamedly think theres value here, beyond the weird stuff, neuroscientist Chris Timmermann, who leads the DMT Research Group at Imperial College London, told me. Like its more conventional psychedelic counterparts, DMT could play a role in psychedelic therapy, offering a new treatment for conditions ranging from depression to cluster headaches and it could even serve as a kind of rocket fuel for the science of consciousness. The compound naturally occurs in a variety of mammals and plants. DMT is everywhere, wrote chemist Alexander Shulgin, who created nearly 200 psychedelics through the late 20th century. Humans have been ingesting a slow-acting form of it for at least a few hundred, and perhaps thousands of years by boiling DMT-containing vines and leaves to make the psychoactive brew ayahuasca. But scientists didnt figure out how to isolate, extract, and ingest pure DMT on its own until 1956, which branched the drug off from ayahuasca into its own history.On high doses of DMT, the self does not disappear. Instead, the self feels largely intact, but transported to alternate worlds reconstructed out of the chaos. If Timothy Leary was the high priest of LSD in the 1960s, the eccentric philosopher Terrence McKenna became DMTs rhapsodic bard a generation later. My entire expectation of the nature of the world was just being shredded in front of me, McKenna recalled of his first trip. All this stuff was just so weird and so alien and so un-English-able that it was a complete shock I mean, the literal turning inside out of my intellectual universe.Terrence McKenna. San Francisco Chronicle/Getty ImagesLike other psychedelics, DMT was pushed underground when President Richard Nixon outlawed it in 1970. Well before todays psychedelic renaissance, it was research on DMTs hallucinogenic effects led by psychiatrist Rick Strassman in the early 1990s that marked the first return of legal psychedelic research.In the decades since, other psychedelics have claimed the spotlight, but in the last few years, DMT research has shown hints of a resurgence. The drugs unique properties may make it both a more convenient therapy and a more powerful tool for studying the mind than its trippy counterparts: While psilocybin or LSD trips run for several hours, a DMT trip winds down after just 20 minutes, and unlike with other psychedelics, users dont build up a tolerance to DMT that diminishes its impact.DMTs propensity to construct rich alternate realities in the minds of its users can also help push the study of consciousness into new terrain. The drug puts the minds ability to create immersive, convincing models of the world on full display the very same thing our minds do during ordinary consciousness (and dreams). And if DMT can simulate that process in a quick and controllable way, then studying the mechanics of DMT trips could help us learn more about the construction of our sober minds, too. Still, even with all the worlds research funding and best scientific minds, we may never be able to truly explain what happens under the influence of this peculiar molecule but theres certainly more to know than we do now. So to the woefully incomplete degree thats currently possible, heres the news on DMT as we know it today, in not-quite-all of its curious and under-studied glory.When pure DMT hit the scenePure DMT was first synthesized in 1931 but was set aside, leaving its effects unknown. It wasnt until 1956 that the first straight DMT hit was reported. Hungarian pharmacologist Stephen Szra had wanted to study LSD, but upon requesting some from the Swiss Sandoz Laboratories, which had been supplying to psychiatrists in the 1950s, he was denied. Communist governments scared them enough, but communists with acid? That was too risky.No matter, thought Szra. He pored over the existing psychedelic literature, found research identifying DMT as an active ingredient in longstanding psychedelic drinks of the Amazon, extracted it from the Mimosa hostilis plant, and became the first person to describe what happens when you take a hit.The DMT molecule, in all of its mundane molecular glory Lena Gadanski/Getty ImagesFrom his Budapest laboratory, Szra reported brilliantly coloured oriental motifs and, later, wonderful scenes altering very rapidly. Immediately after, he recruited volunteers from his hospital to try the strange drug. In these first DMT trials throughout the late 1950s, participants reported rooms full of spirits and curious objects.DMT is the most efficient reality-switching molecule currently known to exist Andrew GallimoreRumors of the immensely powerful, conveniently short-lasting psychedelic began to spread through the 1960s counterculture (famously, they were pretty into mind-altering drugs). By 1962, word of DMT reached Timothy Leary, who was then researching psychedelics at Harvard. He ran experiments that applied his idea of carefully crafting the set and setting of a trip focusing on how everything from a rooms lighting to ones preexisting cultural ideals shape the psychedelic experience to DMT. Though Learys experiments successfully nudged them toward increasingly positive experiences, DMT trips remained indelibly weird and never rose to the level of LSD among the countercultures preferred vehicles for exploring altered states of consciousness. When it was outlawed under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, the modest interest that remained was largely put on ice.The freeze lasted until the early 1990s, when Strassman managed to jump through the heap of regulatory hoops to carry out legal DMT research at the University of New Mexico, making DMT the origin of todays revival in psychedelic science. He went on to publish a book in 2000 that dubbed DMT the spirit molecule, which was later adapted into one of the most-viewed documentaries on Netflix, starring podcaster Joe Rogan. Still, DMT remained concentrated more on podcasts and internet forums than in the medical and therapeutic highways toward mainstream acceptance like MDMA and psilocybin. High-profile psychedelics research like much of neuroscientist Roland Griffithss work at Johns Hopkins or studies funded by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has tended to focus on psilocybin or MDMA. By 2019, the worlds first dedicated academic center for psychedelic science opened at Imperial College London, where Timmermann was finishing up his PhD on the neuroscience of DMT. After advising a few PhD students also working on DMT, he figured, Lets make this into a group and focus our energies into understanding [DMT] from a consciousness perspective, launching the universitys DMT Research Group in 2022.Now, Timmermann said, theres definitely traction here. And the way to develop that is by doing good science. What its like to take DMTNow, the fun stuff. Neurobiologist Andrew Gallimore, author of a forthcoming book on the history and science of DMT, Death by Astonishment, has called it the most efficient reality-switching molecule currently known to exist, almost instantaneously transporting the tripper from the Consensus Reality Space to a bizarre hyperdimensional omniverse teeming with superintelligent entities of every (un)imaginable form and character.Well get to all that, but lets move slowly.Recreationally, most people smoke DMT either from a pipe or, especially nowadays, a vape pen. The effects kick in within a few seconds, before you can even exhale the first hit. All psychedelic experiences are dose dependent a gram and a half of dried mushrooms might as well be a different drug than 5 grams and with DMT in particular, ascending doses lead not just to more intense experiences, but to different kinds altogether.Theres no agreed upon map of what psychonauts (self-experimenters who explore altered states of consciousness) call the DMT space. Different people slice it up in different ways, with varying degrees of detail. Some taxonomies have six levels, with names like The Magic Eye Level and The Waiting Room. Others have mapped out four-step ladders. For brevitys sake, Im going to zoom out as much as possible and cram the weirdness of DMT trips into three simple categories: low, medium, and high doses. At low doses, the onset of DMT feels similar to other psychedelics. Colors grow more vivid, your body may tingle, the world appears a bit crisper, as though the contrast and saturation have been dialed up. A portentous, ambient sense of meaning begins to set in, whats been called the noetic quality of psychedelic trips.Have questions, comments, or ideas? Email me: oshan.jarow@voxmedia.com.At medium doses, that vivid picture of the world begins to dissolve into classically psychedelic imagery: swirling geometric patterns, flashing colors and shapes, and a general deconstruction of ordinary perception into chaos. Your ordinary sense of self, too, while not obliterated or dissolved, will likely begin to lose its familiar anchors in space and time.Then there are high, or breakthrough, doses (around 2030 milligrams and up), where the distinctly DMT-flavored weird stuff starts to happen. The incoherent imagery of a medium dose snaps into a new kind of coherence, reconstructing a very high-definition world, albeit one that looks entirely different from what were familiar with. When people talk about exploring other dimensions on DMT, its this dose theyre talking about.If the dose is sufficient the user bursts through a kind of membrane into an entirely novel domain unlike anything within this universe, as Gallimore put it. The most striking feature of this DMT space is its structure, often described as hyperdimensional. In our normal states of consciousness, human perception tends to see space as flat, even though, ever since Einsteins theory of relativity, weve known that mass bends space and time. Some consciousness researchers believe that on high doses of DMT, perception takes on this kind of curvy geometry. That could help explain why the experiences are so strikingly unusual, and why its so hard to describe them back in our sober minds. But since DMT trips only last a few minutes, people often feel that theyre pulled out of the oddly curved DMT worlds right as they begin to find their bearings, or, as we should probably now get into, before they can finish their conversations with the entities.One of the strangest things about these breakthrough doses are the entities. I was neither intellectually nor emotionally prepared for the frequency with which contact with beings occurred in our studies, nor the often utterly bizarre nature of these experiences, Strassman wrote of his DMT experiments in the 90s. Not everyone meets entities on DMT, but it happens often enough that it seems like more than a random quirk. A 2022 analysis of 10 years worth of trip reports posted on the r/DMT subreddit, totalling 3,778 DMT experiences, 45.5 percent included entity encounters, including: deities, aliens, creature-based entities like reptilian and insect beings, mythological beings, machine elves, and jesters. An artistic rendition of a DMT entity. Spencer Whalen/Getty ImagesWhile McKenna, who succeeded Leary as the voice of the psychedelic counterculture, is often credited with spreading the idea and expectation of encountering self-transforming machine elves in DMT space, humans have been encountering other seemingly intelligent beings while under the influence of DMT since well before he had his first trip in 1965. One of the hallmarks of ayahuasca is encountering other spirits and beings, so much so that ayahuasca is often personified as Mother Aya.Even among the early pure DMT users in Szras experiments in the 1950s, people reported seeing strange creatures, dwarfs or something. A young physician recalled that The whole room is filled with spirits. Another stated, In front of me are two quiet, sunlit Gods I think they are welcoming me into this new world.A whole scientific literature is emerging to document the different kinds of entities people meet in DMT spaces. (And outside of peer review, theres a debate over whether these entities and alternate dimensions are real. Gallimore, for example, has argued for conducting diplomacy with the DMT entities, since we cant rule out their existence.) Either way, the full-on construction of novel worlds and beings gives scientists an opportunity to study the mind in the midst of one of its most dazzling abilities: creating worlds of experience. You can track the brain as its dissolving the habitual model of the world and generating a novel one that has equal or even deeper feelings of immersion, Timmerman told me.What DMT could mean for the science of consciousnessDMT, along with the other classical psychedelics psilocybin, LSD, and mescaline share a primary mechanism of action, binding to the serotonin 2A receptor and scrambling activity across both the brains default-mode and salience networks (brain regions responsible for self-referential thinking and helping our brains choose what information is worth paying attention to). DMT also binds to the sigma-1 receptor, which a team of Hungarian researchers recently found helps protect brain cells when they lack oxygen, as in a stroke. At least one neuroscientist thinks that could help explain the whole entities thing.Also like other classical psychedelics, DMT is neither physiologically addictive (though any drug carries abuse potential) nor toxic to the brain (per that sigma-1 research, it could actually be neuroprotective). Still, DMT experiences can be destabilizing. One of the main risks is sometimes called ontological shock, where someones worldview is undermined in a way that causes lasting distress. One survey of 2,561 DMT users found that more than half who identified as atheists before their DMT trips no longer identified as atheist afterward. Theres nothing wrong with abandoning atheism per se, but upending worldviews should always be handled with care, caution, and available support.That said, upending worldviews in reliable, controlled, and targeted ways could also help advance our understanding of how minds construct worldviews in the first place. So far, though, psychedelics havent quite lived up to their promise of revolutionizing the science of consciousness. The big limitation on the use of psychedelics to understand the mind and brain concerns how difficult it is to isolate components of the psychedelic experience that were interested in, said Timmermann. His hope is that short trips associated with DMT, which can be repeated in quick succession without diminishing in intensity, will prove more easily interpretable to scientists working in lab settings. For example, DMT research is already turning up a curious pattern that hasnt emerged with other psychedelics. One of the major findings in psychedelic science has been that the entropy or randomness, complexity, and disorder of brain activity is a kind of signature of a trips intensity. Stronger trips are associated with higher levels of entropy in the brain, all the way to reports of ego dissolution, dubbed the entropic brain hypothesis by neuroscientist Robin Carhart-Harris. Most psychedelics push our minds from order to disorder. One surprising thingA 2006 study found that two months after taking psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, two-thirds out of 30 volunteers rated their trip as one of the five most meaningful experiences of their lives.Read Voxs reporting on the science of how psychedelics crank up the dial of meaningful experiences here.DMT fits this mold, up to a point. Low to medium doses show a reduction in the alpha frequency of brain waves (which correspond to relaxed and wakeful states), along with rising entropy, a signature finding of sober brains sinking deeper into a trip.But in high doses of DMT, that trend flips. The self does not disappear. Instead, the self feels largely intact, but transported to alternate worlds reconstructed out of the chaos. The rising entropy gives way to new neural signatures of order. Were starting to see the emergence of low-frequency brain waves in the breakthrough state, usually called delta or theta waves, Timmermann said. Whats intriguing about them is that these brain waves are very much present when people are asleep and dreaming. And theres a resonance between dreams and the DMT state, the deconstruction of the assumptions about external waking life and the reconstruction of a novel world of experience.These contractions in brain entropy, as Timmermann called them, tend to happen when his team asks tripping study participants to pay attention to a single, salient feature of their experience, like an entity. Our perceptual systems are finding a way to make sense out of this chaos, he said. Researchers hope that probing how DMT deconstructs and reconstructs our experiences of the world can make at least some progress on psychedelic sciences original promise of a major leap in our understanding of consciousness. Our scientists are interested in how world-modeling actually comes about, and whether something like DMT can simulate that for us, said Timmermann. That, in turn, can help us understand how we generate a model of the world in our habitual, daily lives. Next year, Timmermanns research group is moving to University College London, where theyll add DMTs molecular relative, 5-MeO-DMT (bufo), to their research agenda, which, I kid you not, is considered even stronger than DMT. If DMT can help scientists study how brains model worlds, bufo can show what happens when the brain stops modeling everything altogether and a bare form of consciousness without content remains.5-MeO-DMT is like the modeler of no-worlds its like a canvas without the paint on it. If we can have that experience, then you can look into the more fundamental, core workings of the mind and brain, said Timmermann. Together, DMT and bufo could make for a hell of a one-two punch in the future of consciousness science.What the heck is DMT doing in the human body?Another mystery sets DMT apart from just about every other psychedelic: Its naturally produced by the human body, and no one knows why. Research published in 2019 led by a team at the University of Michigan found that some parts of the mammalian brain can have similar levels of DMT as they do serotonin, a neurotransmitter that regulates a huge variety of important functions, from behavior and mood to memory.When trace amounts of naturally occurring DMT were first found in humans in 1965, scientists speculated that it may underlie mental illness, like schizophrenia. Further research found that DMT might actually mitigate symptoms of psychosis, which tanked that idea pretty quickly.Next, in 1976, it was proposed that DMT might be a neurotransmitter, akin to serotonin and dopamine, that has a functional role in the body. Serotonin is popularly associated with happiness, dopamine with motivation and pleasure but what the heck would DMT be doing in the neurochemistry of our minds?A 2022 review of the last 60 years of debate over DMTs function concluded that DMT is likely doing something in the brain. But in the two years since, new research has turned up more questions than answers. Its tempting to speculate. When Strassman called DMT the spirit molecule, he meant it rather literally: Its function in the brain, he argued, is simply to elicit psychological states that we call spiritual. Research published in 2019 showed that levels of DMT in rat brains spike during cardiac arrest, lending some substance to a link between DMT and near-death experiences. But neuroscientist Jimo Borjigin, lead author of that study and considered one of the worlds leading experts on the puzzle of DMT in the human body, put it bluntly: We know nothing seriously! about the role of endogenous DMT.Mainstreaming DMTFor all the far-out ridiculousness of DMT the curvy geometry, the mischievous but generally benevolent elves, the prospect of hidden dimensions it could have remarkably practical applications. Studies are beginning to corroborate anecdotes, for example, that DMT could treat cluster headaches, one of the most painful conditions known to humankind. DMT could also offer a few advantages over the current generation of psychedelic therapy treatments that rely on MDMA or psilocybin. The big one is money: Psychedelic therapy is incredibly expensive. A few months of MDMA therapy recently tested in clinical trials cost about $11,537 per patient, nearly half of which came from paying two therapists to stay with each patient for a full eight hours during the MDMA sessions. DMT, since it winds down within 20 minutes, could make for much more affordable treatments.Gallimore and Strassman have proposed the possibility of extending DMT trips via a steady IV drip, keeping levels of DMT in the body elevated and stable much like we do with anesthesia during surgery. Last year, researchers from Imperial College London kept 11 healthy volunteers in the DMT space for an extended period of 30 minutes, demonstrating for the first time that extended DMT, or DMTx, works and that the length and intensity of DMT therapy sessions could be customized to patient preferences. When we speak about precision psychiatry and how to treat individuals according to their specific profiles and needs, a plastic and dynamic psychedelic experience could make things cheaper and more effective, said Timmermann.DMT has already shown promising results for depression, and clinical trials are underway and patents being filed for DMT as an injectable treatment. Extended DMT would be exciting news on the consciousness science front, too. The longer people can stay in the strange worlds of DMT space, the more access that gives scientists and psychonauts alike to one of the minds most fascinating tricks: constructing worlds of experience. And even though these worlds may be so alien that many of us might be tempted to write them off, theres no explanation for our universe, no matter how sober, that isnt unfathomably weird, as philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel writes in his book, The Weirdness of the World. Theres only a complex blossoming of bizarre possibilities, where something radically contrary to common sense must be true about the fundamental structures of the mind and the world.Given how DMT seems to shred just about every bit of common sense, perhaps itll help turn up some answers. Whether that happens may depend on efforts to rein DMT in from the fringes of psychedelia. Given its ubiquity in nature, theres plenty to go around. And given its presence in our bodies, we all stand to gain from a better understanding of what its doing there and why taking more of it leads to what remains perhaps the most bizarre kinds of experiences humans have yet encountered. Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Destiny 2's Exotic vendor, Xur, is back again this week Here's how to find him, what he's selling, and whether we recommend his offerings before he vanishes again.

Fans are left wondering how many fingers a zombified Santa Claus would have after a new Black Ops 6 loading screen was accused of being created by generative AI

Live service games are destroying gaming and publishers minds Readers FeatureGameCentralPublished December 8, 2024 1:00am XDefiant another failure to add to the list (Ubisoft)A reader is worried that publishers like Sony and Ubisoft will destroy themselves before they give up trying to copy Fortnite and other live service games.While some people complain about Sonys lack of announcements recently, or Xboxs apparent cluelessness, I think the real problem in the last few years is that its shattered any illusion that the people in charge of games companies at least those in the West have any idea what theyre doing or any concern other than the shortest of short term gains.Obviously, all these companies care about is money, thats no kind of revelation, but I think the shock has been that none of them have any concern about maintaining the industry at large. Theyd let the whole thing burn down rather than make the tiniest effort to do something that doesnt instantly and directly benefit them. Short-sighted isnt the word, not when someone like Sony stops making games and then wonders why less people are buying their consoles.Rather than address the problem of games costing too much to make they instead just stop making them and sack hundreds of people. They replace talented artists with AI but never think of doing the same with their brain dead CEOs. In short, they make the worst decision possible at every moment and absolutely never learn their lessons.This, of course, brings me to live service titles. Its been seven years now since Fortnite Battle Royale became the biggest game on the planet and still it hasnt got through to publishers that copying its success isnt easy, not through all that time and all the dozens, if not hundreds, of failed copycats.Its very hard not to think about the Far Cry 3 quote about the definition of insanity being to do the same thing again and again and expect a different result.No matter how big the pile of evidence gets, that its near impossible to manufacture a hit live service game, especially not on the scale of Fortnite, they keep trying. And almost always with lame copies of games that already exist, instead of anything actually new.This week we had XDefiant (a bland Call Of Duty clone) throwing in the towel as well as FoamStars (a bland Splatoon clone) and before that Concord (a bland Overwatch clone). They spent eight years making that last one, and XDefiant seemed to have hundreds of people working on it, and yet nobody thought that maybe these werent the most appealing games in the world?I am not the first person to point these problems out and yet it never seems to have occurred to anyone at the publishers. Execs who are no doubt being paid millions a year to make big decisions and who think they understand the industry.I can only imagine these execs and bosses have dollar signs in their eyes, like some old cartoon, and its blinding them to the reality of how difficult live service games are to get right and how it doesnt make sense to waste time and money on something that has such a small chance of success, versus something that does.Not only has the prospect of making the next Fortnite turned them mad, but its made them blind to the damage theyre doing to the games industry. Sony has wasted almost the entire generation on live service games and even if its made a U-turn recently (which we dont know for sure) itll take them another five years or so to get anything close to normal again.Or consider Ubisoft, who are already in talks with Tencent and with every new failure their bargaining position gets worse and worse. These companies are destroying themselves in their obsession with making live service games and in turn the industry itself.When Ubisoft are gone the number of independent third party publishers will be tiny compared to just five years ago. Sony has risked their market position on a stupid gamble everyone else could see would never succeed. You might say that theyre only lucky Microsoft isnt much in the way of competition but at least they havent got the live service fever that everyone else seems to have.More TrendingThe obsession is ruining everyone that gives into it and Im very worried where all this is going to end, because at this point its beginning to seem like only going bust or another industry crash is going to stop this madness.By reader Ishi Concord are lessons being learned? (Sony Interactive Entertainment)The readers features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot. Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you wont need to send an email.GameCentralExclusive 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