So much is discounted during this Steam Winter Sale that it can be hard to decide what to pick up. If youre one of those people and are also someone who enjoys games that arent afraid to experiment with their gameplay mechanics and visual aesthetics, then I have the perfect bundle for you. Its the Okami + Kunitsu-Gami Bundle, which nets you a Capcom classic that just had a sequel announced at The Game Awards as well as one of the years most underrated titles. Pick this bundle up for $40 and youll get two wildly creative, beautiful video game experiences for the price of one.Okami HD - Launch Trailer (PC, PS4, Xbox One)Okami was originally released for PS2 by Capcom in 2006 and remastered with Okami HD in 2017. In it, players control the sun goddess Amaterasu, who takes the form of a white wolf after being summoned to defeat a demon besieging the world of Nippon. Two things made Okami a cult classic: its gorgeous art style and Celestial Brush mechanic. Okamis cel-shaded art style is heavily influenced by Japanese ink-wash paintings, also referred to as Sumi-e. This gives Okami a vibrant look thats full of color and thick black in-lines. While some games have tried to emulate that, none have been able to nail the aesthetic quite like Capcom did.Recommended VideosComplimenting the Sumi-e art style is the Celestial Brush mechanic, which allows players to pause the game and paint the screen with ink. Depending on what players draw, they can do everything from attacking enemies to controlling the elements to solve puzzles. It was an innovative mechanic in 2006 and still feels unique to Okami today. While it began its life as a cult classic, it has transformed into a more widely known and beloved classic over time. Thats why it was surprising to learn at The Game Awards 2024 that, after nearly 20 years, a sequel was in the works. The announcement also gives all of us a perfect reason to revisit Okami or check it out for the first time.Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess - Announce TrailerIf you enjoy Okami, I also think its likely that youll love Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. Theyre very different, but on a spiritual level, they feel like theyre connected thanks to their focus on artistry and innovative game mechanics.RelatedReleased in July 2024, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddessmixes tower defense and strategy game mechanics. The goal of most levels is to guide a maiden from one side of the level to another. To do that, players have to fight off waves of demons called Seethe every night until they gather enough energy to get the maiden to the next Torii gate.Players can fight the demons head-on like in a character action game, but its also critically important to command and place units, tower defense style, around each level to protect the maiden. Its a funky hybrid of gameplay styles, but one that works shockingly well as its intuitive to hop between fighting enemies head-on and commanding units to make sure the maiden is OK. On top of all that, it features a similarly colorful art style influenced by ink-wash paintings, woodblock prints, and Japanese puppet theater.Kunitsu-Gami is one of the best games to release this year, but unfortunately, it didnt meet Capcoms sales expectations. Ironically, thats yet another way its spiritually similar to Okami, which didnt sell well upon its initial PS2 release. The two share a deep connection, and Capcom seems to recognize that considering Kunitsu-Gami has Okami DLC. Simply put, this is a bundle for an excellent, experimental Capcom game power couple you should all check out.CapcomThe Okami + Kunitsu-Gami Bundle will typically cost $60, but it has been discounted to $40.19. While that may be more expensive than some of the other dirt-cheap Steam Winter Sale discounts that draw attention, its a steal if you look at what youre actually getting. Normally, Kunitsu-Gami alone costs $50, and Okami HD is $20. With this bundle deal, youre essentially saving nearly $10 on the game while getting Okami HD free of charge. Kunitsu-Gami standalone is discounted to $40 during the Steam Winter Sale, so from that perspective its worth paying just 19 cents more to also get Okami HD.If you decide to pick up the Okami + Kunitsu-Gami Bundle, you wont regret it. These are two truly fantastic games from Capcom that are unlike anything else youve ever played.Editors Recommendations

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsThe Master of DisasterIt has an all-star castThe practical effects still hold upThe stakes keep getting higherIn the 1970s, disaster movies were the superhero cinema of their day. In other words, these were the films that brought movie fans into theaters, which led to blockbusters like Earthquake, Airport, and The Poseidon Adventure. But the genre reached its zenith 50 years ago this month with the release of The Towering Inferno.Ironically, The Towering Infernos influence can be felt in the disaster films of the 90s, including Titanic and Independence Day, both of which featured large ensemble casts and special effects extravaganzas. During and after its release, The Towering Inferno was recognized for its achievements (the film nabbed eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture). It ended up winning Best Original Song, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing. Yet, the bigger prize for the studios behind the film is that The Towering Inferno made $203.3 million against a $14 million budget. Even now, those are the kind of results that get film executives celebrating with cartwheels and champagne.The Towering Inferno (1974) - Trailer #2But five decades later, this film isnt readily available to stream or rent online, which means audiences have either forgotten about it or they never knew it existed in the first place. Rather than let the 50th anniversary of The Towering Inferno pass unnoticed, its time to share the reasons why it came to define the disaster genre.Recommended Videos20th Century Studios and Warner Bros. PicturesThe primary architect of The Towering Infernos success was producer Irwin Allen, who made his name in the 60s with science fiction TV shows like Lost in Space, The Time Tunnel, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. By 1972, Allen had reinvented himself as a disaster film producer on The Poseidon Adventure, and The Towering Inferno was his chance to make an even bigger splash at the box office.RelatedPerhaps the smartest thing that Allen did in the preproduction of this movie is that he convinced 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. Pictures to team up for The Towering Inferno. Each studio had optioned similar novels for the big screen Fox had the rights to Richard Martin Sterns The Tower, while Warner Bros. secured The Glass Inferno by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson. Allen realized that competing movies would have cannibalized the audience. Once both studios were on board, The Towering Inferno was able to pull characters and stories from both books, which probably went a long way toward the films nearly three-hour runtime. But it also gave Allen the best of both stories to choose from.The Towering Inferno (1974)-Fire StartsIn an unusual move which he also did for The Poseidon Adventure Allen directed the action scenes and made sure that he had a special credit for that. John Guillermin directed the rest of the film. Allen also reunited with composer John Williams who had scored several of Allens previous projects including Lost in Space and The Poseidon Adventure before Williams career reached an even higher level with Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and many others. Williams music for The Towering Inferno may not be among his most iconic scores, but it does give the film a timeless quality.20th Century Studios and Warner Bros. PicturesReportedly, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman both wanted top billing in The Towering Inferno, and the studios found a way to give it to both of them. This is one of the first films to feature staggered but equal billing, where the names of both stars appear diagonally on the screen at the same time during the opening credits. McQueen was arguably a bigger star, but this film belongs to Newman, who appears far more frequently as Doug Roberts, the architect of the Glass Tower who heroically tries to save as many people as possible after a fire breaks out in the high-rise building. McQueens character, San Francisco Fire Department 5th Battalion Chief Michael OHallorhan, doesnt show up until the blaze is well under way, but his character is the last person featured on-screen in the film.Silver-screen icons Fred Astaire and Jennifer Jones have an affecting subplot that plays throughout most of the film. Astaire portrays a con artist, Harlee Claiborne, who tries to romance Lisolette Mueller (Jones), a woman who still cares for him even after he reveals who he really is. This was Jones final role before her retirement from the industry, and she made the most of it, as does Astaire. Their arc ends at the conclusion of the story, which we wont spoil here.The Towering Inferno (1974)- Where there is smoke there is fireThe rest of the cast was also very impressive, and includes William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Vaughn, Robert Wagner, and others. And because of the nature of this story, many of the main characters dont make it out alive.20th Century Studios and Warner Bros. PicturesThe Towering Inferno takes the better part of an hour before the plot literally heats up, but the disaster was the prime attraction for this movie. People came to the theater to watch the building burn, and they werent disappointed. While the design choices of the 70s offices seem laughable in 2024, the fire effects still look really good 50 years later.This film was made in an era long before the advent of CGI, and its practical effects still look pretty convincing. When characters and parts of the building catch on fire, chances are good that real and controlled flames were used in the process.20th Century Studios and Warner Bros. PicturesModern audiences may be put off by the fact that The Towering Inferno doesnt jump right into the disaster. Instead, it follows Roberts as he realizes that the buildings wiring is faulty and potentially dangerous. The fact that he was proven right in less than 24 hours doesnt make him feel any better. During the first 45 minutes, the film also takes the time to establish the burgeoning relationship between Claiborne and Lisolette, as well as an illicit affair between Dan Bigelow (Wagner) and his secretary, Lorrie (Susan Flannery).Among the major characters, Dan and Lorrie are some of the first to meet their tragic ends during the fire. And the movie doesnt show much sympathy for the lovers as theyre separately engulfed in flames. Its a horrible way to die, and they arent the only ones who meet untimely ends before the conclusion of the film. The stakes feel very personal for Roberts, as he puts his own life on the line to help a mother and her children escape. But OHallorhans heroics are also important in the film, as hes also risking his life on the frontlines of the fire. This film does a great job of putting the characters into increasingly dire straits. Even after things have already gone horribly wrong, they can and will get worse.THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974) Clip - Steve McQueen & Paul NewmanThe Towering Inferno does have a satisfactory conclusion, and the death toll from the fire leads to some emotional moments near the end. Guillermin and Irwin didnt forget to give this movie some heart, and that may be why it still makes an impact 50 years later.Buy The Towering Inferno on Prime Video.Editors Recommendations

The Brutalist Score DetailsThe Brutalist is a beguiling, awe-inspiring epic that feels like it could have been made 50 years ago. It's one of 2024's best films.ProsAdrien Brody and Guy Pearce's career-best performancesLol Crawley's transportive cinematographyDaniel Blumberg's epic, heart-swelling scoreConsA third act that occasionally borders on ham-fistedThe Brutalist is a big film with big questions and a gargantuan 215-minute runtime to match the size and scope of its ambition. It is a drama with characters who feel like they could have been pulled straight out of the pages of a Great American Novel, and it is set in a post-WWII period of America that it so lovingly recreates that you fall easily and seamlessly into its formalistic, dreamlike embrace. It openly invites comparisons to past, iconic American epics like The Godfather, Heavens Gate, The Master, and There Will Be Blood, despite being made for considerably less money than all of those movies.It is a film covered in the fingerprints of auteurs like Paul Thomas Anderson, whose past explorations of the oppressiveness of certain social, economic, and industrial systems seem to have not just influenced The Brutalist, but guided its entire creation. Some will argue that its debt to its spiritual predecessors is too obvious and that its attempts to recreate the aesthetic and look of other, similarly ambitious epics are too self-conscious. But the self-conscious nature of The Brutalists cinematic endeavor is the point. It is a film that wants to root viewers in a visual language they know and yet may have forgotten, especially during a time when Hollywoods interest in expansive adult dramas like those that inspired The Brutalist seems to be at an all-time low.Recommended VideosIts a big movie about the value and the cost of pursuing big artistic visions. Its hero is an immigrant whose dreams are too large for a man with so little existing social and economic standing to achieve on his own. In order to bring them to life, he must concede a portion of himself and his life. Such is the case in a world where big dreams so often require more money than their dreamers themselves possess.A24The Brutalist begins where so many other immigrant stories before it have: within the dark, cramped confines of a creaking metal boat. As the ships horns blow, Lszl Tth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian-Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, struggles to climb his way out of its pitch-black lower quarters and into the light of its upper deck. When he eventually does, he looks up to see the Statue of Liberty towering over him in a handheld camera pan masterfully executed by director Brady Corbet and cinematographer Lol Crawley that initially captures the American symbol a welcome to all immigrants crooked and upside down. This moment, striking enough to provoke a shocked gasp in the theater, is as close to a mission statement as The Brutalist comes, a warning that the dreams we pursue more often than not turn out differenty than we imagined them to be.RelatedThe Brutalist follows Lszl as he makes his way from New York to Philadelphia to live with his cousin, Attila (Kravens Alessandro Nivola), who owns a fledgling furniture store with his wife, Audrey (Emma Laird). In the first of many moments in which Lszls conception of America is marred, he is understandably left aghast when he discovers the lengths Attila has gone to cover up his Jewish identity, as well how casually his cousin seems to have accepted his perceived need to do so. Lszl nonetheless begins working for Attila and, before long, the two men are commissioned by Harry Lee Van Buren (a suitably arrogant Joe Alwyn) to renovate the dusty personal library of his wealthy industrialist father, Harrison (Guy Pearce).Despite its 3-plus-hour runtime, The Brutalist cruises through its first hour at a disarming speed. Corbet and co-writer Mona Fastvolds screenplay does a remarkable job of keying viewers into not only Lszls immigrant journey, but also his talent. You sit back and wait in anxious anticipation for the moment when someone will discover his potential. That moment comes when Harrison seeks out Lszl to apologize for his initial, negative reaction to his and Attilas renovation and also ask him about his work in Europe before the war. As he looks upon images of the buildings that he designed before he was deemed undesirable by the Nazis, Lszl is brought to tears. Harrison, whose curiosity is further piqued by Lszls emotional reaction, quickly ingratiates the brutalist architect into his high-society circles and commissions him to design a new building in rural Pennsylvania.A24The job quickly consumes Lszls every waking moment, even when his wife, Erzsbet (Felicity Jones), whom he was forcibly separated from by the Nazis, emigrates from Europe and joins him in the States. In his partnership with Harrison, Lszl sees a chance to create another building that wont just as he remarks during one key conversation in The Brutalists first act defy the erosion of time and politics, but also stand as a monument to the pain that he and his people suffered during the Holocaust. In order to bring this vision to life, though, he must navigate Harrisons many mood swings and reminders of the financial control he holds over Lszl and his latest dream. The Brutalist, notably, doesnt frame this conflict so much as a There Will Be Blood-esque battle of wills as it does another process that an immigrant artist like Lszl must simply endure and survive.The Brutalist treats Harrisons manipulation and long-unaddressed abuse of Lszl with a fatalistic touch that, unlike the heroin Lszl takes to cope with the pain of an injury he suffered during his boat trip to America, doesnt numb you to the films heart-wrenching power. Instead, it only envelopes you further in your sympathy for Lszl and Erzsbet, two people whose past traumas, as Jones and Brody both convey in different, thorny ways, have affected them on a physical, bone-deep level. Opposite his two co-stars, Pearce nearly runs away with The Brutalist, playing Harrison at first with such an astonishing level of self-confidence that you are, for a time at least, swept up in his charm. The full extent of his desire to control Lszl is finally revealed in The Brutalists best and most sickening sequence a brief trip to the mountains of Italy that hauntingly captures the difference between those who wish to respect and honor the beauty of the world and those who wish to merely own it themselves.A24As a filmmaker, Corbet has never been one to shy away from a big swing. His two previous features, 2015s The Childhood of a Leader and 2018s Vox Lux, are proof of that. Never before, though, has Corbet managed to combine his always admirable artistic ambitions and his cynical, sometimes limiting perspective as successfully as he does in The Brutalist. It is a film that, like Vox Lux, is made with a level of technical skill that is impossible to deny. In addition to Corbets steady, calculated direction and Crawleys atmospheric, surreal cinematography, The Brutalist also benefits greatly from composer Daniel Blumbergs percussive score, which chugs assuredly along at all times, propelling the film forward and imbuing it with swells of emotion and grandeur that make the titanic scope of its story all the more effective.Here, Corbet has captured a kind of frustrated hopelessness that feels as specific to its characters and their story as it does timeless. They do not want us here! Lszl screams at Erzsbet during one climactic argument, assuaging her of her belief that theyll ever truly be welcomed in America. The problem is that they were not wanted in Europe, either. Erzsbet does her best to hold on to her dream of Israel as a potential haven for her and Lszl, but what The Brutalist taps into with devastating precision is the sense that there isnt anywhere any of us can go to feel valued and safe. That is a dark thought, but one that has felt true for decades and continues to.A24Even if this is a world that does not want our ideas, though, that does that mean we must give up on them. There are still ways to bring even the grandest of our dreams into being. The Brutalist, a film that took six years to make, is proof of that. The question we must all ask ourselves, and which The Brutalist does, is how much pain we are willing to endure to make our dreams reality. At what point does the cost overtake the reward? How much of a victory, in other words, is creation alone?The Brutalist opens in select theaters Friday, December 20.Editors Recommendations

Under the sea Green sea turtle gets relief from bubble butt syndrome thanks to 3D printing Boat collision left Charlotte stranded at the surface and in danger of predation. Jacek Krywko Dec 21, 2024 7:25 am | 5 Charlotte the turtle Credit: Laura Shubel Charlotte the turtle Credit: Laura Shubel Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreCharlotte, a green sea turtle, was hit by a boat back in 2008. This left it with an affliction colloquially referred to as the bubble butt, a kind of floating syndrome that makes it impossible for a turtle to dive. Most sea turtles suffering from issues like this simply die at sea, since the condition leaves them stranded at the surface where they cant forage, sleep, and avoid predators like sharks. But fate had other plans for Charlotte.Charlotte didnt end up as a sharks lunch and didnt starve to death floating helplessly in the ocean. Instead, it got rescued shortly after the boat accident and eventually found a home at Mystic Aquarium in Stonington, Connecticut, where it received professional care. That was the first time Charlotte got lucky. The second time came when a collaboration formed: Adia, a company specializing in 3D-printing solutions; Formlabs, one of the worlds leading manufacturers of 3D printers; and New Balance Athletic, a sportswear giant based in Boston. This team chose Charlotte as a technology showcase, which basically turned the turtle into an Oscar Pistorius of the seajust without the criminal conviction.Weights and dietSea turtles are marine reptiles, which means they dont have gills like fishthey need air to breathe. The lungs also play a key role in their buoyancy regulation system, which allows them to rest for extended periods of time at the sea floor or float at a precisely chosen depth. A sea turtle can precisely choose the depth at which it achieves neutral buoyancy by inhaling the exactly right volume of air.Their lungs therefore serve a dual-purposethey are an oxygen storage, but they also enable a turtle to maintain a chosen position under water. The issue with Charlotte and many other turtles is a bubble butt syndrome, where there are gas pockets causing added buoyancy, says Alex Pestana, a Formlabs manager involved in helping Charlotte.Two main reasons those gas pockets appear in turtles are plastics and boat strikes.When a turtle consumes something it cant digestlike parts of fishing nets, plastic bottles, or even rubber gloves (yes, there was a sea turtle found with a rubber glove in its intestines)it sometimes gets stuck somewhere along its gastrointestinal tract. This, in turn, causes gases to gather there, which throws the turtles buoyancy out of balance.Those gases usually gather in the parts of the gastrointestinal tract located near the rear of the turtle, so the animal is left floating bum-up at an unnatural angle. Conditions like that are sometimes curable with dietary modifications, assisted feeding, fluid therapy, and other non-invasive means to the point where afflicted animals can be safely released back into the wild. Boat strikes, on the other hand, often lead to permanent damage.Sea turtles shells are tough but not tough enough to withstand a boat impact, especially when the shell gets hit by a propeller blade. This often leaves a shell deformed, with air bubbles trapped underneath it. In more severe cases, the spinal cord under the shell also gets damaged, which leads to complete or partial paralysis.The most popular approach to rehabilitating these injuries relies on gluing Velcro patches to the shell at carefully chosen spots and attaching weights to those patches to counteract the buoyancy caused by the air bubbles. This is a pretty labor-intensive task that has to be done repeatedly every few months for the rest of the turtles life. And green sea turtles can live as long as 80 years. Charlotte swimming with the harness on. Credit: Laura Shubel Charlotte swimming with the harness on. Credit: Laura Shubel Harnessing advanced manufacturingCharlotte, as a boat strike victim with air bubbles trapped under its deformed shell, was considered non-releasable and completely dependent on human care. Since full recovery was not an option, Mystic Aquarium wanted to make everyday functioning more bearable for both the turtle and its caretakers. It got in touch with Adia, which in turn got New Balance and Formlabs onboard. Their idea was to get rid of the Velcro and replace them with a harness fitted with slots for weights.The work started with a 3D scan of Charlottes shell. The scan was the starting point for a New Balance computational design team. And the task proved quite hard.For starters, turtles, as all reptiles, grow all their lifetheir growth rate slows down dramatically when they reach mature sizes, but it never stops. Turtle shells also change over time, with individuals shedding some features and replacing them with new ones. So permanently attaching weights was out of the question.The air bubbles beneath Charlottes shell also shifted at times, which meant the harness had to make repositioning the weights possible. Finally, through years of swimming at an awkward 45-degree angle, the turtle mostly used its fore flippers, which led to atrophy of the hind limbs.The goal then was to gradually get Charlotte used to using its hind flippers again by leveling its position gradually using small weights at the start and moving to larger weights later on.When New Balance finally designed a harness that checked all the boxes, the CAD files went to Formlabs for 3D printing. Pestanas team prepared those files for 3D printing in a process called slicing, where a digital model is divided into very thin layers. Those sliced models were then fed into the Formlabs Fuse 1 SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) 3D printer. In this process, we take powderized plastic, finer than sand, and we are heating that powder to just about its melting point, Pestana explained. Then we are using a laser to melt itthe laser kind of draws the layers image on the powder, starting from the bottom of the model. Then we recoat the powder for the next layer, and we do that over and over, till the model is printed. To get the right mix of flexibility, stiffness, and impact-resistance, Formlabs made Charlottes harness with carbon fiber-reinforced nylon. And it worked.Future turtle careCharlotte got the harness in December 2024 and, according to its handlers, it is doing great, making progress toward getting its hind flippers moving. But Aida, New Balance, and Formlabs are already thinking about applying this approach at a broader scale. There are definitely several cases like this one. I dont know the exact number, but I know Adia was reached out to by at least four other aquariums that have similar issues. There are many turtles like Charlotte out there in the US and several more across the world, Pestana says.He said 3D printing is particularly useful in helping afflicted animals because it offers a relatively inexpensive, low-volume manufacturing option where each design can be heavily customized. Were talking about designs that are very complex that need to be very specific to the animal and to the injury or trauma the animal suffered, Pestana told Ars. Traditionally you would make designs like that by hand. It would be very labor-intensive, and you probably wouldnt get them quite as optimized to the loads they need to withstand.Adia and New Balance have a vision for helping turtles with floating syndromes that relies on seeking collaborators who can assist in getting the process of manufacturing harnesses as simple and automated as possible. We need workflows that are more streamlined. People are usually not adept in CAD design and all that. Our goal is a system where you could just use a scan data of the shell to generate a harness design we could directly transfer to the SLS system and produce end-use parts, Pestana says. Thats like an end-state. We are trying to get that done.Jacek KrywkoAssociate WriterJacek KrywkoAssociate Writer Jacek Krywko is a freelance science and technology writer who covers space exploration, artificial intelligence research, computer science, and all sorts of engineering wizardry. 5 Comments

Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962.The original Wal-Mart name tag used to look like this one, worn here by Sam Walton. Associated Press As he grew his retail empire, Walton, an experienced pilot, would often fly in unannounced to check in on a particular store location.He married Helen Robson on Valentine's Day in 1942.Sam and Helen had a Valentine's Day wedding. April L. Brown/Associated Press Together, they had four children: Rob, John, Jim, and Alice. By the time Sam died in 1992, he had set up the company ownership in a way that minimized the estate taxes anyone on the receiving end would have to pay.Sam Walton died at the age of 74 of cancer. Rick Wilking/Reuters Source: FortuneHe set up his ownership of Walmart's stock in a family partnership each of his children held 20% of Walton Enterprises, while he and Helen each held 10%. Helen inherited Sam's 10% tax-free when he died.The stocks were carefully divided among the family. Courtesy of Walmart Source: Fortune Samuel Robson "Rob" Walton is the oldest Walton child. He is 80 years old.Rob served as chairman of Walmart for many years. Reuters He served as chairman of Walmart from 1992 until 2015 and remained on the board until this year.He'll retire from the board in 2024. Rick T. Wilking / Stringer / Getty Images He retired from Walmart's board at the end of his term in 2024. Rob made a splash in 2022 by leading an ownership group to buy the Denver Broncos.The group was led by Rob Walton, his daughter Carrie Walton Penner, and her partner Greg Penner. Joe Mahoney/AP The group purchased the NFL team for a $4.65 billion in summer 2022 in a record-breaking sale at the time.Rob has purchased a house in Paradise Valley, Arizona, near the base of Camelback Mountain.Walton owns a house in Paradise Valley, Arizona. Tim Roberts Photography/Shutterstock In the past, protesters have rallied outside of his Arizona home to advocate for better wages and benefits for Walmart workers.Protesters at a Walmart in Boynton Beach, Florida, called for better wages and benefits. J Pat Carter/Associated Press Besides real estate, Rob has a large collection of vintage cars.Walton's personal vintage car collection is not pictured. Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images In 2013, he ran his Daytona Coupe, which was worth $15 million at the time, off the tracks and wrecked it. The car was one of only five ever made.Walton's Daytona Coupe was totaled in a crash. AP Photo/Tom Mihalek Sam Walton's second-oldest child, John Walton, died in a plane crash in 2005.John (right) with his mother (center) and older brother, Rob (left). April L. Brown/Associated Press He was 58 years old. He was married to Christy Walton and had one son, Lukas.Lukas Walton, pictured here, is the grandson of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Walton Family Foundation/YouTube John left about 17% of his wealth to his wife, and he gave the rest to charity and to his son.John Walton left half of his fortune to charitable trusts and a third to his son. AP Source: Business Insider John served in Vietnam as a Green Beret. When he returned from the war he held a series of jobs like the Walmart company pilot, a crop duster, and the owner a few yachting companies before becoming a Walmart board member.John (second from left) pictured with members of his family. AP Photo/Spencer Tirey Source: FortuneIn 2013, Christy decided to sell their Jackson Hole mansion. She also sold the family's ranch for an undisclosed price in 2016 after listing it for $100 million in 2011.The family had a mansion in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Jackson Hole Real Estate Source: Curbed and Ranch Marketing Associates The 8,606-square-foot home was put on the market for $12.5 million.An aerial view of John and Christy Walton's mansion. Google Maps Source: CurbedJames "Jim" Walton is the youngest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton. He is 76 years old.Jim Walton is now 76. Walmart He is chairman of the board of the family's Arvest Bank Group. One of the state's largest banks today, Arvest Bank has assets totaling more than $26 billion.One of many Arvest Bank locations in Bentonville, Arkansas. Google Maps Source: BloombergHe also served on the Walmart board, starting in 2005 to fill the vacancy after his brother John died. Jim Walton's son, Steuart, took over his father's seat on the board in 2016.Jim served on the board for more than a decade. Rick T. Wilking/Stringer/Getty Images Now, he presides over Walton Enterprises the private company that deals with the investments and finances of the Walton family only from modest offices in Bentonville, Arkansas.Jim now manages the family's finances. Google Maps Source: FortuneThe youngest of founder Sam Walton's children, Alice Walton is worth $112 billion, according to Bloomberg. She has been divorced twice and has no children. She is 75 years old.Alice Walton is the youngest of Walmart founder Sam Walton's children. AP/April L. Brown Alice has never taken an active role in running the family business.Alice Walton with Jim Walton in 2013. REUTERS/Rick Wilking Instead, she became a patron of the arts, which she fell in love with at a young age.Alice has spent millions building her art collection. D Dipasupil/Getty Images When she was 10, she bought her first work of art: a reproduction of Picasso's "Blue Nude" for about $2, she told The New Yorker.Picasso's "The Blue Room." Evan Vucci/Associated Press Source:The New YorkerShe has an immense private art collection, with original works from Andy Warhol and Georgia O'Keeffe. Alice opened a museum in Bentonville called Crystal Bridges in 2011 to house her $500 million private art collection.The museum displays both paintings and sculptures, like this one by Alexander Calder (center). Danny Johnston/Associated Press The collection includes a Georgia O'Keeffe painting that Alice spent $44.4 million on in 2014 the biggest sale for a woman's piece of art in history.Georgia OKeeffe, "Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1" (1932), Sotheby's. Courtesy of Sotheby's Source: The ObserverAlice also breeds horses.Besides art, she loves spending time with horses. Associated Press Her Millsap, Texas, property, Rocking W Ranch, sold to the Three Amigos Investment Group of Kermit, Texas, in September 2017 for an undisclosed amount.Alice Walton's ranch was called Rocking W Ranch. Courtesy of WilliamsTrew Source: Star-Telegram Her other, 4,416-acre Texas ranch was previously listed at a reduced price of $22 million.A huge fire pit was built in the backyard. Courtesy of WilliamsTrew The modest, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home overlooks the Brazos River.Alice also bought a two-floor condo on New York's Park Ave. for $25 million in 2014.Park Avenue pictured above at night. Getty Images/Arata Photography Source: Business Insider It has more than 52 large windows overlooking Central Park plus a media room, a winding staircase, and more than 6,000 total square feet of space.View of Central Park from the southeast. evenfh/Shutterstock Source: Business Insider Sam and Helen started the foundation as a way to teach their children how to give back and how to work together.The Walton Family Foundation was established in 1987, when Walmart celebrated its 25th anniversary. Walton Family Foundation/YouTube The charity awards millions of dollars in grants to causes that align with the foundation's values.The foundation awarded $566.5 million in grants in 2022, according to its website. Walton Family Foundation/YouTube The foundation has three main areas of focus:A project put on by the Walton Family Foundation. Walton Family Foundation/YouTube The foundation's focus on education was led by John. His brother Jim said John was really interested in being able to give parents choices when it came to their child's schooling.The foundation was dedicated to supporting children's education. Walton Family Foundation/YouTube Source: Walton Family Foundation Rob spearheaded the foundation's venture into environmental protection. One of the first grants they gave helped develop a sustainable fisheries label.Rob launched the environmental and sustainability branch of the foundation. Walton Family Foundation/YouTube Source: Walton Family FoundationA commitment to the family's home of Arkansas is another large part of the foundation. The website says this area of focus is about "advancing our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta."The Bentonville town square. Walton Family Foundation/YouTube Source: Walton Family Foundation Walmart Inc., which owns Walmart and Sam'

Elon Musk has sparked backlash in Germany after calling for the chancellor to resign and backing the AfD.The German health minister said Musk "should not interfere in our politics."It comes as right-wing leaders in Europe seize on an attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.Elon Musk has stirred controversy in Germany after calling Chancellor Olaf Scholz an "incompetent fool" and backing the country's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.In a post on X, Musk first reshared a video by right-wing influencer Naomi Seibt in which she criticizes Friedrich Merz, one of the leading candidates to become Germany's next chancellor."Only the AfD can save Germany," Musk, who is the richest person in the world, wrote alongside the post.Musk then weighed in on news of an attack on Friday on a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg that killed at least five people.Musk reshared a post purportedly showing an image of the suspect that said the attack was a "DIRECT RESULT of mass unchecked immigration.""Scholz should resign immediately. Incompetent fool," Musk added in a separate post.Leading right-wing figures across Europe have seized on the incident to promote anti-immigrant rhetoric and call for tighter border controls.Musk's comments, which come just two months before Germany is set to hold a snap federal election, have sparked backlash in the country.Scholz appeared to respond indirectly at a press conference in Berlin, saying, "We have freedom of speech here. That also applies to multimillionaires. Freedom of speech also means that you're able to say things that aren't right and do not contain good political advice," per the Guardian.Karl Lauterbach, the German health minister, said on X that Musk "should not interfere in our politics, adding that "his platform profits from hate and incitement and radicalizes people." REUTERS/ Fabian Bimmer The AfD party was established in 2013 as an anti-euro party, but it has since focused more on immigration and has been seen as increasingly far-right.Musk, however, has previously questioned how far-right the party's policies are.In a post on X in June, he wrote:"Why is there such a negative reaction from some about AfD?""They keep saying "far right", but the policies of AfD that I've read about don't sound extremist. Maybe I'm missing something," he added.The Tesla CEO has shown growing support for right-wing leaders, including Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Nigel Farage, leader of the UK's Reform Party.Earlier this week, Farage boasted that Musk was "right behind" him and hinted that the tech mogul might financially back his party.

2024-12-21T13:16:02Z Read in app Angle down iconAn icon in the shape of an angle pointing down. I rode the Santa Claus Express on a trip to Finland. Eibhlis Gale-Coleman This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? I took an overnight train from Helsinki to Lapland that's called the Santa Claus Express.I paid $73 for my seat and the one next to me, so I was able to stretch out on the ride.Santa didn't appear on the 12-hour ride, but I found the journey exciting and festive anyway.This month, I embarked on the overnight rail experience of a lifetime: Finland's Santa Claus Express.The 12-hour train rides from the Finnish capital of Helsinki to Rovaniemi in Lapland the "official home of Santa Claus," known for its Santa Claus Village.For 70 euros, or about $73, I journeyed from the southernmost point of the country into the Arctic Circle.My trip was a real adventure, but there are a few things I wish I'd known beforehand. Some Helsinki hotels offer special checkout packages for guests catching late-night trains.My train left late at night. Eibhlis Gale-Coleman My train left at 11:13 p.m., so after checking out of my hotel at midday, I went and found a place to store my luggage in the city.I also had hours to kill before boarding, so I visited the Senate Square Christmas Market, Temppeliaukio Church, and the Allas Sea Pool working up a sweat in saunas then jumping in freezing water.However, I later learned that many of Helsinki's hotels offer a late-night checkout package for these late-night trains. I don't regret my afternoon in the city, but others might prefer a quick power nap before the overnight journey. The double-seat booking option was perfect.I'm glad I had two seats to myself for the journey. Eibhlis Gale-Coleman My seat was about 47 euros, but the ability to book neighboring seats at a reduced rate was a game changer.I added the 21-euro upgrade on a whim, but it really improved my experience. At 5-foot-3, I comfortably curled across two carpeted seats and managed to get some shut-eye.Because I was traveling during peak season, all the carriages were booked. If I hadn't reserved the seat next to me, I would've been sleeping upright like a sardine with a neighbor.I felt pretty smug being horizontal. I should've brought an eye mask.The lights were on the whole time. Eibhlis Gale-Coleman The biggest kicker was the conductor's insistence on keeping the carriage lights on overnight, apparently to prevent pickpocketing.I get the gist of the strategy, but I'm actually not sure how effective it was for that purpose everyone just covered their faces with their coats instead.I'd undertaken a similar rail journey in Sweden last year and slept like a baby in the darkened passenger cabin. The low lighting even allowed me to spot the northern lights from the window. On the Santa Express? No such luck.Sleeping with the lights on was much harder. In hindsight, I should've brought an eye mask or invested in a private cabin (40 to 160 euros) where I could control the light switch. I didn't need to worry about the food options on the train.I got a lovely croissant and a cup of coffee. Eibhlis Gale-Coleman I'd been worried about food quality on the train, so I hurriedly ate before boarding.In hindsight, I didn't need to scarf down an 11 p.m. dinner. The train's restaurant car had an impressively varied menu.Food service stayed open for dinner until 2 a.m. and reopened for breakfast at 4 a.m. There was a mixture of refrigerated sandwiches, pizzas, pastries, and alcoholic, hot, or soft drinks. People weren't exaggerating about the dodgy internet.I'm glad I brought my journal with me. Eibhlis Gale-Coleman Around an hour into the journey, both my mobile data and the train's complimentary WiFi stopped working.I'd read other travelers' online reviews, and many people said that this would happen, but I hadn't expected it so early on in the trip, especially since we were still riding past fairly built-up suburbs.Fortunately, I'd prepared for a digital detox and was carrying a pen and paper to jot down story ideas. Old school? Yes, but I have to admit it really amplified the feeling of adventure. The toilets looked pretty but got a bit messy within the first two hours.I was pleasantly surprised by the toilets at first. Eibhlis Gale-Coleman I'm happy that I snapped a picture of the toilets while boarding, as they looked pretty messy within two hours. It was a shame, as the decor and skylights were quite pretty.On reflection, the situation wasn't helped by the small sinks water splattered everywhere with each use of the tap.Throughout the trip, they were usable but unappealing enough to make you think twice about drinking a coffee too fast. Santa doesn't actually make an appearance, but the platform has a magical atmosphere.The exterior of the train has some Santa decor. Eibhlis Gale-Coleman My ride on the Santa Express was sadly Santa-free aside from the large illustrations adorning the carriage exteriors.There was no festive dress-up or meet-and-greet on board, but the platform was magical nonetheless.Carol singers erupted with Christmas songs, and barrier staff exchanged secret grins before allowing floods of giddy families onto the platform in festive Rovaniemi.The excitement was infectious as I headed toward Santa Claus Village and the remainder of my trip in Lapland. TravelHolidaysChristmas More... 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On the Money is a monthly advice column. If you want advice on spending, saving, or investing or any of the complicated emotions that may come up as you prepare to make big financial decisions you can submit your question on this form. Here, we answer a question asked by Vox readers, which have been edited and condensed.Why is money so hard?Dear Letter Writer,You asked this question at the beginning of the year; now that we are coming to its end, I may have an appropriate framework through which to answer it.The literal answer is that money is difficult because it is a representation of value. Unfortunately, we are often unable to earn and spend our money according to what we actually value. Various industries are motivated to pinpoint the exact minimum amount of money were willing to accept for various jobs and the exact maximum amount of money we are willing to pay for particular items, trusting that well give them exactly what they ask for. Much of what is left over goes toward experiences we dont actually value and expenses we cant necessarily control.The metaphorical answer is a little more complicated:It is the holiday season for many of us, a time when we demonstrate our values to one another. The person who values frugality shops the sales, the person who values extravagance shops full price, the person who values their own skills handcrafts ornaments or puts calligraphed labels on jars of jam but no matter what you choose, you generally end up spending an unusual amount of time or an unusual amount of money. Most of us pick the money route, and even the people who choose the DIY route have to purchase the Mason jars and calligraphy pens. So we set budgets some of us, anyway and divide our holiday shopping lists into affordable allotments. This much money for gifts, this much money for clothing, this much money for travel, and so on.At this point, if were thinking practically, we book the travel first. Somehow it costs more than we were expecting, even if we set aside more money than we did last year. This is because the airlines, rental car companies, and hotels understand that reaching a particular destination for the holidays is a top-level value in nearly everybodys minds a value that is taught and reinforced by much of the media associated with the holiday season, as well as societal expectations and these companies can charge precisely what the market will bear.So we end up booking the flights or the rental cars or the hotel rooms, or we look at the cost of gas and estimate how much it might cost us to drive, and whether it would be possible to pack a cooler instead of stopping to eat along the way, and then we tell ourselves that we can always make our budget balance by spending a little less on the presents.Except we dont want to spend less on the presents. We want to let the people we love know how much we love them, and the amount we love them hasnt changed since we booked our flights, so why should the amount we spend on their gifts have to decrease? We dont want our families to have to bear the burden of an inadequate budget. We dont want to face disappointed children or disapproving relatives. And so because we value the people we love, and because we very much value the idea of ourselves as generous and holiday-spirited we spend more than we can afford.Should you combine finances with your partner?How to cope with inflation and lifestyle creepHow are you supposed to start investing?Do you have questions related to personal finance? Submit them here.Sometimes this overspending comes from what might be considered a necessity. This is the year to give your child a bike, for example, because next year might be too late. However, many of us quickly get into the kind of overspending that is less useful. This would be the well, were giving Nana three gifts, so I had better make sure Pop-Pop has three gifts too thing, the kind of financial imprudence that leads to comically unnecessary novelty purchases or the dregs of drugstore sales bins. Nobody wants these gifts, and yet we feel as though they ought to be given, and so we exchange money we cannot afford or have not yet earned.Theres another level of overspending that occurs when someone else tasks you with a holiday responsibility you werent expecting. This year, your team is doing Secret Santa. This year, you got invited to a themed party that requires you to buy an ugly sweater or a silly hat. This year, Nana and Pop-Pop want everyone to send in family photos so they can make a calendar. This year, your neighbor gave you a gift, and so you had better give them something too.And so we spend, and spend, and spend, and tell ourselves well sort it out later, maybe well get a raise or pick up a side hustle or apply for a 0 percent intro APR balance transfer credit card because thats what were supposed to do at this time of year. Everything in us and around us tells us to book the travel and buy the presents and attend the parties and take the pictures, and if we dont enjoy all of this as much as we ought to, or cant afford to spend as much as we want to, weve failed.That is why money is hard, dear Letter Writer: Because the way we spend the holidays is the way we spend our lives.Fortunately, New Years resolutions are just around the corner. This year, consider resolving to understand both what you value and what value you have to offer. From there, you may be able to improve the rate at which you exchange your value for money and exchange your money for what you value. Its the only way through this mess of personal finance, and it isnt easy but Ive done it, and other people I know have done it, so I hope you can too.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:

By Matthew Gault Published December 21, 2024 | Comments (0) | Dry cask storage is used to store spent fuel at the Entergy Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, VT on Oct. 20, 2015. Photo by Don Ramey Logan Theres a field in Wiscasset, Maine (Population 3,742) protected by armed guards. On the field is a chain link fence surrounding a pad of concrete. On the pad are 60 cement and steel canisters that contain 1,400 spent nuclear fuel rods, the leavings of a power plant that shut down almost 30 years ago. The containers are full of nuclear waste. The locals dont love it, but theres nowhere for it to go. The issue of what to do with Americas nuclear waste is a problem thats solved in theory but stalled in practice thanks to a decades-long political fight. The country needs more power, and faster, and tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon all announced this year that theyre moving forward with plans to go nuclear.That means theres going to be more nuclear waste than ever before. Where will it go? If the current system holds, itll be stored near the reactors. Right now, nuclear waste is put in stainless steel containers and sealed in a concrete structure called a dry cask. Dry casks are, by all accounts, remarkably safe. If theyre undisturbed, they could remain so for centuries. But the world is not static. The climate is changing. Wildfires, earthquakes, and rising ocean levels pose a threat to those dry casks. An earthquake, flood, or fire swallowing up one or two dry casks might not cause a problem. But theres about to be more of them. Photo by Gabe Souza/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images Aerial photographs of the old Maine Yankee site in Wiscasset taken Wednesday, February 6, 2013, showing the steel-lined concrete containers that hold spent fuel assemblies. Big Techs nuclear push Americas nuclear waste is piling up. Its a political problem, not a scientific one. Other countries with nuclear infrastructure bury their waste deep underground in specially designed storage facilities called deep geological repositories. We could do that in America. We even started building one. The problem is that no one wants a giant cave filled with nuclear waste in their backyard. Its hard to blame them. The U.S. has a terrible track record when it comes to handling waste. For years, wed store it in barrels and dump it into the sea. Waste leftover from the Manhattan Project is still poisoning people today. In South Carolina, radioactive alligators once roamed the Savannah River Site where pieces of nuclear weapons were made. The Hanford Site in Washington state is sitting on 54 million gallons of waste that may never be cleaned up.To meet Big Techs energy demands, well add more to the pile. 2024 was the year Big Tech went all in on nuclear energy. Data centers are power-hungry beasts and the increased use of number-crunching artificial intelligence systems means that tech companies need more energy than ever before. To solve the problem, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are all betting on nuclear energy.Google announced a partnership with Kairos Power aimed at building multiple small modular reactors (SMR) in October. Amazon also announced it was building SMRs in cooperation with Energy Northwest, X-Energy, and Dominion Energy. Meta, later to the game than the others, asked companies for proposals on how it could generate 1-4 gigawatts (the equivalent of hundreds of millions of LED light bulbs) using nuclear power. Microsoft, who has been working on this for a long time, is partnered with TerraPower to build SMRs. It also announced a partnership with Constellation Energy that would reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.Nuclear power is hard to do. Its fuel sources are rare and heavily regulated. When it works, it provides clean and efficient fuel for millions of people. When it goes wrong, its a disaster that can help topple governments and give cancer to millions. Traditional reactors require billions in investment and decades of construction time. But Big Tech isnt looking to go the traditional route. Theyre talking about new kinds of reactors. Theres been a talk of a renaissance for decades. Depending on who you talk to, we could be in our third or fourth renaissance, or our eighth or ninth. So lets leave the R-word aside, Cindy Vestergaard, a senior fellow and director of Converging Technologies for the Stimson Center, told Gizmodo. Vestergaard is a nuclear supply chain expert who focuses on nonproliferation.When people think of nuclear power they often picture the enormous cooling towers and sprawling complexes filled with scientists. The dream of SMRs is that they could do away with much of that. There are dozens of designs, but the basic concept is that these new reactors would be tiny compared to traditional reactors (some of them would even be portable) and can be spun up and decommissioned to match the demands of the grid. A lot of these designs have been around for decades, Vestergaard said. Its just that the economic incentives didnt exist to make them a reality. Thanks to climate change and the demands of Big Tech, thats changed. Solar and wind are great in many ways, but they need to be supplemented. Big Tech may understand business, but energy companies are a whole different thing. We have a newbie engaging in thiswhich means we have a lag time in what it all means, Vestergaard said. They have a lot of money, so deep pockets, I think, help drive a lot of innovation going forward that we would not have seen in the past. So I think that gives them a nuclear leg-upmost investors do not understand the long game in nuclear.The pitch for many of these SMRs is also that theyre safer and theyll produce less waste. Vestergaard isnt so sure. We hear oh, theyre safer, theyre more efficient. Well, we dont know that. Maybe on paper. We have to test and demonstrate this. I reached out to Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and some of their nuclear power partners to see how theyre thinking about how to manage waste. Meta and Microsoft referred me to posts on their websites about sustainability. Amazon told me to reach out to its energy partners. Google didnt respond. Of Big Techs partners, only TerraPowerwho is working with Microsoftgot back to us. It said that its Natrium reactors will produce more energy and less waste than any other reactor on the planet. The Natrium technology will reduce the volume of waste per megawatt hour of energy produced by two-thirds because of the efficiency with which it uses fuel, it said. The waste the Natrium reactor does produce will be stored safely and securely onsite through proven methods used at plants throughout the country until the United States identifies a permanent geologic repository. TerraPower identified the core problem of nuclear waste in the U.S. The government needs to identify a permanent geologic repository. Its having trouble doing that. Photo by David Howells/Corbis via Getty Images A test nuclear waste load, heated to 400F to see the reaction of the surrounding rocks deep inside the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository in Nevada. | Location: Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA. Not in my backyard According to Vestergaard, Big Tech may not be ready for something its been bad at in the pastdealing with an angry populace. The local populations pay billions into these huge infrastructure projects, she said. Big tech, historically, has not had a good sense of what its like to have engagement at the local level. Thats another thing where theyre going to have to learn, and adjust, and adapt to public hearings. People come out when nuclear waste enters their backyards. The risk of cancer, radioactive animals, and environmental destruction is real. And people know it.These reactors will be built in someones backyard. Several of the companies are talking about building them on-site, next to data centers. Taxpayer cash will go towards these reactors and itll expect to get something in return. Not all the power can go to the data centers and large language models. Itll all generate waste. Waste with nowhere to go. After decades of mismanagement, the federal government attempted to get hold of Americas nuclear waste problem in the 1980s. Its solution was to build a deep geological repository in Yucca Mountain, Nevada. It even started construction. The people of Nevada, who have long borne the brunt of Americas nuclear ambitions, didnt want it there.In the United States, theres never really been public consent. Its not like they went to Nevada and said What if we put it here? What do you guys think about it? Vestergaard said. The United States itself is incredibly split and stuck on its nuclear waste problem, So theres a law, back from the 80s, that says its gotta be at Yucca Mountain. She added that, at this point, America has enough nuclear waste waiting around to fill Yucca Mountain three times over. So even if Yucca Mountain was still a viable option, it isnt. Particularly for new nuclear reactors that would be coming on board, she said. Opponents called the law the Screw Nevada Bill. The same law that designated Yucca Mountain as the site of future nuclear waste also created the Office of the United States Nuclear Waste Negotiator. The idea was that this office would negotiate with states and tribal leaders in the U.S. to find an interim storage solution for nuclear waste. Created in 1987, the position wasnt filled until 1990. It was eliminated in 1995.One of the problems is that, according to the laws, nuclear waste can no longer be stored in a state or patch of tribal land without the consent of the people who live there. And no one wants it. So instead of going to a central location for permanent disposal, it sits on sites near where its made, some 94 locations and growing. Kissing casks Science and nuclear influencers love to kiss nuclear waste. I kissed a cask (of nuclear waste) and I liked it, Isabelle Boemeke, known as Isodope online, said in a post on X on December 19. The attached pictures show her kissing a dry cask filled with nuclear waste. Boemeke is one of a number of nuclear influencers who use their platform to agitate for more nuclear power. The kissing a cask of nuclear waste stunt is popular among science YouTubers and the only thing strange about Boemekes post is that its come after so many other people have done it.Yes, dry casks are incredibly safe, Vestergaard said. I put my hand on them as well and stood by them. The problem is not that casks arent a great way to store nuclear waste, they are, its that they stick around on the site where the waste was made. Boemekes pic was at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant in California. The plant is Californias last operational nuclear power site and the state planned to shut it down. Then Boemeke and Grimes started making PSAs online about why it needed to remain. It worked. Regulators voted to extend the life of Diablo Canyon to at least 2030. That means the site will generate more nuclear waste. Waste which will remain on site. Diablo Canyon is next to major fault lines. Its near San Luis Obispo, a community now perennially threatened by wildfires. The San Onofre nuclear power plant south of Los Angeles sits on a major faultline. Its also sitting on 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste. For some experts, the dry casks are a fine solution and the benefits of nuclear power generation far outweigh the negatives of nuclear waste. Climate change is a clear and present danger of global scale with a wide range of damaging impacts on geologic time scales, Jesse D. Jenkins, an Assistant Professor at Princeton University, said in a post about nuclear waste on BlueSky. Small volumes of spent nuclear fuel can be contained safely in dry cask storage for century+ time scales.The entire history of US civilian nuclear power, which has produced 1/5th of our electricity for decades with no CO2 or air pollution, has produced less than 100,000 tons of high-level waste. We burn billions of tons of fossil fuels EVERY YEAR, Jenkins said. That means the entirety of spent nuclear fuel fits in less than 10,000 dry casksThats it. All of it. And this is the nuclear waste problem that means we should supposedly eschew this proven source of emissions-free electricity? Nah. I am not arguing that we shouldnt adopt nuclear energy. Jenkins and others are right. Dry casks are mostly safe. But I do think nuclear waste is a problem. And more reactors mean more spent fuel that needs to be managed, more dry casks spread across the country, and more armed guards on patrol like those in that field in Maine. A 2024 report from the Government Accountability Office uncovered something shocking. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the government agency that manages waste, hasnt studied the effects of climate change on the dry casks and nuclear power plants. NRC primarily uses historical data in its licensing and oversight processes rather than climate projections data, the report said. When the GAO interviewed officials at the Commission, they told investigators that they had it under control. However, NRC has not conducted an assessment to demonstrate that this is the case, the report said.The report detailed the hazards facing nuclear power plants. According to our analysis of U.S. Forest Service and NRC data, about 20 percent of nuclear power plants (16 of 75) are located in areas with a high or very high potential for wildfire. More than sixty percent of nuclear power plants, 47 of 75, are located in areas with exposure to Category 4 and 5 hurricanes and in an area where NOAA predicted the sea levels will rise. Big Tech is going to build more nuclear power plants. Oil and gas are dirty sources of power. Nuclear has the potential to be much cleaner and more efficient. Nuclear energy is also mostly safe, the problem is that when things go bad they go catastrophically bad. More reactors mean more points of failure and more waste. Waste thats in need of a permanent home. One can only hope that the same lobbyists Big Tech rolls out whenever it needs something done in Washington can help them find a permanent home for Americas spent nuclear fuel.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Matthew Gault Published December 20, 2024 By Florence Ion Published December 19, 2024 By Matt Novak Published December 18, 2024 By Lucas Ropek Published December 17, 2024 By Kyle Barr Published December 16, 2024 By Kyle Barr Published December 14, 2024

By Margherita Bassi Published December 21, 2024 | Comments (0) | A gene inherited from Neanderthals influences the thickness of certain teeth, according to new research. Arvind Philomin/Pexels While many people worry about the photogenic layout of their teeth, chances are most dont think about individual tooth shape. Well, you shouldbecause it might be partially determined by your Neanderthal ancestry. An international team of researchers co-led by Kaustubh Adhikari of University College London (UCL) have discovered tooth differences among ethnicities, including an apparent feature determined by a gene inherited from Neanderthals. Their research, published on December 12 in Current Biology, could one day aid in diagnosing and treating genetic dental conditions. The researchers, including experts from Fudan University in China, used 3D scans of dental plaster casts to analyze tooth measurements of 882 volunteers of European, Native American, and African descent. They then compared these dimensions with the volunteers genetic data and pinpointed 18 genome regions involved in the size and shape of various teeth. Notably, 17 of these regions were identified for the first time as being connected to tooth dimensions. Teeth can tell us a great deal about human evolution, as well-preserved ancient teeth are particularly important to archaeologists, shedding light on milestones such as when we transitioned to cooked food and human tooth sizes began to shrink. But little is known about the genetic basis of variation within the modern human population on tooth size and shape, partly due to challenges in measuring teeth, Adhikari said in a UCL statement. We have now identified numerous genes that impact the development of our teeth, some of which are responsible for differences between ethnic groups. Interestingly, scientists suggest that one of the identified genes originates in Neanderthals, with whom ancient humans interbred during our relatively brief prehistoric coexistence. The genetic variant, found only in volunteers of European ancestry, was associated with thinner incisors (measured front-to-back). Researchers also noted that individuals with this variant tended to have smaller teeth overall. Additionally, the team found that the gene EDAR, previously linked to incisor shape in East Asian people, also affects the width of all teeth.However, our findings did not shed light on whether the genes that identify tooth shape were selected in evolution due to particular advantages to dental health, so its possible that the genes may have been selected due to the influences they have in other areas, with tooth shape differences resulting as a side effect, Andrs Ruiz-Linares of UCL and Aix-Marseille University, who co-led the study, explained. Simply put, the researchers arent sure why the genes developed to impact tooth shape in this way. Some of the genes that contribute to the normal variation of tooth dimensions among healthy people can also contribute to pathogenic variation, such as teeth failing to grow in or other dental health conditions, said Qing Li of Fudan University, who co-led the study. Pathogenic variations are genetic differences that increase an individuals chances of developing a particular disease or genetic disorder. In other words, the genes that determine tooth measurements might also determine health issues.Consequently, we hope that our findings could be useful medically, if people with particular dental problems could undergo genetic tests to help in diagnosis, or if some dental anomalies could be treated one day with gene therapies, Li added. It remains to be seen how this research might lead to practical medical applications. In the meantime, the Neanderthal teeth join a host of other features we may have inherited from our long-lost relatives, including pain tolerance and nose shapes.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Margherita Bassi Published December 19, 2024 By Isaac Schultz Published December 12, 2024 By Isaac Schultz Published December 10, 2024 By Isaac Schultz Published November 17, 2024 By Isaac Schultz Published November 7, 2024 By Adam Kovac Published October 10, 2024