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By Todd Feathers Published December 30, 2024 | Comments (0) | Geoffrey Hinton, , who won the Nobel and Turing prizes for his work on artificial intelligence. Pontus Lundahl/Getty Images An increasingly diverse coalition is forming in opposition to OpenAIs plan to restructure itself into a fully for-profit company. On Monday, Encode, a youth-led advocacy organization representing young people in dozens of countries, filed an amicus brief in support of Elon Musks ongoing lawsuit to stop OpenAIs corporate metamorphosis. The filing came with support from one of the biggest names in the field, Nobel and Turing prizes award-winner Geoffrey Hinton, who is often called the godfather of AI.OpenAI was founded as an explicitly safety-focused non-profit and made a variety of safety-related promises in its charter, Hinton said in a statement released by Encode along with its brief. It received numerous tax and other benefits from its non-profit status. Allowing it to tear all of that up when it becomes inconvenient sends a very bad message to other actors in the ecosystem. Hinton recently told the BBC he believes there is a 10 percent to 20 percent chance that AI will lead to human extinction within the next 30 years. Previously, Hintons been more modest, putting the odds at just 10 percent.OpenAI is currently structured as a for-profit company controlled by a non-profit board, which places some restrictions on its mission and ability to raise money and compensate investors. The company formally announced its intention to restructure itself as a more traditional for-profit corporation last week, although the change had been anticipated for some time and Musk, who was a cofounder of OpenAI, filed his federal lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to stop it in November. Encode argues that OpenAIs planned shift from a nonprofit to a Delaware public benefit corporation would undermine specific safety-focused commitments the nonprofit has made to the public. In particular, the brief questions whether a for-profit corporation could ever fulfill OpenAIs promise that it will stop competing with and start assisting any value-aligned organization that appears close to building artificial general intelligence before it does.Today, a handful of companies are racing to develop and deploy transformative AI, internalizing the profits but externalizing the consequences to all of humanity, Sneha Revanur, the president and founder of Encode, said in a statement. The courts must intervene to ensure AI development serves the public interest. For its part, OpenAI has urged the court to reject Musks lawsuit, arguing that he lacks standing and is seeking to gain an unfair competitive advantage for his own AI startup, xAI. OpenAI also released a trove of emails and other messages from Musk, including several that the company said showed Musk advocated for converting the organization to a for-profit as early as 2017.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Matthew Gault Published December 30, 2024 Michael Timothy Bennett and Elija Perrier Published December 29, 2024 By Thomas Maxwell Published December 28, 2024 By AJ Dellinger Published December 27, 2024 By Todd Feathers Published December 27, 2024 By Thomas Maxwell Published December 26, 2024

Langfang Beifengdao Garbage Transfer Station / Atelier IngardenSave this picture! Yangyue LinWarehouse, Public ArchitectureLang Fang, ChinaArchitects: Atelier IngardenAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:105 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 PhotographsPhotographs:Yangyue Lin Lead Architects: Liang Hao, Jia Wenruo More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. This project is located on the edge of Langfang, Hebei. The south side of the site is a high-rise commercial and residential area developed in recent years, and the north side of the site is a blank area left after the village demolition. According to the current situation and functional requirements of the site, we first raised two questions and used them as design goals: one is how to restore the micro-order of the urban corner space and return it to the daily life of the city; the other is whether it is possible to use basic architectural methods within limited investment to significantly improve the operating efficiency and external image of urban micro-infrastructure.Save this picture!Save this picture!Based on this goal, at the beginning of the design, we first determined to use glulam as the main material. On the one hand, we wanted to use the environmental protection characteristics of wood itself to reverse the extremely negative image of garbage stations in the city. On the other hand, the beam and column construction logic of the wood structure itself can achieve the complete unity of architecture, structure and space, thereby avoiding the "build first, decorate later" mindset of other local small infrastructure, and achieving the greatest common divisor between construction cost, space efficiency and final effect within limited space and limited investment scope.Save this picture!Save this picture!The building is a construction unit with a width of 7800mm and a length of 1800mm. The entire building is arranged in 7 groups of units from south to north. 7800mm is the most efficient width for parking two garbage trucks at the same time; 1800mm is the most suitable depth for a basic operation space. From south to north, the building is arranged with garbage collection and transfer space (2 depths), garbage truck main parking space (3 depths) and tool storage space (1 depth). In terms of building height, the design of the internal net height of the building is 5500mm, and the additional structure height is 1200mm, based on the 5500mm clearance required for the highest point in the entire process of loading and unloading garbage trucks.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The east and west facades of the building are also made of plywood, but the layout is divided into two similar but different upper and lower sections according to the internal functional needs. The lower section is 2000mm high, and the plywood is placed vertically between the columns without windows, which corresponds to the upper limit height when the garbage truck is parked; the upper section is 3000mm high, and the plywood is placed at an angle to bring flowing air and indirect lighting to the interior. The building roof is constructed of European pine board and galvanized sheet, and a sun panel lighting window is set in the corresponding garbage truck parking area. The eight roof beams of the building are higher than the roof, dividing the roof into seven independent small areas to achieve natural drainage.Save this picture!Save this picture!After the project was completed, the two initial design problems were well solved. The corner space was reintegrated into the city in a new order, and the garbage station changed its operating efficiency and external image under the intervention of basic architectural knowledge.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessProject locationAddress:Lang Fang, ChinaLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeAtelier IngardenOfficeMaterialsMaterials and TagsPublished on December 31, 2024Cite: "Langfang Beifengdao Garbage Transfer Station / Atelier Ingarden" 30 Dec 2024. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1025116/langfang-beifengdao-garbage-transfer-station-atelier-ingarden&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save? / You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Astronaut Matthew Dominick captured this dramatic image of Hurricane Beryl from the International Space Station on July 1, 2024. At the time, the cyclone's winds were howling at 150 miles per hour. Beryl was the earliest Atlantic basin Category-5 hurricane on record and the strongest June and July hurricane in the basin. The hurricane roared across parts of the Caribbean and the Yucatn Peninsula, making landfall in the United States along the Gulf Coast as a Category-1 storm. (Credit: NASA)NewsletterSign up for our email newsletter for the latest science newsWhen I conceived the idea for this column in 2013, I came up with the name "ImaGeo" as a mashup of "image" and "geo" as in "images of Earth." (The mashup also hinted at "imagination.")Since then, I've tried whenever possible to emphasize images of Earth from space, as well as imagery created with data from other kinds of sensors. With that original ImaGeo theme in mind as 2024 was drawing to a close, I thought I would pick a selection of compelling images that helped me tell the stories of noteworthy events during the year just ending. This is the first of a two-part series featuring these images. It covers events running through spring. Part 2, will pick things up in summer and take us through the fall and into the winter. Volcanic ExuberanceAlthough there are no signs that volcanic activity is increasing globally, it was nonetheless quite a spectacular year for eruptions. As of Dec. 23, there were 72 confirmed eruptions during 2024 from 64 different volcanoes, of which 30 were new, according to the Global Volcanism Program of the Smithsonian Institution. Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula has seen its share of this activity. It cracked open in December of 2023, commencing a series of eruptions that still continues. At the start of 2024, burning lava poured across a bright, snow-covered landscape, making for a dramatic view from space as seen in this image from a Copernicus Sentinel 2 satellite:The heat signature from lava erupting on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula is seen in this image captured by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on Feb. 8, 2024, less than 10 hours after the event began. (Credit: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery)As I wrote in a story published Feb. 13, land around the world famous Blue Lagoon and the nearby Svartsengi geothermal power plant was rising at a rate of about 0.5 to 1.0 centimeters per day. "Magma thus continues to accumulate in the magma reservoir beneath Svartsengi," stated an update from the Icelandic Met Office at the time. "It is therefore highly likely that the cycle continues in a few weeks with another dyke propagation and a volcanic eruption."Volcanic activity there has indeed continued, and in November, lava encroached on the Blue Lagoon. This new activity also was captured in remote sensing imagery which I'll feature in Part 2 of this series, as a kind of bookend. El Nio Bids Adieu, But Where in the World is La Nia?The El Nio of 1993 and 1994 was a doozy. Considered a strong episode, the natural climate phenomenon contributed to an unprecedented streak of 15 straight months of global heating records. Characterized by warmer than normal sea surface temperatures along the equator in the Pacific Ocean, and implicated in a host of extreme weather impacts, the El Nio finally petered out in May of 2024. Its demise was heralded by a gargantuan blob of relatively cool water rising from the depths of the ocean. You can see it in this animation showing the evolution of sea temperatures in a 1,000 foot cross section of the Pacific Ocean along the Equator from December of 2023 through January of 2024: Water temperatures between December 2023 and January 2024 in the top 300 meters (1,000 feet) of the tropical Pacific Ocean, compared to the 19912020 average. (Credit: NOAA Climate.gov animation, based on data from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.)The warm colors show El Nio's characteristic abnormal warmth at and near the surface in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. But at that same time, a chilly phantom was rising from the depths and spreading eastward, threatening to replace the warm water.This was one of the main reasons why last February, scientists forecast a nearly 80 percent chance that El Nio would soon fade to neutral, with a 55 percent chance that La Nia would take over during June through August.They got the first part right: El Nio did fade away. But its replacement by La Nia has been delayed. According to the latest forecast, issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in mid-December, there is a nearly 60 percent chance that La Nia conditions will definitively emerge by the end of January. But it is likely to be mild and short-lived. El Nio and La Nia are two sides of a climatic coin known as the El Nio Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. And La Nia is no less capable than its brother of influencing weather far and wide which is a good reason why we should care about it. In fact, even though it is likely to be relatively weak, the predicted La Nia could contribute to a notable dearth of precipitation this winter across the southern United States and Mexico, with enhanced precipitation in the Pacific Northwest and the Ohio and Upper Mississippi Valley regions.The Obstreperous SunOn May 14, 2024, the Sun unleashed a powerful, X8.7 solar flare at the time, the largest of the current solar cycle and the most powerful since 2003. It's visible in the lower right corner. (Credit: Screenshot of video from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center)In 2024, the Sun's behavior reached a pinnacle of unruliness, officially entering the peak of its roughly 11-year activity cycle. Known as "solar maximum," this period is characterized by barrages of solar flares sudden, large eruptions of electromagnetic radiation; massive explosions of plasma and magnetic fields known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, which typically accompany flares; and increases in the solar wind.The image above shows the second most powerful solar flare of 2024 a massive burst of x-rays on May 14 that scientists measured as an X8.7 flare. X-class flares like this are the most powerful, being 10 times stronger than M-class, and 100 times stronger than C-class flares. During the year just ending, the Sun unleashed more than 50 of them. Flares and their associated CMEs can cause geomagnetic storms here on Earth. In addition to producing beautiful displays of the aurora borealis, geomagnetic storms can knock out satellites and power grids, and cause other serious disruptions. Because of the Sun's orientation toward Earth at the time, the coronal mass ejection accompanying the May 14 flare was not terribly disruptive. But a much smaller event a few days earlier was much more impactful. That's because the flare and CME were aimed directly at us. Among other impacts, it treated many millions of people to displays of the aurora borealis occurring much farther south than usual. (I'll have more to say about this year's wondrous auroral displays in Part 2 of this series.)Note: As I'm preparing this column on Dec. 30, the Sun has unleashed a series of flares, including a strong X-class flare, along with associated coronal mass ejections all directed at us. The result: A strong geomagnetic storm is expected that could trigger auroral displays overhead on New Years Eve as far south as Portland Oregon and New York City, and possibly visible on the horizon as far south as Oklahoma City and Raleigh, N.C., according to a forecast from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute.Speaking of storms..."Extreme weather reached dangerous new heights in 2024," according to a report issued by World Weather Attribution in collaboration with Climate Central. "This years record-breaking temperatures fueled unrelenting heatwaves, drought, wildfire, storms and floods that killed thousands of people and forced millions from their homes."Millions of Texans experienced some of that mayhem starting on May 16, when a band of extreme thunderstorms spawned winds topping out at 100 miles per hour in the Houston area. The winds were especially long-lasting, qualifying the event as a "derecho."It was the most devastating wind event to impact the city in nearly 25 years, according to research to be presented at the upcoming 2025 American Meteorological Society conference. The derecho unleashed "destructive winds across a vast area, leading to widespread power outages and causing several fatalities," the co-authors write in their abstract. "Typically, Houston and the Gulf Coast are less susceptible to derechos, making this event particularly rare and alarming."An especially strong and long-lasting band of thunderstorms in Texas on May 16 and 17 produced long-lasting winds that reached 100 mph. Resulting widespread power outages in Houston continued for many days. This animation of images from the Suomi NPP satellite shows what that looked like from space. The before image is a composite based on data collected in April. The after image shows the scene on May 18. (Credit: NASA Earth Observatory)The power outages darkened large swaths of Houston, as seen in this stunning before-and-after animation of images from the Suomi NPP satellite. Nearly a million people were affected, some for days on end, leaving them without air conditioning as heat-index conditions soared to dangerous levels.To what extent was cimate change implicated in this extreme weather event? The research presented at the American Meteorological Society meeting in mid-January should answer that question in detail. But we do know this already: The severe storms exploded along the northern margin of a heat dome that was centered over Central America and the Caribbean. This large area of high pressure had stalled for many days, producing record-high temperatures over a large area, from Florida to Mexico. The waters of the Gulf of Mexico also were much warmer than the long-term average. And winds blowing across them swept sultry air into the Houston area high-octane fuel for thunderstorms. Ultimately, multiple factors came together in just the right way or I should actually say the wrong way to produce the severe weather. But in the background was climate change, which overall is making heat waves and extreme precipitation events worse. More Meteorological MayhemAn EF-4 tornado carved a path of destruction through Greenfield, Iowa, on May 21, 2024. With peak winds of 185 miles per hour, the twister's rampage through the little town is visible in this image captured by the Sentinel 2 satellite on May 25. (Credit: Modified Copernicus Sentinel data processed by Tom Yulsman)The year just ending saw an upsurge in another form of extreme weather in the United States: tornadoes. Through November, the year's preliminary tornado count was 1,762 among the highest on record for the January-November period. "Only 2011, 2008 and 2004 have a similar high count of tornadoes," according to NOAA.The satellite image above shows the severe impact one of this year's tornadoes on the town of Greenfield, Iowa. The twister spun up on Tuesday, May 21 in the southwestern part of the state. It then carved a path of destruction 44 miles to the northeast, ripping through tiny Greenfield, population 2,062, with 185 mile-per-hour winds. And those cataclysmic winds spread across a terrifying maximum width of more than a half mile.The result: A path of destruction through Greenfield that could easily be seen from space. Please stay tuned for Part 2 of this series, which will include compelling images captured from Earth orbit of wildfires, devastating Hurricane Helene, the Northern Lights, and more volcanic activity.

Nature, Published online: 19 December 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-04162-yPeople have profoundly altered the planets soundscape. Its time to quieten down so that other species can thrive.

Nature, Published online: 19 December 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-04205-4How immune responses arise against microorganisms living on the skin is not fully understood. The discovery that skin maintains its own system to form antibody responses reveals an unexpected vaccination route.

Nature, Published online: 19 December 2024; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-04016-7At a facility on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, women are fighting budget cuts and inequality in the workplace.

Marvel Rivals is a phenomenal hero shooter it might not bring something new to the table, but it is the perfect introduction to the genre for Marvel fans. The game is packed with favorite characters like Wolverine and Spider-Man, but what if you could add characters like Goku or Naruto?

Marvel Rivals has taken the world by storm, taking on juggernauts like Overwatch 2. While the hero shooter is mechanically familiar, it offers many new features that will keep players returning for more. For starters, Marvel Rivals features many heroes, each with unique skins. However, Marvel Rivals does not explain how to acquire certain skins, like the Cyan Venom skin.

In action games, weapons play a crucial role in the gameplay and often feel like extensions of the player. This experience is enhanced in open-world games, where players have the opportunity to customize their weapons to match their personal style. The ability to create the right weapon can significantly impact the player's experience.