LED lighting will be everywhere in 2025.People can expect to see LED lighting used in different bathroom features. John Keeble/Getty Images Interior designer Trudi Smith of Trudi Smith Designs sees LED lighting as one of the biggest bathroom trends right now.She predicts the lights will be especially popular in mirrors, cabinet interiors, and toe-kick lighting (a soft light installed underneath a cabinet or other low-to-the-ground furniture). 2025 will see more specialized storage spaces in the bathroom.Hyper-organized bathroom drawers are expected to trend in 2025. Morsa Images/Getty Images Colette Rodon Hornof, designer and founder of Vesta of Hearth and Home, is seeing a trend toward what she calls hyper-organization."It's not just about having drawers in your bathroom, but that the drawers are hyper-organized to accommodate whatever you need to store," she said.This could include drawers with built-in outlets and inserts for essentials like makeup, medicine, towels, or grooming devices.Similarly, she also expects to see custom-made storage spaces for bathroom appliances. Mixed metals are growing in popularity.Mixed-metal finishes are on the rise. Mark Lopez/Getty Images Cindy Kelly, owner of Cindy Kelly Kitchen Design, is seeing increased interest in mixed metals in the bathroom.Because metal finishes often require constant cleaning due to fingerprints or water spots, she recommends polished chrome or nickel for the fixtures that get the most use, like showerheads or faucets. Bathrooms that function as self-care spaces remain on trend.It's becoming more popular to think of the bathroom as a self-care space. YinYang/Getty Images According to Rodon Hornof, 2025 will see more people transforming their bathrooms into calming spaces.As people gravitate toward general self-care, she sees the bathroom as the ideal space for incorporating features to help reduce stress.These elements can include decorating with natural materials, like wood or stone, and installing freestanding tubs equipped with aromatherapy, chromotherapy (which uses colors and lights to promote relaxation), and bubble-jet features. On the other hand, the farmhouse style is no longer on trend.The black-and-white tiled flooring often seen in farmhouse-style bathrooms isn't as popular anymore. KristianSeptimiusKrogh/Getty Images Though the farmhouse style had a good run, Kelly said the harsh black-and-white tiles and flooring that define this look are no longer on trend."The black and white isn't personal enough it feels more like what a builder would put in to sell the house," she said. Instead, the designer predicts bath spaces that offer warmth and a personalized feel will trend.All-white bathrooms can feel sterile.As people opt for warmer spaces, we'll likely see less white. Westend61/Getty Images/Westend61 According to Smith, all-white bathrooms won't be as popular in 2025, as they can feel a bit cold and sterile. As more people gravitate toward warmer spaces, cool-white shades will likely become a thing of the past. Floating vanities lack much-needed storage space.People can expect to see fewer floating vanities in 2025. Nazar Abbas Photography/Getty Images Though floating vanities, which are mounted on the wall and don't extend to the floor, create a sense of added space, Kelly says they actually take away much-needed storage."Once you cut the vanity in half to float it, you lose storage," she said. "So while it's a beautiful look, it's just not practical."For this reason, she says floating vanities will likely be less popular in the new year. Fewer people are designing their bathroom spaces with future buyers in mind.More homeowners are designing spaces to reflect their personal wants and needs. Imgorthand/Getty Images One of the most interesting trends in bathroom design is how people are becoming less focused on what others think of their decor.Higher interest rates mean fewer people are moving, and as a result, Smith believes more homeowners are designing their spaces to be lived in, not to impress future buyers."People are not designing for their friends. They're not trying to keep up with the Joneses," the designer told BI. Instead, she said people want their bathroom to reflect their personal likes, wants, and needs. Medicine cabinets have fallen out of favor.Though medicine cabinets create lots of storage space, they're becoming less popular. John Keeble/Getty Images As clean lines and sleek designs trend, clunky medicine cabinets are becoming less popular. However, Rodon Hornof sees this as a missed opportunity."People who design their bathrooms without medicine cabinets may regret it, as they're missing out on a great opportunity for storage that can actually be incorporated in a very beautiful and aesthetic way," the designer said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to Azerbaijan for the fatal Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash.Putin did not take responsibility, however.Experts and the White House say there is evidence the plane may have been hit by Russian air defenses.Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologized to the president of Azerbaijan for the recent fatal Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, but he stopped short of claiming responsibility for the incident.The Kremlin said on Saturday that Putin apologized during a phone call with Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev.The Kremlin's press office said that Putin had "offered his apologies that the tragic incident had occurred in Russia's airspace and once again conveyed his deep and sincere condolences to the families of the plane crash victims and wished those injured the quickest recovery," per Russia's Tass news agency.Azerbaijan Airlines flight Flight 8243 crash-landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. Kazakh authorities said 38 people died, including the pilots, while 29 others survived.The aircraft was traveling to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, from Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, before it diverted to Kazakhstan.Putin said that Ukrainian drones and Russian air defenses were operating around Grozny as the plane attempted to land, Tass reported.Azerbaijan's presidential office confirmed that Putin apologized but emphasized that the crash was caused by the plane being hit in Russian airspace."President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that the Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane encountered external physical and technical interference while in Russian airspace, resulting in a complete loss of control," the office said in a statement.White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday that the US had "seen some early indications that would certainly point to the possibility that this jet was brought down by Russian air defense systems."When questioned by media whether the US had seen intelligence that pointed to the involvement of an air defense system, Kirby said the short answer was "yes" but said he would "leave it at that."Experts and reports have also pointed to Russia likely being behind the crash. Alleged evidence includes the erratic route the plane took as well as photo and video evidence of the aircraft that shows holes in its fuselage and tail while it was still in the air.Rashan Nabiyev, Azerbaijan's minister of digital development and transportation, told the country's media that "preliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact," the AP reported."The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the probe," he added.The Kremlin had initially refused to comment on the allegations.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday: "Currently an investigation is in progress. Any air incident should be investigated by specialized aviation authorities.""It would be wrong to build any hypotheses before the panel of inquiry presents its conclusions," he added.

There is growing evidence that it can help with pain, depression and more

Every so often these days, a study comes out proclaiming that AI is better at diagnosing health problems than a human doctor. These studies are enticing because the healthcare system in America is woefully broken and everyone is searching for solutions. AI presents a potential opportunity to make doctors more efficient by doing a lot of administrative busywork for them and by doing so, giving them time to see more patients and therefore drive down the ultimate cost of care. There is also the possibility that real-time translation would help non-English speakers gain improved access. For tech companies, the opportunity to serve the healthcare industry could be quite lucrative. In practice, however, it seems that we are not close to replacing doctors with artificial intelligence, or even really augmenting them. The Washington Post spoke with multiple experts including physicians to see how early tests of AI are going, and the results were not assuring.Here is one excerpt of a clinical professor, Christopher Sharp of Stanford Medical, using GPT-4o to draft a recommendation for a patient who contacted his office: Sharp picks a patient query at random. It reads: Ate a tomato and my lips are itchy. Any recommendations? The AI, which uses a version of OpenAIs GPT-4o, drafts a reply: Im sorry to hear about your itchy lips. Sounds like you might be having a mild allergic reaction to the tomato. The AI recommends avoiding tomatoes, using an oral antihistamine and using a steroid topical cream. Sharp stares at his screen for a moment. Clinically, I dont agree with all the aspects of that answer, he says. Avoiding tomatoes, I would wholly agree with. On the other hand, topical creams like a mild hydrocortisone on the lips would not be something I would recommend, Sharp says. Lips are very thin tissue, so we are very careful about using steroid creams. I would just take that part away. Here is another, from Stanford medical and data science professor Roxana Daneshjou: She opens her laptop to ChatGPT and types in a test patient question. Dear doctor, I have been breastfeeding and I think I developed mastitis. My breast has been red and painful. ChatGPT responds: Use hot packs, perform massages and do extra nursing. But thats wrong, says Daneshjou, who is also a dermatologist. In 2022, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine recommended the opposite: cold compresses, abstaining from massages and avoiding overstimulation. The problem with tech optimists pushing AI into fields like healthcare is that it is not the same as making consumer software. We already know that Microsofts Copilot 365 assistant has bugs, but a small mistake in your PowerPoint presentation is not a big deal. Making mistakes in healthcare can kill people. Daneshjou told the Post she red-teamed ChatGPT with 80 others, including both computer scientists and physicians posing medical questions to ChatGPT, and found it offered dangerous responses twenty percent of the time. Twenty percent problematic responses is not, to me, good enough for actual daily use in the health care system, she said. Of course, proponents will say that AI can augment a doctors work, not replace them, and they should always check the outputs. And it is true, the Post story interviewed a physician at Stanford who said two-thirds of doctors there with access to a platform record and transcribe patient meetings with AI so they can look them in the eyes during the visit and not be looking down, taking notes. But even there, OpenAIs Whisper technology seems to insert completely made-up information into some recordings. Sharp said Whisper erroneously inserted into a transcript that a patient attributed a cough to exposure to their child, which they never said. One incredible example of bias from training data Daneshjou found in testing was that an AI transcription tool assumed a Chinese patient was a computer programmer without the patient ever offering such information.AI could potentially help the healthcare field, but its outputs have to be thoroughly checked, and then how much time are doctors actually saving? Furthermore, patients have to trust their doctor is actually checking what the AI is producinghospital systems will have to put in checks to make sure this is happening, or else complacency might seep in. Fundamentally, generative AI is just a word prediction machine, searching large amounts of data without really understanding the underlying concepts it is returning. It is not intelligent in the same sense as a real human, and it is especially not able to understand the circumstances unique to each specific individual; it is returning information it has generalized and seen before.I do think this is one of those promising technologies, but its just not there yet, said Adam Rodman, an internal medicine doctor and AI researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Im worried that were just going to further degrade what we do by putting hallucinated AI slop into high-stakes patient care. Next time you visit your doctor, it might be worth asking if they are using AI in their workflow.

Just before the holidays, news broke Disney would be cutting a storyline for a transgender character in the upcoming Pixar series, Win or Lose. At the time, Disney said the removal would allow parents to discuss certain subjects with their children on their own terms and timeline, which sparked plenty of discussion online, since itd been the second show with a trans-focused storyline to recently get the ax. Win or Lose, which hits Disney+ in February, centers on a co-ed softball team; one episode wouldve been devoted to a character named Kai, who remains in the episode but without any references to their gender. Now, former creatives at Pixar have shared their feelings on the matter with the Hollywood Reporter. Former Pixar assistant editor Sarah Ligatich, who is trans and consulted on the episode, said the removal would cause problems, since the overall show has been completed for quite some time, though repeatedly delayed from its planned 2023 release. That Kais storyline was cut wasnt much of a surprise to Ligatich, but she still felt devastated nonetheless: Disney has not been in the business of making great content, she stated. Theyve been in the business of making great profits. Even as far back as two years ago when I was at Pixar, we had a meeting with [then-CEO] Bob Chapek, and they were clear with us that they see animation as a conservative medium. That sentiment was shared by her fellow ex-Pixar workers speaking to the outlet. Some found it ironic that Disney had no problem cutting a trans characters story, but has spent years giving a pass to media with considerably heavier themes, like dealing with (and moving on from) the death of a loved one. Others acknowledged how the now-finished episode would need to have several story elements adjusted ahead of Win or Loses mid-February launch. One anonymous former employee called it very frustrating that Disney has decided to spend money to not save lives, explaining that the episode was so beautifuland beautifully illustrated some of the experiences of being transand it was literally going to save lives by showing those who feel alone and unloved, that there are people out there who understand.Disneys recent history of throwing queer people under the bus (until it doesnt), and with Pixar projects in particular, has been previously documented. But the incoming second term of Donald Trump has Pixar staff worried Win or Losewill be just one among several projects that will cut particular messages or viewpoints. A former Pixar artist speaking to THR alleged the studios 2026 film Hoppershas to downplay any messages of environmentalism. The film is centered around a girl swapping brains with a beaver, and as that artist pointed out, when you have your whole film based around the importance of environmentalism, you cant really walk back on that. That team struggled a lot to figure out, What do we even do with this note?' For Ligatich, Disneys handling ofWin or Loseis also a reminder that for queer creatives and audiences that they might have to look elsewhere to find stories that reflect themselves. She singled out Netflix, which revived and released last years queer-centric film Nimonaafter Disney previously scrapped it, and said that streamer is more than happy to host content that tells authentic LGBTQ stories. Thats really how its going to go moving forward, is youre going to see a lot of indie studios pop up to tell stories.Win or Losepremieres February 19, 2025 on Disney+. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

By Passant Rabie Published December 28, 2024 | Comments (0) | ULA's 200 foot-tall rocket made its debut in January 2024. Photo: ULA The 200-foot Vulcan Centaur rocket could do more than just launch satellites to orbit. As the rocket awaits certification to launch military payloads, United Launch Alliance (ULA) suggests that Vulcan can also be used to ward off space enemies and protect U.S. assets in orbit. During the Spacepower Conference held earlier this month, ULA CEO Tory Bruno revealed that he had alternative plans for the heavy-lift launch vehicle, SpaceNews reported. Brunos suggestion includes utilizing the rockets upper stage as a space interceptor to thwart attacks against the U.S. Space Forces assets in space. Our vision is the ability to have a platform that is lightning fast, long range, and, if necessary, very lethal, he said during the conference. What Ive been working on is essentially a rocket that operates in space. Well, thats certainly an idea. The 202-foot-tall (61.6-meter) Vulcan Centaur is an expendable heavy-lift launch vehicle that was first conceived in 2006. The rocket borrows design elements from both ULAs Atlas V and Delta IV rockets, and finally made its debut on January 8, launching Astrobotics Peregrine lander toward the Moon. The rockets inaugural flight was originally scheduled to take place in 2019, but Vulcan faced several challenges and hiccups that delayed its big day. Vulcan Centaur is crucial to the commercial space industry as well as U.S. national security. With its Vulcan rocket, ULA is hoping to compete with industry favorite SpaceX. The U.S. military has grown more dependent on SpaceX to launch its payload to orbit, a market share that used to be dominated by ULA.However, Vulcan is not yet ready to launch military payloads. The rocket carried out its second certification flight in October, but ULAs marquee flight vehicle hit a snag. Following a nominal liftoff, the rocket experienced an issue about 35 seconds after launch, when a plume of material suddenly appeared to be coming off one of its two boosters. The main purpose of the Cert-2 mission was for the U.S. Space Force to certify Vulcan for national security missions, with the rocket slated to carry two U.S. military payloads to orbit this year. The not-so-ideal flight has delayed the rockets certification process.Brunos recent suggestion to turn the rocket into a space superhero may be an act of desperation as ULA continues to fall behind its main competitor, SpaceX. During the conference, the ULA CEO suggested that Vulcans upper stage could be upgraded to serve as a long-endurance vehicle that operates in space and respond rapidly to incoming threats. We know that the Chinese are going to come after us in space, Bruno said, according to SpaceNews. If we watch an attack developing where a Chinese asset is spending a few days or a week approaching something we care about, we have something we can move there in a few hours and interrupt that attack before it starts.Mentioning Chinas increasing capabilities in space is one way to get folks behind your plan. Still, Brunos remarks reflect a larger concern shared by both national and commercial spaceflight players: that space is headed toward a militarized future where orbital warfare may be inevitable.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Isaac Schultz Published November 26, 2024 By Passant Rabie Published November 14, 2024 By Passant Rabie Published November 12, 2024 By Matthew Gault Published November 6, 2024 By Passant Rabie Published November 5, 2024 By Passant Rabie Published October 10, 2024

Luton Direct Air-Rail Transit (DART) / ArupSave this picture! Simon KennedyArchitects: ArupAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:10616 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2023 PhotographsPhotographs:Simon KennedyManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Pilkington, Sika, AkzoNobel, Barwest , British Gypsum, Carvatech , Delta Balustrades Ltd , F. P. McCann , Kingfisher lighting, Marshalls paving , NJ Doyne, Prater Ltd. , Promat, Quietstone, SAS , Severfield, Shadbolt, The BILCO Company, Victor Buyck Steel Construction , Vista, +1More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. The Luton DART (Direct Air-Rail Transit) is a pioneering fully-automated people mover that transports travelers from Luton Airport Parkway railway station to the terminal of London Luton Airport in under four minutes. The project was designed and delivered by a holistic multi-disciplinary Arup team, including Architects, Engineers, Planners and Specialists. Arup's Architecture team designed a common language of bold, sculptural parasol structures that support the roof and allow light and air to enter the stations, whilst protecting passengers from the weather. This created striking spaces that are open and generous in size, naturally lit and ventilated.Save this picture!Save this picture!Providing travelers with a speedier, greener, and more efficient journey, the Luton DART will help reduce the proportion of passenger and employee trips to the airport by car. The new airport transfer facilitates faster journeys from across the rail network. Passengers traveling from London St Pancras to the London Luton Airport terminal can now do so in as little as 32 minutes, making this one of the shortest airport connections to and from central London.Save this picture!Save this picture!Luton DART marks a significant investment in the town's civil infrastructure by Luton Borough Council's airport company Luton Rising. Arup has played a key role working alongside Luton Rising on this landmark infrastructure project, assembling a large team of architects, engineers, and specialists to help meet the client's aspiration for a world-class airport experience. Arup's role covered all aspects of the planning, costing, procurement, and design, including station architecture, operating systems, and operational readiness.Save this picture!The scheme comprises two stations, a viaduct, a bridge, and a 'cut-and-cover' tunnel beneath a live taxiway. Arup has created a sense of place for passengers, with intuitive and easy-to-navigate spaces. DART Parkway and Central Terminal stations are characterized by their signature parasols. A simple and functional style delivers a consistent and high-quality architectural experience for travelers' journeys from start to finish.Save this picture!The project prioritizes accessibility with numerous features to facilitate ease of use for all passengers, including tactile paving and audio frequency induction loops. The two stations have created a new identity for Luton Airport with their signature parasols that are repeated across the wider development. Each parasol is held by a single centrally loaded column and cantilevers across approximately 20m in width. These bright sculptural forms are cleverly detailed to appear elegant in their design, bringing joy and delight to passengers.Save this picture!Both DART Parkway and Central Stations are naturally ventilated throughout the concourse and platform areas, lowering the operational carbon footprint of the stations against a mechanical approach. The transport system is powered by an efficient electric drive system which incorporates energy recovery during braking. The energy can be consumed in the vehicle (HVAC) and elsewhere in the station facilities, reducing the total energy consumption of the whole system.Save this picture!The new station, with its highly reflective parasol cladding, maximizes daylighting to improve passenger and staff wellbeing. The project brought together the collaborative effort of architects, engineers, and experts across Arup to deliver a design that was innovative, elegant, and environmentally innovative. Project gallerySee allShow lessProject locationAddress:Luton, United KingdomLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeArupOfficePublished on December 28, 2024Cite: "Luton Direct Air-Rail Transit (DART) / Arup" 28 Dec 2024. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1011317/luton-direct-air-rail-transit-dart-arup&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save?DART / ArupYou'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

Sportsmen Training Center in Druskininkai / Architektros linijaSave this picture! Norbert TukajRecreation & TrainingVilnius, LithuaniaArchitects: Architektros linijaAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:16500 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2022 PhotographsPhotographs:Norbert TukajManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Aurubis, Fundermax, Wienerberger, Alupro Lead Architects: Gintaras aikauskas, Virginija Vencknien, Miroslaw Szejnicki, Paulius Petkus, Simonas Klezys, Tomas Segalis Civil Engineering: Viltekta, Arnas ikas, Tamara Iljina, Ramut Mazrien, Valentina Kuzneik, Gintaras Strazdas, Asta Kazickien, Jaroslav Adamkovi More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. Designed in a spectacular, fragile natural area surrounded by tall pine trees, this is the largest athlete training centre in Lithuania. The rationality of its shapes and the functionality dictated by the typology of the building was discreetly matched to the expressive terrain without encroaching on the local context. The varying-height gymnasiums manage to avoid belittling the natural environment around them, rather accentuating its scenic nature and grandeur.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Each further building is larger than the one before it, which, thanks to the principles of perspective, makes the structure seem less aggressive toward its natural environment, while the colourful horizontal strip of the facade at ground-level also grabs the attention, thus diminishing the perceived size of the volumes and accentuating the surrounding natural environment.Save this picture!Save this picture!The colourful strip of the ground storey is decorated with a piece of computer graphics featuring the Olympic colour palette. The sticky sap and pollen from the nearby pine trees often cover the exterior surfaces, which is why natural copper a precious, long-lasting and easy-to-maintain material was chosen. The large hall can be used for various purposes. It provides a possibility to hold practice sessions and various sports competitions with moderate spectator numbers.Save this picture!Save this picture!The gym can be divided into two separate training areas by lowering special curtains. For more significant competitions, the curtains can be lifted and additional seats unfolded, providing seating for up to 600 spectators. The building complex also features a hotel, rarefied air chambers, catering facilities and administration. Next to it, there is an open football field with a covered 300 seat platform, as well as courts for various other sports activitiesSave this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessProject locationAddress:Vilnius, LithuaniaLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeArchitektros linijaOfficeMaterialsGlassSteelMaterials and TagsPublished on December 28, 2024Cite: "Sportsmen Training Center in Druskininkai / Architektros linija " 28 Dec 2024. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/987331/sportsmen-training-center-in-druskininkai-architekturos-linija&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save? / Architektros linijaYou'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

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Capcom released an absolute gem of a game this year. No, I'm not talking about Dragon's Dogma 2, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, or Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection--all of which hit shelves in 2024. And you didn't miss a stealth release in the Resident Evil, Street Fighter, or Monster Hunter series. Alongside three major well-received releases, Capcom released an off-beat game filled with ghosts, Japanese tradition, and strategic job assignment: Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. This game was released in 2024, but it feels like it was sent forward from 2004--in all the best ways.No one is going to blame you for having missed it. To say it flew under the radar is an understatement, and Capcom said in a recent financial briefing that the game did not meet sales targets. But Kunitsu-Gami should be treated as almost a historical document, both in the way the game is designed and in its actual content.As the warrior Soh, you have to protect the divine maiden Yoshiro so that she can purify the defiled mountain, freeing villagers to help you in a sort of worker-management real-time-strategy game that takes you in a zig-zag path down the mountain and through all manner of monsters and ghosts plucked from Japanese folklore.Continue Reading at GameSpot