The deadly attack in New Orleans on New Years Eve that left 15 people dead feels like a disturbing reminder of a past era, one when the transnational terrorist organization known as the Islamic State, or ISIS, dominated the nations attention and resources. The attacker, Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran from Texas, rammed a truck into Bourbon Street before he was killed in a shootout with police. Jabbar was flying an ISIS flag from his vehicle and posted videos on Facebook shortly before the attack, pledging support to the group. In a briefing on Thursday, FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Raia described Jabbar as 100 percent inspired by ISIS. Raia said that Jabbar, who had also planted two explosive devices on Bourbon Street that never went off, claimed he had joined ISIS before last summer. In his videos, Jabbar said he had originally planned to attack his relatives and friends he had recently gone through a divorce but worried that media coverage would not focus on what he called the war between the believers and disbelievers. Authorities are also investigating whether there is any link between the attack and a truck bombing that took place outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas on the same day, though for now there does not appear to be. Using trucks and vans to ram into crowds has been a staple of deadly ISIS-linked attacks for years, from Nice, France to Barcelona, to Berlin, to Stockholm. New Orleans is likely the biggest ISIS-inspired attack on US soil since 2016, when gunman Omar Mateen killed 49 people at Pulse, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The last significant ISIS-inspired attack in the US was in 2017, when Sayfullo Saipov drove a truck onto Manhattans West Side Highway, killing eight people. ISIS-linked violence is still common around the world there was a major suicide attack on a military base in Somalia just this week. The groups Afghanistan-based affiliate, ISIS-K, has been particularly ambitious and global in its activities. It carried out an attack on Moscows Crocus theater that killed more than 130 people last March, as well as the suicide bombings that killed nearly 100 people in Tehran in January 2024. In August, authorities foiled a quite advanced ISIS-K plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Austria. The fact that there hadnt been any recent ISIS-inspired attacks in the US in recent years may not be from lack of trying. Aaron Y. Zelin, who researches and tracks jihadist groups at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, notes that there were five arrests for ISIS-related plots in the US in 2024, including attempts to target churches in Idaho, LGBTQ establishments in Philadelphia, Jewish centers/synagogues in New York City, election day voting locations in Oklahoma City, and a Pride parade in Phoenix. Thats up from zero arrests of this type in 2023. The fact that one of the groups self-acknowledged acolytes has now succeeded to deadly and tragic effect raises some tough questions about whether ISIS is primed for a resurgence, and what it actually means to be ISIS-affiliated today. The caliphate is down but not outISIS traces its origins back to 2011, when fighters from al-Qaedas Iraqi affiliate, then led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, traveled to Syria to create a new affiliate there to fight in that countrys civil war. In 2013, al-Baghdadi tried to merge the Iraqi and Syrian affiliates, a move that was rejected by al-Qaeda leaders and led to a major schism in the global jihadi movement. In 2014, Baghdadis group began seizing towns in western Iraq, eventually taking Mosul, Iraqis largest city. At its height in 2014 and 2015, the group controlled an area the size of Great Britain, which Baghdadi declared as a new caliphate under his rule. ISISs emphasis on controlling territory and imposing its brutal theocratic rule, rather than remaining underground, distinguished it from other militant groups, as did the bloody theatricality of its methods: The group burst into many Americans consciousness with the videotaped beheadings of two American journalists.A US-led military intervention to fight ISIS began in 2014. In 2019, the groups last territorial outpost in Syria fell to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Al-Baghdadi himself was killed in a US raid a few months later. In 2020, President Donald Trump proclaimed in his State of the Union address that the ISIS territorial caliphate has been 100 percent destroyed.This was basically true, but ISIS in a more diffuse form has outlived the territorial caliphate. In Iraq and Syria, it continues to operate underground and carry out attacks, and is regularly targeted in airstrikes and raids by US forces and their local partners. But in many ways, what was once known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is a more decentralized and global organization today, in which local franchises from Afghanistan, to Somalia, to West Africa, to Mozambique are now often far more active and dangerous than the core group. They also operate more like traditional terrorist organizations than the quasi-nation state that ISIS was at its peak. ISIS is also still very much a presence online, though somewhat less so than it was at the caliphate era, researchers say. Like other militant groups, it is particularly active on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, as well as the decentralized messaging platform Rocket.Chat. (Other social media platforms are more closely monitored, though the wide spread of footage from the Crocus attack on X suggests the site formerly known as Twitter has become more of a free-for-all in its current incarnation.)ISIS distinguished itself from al-Qaeda and other groups through its heavy use of English-language propaganda and by encouraging sympathizers to carry out attacks in ISISs name. This would appear to be what just happened in New Orleans. They put out stuff about doing attacks in English almost every day, the Washington Institutes Zelin said. Lone wolf or part of a pack?According to the FBI, Jabbar claimed in the videos he posted on the night of the attack that he had joined ISIS before last summer, but the FBIs Raia also emphasized that based on analysis of Jabbars communications and social media accounts, there is just nothing to indicate that he was aided in this attack by anyone. In other words, he acted alone, but also considered himself part of a group. This is not as much of a contradiction as it might seem. Some of the largest and deadliest ISIS attacks in the West, such as the 2015 massacre of 130 people at several locations in Paris, were coordinated by ISIS itself or carried out by people who had fought and trained with the group in the Middle East. But this is increasingly rare. As the French counterterrorism analyst Wassim Nasr told Vox in July, All these things used to be done from ISIS hubs, but ISIS doesnt have territory anymore. Its totally dematerialized. More common are for people who want to carry out attacks to interact only with ISIS cyber-coaches who advise them on planning and logistics. Sometimes, the relationship is even less direct. The Orlando and Manhattan attackers dont appear to have had any interaction with ISIS abroad. They were self-radicalized inspired by the groups message and methods to carry out an attack of their own. That also seems to be the case with Jabbar, based on statements from law enforcement, though its still early days. One development that could change our understanding of the attacks is if ISIS were to post a pre-recorded message from Jabbar on its own channels. That would suggest that this wasnt just somebody that was only inspired by ISIS, but was likely in contact with ISIS operatives, Zelin said. (In the case of the Moscow attacks, the ISIS-affiliated Amaq News Agency posted bodycam footage from the attack itself.) So far, none of ISISs official channels have claimed credit for the attack, though theres a good chance they will. ISIS has never been shy about claiming credit, even for attacks it clearly had nothing to do with.Colin Clarke, a counterterrorism researcher at the Soufan Center, noted that ISIS-affiliated Telegram and Rocket.Chat channels had been calling for attacks over Christmas and New Years. Clarke told Vox that the fact that Jabbar doesnt appear to be part of an organized underground cell shouldnt necessarily be comforting. To me, the fact that it was a lone actor is more nefarious, he said. Thats the ISIS model. They want to be able to reach out and inspire somebody in the US to be able to do this. Their ultimate goal is to make Americans fearful.Trump vs. ISIS: The rematch?There was already renewed global concern about an ISIS resurgence before the New Orleans attack, mainly due to events in the Middle East. As White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan put it, theres concern that ISIS will get new oxygen from the instability in Syria following the overthrow of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad. (The main group that has taken power in Syria, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is itself the successor of the al-Qaeda affiliate that split from ISIS back in 2013, though it has also renounced al-Qaeda and is attempting to present a more moderate face to the world.) The US has been stepping up its strikes against ISIS targets in Syria since Assads fall, in an attempt to prevent it from taking advantage. Theres also concern about the security of the camps in northeast Syria where thousands of ISIS fighters and their families have been detained for years. These camps are under the control the US-backed, predominantly Kurdish SDF, which is currently under threat from the Turkish military and its local proxies. ISIS will be a policy question for the [incoming] Trump administration, said Javed Ali, a longtime FBI terrorism analyst who served on the National Security Council during Trumps first term. Despite the fact that ISIS is not the organization it was a decade ago, we do need to take a new look at our counterterrorism approach.Though Trump frequently touts the defeat of ISISs caliphate among his first-term accomplishments, he has also frequently expressed a desire to scale back US commitments in the Middle East, including removing the troops in Syria currently involved in fighting remnants of ISIS. (For what its worth, the president-elects first reaction to the attack was to falsely claim that the US-born Jabbar was an immigrant.)Overall, counterterrorism is far less of a point of emphasis for US national security than it was a decade ago, as attention and resources have shifted to great power competition with China and Russia. Thats an understanding and mostly welcome developments, but a few more events like what we just saw in New Orleans could change that trend very quickly.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 Passant Rabie Published January 2, 2025 | Comments (0) | A Quadrantid meteor shower as seen in the night sky over the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China on January 4, 2022. Xue Bing/Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty Images Brilliant streaks of light are set to illuminate the sky, heralding the years first celestial spectacle. The Quadrantid meteor shower is set to peak on Friday, January 3, during the early hours before dawn, putting on a spectacular show throughout the night with at least 30 to 60 meteors per hour. This years Quadrantids wont have interference from the Moons light, guaranteeing a better viewing experience for one of the most popular meteor showers to grace our skies. To fully enjoy the Quadrantids this year, the meteor shower is best viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, though it will still be visible across the entire sky, according to EarthSky.The meteor shower should be enjoyed from a poorly lit area, preferably away from city lights. You should be prepared for a long night as it starts to peak around 2 a.m. and last until dawn. Last year, sky watchers had some interference from the Moon, which was 51% full the night the Quadrantids peaked. This year, however, the meteor shower will coincide with a waxing crescent Moon, which will not interfere with the view of the streaking lights.The Quadrantids are an annual shower that was first spotted in 1825. It is active from late December until mid-January. The meteor shower has a narrow peak window that lasts for a few hours each year due to its thin stream of particles and the angle at which Earth crosses the stream, according to NASA. Still, the meteor shower puts on quite the show during those few hours. Quadrantids are known for bright fireball meteors, which produce bigger explosions of light and color that originate from larger particles of material.Although most meteor showers originate from comets, the Quadrantids come from an asteroid. The space rock, known as Asteroid 2003 EH1, orbits the Sun once every five and a half years. Its a relatively small asteroid, measuring around two miles (three kilometers) across, and may be a dead comet or a rock comet (an asteroid with an orbit that resembles that of a comet). The Quadrantids radiant, or the point in the sky from which the meteor shower appears to come from, is an obsolete constellation called the Quadrans Muralis, according to NASA. French astronomer Jerome Lalande created the constellation in 1795, but it was scratched off the list of recognized constellations in 1922 by the International Astronomical Union.The first meteor shower of the year kicks off a series of astronomical events that can be enjoyed by sky enthusiasts, including the four planets Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter being visible during the first couple of hours after sunset throughout the month of January. Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Isaac Schultz Published December 11, 2024 By Passant Rabie Published December 10, 2024 By Passant Rabie Published November 3, 2024 By Passant Rabie Published May 10, 2023 ScienceSpace & Spaceflight Fireball Lights Up the Skies Over St. Louis During Northern Taurid Meteor Shower By Tom McKay Published November 11, 2019 ScienceSpace & Spaceflight Will You Be Able to See the Perseid Meteor Shower This Weekend? By Ryan F. Mandelbaum Published August 10, 2018

By Todd Feathers Published January 2, 2025 | Comments (3) | Protesters outside the FCC building in 2017. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images An appeals court has overturned the Federal Communications Commissions latest net neutrality rules, paving the way for internet providers to arbitrarily throttle web access for certain customers and services. The ruling is the latest twist in a decade-long battle in Washington over the FCCs ability to regulate telecoms companies. It is also a sign of executive branch agencies waning authority to interpret the statutes they enforce thanks to a 2024 Supreme Court decision, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. That case overturned the courts previous precedent, known as the Chevron deference, that gave agencies latitude to interpret ambiguous laws. In 2015, the FCC under former President Barack Obama adopted rules that categorized broadband internet providers as telecommunications services and prohibited them from arbitrarily blocking and throttling internet users or giving priority to websites that paid for preferential treatment. Under Donald Trumps first administration in 2018, the FCC rescinded those net neutrality rules. Then in 2024, under Joe Biden, the FCC voted to restore them.A coalition of telecom industry groups sued to block the rules again, leading to the latest ruling by the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The three-judge panel wrote that for the first 15 years after Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 the FCC oversaw the internet with a light touch and classified internet service providers as information services, which limited the extent to which the agency could regulate them.That changed in 2015 when the agency interpreted internet service providers to be telecommunication services, a different category under the 1996 law that allowed for stricter regulations. In an earlier series of cases challenging net neutrality rules, federal courts upheld the FCCs decision to classify internet service providers as telecommunication services, citing the 1984 Supreme Court case Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., which gave executive branch agencies the authority to interpret ambiguities in laws passed by Congress.But now that the current Supreme Court has overturned the so-called Chevron deference, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FCC does not have the authority to decide how internet service providers should be classified. In response to the ruling, FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called on Congress to take action.Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an internet that is fast, open, and fair, she said in a statement. With this decision, it is clear that Congress now needs to heed their call, take up the charge for net neutrality, and put open internet principles in federal law.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By AJ Dellinger Published December 31, 2024 By Lucas Ropek Published November 25, 2024 By Matthew Gault Published November 18, 2024 By Passant Rabie Published November 14, 2024 By Dua Rashid Published October 18, 2024 By Todd Feathers Published September 26, 2024

By AJ Dellinger Published January 2, 2025 | Comments (0) | A Carvana vending machine Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images Carvana may be a house of cards. Thats according to investment research and activist short-selling firm Hindenburg Research (never a good sign to be the subject of ire from a company named after a famous disaster), which published a report on Thursday that accuses the online used car seller of accounting manipulation stemming from unstable loans that it is using to temporarily prop up its prospects while its father-son ownership team cashes out. The report, titled Carvana: A Father-Son Accounting Grift For The Ages claims that Carvanas miraculous turnaround over the last two years, which has seen the companys stock nearly 10xin 2023 and climbed another 300% in 2024 after staring down bankruptcy in 2022, is nothing but a mirage. Hindenburg Research claims that as the share price has skyrocketed, the father of Carvanas CEO has cashed out more than $1.4 billion in stock. At the center of the alleged scheme appears to be some self-dealing, but to understand the alleged shadiness, its important to first understand how the business model works. When people buy a car from Carvana, a loan originates from the retailer, but it then sells those loans to other companies. Its primary buyer for those auto loans was Ally Financial, but the bank has since pulled back on its partnership. This may be in part because Carvanas underwriting practices on those loans have been historically suspect. Hindenburg notes that Wells Fargoa company that has mastered the art of scammy financial dealingscalled off a partnership with Carvana in 2019 because Their underwriting practices were not something that we were particularly comfortable with.What exactly is happening in Carvanas underwriting process? Basically, a rubber stamp, according to the report. A former director at Carvana told Hindenberg, We actually approved 100% of applicants we didnt decline for compliance reasons. About half of all of Carvanas loans are subprime, per Hindenburg, and 80% of those are deep subprime, which is the the riskiest rating available. Even the companys so-called prime borrowers have a 60-day delinquency rate four times higher than the industry average. All that to say, Carvana car loans are a major risk. Yet the company has found a new buyer for them even as Ally and others turn away.According to Hindenburgs research, Carvana has sold $800 million in auto loans to what the company has called an unrelated third party. The thing is, though, Hindenburg doesnt think this buyer is unrelated. The firm believes Carvana is selling its loans to an affiliate of DriveTime, a private car dealership that is owned by Ernest Garcia IIthe father of Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia III and the largest shareholder in the car seller.Hindenburg believes that this loan servicer is granting loan extensions to its borrowers in order to make it appear like more of the companys loans are in good standing when they would otherwise be considered delinquent and risk-laden. So per Hindenburgs digging, it seems like Carvana may have manufactured its incredible turnaround by simply approving practically every loan request that came across its desk. This juiced sales and investors rallied behind the company, pushing its stock price to new highs. Meanwhile, Ernest Garcia II started selling off his stock, pocketing over a billion as bag holders poured in.Overall, we think the Garcias will leave shareholders with nothing, Hindenburgs report concludes. At any point in Carvanas two incredible stock runs, it could have raised significant capital and de-risked its balance sheet. Instead, the company has pushed off creditors and engaged in accounting games while the CEOs father dumps billions in stock.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Thomas Maxwell Published October 8, 2024 By Oscar Gonzalez Published June 11, 2024 Laura Bratton, Quartz Published May 31, 2024 Vinamrata Chaturvedi, Quartz Published May 14, 2024 Vinamrata Chaturvedi, Quartz Published May 14, 2024 By Maxwell Zeff Published May 13, 2024

House in the Forest / Daiber & Aceituno ArquitectosSave this picture! Marcos ZegersHousesPuerto Varas, ChileArchitects: Daiber & Aceituno ArquitectosAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:100 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2023 PhotographsPhotographs:Marcos Zegers Lead Architects: David Aceituno, Diego Daiber More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. Located within a dense forest in southern Chile, near Puerto Varas, this residential project takes shape as a compact volume elevated on arched foundations that help minimize contact with the ground while emphasizing the intersection between two dissimilar horizontal planes.Save this picture!Save this picture!The house's common areas are situated on the first level. Openings are kept minimal, reinforcing the sense of shelter and maintaining the filtered light characteristic of the forest. The second level houses two bedrooms and a bathroom, separated by a central void that acts as the heart of the project.Save this picture!This void creates a double-height space dominated by a skylight that, combined with two windows illuminating the bedrooms and a large north-facing window, captures the light of the inherently dim environment. Facing this large window, a built-in mirror on the second-floor balcony serves as an interior window, reflecting and amplifying light toward the first level.Save this picture!Save this picture!With a simple and regular composition, placed like a Monopoly piece on an undefined board, the house embraces the confrontation between construction and site. However, through three key operationsthe arches in its foundations, the entrance portal, and the central voidthe dwelling transforms, establishing a dialogue with its surroundings that aligns with its distinct identity.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officePublished on January 02, 2025Cite: "House in the Forest / Daiber & Aceituno Arquitectos" 02 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1024928/house-in-the-forest-daiber-and-aceituno-arquitectos&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?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

Continuum 2025 has just released a maintenance featuring 3 new tools to assist in creating beautiful impactful motion blur driven by AI. Nick Harauz walks you through everything you need to know about taking advantage of Speed Maps, Vector Views and limiting motion blur from the slowest regions of your footage. Learn more about Continuum 2025: https://bit.ly/3bAtGye Download a free trial of Continuum 2025: https://bit.ly/trybcc // C H A P T E R L I S T //00:00 Introduction 00:20 Scene setup and Motion Blur Basics01:00 Limiting Moton Blur from slower moving objects01:56 Viewing Motion Vectors03:02 Viewing Speed maps03:52 Using Compare Mode08:31 Goodbye

(Credit: Artsiom P/Shutterstock) NewsletterSign up for our email newsletter for the latest science newsThe sun had a big year in 2024. First, April brought a total solar eclipse that provided a wide swath of the continental U.S. with nearly four minutes of hushed totality. It also gave sun-gazers a chance to observe the outer layers of the suns atmosphere, which are normally obscured.Then, on May 1011, the aurora borealis seemed to appear everywhere, all at once. Reports came from North Texas, Arizona, even Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee nearly the entire U.S. that the night sky had turned green, purple, and pink. In places where the light was almost too faint for the naked eye, it revealed itself in camera photos. Another strong auroral show dazzled on Oct. 1011. The northern lights rarely extend so far south; Mays unusual light show resulted from the largest geomagnetic storm since 2003 to reach Earths atmosphere. A geomagnetic storm begins when the sun releases a blob of high-energy ions and electrons, called a coronal mass ejection (CME), in Earths direction. Earths protective geomagnetic field deflects most of such blasts. During strong events like the one in May, though, those energetic particles interact with the magnetic field and gases in the atmosphere, producing the auroras. The sun also released bright flashes of light, called solar flares. (These can accompany CMEs but are separate phenomena. Solar flares travel at the speed of light, reaching Earth in eight minutes. CMEs take a few days.)In 1859, the most powerful geomagnetic storm in recent history, called the Carrington Event, blasted Earth. Witnesses reported that the storm disrupted telegraph lines, ignited telegraph paper, and even shocked operators. Today, such an event could do far greater damage than small fires and a few zaps. Geomagnetic storms can threaten communication satellites, navigation systems, the electric grid, and more. On Halloween 2003, for instance, a powerful storm destroyed a satellite and disrupted GPS systems used for airlines, deep-sea drilling, and other applications. The storm that struck in May, although not as strong as the Carrington Event, was rated a G5 the most severe rating by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). While people admired the auroras, space weather scientists breathed a sigh of relief. Even though there were a lot of effects, were unaware of a lot of really bad impacts, says Shawn Dahl, a space weather forecaster at NOAAs Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado. This was the most successfully mitigated extreme space weather storm in history. Were better prepared than we were in the past, says Dahl. Scientists use satellites to track changes in the suns temperatures and magnetometers around the world to look for magnetic field fluctuations. We can forecast a lot of these events up to three days in advance, he says. In May, NOAA issued a warning six hours in advance, giving grid operators time to prepare and airline companies time to redirect flights to safer routes. In the future, he hopes to see a wider warning system to alert farmers using GPS for seeding and spraying, for example. Theres plenty to look forward to, too. In March 2025, NOAA plans to launch a satellite for solar weather prediction. And NASA announced in October that the sun had reached solar maximum for its 11-year cycle. The level of activity could continue for another year, which could mean more CMEs, more flares, and more aurora borealis, shining down in Dallas. Stay tuned.space exploration1 free article leftWant More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/monthSubscribeAlready a subscriber?Register or Log In1 free articleSubscribeWant more?Keep reading for as low as $1.99!SubscribeAlready a subscriber?Register or Log In

ShareBipedal robots (at least some of them) are becoming increasingly agile and humanlike in their movements. Despite this, one physical aspect remains stuck in the uncanny valleyrealistic facial expressions. Robots still arent great at replicating complex and fluid face muscle interactions at speeds comparable to their biological inspirations. One solution, however, may be found by treating expressions as an interplay between various waveforms. The result is a new dynamic arousal expression system developed by researchers at Osaka University that allows a bot to mimic expressions more quickly and seamlessly than its predecessors.The potential solution, detailed in a study published in the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics, requires first classifying various facial gestures like yawning, blinking, and breathing as individual waveforms. These are then linked to amplitude of movements such as opening and closing lips, moving eyebrows, or angling the head. In this first case, a control parameter is used based on a mood spectrum ranging between sleepy and excited. These waves then propagate and superpose on top of each other to adjust a robot faces physical features depending on their reaction. According to the studys accompanying announcement, the new method rids programmers of the need to prepare individualized, choreographed facial movements for each response state.The automatic generation of dynamic facial expressions to transmit the internal states of a robot, such as mood, is crucial for communication robots, the team writes in their study, who add that current methods rely on a patchwork-like replaying of recorded motions that make it difficult to achieve realistic results.Researchers assign waves to movement units like breathing and blinking that then influence physical representations in the robot. Credit: Hisashi Ishihara For example, a sleepy spectrum ranking generates certain results in the robots breathing, yawning, and blinking parameters. These subsequently compound on top of one another, further amplifying or minimizing facial movements like mouth size, eyelid flutters, and head tilts. Once calculated, the resulting physical representations are depicted near instantaneously.Advancing this research in dynamic facial expression synthesis will enable robots capable of complex facial movements to exhibit more lively expressions and convey mood changes that respond to their surrounding circumstances, including interactions with humans, said senior author Koichi Osuka. Get the Popular Science newsletter Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.While arguably a step forward for realistic robots, its still hard to shake the spookiness of seeing it displayed on an android child. The facial movements look more fluid and natural than many other contemporary machines, but theres no way to avoid the fact that the toddler bots eyes are still clearly artificial. The fact that its eyes frequently appear to dart side-to-side and drift off-focus doesnt help matters, either.Still, treating facial features as an interplay between waves of varying strength and intensity appears to at least offer more realistic results than viewing them as preprogrammed, one-to-one reactions. Regardless, showing off the next iteration using an adult robot could maybe also lessen the overall creepiness.

Nature, Published online: 02 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-024-04174-8The use of shed skins might help to ward off predators, experiments suggest.

Axial, an undersea volcano off the coast of Oregon is probably going to erupt in 2025.