WHOAgility, Amazon, Covariant, Robust, Toyota Research InstituteWHENNowGenerative AI is causing a paradigm shift in how robots are trained. Its now clear how we might finally build the sort of truly capable robots that have for decades remained the stuff of science fiction.Robotics researchers are no strangers to artificial intelligenceit has for years helped robots detect objects in their path, for example. But a few years ago, roboticists began marveling at the progress being made in large language models. Makers of those models could feed them massive amounts of textbooks, poems, manualsand then fine-tune them to generate text based on prompts.Explore the full 2025 list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies. The idea of doing the same for robotics was tantalizingbut incredibly complicated. Its one thing to use AI to create sentences on a screen, but another thing entirely to use it to coach a physical robot in how to move about and do useful things.Now, roboticists have made major breakthroughs in that pursuit. One was figuring out how to combine different sorts of data and then make it all useful and legible to a robot. Take washing dishes as an example. You can collect data from someone washing dishes while wearing sensors. Then you can combine that with teleoperation data from a human doing the same task with robotic arms. On top of all that, you can also scrape the internet for images and videos of people doing dishes.By merging these data sources properly into a new AI model, its possible to train a robot that, though not perfect, has a massive head start over those trained with more manual methods. Seeing so many ways that a single task can be done makes it easier for AI models to improvise, and to surmise what a robots next move should be in the real world.Its a breakthrough thats set to redefine how robots learn. Robots that work in commercial spaces like warehouses are already using such advanced training methods, and the lessons we learn from those experiments could lay the groundwork for smart robots that help out at home.

WHOGevo, LanzaJet, Montana Renewables, Neste, World EnergyWHENNowAll the worlds planes consumed roughly 100 billion gallons of jet fuel as they crisscrossed the planet in 2024. Only about 0.5% of it was something other than fossil fuel. That could soon change.Alternative jet fuels could slash aviation emissionswhich have caused about 4% of global warming to date. These new fuels can be made with materials like used cooking oils, crop residue, industrial waste, and carbon dioxide captured from the air. Depending on the source, they can reduce emissions by half or nearly eliminate them. And they can generally be used in existing planes, which could enable quick climate progress.More governments are now setting targets or passing legislation requiring airlines to begin using these alternative fuels (sometimes called sustainable aviation fuels, or SAFs). Starting this year, alternative fuels must make up at least 2% of the fuel used at airports in the European Union and UK. That mandate will ramp up in the coming decades, reaching 70% in the EU by 2050.Today, nearly all commercially available alternative fuel is made with waste fats, oils, and greases. Montana Renewables recently got a $1.44 billion loan commitment from the US Department of Energy to expand one facility for such production. Still, these materials remain in limited supply.Companies using other technologies and inputs are making progress scaling up. LanzaJet opened the first commercial-scale facility to make jet fuel from ethanol in early 2024, with a capacity of 9 million gallons annually. Synthetic fuels made with carbon dioxide could further expand options for airlines, though those fuels arent being produced at commercial scale yet.Explore the full 2025 list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies. One crucial factor for alternative jet fuels moving forward will be coston average, SAFs on the market today tend to be nearly three times more expensive than conventional jet fuel. Having more companies producing more fuel should help bring down the price, though newer fuels could be even more costly.

WHO Blue Ocean Barns, DSM-Firmenich, Rumin8, Symbrosia WHEN NowCompanies are finally making real progress on one of the trickiest problems for climate change: cow burps.The worlds herds of cattle belch out methane as a by-product of digestion, as do sheep and goats. That powerful greenhouse gas makes up the single biggest source of livestock emissions, which together contribute 11% to 20% of the worlds total climate pollution, depending on the analysis.Its hard to meaningfully cut those emissions by reducing demand, simply because hamburgers, steaks, butter, and milk taste goodand a global population thats growing larger and wealthier is only set to consume more of these foods.Explore the full 2025 list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies. Enter the cattle burping supplement. DSM-Firmenich, a Netherlands-based conglomerate that produces fragrances, pharmaceuticals, and other products, has developed a feed supplement, Bovaer, that it says can cut methane emissions by 30% in dairy cattle and even more in beef cattle. It works by inhibiting an enzyme in the animals guts, which ordinarily helps convert hydrogen and carbon dioxide produced during digestion into the methane that they burp up.In May 2024, the Food and Drug Administration cleared the way for its use in the US. DSM says the additive is now available in more than 55 countries, including Australia, Brazil, and members of the European Union.Meanwhile, startups like Blue Ocean Barns, Rumin8, and Symbrosia are developing, testing, or seeking approval for products derived from a type of red seaweed, which could reduce methane levels even further. Still other organizations are trying to tackle the problem in longer-lasting ways, by developing vaccines or altering the microbes in the guts of cattle.It remains to be seen how many cattle farmers will pay for such products. But in the case of Bovaer, farmers who use it can earn greenhouse-gas credits that some companies will buy on voluntary carbon markets as a way to reduce their corporate climate footprints, according to Elanco, which is marketing the additive in the US. Meanwhile, Rumin8 says cattle taking its supplements could deliver more meat and milk.The additives certainly dont solve the whole problem. The cattle industry needs to take other major steps to cut its climate emissions, including halting its encroachment into carbon-absorbing forests. And to make any real dent in demand, food companies will have to develop better, cheaper, cleaner alternative products, like plant-based burgers and dairy substitutes.But methane-cutting supplements increasingly look like a promising way to solve a big chunk of a very big problem.

Snag today's lowest iPad 10th Generation price at Amazon, with a $70 discount in effect heading into the weekend.Save $70 with this iPad 10th Gen markdownTake advantage of a fresh price drop on Apple's iPad 10th Generation, with the standard 64GB Wi-Fi model falling to $279 at Amazon and Best Buy.Get the $279 deal Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Going into the new year, here are our best tips to maximize your health with the help of any Apple Watch.Apple Watch is a great health companionLike its predecessors, the latest Apple Watch Series 10 is an incredible fitness tool that is packed with sensors that give you immediate health and fitness information. Whether your goal is to lose weight, live healthier, or something else any Apple Watch can help.That's always true, but right now at the start of the year, many users are opening new Apple Watches from the holidays. Plus many of those, and existing users, will be starting off their new year resolutions which always include getting fitter. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

If theres one genre thats delivered incredible titles, year in and year out, for decades, its the role-playing game. With the sheer number of settings, combat systems, characters and stories, selecting the very best games in the genre is a challenge. After all, everyone has their precious memories of getting lost in a fantastical world. Regardless, here are our picks for the 15 best role-playing games of all time.Star Wars: Knights of the Old RepublicAfter their success, many wondered where BioWares next game could venture. Few expected Star Wars; even fewer expected perhaps the best story in the franchise to date with Knights of the Old Republic. As an amnesiac Jedi, players explore well-worn and brand-new locations while becoming reacquainted with the Force. With stellar writing and companions, an excellent combat system, and the alignment system dictating ones bent towards the Light or Dark side, Knights of the Old Republic is an iconic title for any RPG and Star Wars fan.

Games where you grab a gun and blast an assortment of baddies into bloody corpses continues to be the worlds leading video game genre, and every year hundreds of first and third-person shooters flood the market, inhibiting numerous sub-genres in varying quality. As it happens though, 2024 has been a stellar year for shooting games. This years shooters have brought much-needed freshness to the table, whilst an onslaught of online co-operative and so-called boomer shooters have provided entertainment in their droves. This years list was tough to compile, but theres a fantastic selection here; shooters which will appeal to everyone. Furthermore, the list is ranked 15-to-1, from good to great.The First DescendantKicking things off with free to play third-person looter shooter The First Descendant, this co-operative RPG tasks teams of up to four with saving humanity from a string of hostile invaders. It harbours everything you could ever want in a modern-day shooter: flashy gunplay, intricate visuals, and a varied cast of colourful characters each with unique skills and capabilities. However, there are problems in its frustratingly slow progression, non-existent story, and atrocious balancing. Sort these issues out and The First Descendant could achieve some longevity in what is becoming an increasingly challenging domain.

If any developer is having a busy year, its Falcom of The Legend of Heroes and Ys fame. On top of The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak 2 launching next month, its also releasing Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter worldwide this Fall. Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga, a port of its crossover fighter, and Ys 10: Proud Nordics, an enhanced version of Ys 10: Nordics, are also inbound.However, additional titles are in development for the Trails and Ys franchises, codenamed Title H and Title in Falcoms latest financial report. Release dates for either have yet to be determined. If that wasnt enough, an unannounced PS5 port is in the works.Of course, the studio also has a new Tokyo Xanadu project in development, which could be revealed this year. Stay tuned for more updates, and in the meantime, check out details on Trails through Daybreak 2. Its out on February 14th for PS4, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

More than 1,300 tiny snails were released into the wild after a captive breeding effort. One baby snail is shown here on a British five pence coin. Chester Zoo / Cover Images via APJust a few years ago, the outlook for island snails on the Portuguese Madeira archipelago appeared grim, at best. These animals were buckling under extinction pressures, and several species hadnt been observed for more than a century. Biologists thought those snails had all but disappeared, with only empty shells and fossils left as evidence that they ever slid across the Earth.Now, the fates of those snails have taken a positive turn: In the last decade or so, scientists found live members of specieslong thought to be extinct on the islands, kicking off a flurry of rescue initiatives for these floundering mollusks. In the latest page of their story, a massive rewilding effort has released more than 1,300 captive-bred snails onto wild ground. It marks a new chapter of survivaland a second lease at lifefor the rare, endangered snails.Scientists have a term for animals found alive after their kind was thought to have gone extinct: Lazarus species, named after the biblical figure from the New Testament who was resurrected. The discovery of some Madeira snails to be alive and breathing, in a way, felt similarly miraculous to conservationists.The Desertas Islands lie off the coast of Morocco and make up part of Madeira, like a row of jagged teeth sprouting up from the Atlantic Ocean. With steep cliffs and scant tree cover, the mountainous and windswept terrain might seem hostile to the tiny, shell-toting inhabitants there, but natures challenges are nothing compared to the threats that humans have introduced. Invasive species such as goats have annihilated local vegetation. Mice and rats have also feasted on the snails, tanking their population.Despite these hurdles, the snails somehow managed to cling to survival. Researchers at the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (IFCN) in Madeira led expeditions between 2012 and 2017 and discovered a trove of 200 snails representing two endangered species on Deserta Grande, the largest of the Desertas Islands.Worried the snails were the last of their kind, the researchers brought the shell-toting creatures into captivity in several zoos across the United Kingdom and France.One of the sanctuaries was Chester Zoo in England. From a pool of 60 of the snails, the staff embarked on a mighty journey to parse their biological secrets, including how to multiply their numbers.It was a huge responsibility to begin caring for them, says Gerardo Garcia, Chester Zoos head of ectotherms, per the Guardians Mattha Busby. As a zoo conservation community, we knew nothing about them. Theyd never been in human care before, and we had to start from a blank piece of paper and try to figure out what makes them tick.The zookeepers spent countless hours caring for each individual, he adds, and now, all that effort has paid off. A total of 1,329 of the snails offspring were released onto Bugio, another of the Desertas Islands. Unlike Deserta Grande, Bugio is free of goats and rodents, thanks to eradication interventions. Before the snails release, the researchers dotted their shells with an ultraviolet marker for easier tracking later on.For 100 years we thought theyd gone forever, but now theres new hope, says IFCN conservationist Dinarte Teixeira, who was involved in the first discovery of the snails, per the Agence France-Presse. Were striving to do everything we can to give them the best possible chance for the future.These dull-colored snails, no bigger than a pea, might not be much to look at, but they constitute important members of a healthy ecosystem. Theyre a key food source for the native fauna, and they feed on dead plants, thus helping with nutrient cycling and soil fertility for other plants to grow robustly. As some students once described, snails poop out fertilizer packets, reported Joshua Rapp Learn for the Wildlife Society in 2021.All of that is dependent on the little guysthe insects and the snails that so often get overlooked, Heather Prince, an invertebrate specialist at Chester Zoo, tells Victoria Gill of BBC News.Snails are particularly vulnerable to environmental threats. Their slow-moving lifestyle means they are limited to narrow geographic areas, leaving them susceptible to the dangers of habitat loss. Island snails also evolved when their homes were free of predators, so they typically have few defenses against new invaders.But, given their relative insulation from the outside world, islands have become biodiversity hotspots for snails. Half of all documented land snail species live on islands, and among these roughly 11,000 species, another half dwell on only seven islands. The Madeira archipelago harbors more than 320 land snail species, with most of them found nowhere else in the world. But worldwide, land snails constitute some 40 percent of all animal extinctions since 1500.The Madeiran snails may yet escape this dire fate. Four additional snail reintroduction projectsin the Desertas Islands are slated for this year and 2026. In the meantime, the researchers will monitor the snails survival rate to gauge the success of the current rewilding effort.If it goes as well as we hope, more snails will follow them next spring, says Garcia, per BBC News. Its a huge team effort, which shows that it is possible to turn things around for highly threatened species.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Animals, Atlantic Ocean, Conservation, England, Good News, Invasive Species, Mollusks, Worms, Sponges, Starfish, Reproduction, wildlife, Zoology

The Museum of Bad Gifts Is a Celebration of Outlandish Objects, From Ceramic Clowns to Cat Nail ClippingsPresented like pieces of fine art, the peculiar presents are mounted on the walls of a gallery in Toronto. Many of them will ultimately be sold at auction The weeklong exhibition showcases items submitted by members of the public. Martin ReisAn eclectic collection of items akin to the Island of Misfit Toys in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is on display at a small gallery in Canada. But unlike the 1964 television specials downtrodden playthings, which eager girls and boys eventually welcome on Christmas morning, these items are gifts that have already been givenand rejected.At The Museum of Bad Gifts, a weeklong installation at Torontos Northern Contemporary Gallery, doomed presents are mounted on the wall like pieces of fine art for visitors to puzzle over. Highlights include a framed fragment of cat food packaging, a stolen hotel bathrobe, a gingerbread man made of astroturf, a carafe made from a cows hoof, a Muppet Calendar CD-ROM and a drinking glass adorned with the words wine is win with an e on the end!Bad gifts are a universal experience, Shari Kasman, one of the exhibitions curators, tells the Toronto Stars Abby OBrien. Everywhere around the world, people are receiving bad gifts, whether given out of obligation or misjudgment.Kasman and her co-curatorsartists Stephanie Avery, Martin Reis and Sean Martindalesettled on the idea while brainstorming ways to use the gallery space during the period between Christmas and New Years, when loved ones the world over are grappling with gifts they dont want. Items on display include a "Muppet Calendar" CD-ROM and a framed piece of cat food packaging. Shari KasmanAhead of the show, the gallery put out a call for submissions, explaining that the definition of a bad gift is completely subjective and that all bad gifts should be celebrated equally. As Kasman tells CBC News Michael Smee, One persons bad gift is another persons gem.Kasman says that organizing the show came with unique challenges, and participants had their own moral quandaries to contend with: What if a gift-giver has since died? What if theyre alive and they see their item in the gallery? But the show is billed as a salute to bad gifts, rather than a condemnation of them.Be it given out of obligation, wild misjudgments in character or pure apathy, bad gifts hold a special place in our hearts and in our homes, writes the gallery on the exhibition website. We feel compelled to keep these gifts, even though we dont want, like or need them. The Museum of Bad Gifts will put bad gifts in center stage as we celebrate their glorious awkwardness, the chaos of holiday consumption and the rituals of giving/receiving. The exhibition features a book called Solo Chef and a tube of pepper spray, among other items. Shari KasmanThe items are displayed alongside wall text descriptions written by the recipients, so museumgoers can understand the context in which each transaction occurred. One participant accidentally spritzed pepper spray in her face after receiving it as a gift from her mother; the offending tube is in a Ziploc bag on the wall. Another explained that my bestie in England and I like to send each other quirky gifts, [but] this bag of what I think are cat nails was perhaps a little too quirky for me. One woman wrote that she received a cookbook called Solo Chef written for widows and recently divorced dads on her 29th birthday.It had come from a [discount] bin, Kasman tells the Toronto Star. It contains such recipes as Meatloaf for One.Some of the gifts on display are inoffensive, like a preppy cheetah print phone purse given to someone who doesnt really care for typical girly things. Context appears to matter a lot with such items, which are often appreciated when exchanged between acquaintances. But what about when they come from close friends or relatives?Eva Stachniak, who visited the show, is a local writer who loves literature, but shes been given generic texts that come with an air of, Oh, any book will do, as she tells Toronto Todays Gabe Oatley. Its the sadness that comes from the fact that someone you thought knew you really has no idea who you are. Museumsgoers are encouraged to draw and describe the worst gifts they've received. Shari KasmanBut the bad gifts themselves are only one section of the show. At the wall of bad gift drawings, visitors are instructed to draw and describe the worst items theyve received, including a ceramic clown and the doll I dont like. They can also add their own bad gifts to a collaborative bad gift sculpture or reimagine them using ribbons, tape and other crafts supplies.There are bad gifts that are so bad theyre good, says sculptor Andy Fischer. Those are the ones I enjoy the most. As CBC News reports, Fischer reimagined a Cabbage Patch doll gifted by a friend who constructed it out of freakish found parts.Admission is free, but like a traditional gallery show, some of the itemsincluding the bag of cat nailsare up for auction, according to Global News Lexy Benedict. Proceeds will go to the Toronto-based Daily Bread Food Bank.The Museum of Bad Gifts is on view at the Northern Contemporary Gallery in Toronto through January 5, 2025.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Art, Arts, Canada, Christmas, Dolls, Exhibitions, Exhibits, Family, Museums, Museums of the Weird, Pop culture, Toys