Nature, Published online: 20 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00075-6Sustainability and artificial intelligence dominate our seventh annual round-up of exciting innovations.

A large new study has shed light on the wider health impacts of taking Ozempic-style drugs.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is all set to restore two of its original six Avengers heroes to their former glory. A veteran director is in talks to take on a couple of MCU projects, one of which seems particularly likely and paves the way for this filmmaker's entry into the franchise.

Its 2025, and no, we still havent heard word about a Red God release date. In the meantime, though, Ive been holding myself over lately with the Red Rising board game. Turns out, a conveniently color-coded social hierarchy lends itself not just to timely social commentary, but also to the bones of a terrific board game.The whole crux of Red Rising, an excellent series of grimdark sci-fi novels written by Pierce Brown, is a futuristic version of humanity that has remade itself quite literally, via genetic modification into color-coded castes. Reds comprise the bottom of the ladder, manual laborers consigned to spend their lives mining for helium. Golds, meanwhile, are at the top: faster, smarter, stronger, and wealthier than everyone else. The rest of the social order breaks down into neatly clarified roles Silvers are bankers, Greens are tech wizards, Violets are artists and journalists, and so on. (You can see the whole hierarchy here.)The series consists of six novels to date, starting with 2014s Red Rising. Brown announced Red God, the sagas seventh and final entry, in 2022. But as of this writing, neither the author nor his publisher, Del Ray Books, have stipulated a release window for the book. The most recent in the series, Light Bringer, hit shelves in summer 2023, meaning its been a few years worth of a dry spell for Red Rising fans, who may be more accustomed to a regular release cadence than readers of some other popular fantasy books.But the board game tie-in is right there! Has been for years! And, saying this as a delirious fan of Browns series: It absolutely rules.Red Rising, designed by Jamey Stegmaier and Alexander Schmidt and published by Stonemaier Games in 2021, is a zippy, fiercely competitive tabletop game. Better yet, as an adaptation, its deliciously faithful to its source material.At the start of each game, every player randomly selects from one of six houses associated with the Institute, basically Red Risings version of Hogwarts. (The first novel is an archetypical training at the fantasy war school for kids who cant fantasy war good arc.) From there, each player draws five cards from a deck of more than 100, all of which are based on characters from the novels. You finish setting up by placing two cards, drawn from the deck, on each of the boards four locations: Jupiter, Mars, the Institute, or Luna (the moon).The general structure of a turn involves placing a card on one location and drawing a card from another. Depending on how and where you place your cards, youll make progress toward one of Red Risings three win conditions earning seven helium tokens, earning seven influence tokens, or moving your ship token seven spaces on the fleet track segment of the board and will ultimately earn points depending on how much progress you make toward each. The game ends when one player hits two of those conditions, or when all three are hit by any combination of players.Where Red Rising gets tricky is the endgame satisfying the games win conditions merely ends the game, but doesnt actually guarantee you the win.Every card has a point value. When the game ends, the point tally of cards in your hand counts toward your final score. Cards also have additional requirements that, when fulfilled, grant you even more points. (For instance, the characters Ragnar and Sefi are siblings; if you end the game with both in your hand, youll get a higher score.) In every round Ive played, whomever has the most points in-hand has been the victor and more often than not has always come from behind. So this isnt the sort of game, like Catan, where youre racing to victory. Instead, youll often find yourself trying to extend the match until you can get the strongest hand.Red Rising is a solid board game on its own merits, but it really shines when playing alongside fellow fans of the novels. For the most part, the cards are accurate reflections of the characters theyre based on. Gold cards tend to have the naturally highest point tallies. Red cards arent too powerful in isolation, but when you get a bunch of them together, you can amass a game-changing point total.This commitment to the source material gives a natural edge to those whove read the books and inherently understand, say, that Orange cards are tricky or White cards are incredibly rare. But its a blast playing with fellow Red Rising fans, shouting in mutual recognition when characters like Nero (Screw that guy!), the Jackal (Screw that guy!), or Lysander ([incoherent string of curses that are the functional equivalent of Screw that guy!]) appear on the board.Yes, we might still have to wait some time for Red God which, to be clear, Im of the mindset that Brown should take all the time he needs to stick a landing hes proud of. Thats fine. We can keep waiting. In the meantime, the Red Rising board game is a damn fine holdover.

Today, solutions make carbon emissions checks of digital products easily available, so why arent we dealing with the problem of waste?Continue reading on UX Collective

While tax rates always vary from state to state, what you can be sure of is a chunk of your income getting eaten up each paycheck. Some bright news: As of January 1, 2025, income tax rate cuts have gone into effect in nine states. Of these nine states, some cuts are minimal, while others are fairly sizable.Of course, whatever state you live in, I recommend getting ahead of the game right now by using a spreadsheet to track tax-related information throughout the year. For now, let's take a look at which lucky residents will catch a break in 2025.These states have lowered their income tax ratesHere's a basic breakdown of specific changes in each state:IndianaThe Hoosier State has implemented a modest reduction, with the income tax rate decreasing from 3.05% to 3% in 2025. While small, this change represents continued efforts to reduce the tax burden on Indiana residents.IowaIowa is making a significant shift to simplify its tax structure, moving to a flat income tax rate of 3.8% in 2025. This marks a substantial decrease from last year's top rate of 5.7%, potentially resulting in considerable savings for higher-income residents.LouisianaFollowing a similar approach to Iowa, Louisiana has transitioned from a graduated system to a flat tax rate of 3%, down from a previous top rate of 4.25%. Under this new system, residents who fall in the income bracket of $30,000-$40,000 (the most common bracket in the state) will pay approximately $338 annually in income taxes.MississippiMississippi residents will see their tax rate decrease from 4.7% to 4.4% in 2025. Notably, state officials have expressed ambitions to eventually eliminate income taxes entirely, though no specific timeline has been established.MissouriMissouri has implemented a modest reduction, with rates dropping from 4.8% to 4.7%. While the change is minimal, it continues the state's pattern of gradual tax relief.NebraskaNebraska taxpayers will benefit from a more substantial cut, with rates decreasing from 5.84% to 5.2%. This reduction represents one of the larger percentage drops among the nine states making changes.New MexicoNew Mexico maintains its graduated income tax system but has reduced rates in two of its six brackets. Those earning less than $5,500 annually will see their rate decrease from 1.7% to 1.5%, while residents earning between $16,500 and $33,500 will experience a reduction from 4.7% to 4.3%.North CarolinaThe Tar Heel State has reduced its rate from 4.75% to 4.5%, with plans for further reductions. The state has already announced its intention to lower the rate to 3.99% in 2026, demonstrating a long-term commitment to tax relief.West VirginiaWest Virginia has taken a different approach, implementing an across-the-board 4% reduction in overall income taxes for 2025. While specific rates haven't been detailed, the state joins Mississippi in expressing interest in eventually eliminating income taxes completely.Also of note: Tax rates aren't changing in 2025, but the thresholds for each bracket are rising to account for inflation and "bracket creep."The bottom line is, as always, you should consult with tax professionals to understand how these changes will affect your specific situations and to ensure you're taking full advantage of the new rates.

Canon has just launched Live Switcher Mobile, a new iOS livestreaming app that supports up to three camera views you can swap between with just a few taps. The app currently only works with Apple devices, and it strangely doesnt support Canons own cameras.Live Switcher Mobile can let users specify how many seconds a viewpoint stays on a camera before automatically changing to another one. The app also supports on-screen captions, along with real-time comments. However, the latter feature only works if you stream to YouTube and Twitch, as The Verge notes, the app can also stream to other RTMP-supported platforms like Facebook, X, Instagram and even LinkedIn, among others.While Live Switcher Mobile is free, the unpaid version only supports resolutions up to 720p. There will also be ads and watermarks on-screen. A paid subscription costs $18 monthly and unlocks image overlay and picture-in-picture zooming and movement functions. Of course, it will bump the maximum resolution up to 1080p and remove the ads and watermarks.Live Switcher Mobile, compared to free apps like OBS Studio and Streamlabs, has fewer functions, which means Canon has a lot of work ahead to make the paid plan worth spending on. Fortunately, Canon camera support is coming soon.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/canons-new-livestreaming-app-doesnt-support-canon-cameras-161930211.html?src=rss

B&O's replaceable batteries are no better than Apple's, iFixit says

Severance, which imagines a world where a persons work and personal lives are surgically separated, will soon return to Apple TV+ for a second season. While the concept of this gripping piece of science fiction is far-fetched, it touches on some interesting neuroscience. Can a persons mind really be surgically split in two?Remarkably, split-brain patients have existed since the 1940s. To control epilepsy symptoms, these patients underwent a surgery to separate the left and right hemispheres. Similar surgeries still happen today.Later research on this type of surgery showed that the separated hemispheres of split-brain patients could process information independently. This raises the uncomfortable possibility that the procedure creates two separate minds living in one brain.In season one of Severance, Helly R (Britt Lower) experienced a conflict between her innie (the side of her mind that remembered her work life) and her outie (the side outside of work). Similarly, there is evidence of a conflict between the two hemispheres of real split-brain patients.When speaking with split-brain patients, you are usually communicating with the left hemisphere of the brain, which controls speech. However, some patients can communicate from their right hemisphere by writing, for example, or arranging Scrabble letters. A young patient was asked what job he would like in the future. His left hemisphere chose an office job making technical drawings. His right hemisphere, however, arranged letters to spell automobile racer.Split brain patients have also reported alien hand syndrome, where one of their hands is perceived to be moving of its own volition. These observations suggest that two separate conscious people may coexist in one brain and may have conflicting goals.In Severance, however, both the innie and the outie have access to speech. This is one indicator that the fictional severance procedure must involve a more complex separation of the brains networks.An example of a complex separation of function was described in the case report of Neil, in 1994. Neil was a teenage boy who had a number of difficulties following a pineal gland tumour. One of these difficulties was a rare form of amnesia. It meant that Neil could not recall the events of his day or report what he had learned in school. He had also become unable to read, although he could write, and was unable to name objects, although he could draw them.Astonishingly, Neil was able to keep up with his education. Researchers became interested in how he was able to complete his schoolwork despite having no memory for what he was learning.They quizzed him about a novel he was studying at school, Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee. In conversation, Neil could not remember anything about the booknot even the title. But when the researcher asked Neil to write down everything he could remember about the book, he wrote Bloodshot Geranium windows Cider with Rosie Dranium smell of damp peppar [sic] and mushroom growthall words connected to the novel. As Neil could not read, he had to ask the researcher: What did I write?Neil was also able to write down other memories that were thought to be lost, including meeting a man with gangrene in hospital. In each case, he was unaware of his own memory until he wrote it down and had it read back to him. Neils case is a staggering example. It suggests that it is possible to have rich memories that are inaccessible to our consciousness.In Severance, Irvings (John Turturro) outie can access memories of his innies work environment through painting. He paints the long hallways of the Severed floor (where his innie works), despite having no conscious memory of them. Perhaps then, in the show, the severance procedure involves blocking conscious access to memory in the same way that this access was blocked in Neil.The role of the hippocampusWhich brain regions might be core to the TV shows severance procedure? The region most associated with remembering the events of the work day is the hippocampusand, interestingly, this same brain region also supports the representation of space.The fact that the same neural structure supports both remembering that a new colleague has joined your team today, and representing the layout of the office, suggests that the hippocampus might be a good target for this fictional procedure.In Severance, the switch between innie and outie occurs at the boundary to the officethe elevator doors. This is reminiscent of the doorway effect, the phenomenon in which walking through a doorway makes you forget something.The hippocampus segments our experience into episodes for later recall. Entering a new space is an indicator that a new episode has started, which leads to increased forgetting of information that spans these episodes. The effect is subtle, however. Although you might sometimes walk into the kitchen and forget why you went in, you dont forget that you have childrenunlike the dramatic effect caused by the shows severance procedure.Perhaps, in the show, the hippocampuss interest in spatial boundaries triggers the switch between innie and outie.Unfortunately, there are two crucial flaws with the idea that the shows severance procedure could involve a simple snip to the hippocampus.First, its not just episodic and spatial memory that is divided in Severance. The workers have a great deal of semantic knowledge (facts about Lumon, the company they work for, and its founder, for example) that is inaccessible to their outies. They also form emotional memories linked to the rewards they get for hard work and the punishments that they receive in the break room. These forms of memory rely on far more than the hippocampus, and the hippocampus itself is part of a brain-wide episodic memory network that is activated during episodic memory retrieval.The second flaw is that memory itself is not an isolated process. It is closely connected to perception, attention, language, and many other processes. The human memory system is far too complex to be entirely split in twobut as Severance shows, its fun to think about the possibilities.Rachael Elward is a senior lecturer of neuroscience and neuropsychology at London South Bank University.Lauren Ford is a PhD candidate in cognitive neuroscience at London South Bank University.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Mexican architecture studio Lanza Atelier has created a temporary wood-and-steel pavilion to function as a gathering space in a Mexico City courtyard.Commissioned by arts agency Base, the pavilion was intended to be a space for events and is located in the industrial courtyard of the organisation's office.Lanza Atelier has created a pavilion in Mexico CityLanza Ateliermade the pavilion largely out of plywood panels sourced from regenerative forests, which were darkened using the traditional Japanese Shou Sugi Ban technique, and a corrugated roof.Measuring five by 10 metres, the structure tilts slightly inwards and is made up of semi-enclosed walls. Two wide panels sit on the ground where doors might usually sit, while the surrounding walls are lifted up to reveal space underneath.It was made of plywood panels charred using a Shou Sugi Ban techniqueIt is topped with a series of rafters and corrugated polycarbonate that extends over the sides of the pavilion to create a winged edge."The idea behind the pavilion's conceptualisation was to construct a space that would allow people a unique opportunity to consider new perspectives through conceptual forms and natural components," said Base.Read: Erre Q Erre replaces parking lot with stone pavilion in Mexico City"The result is a space that not only serves its immediate purpose but also aligns with the long-term vision of experimenting with different materials and testing new structural forms, providing solutions to design and architecture," Base added.The pavilion's materials were chosen to "evolve" over time, although the Shou Sugi Ban technique will protect the wood from excessive weathering, a result of charring the material.The pavilion was created to serve as an event spaceAccording to Base, the pavilion was created to be an add-on or annexe to a residential house, which was part of the design brief for Lanza Atelier.It was also created to be easily assembled and disassembled.Future iterations of the structure may also serve as an exhibition space or a "cost-effective housing alternative", Base said.Lanza Atelier previously created an exhibition for New York gallery Storefront for Art and Architecture with flat-pack furniture designed to be purchased and disassembled by visitors and another pavilion in Mexico City made of earthen blocks.The photography is by Alejandro Ramirez Orozco.Project credits:Commission: BaseDesign: Lanza AtelierConstruction: MecmaSpace: ReurbanoThe post Lanza Atelier creates Shou Sugi Ban pavilion in Mexico City appeared first on Dezeen.