HealthA range of brainwave-reading devices and other gadgets aim to monitor our nervous systems and intervene to improve our well-being. Do they work? 14 January 2025 Jake Wangner/StillsYouve achieved 40 seconds of uninterrupted focus.Apparently, this is cause for celebration. For the past 10 minutes, I have been staring at my phone, trying to move a digital ball up a hill using nothing but the power of my mind. The Mendi headset I am wearing is analysing my brain activity and reflecting that back into the game. The more I concentrate, the higher the ball climbs.This exercise is supposedly working out my mental muscle, just as one might use weights to train physical muscle, ultimately improving my focus and reducing my stress.Like thousands of others, I have spent years wearing a smartwatch that helps me track my fitness and improve my physical health. But the wearables industry has its sights set on a new target: our mental health. We now have smartwatches and brainwave-reading devices that not only analyse the state of our nervous system, but actively intervene to supposedly improve our well-being, making mental health support more accessible and wearable than ever before. We are leveraging the brains ability to rewire itself so that you can increase your emotional control, says Mustafa Hamada, Mendis chief product and science officer.As someone who suffers from stress and anxiety, I am eager to try anything that will help me control it. But with my background in neuroscience, I am cautious of believing the hype. So I delved into the growing range of devices that target concentration, focus, stress and anxiety to figure out how they might work and which might really make a difference

Imagine the bustling floors of tomorrows manufacturing plant: Robots, well-versed in multiple disciplines through adaptive AI education, work seamlessly and safely alongside human counterparts. These robots can transition effortlessly between tasksfrom assembling intricate electronic components to handling complex machinery assembly. Each robot's unique education enables it to predict maintenance needs, optimize energy consumption, and innovate processes on the fly, dictated by real-time data analyses and learned experiences in their digital worlds. Training for robots like this will happen in a virtual school, a meticulously simulated environment within the industrial metaverse. Here, robots learn complex skills on accelerated timeframes, acquiring in hours what might take humans months or even years. Beyond traditional programming Training for industrial robots was once like a traditional school: rigid, predictable, and limited to practicing the same tasks over and over. But now were at the threshold of the next era. Robots can learn in virtual classroomsimmersive environments in the industrial metaverse that use simulation, digital twins, and AI to mimic real-world conditions in detail. This digital world can provide an almost limitless training ground that mirrors real factories, warehouses, and production lines, allowing robots to practice tasks, encounter challenges, and develop problem-solving skills. What once took days or even weeks of real-world programming, with engineers painstakingly adjusting commands to get the robot to perform one simple task, can now be learned in hours in virtual spaces. This approach, known as simulation to reality (Sim2Real), blends virtual training with real-world application, bridging the gap between simulated learning and actual performance. Although the industrial metaverse is still in its early stages, its potential to reshape robotic training is clear, and these new ways of upskilling robots can enable unprecedented flexibility. Italian automation provider EPF found that AI shifted the companys entire approach to developing robots. We changed our development strategy from designing entire solutions from scratch to developing modular, flexible components that could be combined to create complete solutions, allowing for greater coherence and adaptability across different sectors, says EPFs chairman and CEO Franco Filippi. Learning by doing AI models gain power when trained on vast amounts of data, such as large sets of labeled examples, learning categories, or classes by trial and error. In robotics, however, this approach would require hundreds of hours of robot time and human oversight to train a single task. Even the simplest of instructions, like grab a bottle, for example, could result in many varied outcomes depending on the bottles shape, color, and environment. Training then becomes a monotonous loop that yields little significant progress for the time invested. Building AI models that can generalize and then successfully complete a task regardless of the environment is key for advancing robotics. Researchers from New York University, Meta, and Hello Robot have introduced robot utility models that achieve a 90% success rate in performing basic tasks across unfamiliar environments without additional training. Large language models are used in combination with computer vision to provide continuous feedback to the robot on whether it has successfully completed the task. This feedback loop accelerates the learning process by combining multiple AI techniquesand avoids repetitive training cycles. Robotics companies are now implementing advanced perception systems capable of training and generalizing across tasks and domains. For example, EPF worked with Siemens to integrate visual AI and object recognition into its robotics to create solutions that can adapt to varying product geometries and environmental conditions without mechanical reconfiguration. Learning by imagining Scarcity of training data is a constraint for AI, especially in robotics. However, innovations that use digital twins and synthetic data to train robots have significantly advanced on previously costly approaches. For example, Siemens SIMATIC Robot Pick AI expands on this vision of adaptability, transforming standard industrial robotsonce limited to rigid, repetitive tasksinto complex machines. Trained on synthetic datavirtual simulations of shapes, materials, and environmentsthe AI prepares robots to handle unpredictable tasks, like picking unknown items from chaotic bins, with over 98% accuracy. When mistakes happen, the system learns, improving through real-world feedback. Crucially, this isnt just a one-robot fix. Software updates scale across entire fleets, upgrading robots to work more flexibly and meet the rising demand for adaptive production. Another example is the robotics firm ANYbotics, which generates 3D models of industrial environments that function as digital twins of real environments. Operational data, such as temperature, pressure, and flow rates, are integrated to create virtual replicas of physical facilities where robots can train. An energy plant, for example, can use its site plans to generate simulations of inspection tasks it needs robots to perform in its facilities. This speeds the robots training and deployment, allowing them to perform successfully with minimal on-site setup. Simulation also allows for the near-costless multiplication of robots for training. In simulation, we can create thousands of virtual robots to practice tasks and optimize their behavior. This allows us to accelerate training time and share knowledge between robots, says Pter Fankhauser, CEO and co-founder of ANYbotics. Because robots need to understand their environment regardless of orientation or lighting, ANYbotics and partner Digica created a method of generating thousands of synthetic images for robot training. By removing the painstaking work of collecting huge numbers of real images from the shop floor, the time needed to teach robots what they need to know is drastically reduced. Similarly, Siemens leverages synthetic data to generate simulated environments to train and validate AI models digitally before deployment into physical products. By using synthetic data, we create variations in object orientation, lighting, and other factors to ensure the AI adapts well across different conditions, says Vincenzo De Paola, project lead at Siemens. We simulate everything from how the pieces are oriented to lighting conditions and shadows. This allows the model to train under diverse scenarios, improving its ability to adapt and respond accurately in the real world. Digital twins and synthetic data have proven powerful antidotes to data scarcity and costly robot training. Robots that train in artificial environments can be prepared quickly and inexpensively for wide varieties of visual possibilities and scenarios they may encounter in the real world. We validate our models in this simulated environment before deploying them physically, says De Paola. This approach allows us to identify any potential issues early and refine the model with minimal cost and time. This technologys impact can extend beyond initial robot training. If the robots real-world performance data is used to update its digital twin and analyze potential optimizations, it can create a dynamic cycle of improvement to systematically enhance the robots learning, capabilities, and performance over time. The well-educated robot at work With AI and simulation powering a new era in robot training, organizations will reap the benefits. Digital twins allow companies to deploy advanced robotics with dramatically reduced setup times, and the enhanced adaptability of AI-powered vision systems makes it easier for companies to alter product lines in response to changing market demands. The new ways of schooling robots are transforming investment in the field by also reducing risk. Its a game-changer, says De Paola. Our clients can now offer AI-powered robotics solutions as services, backed by data and validated models. This gives them confidence when presenting their solutions to customers, knowing that the AI has been tested extensively in simulated environments before going live. Filippi envisions this flexibility enabling todays robots to make tomorrows products. The need in one or two years time will be for processing new products that are not known today. With digital twins and this new data environment, it is possible to design today a machine for products that are not known yet, says Filippi. Fankhauser takes this idea a step further. I expect our robots to become so intelligent that they can independently generate their own missions based on the knowledge accumulated from digital twins, he says. Today, a human still guides the robot initially, but in the future, theyll have the autonomy to identify tasks themselves. This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. It was not written by MIT Technology Reviews editorial staff.

Jeff Bezos sorts decisions into two categories those you can walk back, and those you can't.The concept of "one-way door" and "two-way door" decisions is meant to help big companies move quickly.AWS CEO Matt Garman recently talked on a podcast about the decision-making framework.Have you ever wondered how Amazon calculates risky decisions? Founder Jeff Bezos famously simplified the process by sorting decisions into two camps one-way doors, and two-way doors.The concept, intended to help a big company categorize decisions and move quickly, appears to be alive and well within Amazon four years after Bezos announced he was stepping down as CEO.Matt Garman, the CEO of Amazon Web Services, broke down how he applies Bezos's decision-making model on a recent episode of The Verge's "Decoder" podcast."Well, part of my job is to make the one-way door decisions," Garman said. "So I think that framework is, it's a useful one to think about. And just to clarify, in case you're not aware of it, largely that's how you go fast. You try to define what those decisions are."Bezos has previously said that a common pitfall for companies is employing a "one-size-fits-all" model sacrificing speed by not knowing what to run up the flagpole, and when. Ideally, two-way-door decisions require minimal executive oversight, if any.Garman agrees."You want the people that are owning those teams at the edges of the organization that really own those products to make important decisions because they know best about their product," Garman said. "But they're also decisions that could be undone if we decide that it wasn't the right thing to do."Garman said he's rarely the expert on any particular subject AWS is working on and doesn't try to pretend otherwise, instead devoting time to absorbing their views."And so I make sure that I listen and leave space for those experts who spend all of their days thinking about that to weigh in as to how they've come up with their recommendation, how they think about what we should do," Garman said.The cloud services CEO also asks questions. Garman said he sees his "non-expert" point of view as essential to the decision-making process, as a zoomed-out focus can help him bridge knowledge gaps between one area of the business and another."I try to make sure that, as an organization, we've connected those dots and then ask the right sets of questions," Garman said.Garman said his role leading AWS, ultimately, is to keep things moving by handing down the final word. After all speed is of the essence."And then if there's a tiebreaker decision I'll have to do it so that we can move fast," Garman said. "I think the place we don't want to be in is to sit there and just debate forever. At some point, you need a tiebreaker decision, and that's what I view my job as doing as well."

In the midst of the devastating wildfires that have raged through the Los Angeles area over the last week, thousands of residents are grappling with the fallout, from the tangible losses more than 12,000 structures were damaged or destroyed to the sentimental generations of memories gone. What can be even more overwhelming for victims is figuring out what to do next and how to begin to recover. Californians arent alone. In recent years, major natural disasters have devastated communities throughout the country. Last falls Hurricanes Milton and Helene damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes. Over 2,200 structures were destroyed in the 2023 Maui wildfires. According to Bankrates 2023 Extreme Weather Survey, over the past decade, 57 percent of US adults were forced to shoulder costs because of hurricanes, tornados, wildfires, earthquakes, flooding, or heavy snow events.In the aftermath of such events, residents likely need to file insurance claims and apply for assistance. This process can be arduous, with those impacted required to submit detailed lists of items lost according to a 2023 Insurance Information Institute survey, fewer than half of homeowners had prepared personal inventories of their belongings to document such losses. Making matters more complicated, in California, a home insurance crisis looms after thousands of homeowners in fire-prone areas were recently told that their policies were not being renewed. The state has some safeguards in place: Those dropped from their plans could enroll in Californias FAIR plan, an insurance program that the state established in the late 1960s that offers minimal fire coverage for high-risk properties as a last resort. Recently implemented insurance reforms in California will also require insurers to offer new policies in fire-prone areas and could bring back insurers like State Farm that previously dropped policy holders in high-risk regions. Residents without insurance can access aid through the Federal Emergency Management Agency or state assistance programs. Heres how to start the process to receive relief.Your first call should be to your insurance companyAfter local authorities have deemed it safe to return to your home after a disaster, assess the damage and reach out to your insurance company by phone or app to start a claim as soon as you can. Take photos and videos of any damage dont throw away damaged items or make repairs until an insurance adjuster has completed their assessment. There may be delays due to the ongoing nature of the disaster, as well as its scope, says Jeff Schlegelmilch, the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Columbia Climate School. Fires are still ongoing, and it may be unsafe for adjusters to access the area. The number of homes that were impacted and need to be evaluated can add to the lag.Dont make repairs before your insurer has assessed the damage, as it may void your coverage, George Hooker, an attorney at Cole, Scott, and Kissane who specializes in property insurance claims, said by email. If you took pictures and video documentation of your home and belongings before the damage, this can be useful to substantiate your losses with your insurance company. Fortunately, damage from smoke and fire is covered under standard homeowner and renters insurance policies in California, according to the Insurance Information Institute. California regulation requires homeowners and renters insurers to immediately pay policyholders one-third of the estimated value of their belongings and a minimum of four months rent in the event that you are completely displaced, known as additional living expense. The FAIR plan covers up to $3 million in damages for residential policyholders and only reimburses the cost of renting a property thats similar to your home. Keep all receipts for expenses like lodging, car and furniture rental, or laundry so you can be reimbursed later.Ask your insurance company when you can expect them to come assist you, Hooker says: Some insurers offer emergency response services to help you secure your property and avoid further damage. Make sure you get a claim number write it down which can help you when following up on the status of your claim down the road. Follow up with your insurance company if they havent scheduled your assessment. After an adjuster assesses the damage, they will determine how much the insurance company will pay you. You may be given a settlement offer on the spot, but do not sign offers right away, as you may be entitled to more money. If you disagree with the assessment from your insurance company, you can hire a public adjuster for a fee. Their second opinion can help you when negotiating with your insurance company. You can also appeal any decisions made by your insurance company.Keep detailed notes and send a follow-up email after every conversation with an insurance representative or adjuster to document your progress. If the claim is accepted, you may receive one or multiple checks based on the extent of the damage. The amount of time insurance companies have to pay out claims depends on where you live. States like Arizona and Kentucky must send checks within 30 days while Texas laws require insurers to send payment within five days. Claims involving mortgage lenders and for significant damage can take longer to process; you can file a complaint with the states insurance department if your insurance company is dragging their feet. Usually, though, insurance companies are fairly prompt in paying disaster victims, Schlegelmilch says.Residents with rental insurance should also reach out to their carrier and document any damages whenever its safe to return to the property, Hooker says.Whether youve been impacted by a fire or flood, the advice is the same: Document the damage and contact your insurance company as soon as possible, Hooker says.Its worth noting that some types of damage may be covered differently depending on the disaster, he says. For instance, standard homeowners insurance policies usually do not cover flood damage, so it is useful to check on the type of coverage you have. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has a detailed step-by-step guide on how to submit an insurance claim after a natural disaster and how to navigate the process moving forward.What to do if you dont have insuranceFor those without homeowners or renters insurance, you can apply for relief through FEMA. (Those with insurance are also eligible for FEMA assistance.) Fill out the application at DisasterAssistance.gov, on the FEMA app, or by phone at 1-800-621-3362. Youll need your Social Security number, description of the damage caused, your annual household income, contact information, and bank account information for direct deposit. A FEMA inspector will call and ask about your damages within 10 days of applying for aid. Youll receive an eligibility decision within 10 days of that call. If youre eligible for aid, youll receive a check or direct deposit at that time. FEMA assistance can be used to pay for rent or lodging expenses if you are displaced and home repair and replacement. Applicants can expect to receive this aid fairly quickly, Schlegelmilch says. Hooker also suggests checking if your state or city is offering disaster relief. Aid organizations like the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army operate shelters and service sites offering access to caseworkers to help with financial assistance. These disaster assistance centers are where you can talk to case managers to determine what forms of aid youre eligible for. For example, if you have insurance, you are ineligible for certain types of public assistance, Schlegelmilch says. These can be really complex dynamics, he says. Disaster assistance centers, or a reputable nonprofit that offers disaster case management, is your best resource to help navigate this. If you can afford it, some law firms also provide assistance for disaster victims to access available aid. Again, you can find these centers listed on your local emergency management offices website or local chapters of organizations like the American Red Cross, Catholic Charities, and the United Way. Some banks also offer disaster assistance. US Bank runs a disaster hotline to help customers determine which programs theyre eligible for. Golden 1 Credit Unions Community Emergency Relief program provides loans with flexible payment options. Check with your bank to see if they have disaster relief programs available.Finding somewhere to liveTo find immediate shelter housing, DisasterAssistance.gov has an emergency shelter page with resources for housing. The California Office of Emergency Services also has a list of available shelters. You can learn about other disaster assistance programs and housing and rental assistance information at a Disaster Recovery Center. To find one near you, enter your address in FEMAs DRC locator. You can use the cash advance your insurance company gave you for additional living expenses to help pay for temporary housing. After you apply for disaster assistance through FEMA, you may find out you qualify for transitional housing, which covers hotel stays while youre displaced. Airbnb is also offering free temporary housing for people impacted by the wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Fill out the application for housing through the county website. Dozens of Southern California U-Haul facilities are offering free storage options for those impacted by wildfires. Youre still responsible for making mortgage payments even if a disaster has destroyed your home, but you can request mortgage forbearance to pause or lower payments by calling your mortgage lender.If youre a renter, you have the right to terminate your lease if youre unable to live in the property. Refer to your lease for instructions on how to either pause rent payments or terminate the lease. For help paying for longer-term housing, FEMA offers continued temporary housing assistance programming. Eligible residents who need more than two months of FEMA rental assistance can apply to receive rental assistance for another three months or longer. Renters and homeowners can call FEMAs helpline at 1-800-621-3362 to request an application. Outside of FEMA assistance, residents may need to secure housing on their own, a process only made more difficult by housing shortages and price gouging. Six months after the Maui wildfires, thousands of residents struggled to find housing. Already, rents are skyrocketing in Los Angeles. Potential housing options include extended stay hotels, short term rentals, and corporate housing that accepts public customers. United Corporate Housing and Corporate Housing by Owner, for instance, are offering temporary housing for California wildfire victims.While the recovery from natural disasters often takes years, theres still a lot of help that impacted residents can get now. Stay patient, take detailed documentation, and continue to fight for what you deserve.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:

GTA 6 fans have responded to a wild and sick online theory suggesting that the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires are somehow linked to the release of Rockstar's next gameTech17:02, 14 Jan 2025Expect GTA 6 to be the biggest entertainment launch of all time(Image: Rockstar Games/AFP via Getty Ima)One X (formerly Twitter) account has gone rogue with a bizarre and sick theory about the LA wildfires.GTA 6 fans have been a patient bunch, waiting for news on Rockstar's big sequel (and eagerly anticipating the game's second trailer) and while we're a few weeks from an earnings call that could shed light on whether it'll launch in 2025 or later.However a popular GTA 6 account GTASixInfo posted a ridiculous theory that the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires could have been set by Rockstar Games as part of "closing the chapter" on GTA V, a game set in San Andreas which is a facsimile of LA.The post, which was deleted but can be found in the Reddit post below, apparently came from a user of the account who has now reportedly been removed."Hear me out... What if Rockstar intentionally started the LA wildfires to symbolize the end of Los Santos, as we head to Leonida for #GTA6? With the game set to release next year, could this be their way of closing the chapter on GTA V?" the original post said."The GTA community has some of the cringiest s*** posters Ive ever seen," one Reddit reply notes, while another said "Someones fried their brain. No more GTA for you, gta6info..."The fires have caused huge destruction in the area of Palisades and surrounding area(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)It is thought the theory may have been sparked by several people taking screengrabs from the game and placing the shot with a location affected by the wildfires, as the games location of GTA 5 is influenced by LA. The account, which has almost 50,000 followers on X, has since posted an apology."We deeply apologize for our recent post regarding the LA wildfires. I was unfortunately unaware this was posted, and if I was, as the owner of the account, I would not have allowed that. As that post is NOT in anyway shape or form acceptable," it reads.Content cannot be displayed without consent"I have taken action by removing the team members responsible for that post. I have also removed the members that have continued to discredit and plagiarize posts, as well as the recycling of baiting engagement tweets. I thought I could give them the benefit of the doubt that they would stop, but clearly not.""I want to assure you that these issues have been resolved, and will NOT happen again."Article continues below"Moving forward an entirely new management team will be posting and we will be focusing on an entirely new approach to posting to make sure these issues do not happen again."For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.RECOMMENDED

Until Dawn movie sounds better than the game in debut trailerMichael BeckwithPublished January 14, 2025 5:59pmUpdated January 14, 2025 5:59pm Peter Stormare is the only actor from the game to come back for the movie (Sony)With only a few months before its release, the Until Dawn movie has revealed its got a surprisingly intriguing premise, that may actually justify its existence.With the movie adaptation of Until Dawn scheduled to arrive in cinemas on April 25, Sony has finally begun to market it, after months of silence.Only last week did they make it apparent that the movie wouldnt be a direct adaptation of the game and will instead feature a new cast of characters in an original story. A detail that got overshadowed by the announcements of movies for Horizon Zero Dawn and Helldivers 2.Regardless, the first (sort of) trailer for the Until Dawn movie has dropped and, to our surprise, it sounds like it could end up more interesting than the original game, due to how its adapting certain story and gameplay elements.The trailer is very short, at just over a minute long, and mostly consists of writer/producer Gary Dauberman (who also wrote the two It movies) and director David F. Sandberg talking over footage from the film.However, they do provide some insight into the movies plot, which sees new protagonist Clover and her friends investigating a mysterious valley in search of her missing sister.Since the game has a branching narrative, where player choices determine who lives and who dies, Dauberman and Sandberg decided to translate that into the movie as a time loop. So, as the characters die, the loop resets and theyre brought back to life.What intrigues us the most is the promise that every loop sees the cast trapped in a different horror genre. Theres not enough in the trailer to tell how many genres will be represented, but its left us hoping the movie will live up to the premise.One of our favourite aspects of the Until Dawn game was how it covered multiple horror genres, incorporating elements of slasher movies, monster movies, and psychological thrillers. Although they merely happened at different times, rather than being caused by an overarching plot element.Reworking Until Dawn into a horror themed roguelike is such a neat idea that a part of us wishes they saved this for a sequel to the game. Although its not clear if there ever is going to be an Until Dawn 2.More TrendingSony no doubt hoped the 2024 PlayStation 5/PC remake would revitalise interest in the franchise, even going to the trouble of adding new post credits scenes that tease a sequel.Unfortunately, aside from being completely pointless, the remake arguably looked worse than the original. Plus, while we dont have any sales figures, player data from its launch shows it struggled to find an audience, meaning it was likely a financial flop for Sony.Perhaps if the Until Dawn movie proves as successful as something like the Uncharted movie (which was a box office hit and is slated to get a sequel), that could encourage Sony to commission another game.Any sequel probably wouldnt be handled by original developer Supermassive Games, which had no involvement with the remake and has since kept busy with similar interactive horror games like The Dark Pictures Anthology and Dead By Daylight spin-off The Casting Of Frank Stone. Do you want an Until Dawn 2? (Sony)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralExclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

By Thomas Maxwell Published January 14, 2025 | Comments (0) | Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts has introduced a bill to the Senate giving TikTok 270 more days to divest from parent company ByteDance. Greg Baker/Getty The drama surrounding TikToks forced divestment from Chinese parent company ByteDance continues with an eleventh-hour bill that would give the company more time to find a deal. Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts introduced the Extend the TikTok Deadline Act on Monday, which if passed would grant the company 270 more days to divest or be forced to shut down in the U.S. The Verge earlier reported on the news. Under a law issued by President Biden in April of this year, TikTok has been given a deadline of January 19th to find a new American owner. The company has heretofore been insistent that it has no interest in splitting from parent company ByteDance, though new reporting suggests that the Chinese government is contemplating a deal to sell TikTok to Elon Musk, which would somehow be worse than banning it outright. After spending $250 million to support Trumps presidential run, it seems like Musk could get a monumental return on his investment. TikTok quickly denied the report. TikTok is simultaneously continuing to fight for its survival through the courts, with the Supreme Court having heard oral arguments regarding the initial law last Friday. While TikTokalong with many of its creatorshas argued that the ban would be a violation of the First Amendment, the justices seem skeptical. The government has argued that such a ban is necessary on national security grounds and not a violation of free speech rights because it is seeking to regulate a service, not the content created on that service. In 2020, the gay hookup app Grindr was forced to divest from its Chinese parent company after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) determined the data could be used inappropriately to blackmail or intimidate American users. There is no evidence that TikTok data has been used improperly or that the company has tried to sway users views on any subject, another of the reasons the company has pushed back against a ban. TikTok has maintained that the Chinese government has no control over its operations, though the allegation that the Chinese government itself is contemplating a deal for TikTok undermines that thinking.TikTok has its problems, said Sen. Markey on Monday, adding a TikTok ban would impose serious consequences on millions of Americans who depend on the app for social connections and their economic livelihood. We cannot allow that to happen. TikTok has more than 170 million monthly users in the United States.In a case of strange bedfellows, President-elect Trump has entirely flipped from his first term when he attempted to shut down TikTok. He has since created an account on the app that has garnered over 14 million followers and now wants to stop the ban from going into place, at least until he has a chance to find a resolution himself. Trump has cautioned against banning TikTok, saying it would only make Meta more powerful, though it seems he is on good terms with CEO Mark Zuckerberg these days. At the same time, users of TikTok have been hedging their bets by piling onto another Chinese short-form video app, RedNote, which makes the whole idea of banning TikTok in order to protect against Chinese influence seem futile. The people want TikTok and all of its short-form slop, like a pig at the trough.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By AJ Dellinger Published January 13, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published January 13, 2025 By Matthew Gault Published January 13, 2025 By Todd Feathers Published January 10, 2025 By Matthew Gault Published January 10, 2025 By Thomas Maxwell Published January 7, 2025

Daillens Sports Facility / LOCALARCHITECTURESave this picture! Matthieu GafsouRecreation & Training, SustainabilityDaillens, SwitzerlandArchitects: LOCALARCHITECTUREAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:3312 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 PhotographsPhotographs:Matthieu Gafsou More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. With its small environmental footprint, the design for the new changing rooms and refreshment bar at Daillens Sports Centre is pioneering and ambitious, despite its modest functional programme. The old municipal changing facilities, dating from the 1970s, had become too run-down to renovate. And so the local authority decided to provide new facilities for its football team, FC Venoge. The building is organised along the axis of the football pitch, stretching out elegantly and topped with a large metal roof. The roof looks paper-thin, its ridge echoing the ridges of the Jura mountains in the background. The building is mainly made of wood, covering an area of less than 400 m2. It houses changing rooms and showers for the players along with a refreshment bar and its associated amenities and a space for the bowls club.Save this picture!Local and made-to-measure materials - The wood used comes mainly from local forests (lowland larch), while the straw used to insulate the walls was supplied by village farmers. 1,200 small-sized straw bales were made to measure using vintage baling machines that were brought back into service for the task. The dimensions of the straw bales underpin the entire design, referenced even in its smallest details. The wall frameworks made of solid wood, with the same substantial depth as the straw bales were prefabricated and insulated in the workshop. The primary structure is made of 37 repeated frames of glued laminated timber spaced equally across the floorplan, again following the straw bale dimensions. These primary fir frameworks have brackets of varying lengths which support the green-stained battens and the corrugated metal roofConcave and welcomingSave this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!With its curved and concave shape, the roof slips smoothly into the space between the sunflower fields and the football pitch. The body of the building, protected by its metal canopy, is divided into four separate volumes, arranged symmetrically on either side of the halfway line on the football pitch. These heated facilities are separated by covered spaces where the teams can gather and, at the centre, a communal open space with a refreshment bar. On the pitch side, the large entrance passageway is shaped by the rhythms of the repeating wooden structure. On the field side, it extends from the car park towards the agricultural land beyond with a long covered area providing access to the venue for all users. The building is slightly raised from the ground to seating height. This welcoming, pavilion-style design invites users to sit around the building perimeter during matches or to enjoy the sun on the Jura side.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Layering - The architecture of this distinctive structure, with its differentiated colour shades, expresses its character through stacking and assembly, which makes its various elements very easy to read. Stacked up between the light-coloured natural wood frames of the supporting structure, the green panels made of local larchwood are reminiscent of the straw bales they contain within them. The ventilation is highlighted by dividers also made of light-coloured wood. Features from the world of agriculture, like the metal roof and the mud scrapers in the floor, contrast with the sophistication of the wood architecture, which pays homage to the craft and expertise of woodworkers and this material's flexibility.Save this picture!Mindful re-use - In addition to using local materials, which limit the amount of transport required, particular attention has been paid to the reversibility of the construction elements. This building was conceived within a simple design ethos that allows its eventual deconstruction to be envisaged at the same time. As part of the same approach, elements of the old infrastructure were re-used wherever possible. The old boot washing station was relocated, for example, as was one of the old shelters on the site, which now houses an outdoor heat pump. Finally, photovoltaic panels on the roof provide electricity for the facilities and the heat pump, achieving a near balance between consumption and generation on the site. The use of concrete, meanwhile, was kept to a strict minimum, in the strip foundations. This small building, which was opened in September 2024, discreetly embodies a mature, fully developed approach in an era defined by the need for humans to operate responsibly with respect to resources and our environment.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessProject locationAddress:Chemin de lArbalte, 1306 Daillens, Suisse, SwitzerlandLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeLOCALARCHITECTUREOfficeMaterialWoodMaterials and TagsPublished on January 14, 2025Cite: "Daillens Sports Facility / LOCALARCHITECTURE" 14 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1025595/daillens-sports-facility-localarchitecture&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! 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In February 2025, the seven planets joining Earth in our solar system will be visible all at once in the night sky as they get arranged in an extraordinary pattern called a great planetary alignment," or in a more celebratory expression, a "planet parade." Eager astronomers will have their telescopes ready around the evening of February 28, when Saturn, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Mars, Uranus, and Neptune will all begin to show up in the sky.This event has piqued the interest of people across the world, but as anticipation grows, its important to recognize common misconceptions surrounding planetary alignment.What Happens During a Planetary AlignmentMost instances of planetary alignment, although exciting, arent the rarest of celestial spectacles. Several planets in our solar system align at some point every year, causing them to temporarily show up in the sky together and become visible from Earth. For a planetary alignment to occur, three or more planets must gather closely on the same side of the Sun (when this happens to two planets, its usually considered a conjunction). A complete planetary parade that features seven planets, however, is considerably more rare; the last time this type of event occurred was in 2022. An alignment occurs based on the ecliptic, an imaginary plane that governs the Earths orbit plus the other seven planets orbit around the Sun. Each planet in the solar system stays on this plane, but the main difference among them lies in their orbital speed; the farther a planet is from the Sun, the slower it will orbit. Mercury, the closest to the Sun, takes 88 Earth days to orbit, while Neptune, the farthest from the Sun, takes a whopping 60,190 Earth days (or about 160 Earth years) to orbit.Eventually, the planets may align as they move through the ecliptic, but theyll never form a perfectly straight line. This is because each planet exhibits slight deviations in their location relative to the ecliptic, with their orbits tilted varying degrees from the plane.How to View Planetary AlignmentsWhile this great planetary alignment is not as flawless in reality, from our perspective on earth, it will still captivate those who watch the night sky. On February 28, the seven planets will all appear across the sky (but again, not in a perfect line). This creates the illusion that the planets are somewhat close in proximity, but out in space, they are still separated by millions (or billions) of miles.The alignment will generally be visible from anywhere on Earth, although ideal viewing times differ based on location. Most of the planets will be visible with the naked eye, except for Neptune and Uranus, which require binoculars or a telescope to get a better view.If you cant view the event on February 28, youll have another chance to witness a planetary alignment albeit with only 6 planets involved later in January 2025.First, on January 19, Venus and Saturn will experience a conjunction and share the same right ascension, appearing as close neighbors in the night sky. Soon after, four other planets will enter the scene on the evening of January 21; youll be able to see Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Venus, and Saturn align (only Mercury will be missing). In addition, this alignment isnt only limited to one night, meaning some planets may continue to linger in the sky on following nights. Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:The Planetary Society. What is a planetary conjunction?Astronomers Without Borders. Planet Parade at Dawn June 2022Jack Knudson is an assistant editor at Discover with a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine.

The 3D map on the Sgognole 3 cave floor in the Paris Basin in northern France. Mdard ThiryShareA team of archaeologists have uncovered what could be the worlds oldest three-dimensional map. The roughly 13,000-year-old Paleolithic map was found within a large piece of sandstone in the Paris Basin in northern France and shows a representation of the surrounding landscape and the female body. The findings are detailed in a study recently published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology. 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.The map was found at the Sgognole 3 rock shelter in the Fontainebleau sandstones south of Paris. This site has been studied for over 40 years and is well known for artistic engravings of two horses. Now, a team found that part of the floor of the sandstone shelter was also potentially shaped and adapted by a group of Palaeolithic humans about 13,000 years ago. They believe that the 3D map likely reflected the natural water flows and geomorphological features in the area.What weve described is not a map as we understand it todaywith distances, directions, and travel timesbut rather a three-dimensional miniature depicting the functioning of a landscape, with runoff from highlands into streams and rivers, the convergence of valleys, and the downstream formation of lakes and swamps, Anthony Milnes, a study co-author and a geologist at the University of Adelaide in Australia, said in a statement.Mapping of the cave floor with cole River valley. CREDIT: Mdard Thiry. According to the new study, the direction of water flows and what features were dotting a landscape were potentially more important than measurements like time or distance for Paleolithic peoples.Our study demonstrates that human modifications to the hydraulic behaviour in and around the shelter extended to modelling natural water flows in the landscape in the region around the rock shelter, says Milnes. These are exceptional findings and clearly show the mental capacity, imagination and engineering capability of our distant ancestors.They believe that the sandstone was sculpted to promote specific flow paths for both infiltrating and directing rainwater. An earlier study of this same area found that Palaeolithic people here had worked the sandstone in a manner that mirrored the female form. The opened fractures for infiltrating water in the sandstone would lead to an outflow at the base of the pelvic triangle.The sandstone here was also sculpted to promote a specific flow for both infiltrating and directing rainwater.The fittings probably have a much deeper, mythical meaning, related to water, Mdard Thiry, a study co-author and geologist from Mines ParisPSL Centre of Geosciences, said in a statement. The two hydraulic installationsthat of the sexual figuration and that of the miniature landscapeare two to three metres [6.5 to 9.8 feet] from each other and are sure to relay a profound meaning of conception of life and nature, which will never be accessible to us. This completely new discovery offers a better understanding and insight into the capacity of these early humans.A stone slab from the Abauntz cave in Spain is believed to be a somewhat similar map. This 13,600-year-old slab is engraved with markings that archaeologists believe could show the nearby geological features and animals that once lived there.