Donald Trump champions the working class but his policies are bad news for them, Paul Krugman says.The Nobel-winning economist says tariffs and deportations will hurt instead of help the poor."A lot of people are going to get brutally scammed," Krugman said.Donald Trump rode to victory in the US presidential race by pledging to put America first and fight for blue-collar workers. Paul Krugman says he'll only make their lives harder.The economist, who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2008, criticized the president-elect's plans to raise tariffs and cut taxes during Tuesday's episode of "The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent" podcast.He told The New Republic show that those and other policies would lead to the working class paying higher prices while high earners keep more of their money."Even more than usual for a Republican, he appears to have an extremely regressive economic program in mind, one that really will effectively redistribute income away from working-class voters to the top," Krugman said.American households are already being pinched by inflation, which spiked to a 40-year high of more than 9% in the summer of 2022 and remains above the Federal Reserve's 2% target.On top of higher prices for food, fuel, rent, and other basics, many consumers are also paying more toward their credit cards, car loans, and mortgages.That's because the Fed, in a bid to curb inflation, increased its benchmark rate from zero to north of 5.25% in under 17 months, and has kept it as high as 4.5% for now.The battle over groceriesKrugman, a former MIT and Princeton University professor and New York Times columnist, zeroed in on grocery prices. Trump said during his campaign that he would reduce them, but he's walked that claim back in recent weeks.Yet recent surveys show that his supporters still expect him to do so, Krugman said, despite the fact that broader prices are still rising and deflation is almost universally regarded as undesirable for an economy.A CBS News/YouGov survey, conducted in late December with a nationally representative group of 2,244 US adults, found that 40% of Americans expect Trump to make food and grocery prices go down, exceeding the 36% who expect him to make them increase."A lot of people are going to get brutally scammed," Krugman said. Trump isn't just misleading people by saying they'll be better off once he's in office, he also doesn't appear to know how he'll deliver on his promises, Krugman continued. "So the scam is there is no plan."Trump said last year that lowering grocery prices would be tricky, but improving supply chains and boosting domestic energy production could lower costs for farmers, who could then pass those savings onto consumers.Tariffs and immigrationSeparately, Krugman nodded to the fact that tariffs are a tax on imports, and businesses usually pass on their increased costs by charging higher prices to consumers.He described their impact as "really bad," and said the fallout from Trump's proposed mass deportations would be "much, much worse." They'd be hugely disruptive and drive up prices in industries like agriculture, food processing, and construction, Krugman said, leaving the US with a shortage of workers for large-scale programs like rebuilding Florida after a hurricane.The author and blogger also rang the alarm on Trump and his allies' fierce criticism of colleges and skepticism of higher education."We've been pulling ahead on technology, but an administration that's extremely hostile to universities and education is going to undermine that source of advantage as well," Krugman said."Trump wants to turn the clock back to 1896, and that's not good for the US economy."

Democrats and Republicans generally dont agree about science. The vast majority of Democrats believe climate change is a major threat, for example, while less than a quarter of Republicans say the same.But people across the political spectrum agree on animal testing. Or, more accurately, no one knows what to think: About half of each party supports the use of animals in scientific research, while the other half opposes it.Increasingly, everyone from crunchy moms to right-wing tech bros also agrees that we should Make America Healthy Again. Distrust of health care systems, federal science agencies, and pharmaceutical companies crosses party lines and runs deep.Acting on this distrust, Trump 2.0 is promising to deprioritize research on infectious diseases and overhaul the nations science agencies. Trump has picked a handful of anti-establishment leaders such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Jay Bhattacharya, who aim to slash federal science funding, for health positions in his administration. Given the widespread use of lab animals in biomedical research, animal testing could get caught in the crosshairs of these changes, Emily Trunnell, director of science advancement and outreach at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), told me. This story was first featured in the Future Perfect newsletter.Sign up here to explore the big, complicated problems the world faces and the most efficient ways to solve them. Sent twice a week.Less federal science funding could, as a side effect, mean less animal testing. Animal advocates I spoke to welcome these potential changes. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, so the lives of millions of animals depend on what happens to it. In the long run, forcing scientists to shift away from animal models by drying up existing funding sources could not just benefit animals used in experiments, but also make science better. Replacing animals with human-centered tools will provide better insight into human biology, speeding up the development of much-needed treatments for diseases like cancer and Alzheimers disease.Trumps war on science, however, has little to do with improving human or animal lives. He famously loves meat especially if its well done and, with a handful of exceptions, doesnt seem concerned with animal welfare. In fact, his first term saw a significant drop in penalizing animal welfare violations. Rather, the Trump administrations plans to defund animal testing while deregulating animal welfare are two sides of the same coin, and its attacks on science could worsen already-lax protections for lab animals and drive some scientists out of the field altogether.What did Trump 1.0 mean for lab animals?Looking back at Trumps first four years gives us some sense of what his next term could look like for animal experimentation.In 2019, Trump-appointed Environmental Protection Agency head Andrew Wheeler announced ambitious plans to cut the number of EPA-funded mammal studies by 30 percent by 2025, and to completely eliminate them by 2035. The initiative, lauded by animal rights groups alongside Trump loyalists like former Rep. Matt Gaetz, awarded grants to research teams developing human-based methods that can replace animals in studies of environmental toxins. Then, just two years later, President Joe Bidens EPA quietly removed that self-imposed timeline from a report on the plan to develop non-animal-based technologies, and have since abandoned the 2035 deadline altogether. The Biden administration loosened the plan in response to concerned environmentalists and scientists, who feared that new methods werent ready to replace animals in tests that determine whether potentially dangerous chemicals get cleared for use in consumer products.Meanwhile, during the first Trump administration, White Coat Waste, a bipartisan anti-animal testing nonprofit, gained traction by harnessing the tension between left-leaning researchers and anti-establishment conservatives that had been growing during the Covid pandemic. Their strategy: appeal to conservatives by framing animal testing as a waste of taxpayer money, while still engaging more liberal activists motivated by compassion for animals. Its proven to be remarkably effective, and theyve successfully shut down over 114 labs and experiments, including the FDAs largest primate lab.Based on our success with the first Trump administration, were very excited to make even more progress under Trump 2.0, Justin Goodman, senior vice president of advocacy and public policy at White Coat Waste, told me.While some lab animals benefitted from the shutdowns, the vast majority did not. Enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, which sets basic standards for the treatment and housing of certain lab and farm animals, fell sharply during Trumps first term as federal officers were reportedly directed to emphasize education for violators rather than enforcement, allowing animal suffering to go largely unchecked. Just two weeks after Trumps first inauguration, the USDA suddenly deleted inspection reports and records of enforcement actions against violators of the Animal Welfare Act crucial documents for journalists and animal welfare advocates. While the reports were restored three years later in response to pressure from lawmakers and animal welfare groups, their removal serves as a powerful reminder that unchecked abuse is a common side effect of deregulation.Trump 2.0 poses a double-edged sword for lab animalsStill, groups like White Coat Waste believe they can convince the Trump administration to get animals out of labs, and arent concerned that their agenda is also supported by, say, pharmaceutical corporations that want a fast track to market approval, or hardline MAGA science skeptics. In the world of lab animal welfare, the converging interests of progressive animal rights activists and conservative government skeptics make policy reform possible. Across the political spectrum, the goal is the same: get animals out of labs. Organizations like White Coat Waste are embracing it. Im not particularly concerned with why people oppose animal testing or want to cut it, Goodman told me. Im just concerned that it will happen at all.From this perspective, whether Trump truly cares about animals or not is irrelevant, as long as he commits to defunding and deregulating science. Thats where the interests of animal advocates and the incoming administration align, said Delcianna Winders, director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at Vermont Law and Graduate School. They both care about excessive government spending on animal experimentation.Some of Trumps appointees including nominated heads of the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, Bhattacharya and Marty Makary have spoken out against animal testing, with Bhattacharya calling White Coat Waste absolute heroes. RFK Jr., chosen to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has a strange relationship with animals that includes leaving a dead bear in Central Park for laughs and keeping a pet emu. Regardless, his track record of confronting bastions of biomedical research makes animal advocates hopeful.We are extremely excited that an administration that is skeptical of science and also skeptical of federal spending is coming into power, Goodman said. Winders is also optimistic that cutting funding for animal experimentation will save animal lives in the long run. Without grant money from federal funding agencies, scientists who currently rely on animal methods will be forced to figure something else out. Optimistically, this could give the biomedical research industry a much-needed kick in the pants to innovate human-centered replacements for animal models. Scientists are unlikely to change their tried-and-true research methods unless theres an exceptionally strong incentive like sweeping shifts in government funding the pull of inertia, and the fear of invalidating their existing body of work, are too powerful.This week, White Coat Waste published a Trump 2.0 wish list, asking the new administration to defund dog and cat experiments, cut off NIH-funded labs in China, phase animal testing out of the EPA, and axe the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose funded projects include gain-of-function experiments on animals, entirely. The plan, they hope, would cut billions in wasteful government spending annually and Make America Greater for Animals. With support from key Trump allies, their wishes could be granted.But there will likely be consequences. Cutting federal support for biomedical research could trigger a mass exodus from academic science, a kind of domestic brain drain that could hinder the development of new drugs and vaccines for a generation. And because neither Trumps administration nor White Coat Waste targets private corporations, scientists who move from universities to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies will likely be able to continue experimenting on animals there. While some private companies receive federal grants for projects involving lab animals, theyre often more lightly monitored than academic and government labs.And in the short term, while defunded research groups wrap up their existing projects, the mistreatment of lab animals could actually increase if the Trump administration continues its past pattern of lax enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act. While research facilities currently face only minor fines or just a slap on the wrist for animal welfare violations, Winders fears that Trumps Justice Department could eliminate even these minor penalties, leaving labs with no consequences for mistreating animals. Its a double-edged sword, Winders said. Her concern is that, under Trump 2.0, the Department of Justice will gut this authority, announcing that agencies will no longer be able to assess civil penalties on their own. This would effectively mean that research facilities could violate the Animal Welfare Act with total license, without any fear of repercussions.Over the last month, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a proposed advisory organization led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, has taken to X to memeify absurd-sounding science studies: $1,513,299 to analyze motion sickness in kittens, or $419,470 to see whether lonely rats use cocaine more than happy rats. Musk and his allies point to these studies as examples of wasted taxpayer dollars, and its not wrong to claim that the federal government funds some relatively low-impact studies that harm animals they do. But Stuart Buck, the executive director of the Good Science Project, fears that tearing apart experiments for not having direct real-world applications risks devaluing the entire scientific enterprise.There are so many cases in science, he told me, where truly groundbreaking discoveries were not appreciated at the time, or they went unfunded, or people thought they were kind of ridiculous. Ozempic, for example, would not exist today unless some scientists shot Gila monster venom into guinea pig cells 40-odd years ago. In fact, Buck thinks, we need more frivolous studies.To be clear: Whatever Trumps ambitions, no one is going to announce that all animal research is banned, unlock cage doors at the NIH, and set all the monkeys free.If biomedical research funding is scaled back, change will come slowly. Scientists will be able to finish projects funded by existing grants but might not be able to apply for new ones. If done carefully, this could be good for both animals and science. Theres a genuine need to incentivize a transition to better methods where animal models are currently falling short. PETAs latest research modernization plan, for example, which will be published later this month, proposes specifically ending animal use in research areas where evidence suggests animals are poor models of human biology like psychiatric conditions and inflammatory disease and doing more research to see whether animals can be effectively replaced elsewhere. Americans, including scientists, overwhelmingly agree that we should phase out animal experiments. Animals shouldnt have to die to save human lives. But forcing this change through defunding and deregulation, rather than careful scientific advancement, risks creating a system where both human and animal welfare lose out.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:

Nintendo is likely to announce its next console this week, the follow-up to the 150m-selling Nintendo Switch, which came out in March 2017. Theres just one problem: we already know almost everything about it. At this point theres very little that Nintendo could announce that would be a surprise to anyone who has been following the rumours closely.The trickle of Nintendo Switch 2 leaks began last summer, and built to a flood this month. Last week at the CES tech trade show in Vegas, accessory maker Genki arrived with a full-on model of Nintendos next console, which it happily showed off behind closed doors to illustrate its forthcoming products. You can even look at a detailed render of the thing on Genkis website. It is a slightly larger, more powerful version of the Switch console we all know and love, with controllers that attach magnetically rather than sliding on and off the sides of the screen. It can still be played docked on your TV or on the go.This is a very un-Nintendo way to do things. Apart from the NES/SNES, every single Nintendo console has been a form-factor revolution. There was the N64, with its pioneering analogue stick and three-pronged controller; the squat, toylike GameCube; the Wii, with its motion control remotes; its follow-up, the Wii U, added a screen in the middle of its controller. This is the first time that Nintendo has ever made two successive consoles that look the same and work the same, with the possible exception of the dual-screened DS and its successor the 3DS, which added stereoscopic 3D to the consoles features. They even share a name, and a logo: the current most credible information indicates that it will be called the Nintendo Switch 2.I wont repeat more leaked details about the Switch 2; they are easy to search out, and well know for sure whats true and what isnt within the next day or so. Nintendo has confirmed that the Switch 2 will share a back-catalogue with the Switch, so that every player can enjoy all the games they bought over the past eight years on the new console. We also know that it wont launch before April, as it is due to come out in Nintendos next financial year (my money is on June). But this is an extraordinary situation we know pretty much everything about a console from gamings most secretive company before it has been officially announced. How has it happened?Getting your hands on a release-day PS5 was a challenge. Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty ImagesWhen the PlayStation 5 launched in 2020, the biggest story at the time was that people could not get hold of one. Some customers who had pre-ordered a PS5 instead received packages containing bags of rice, swapped out by a neer do well in the delivery chain. On eBay and other resale platforms, the consoles were going for two or three times their retail price. The supply-and-demand gap, caused partly by manufacturing challenges during the pandemic, dogged the console for at least the first two years of its life. Nintendo will have wanted to avoid a similar situation.We know that Nintendos manufacturing partners have been making parts for this console for a long time over a year. The company is aiming to have huge amounts of stock in reserve for when the thing launches. This is one reason why so much information has leaked in advance: many different companies have already been involved in Switch 2 manufacturing, and units/parts of units have been out there for some time.Nintendo also hasnt gone after the leakers in the way that you might expect, or shut anything down legally. Its sole response to this flood of unauthorised information, given to Japanese outlet Sankei last week, is these images and videos are not official. This suggests that Nintendo itself considered that this might be inevitable; that it has delayed the announcement of its next console as much as it can, to eke out the life of the phenomenally successful Switch, and that it reckons these leaks wont do much to damage sales prospects.The Switch 2s announcement will contain few surprises. What is surprising is the rather un-Nintendo nature of this iterative console, and the piecemeal way were finding out about it. Watch out for more on the official announcement very soon.What to playIts Literally Just Mowing: just mowing, literally. Photograph: ProtostarA low-effort dad game for a quiet January, for anyone missing their time in the garden: Its Literally Just Mowing is exactly what it says it is. You swipe, and your little ride-on mower soothingly passes across swathes of unruly grass in the increasingly large gardens of your neighbours until the whole street has been brought into order. You mow, you collect hats, you tap on different species of butterfly to admire them. My attention was drawn to this by my friend Patrick Klepek of parent-gamer newsletter Crossplay (we do a podcast together about navigating games with your kids), and I was surprised to find myself playing it for a full half hour straight. Am I getting old?Available on: iOS/AndroidEstimated playtime: 5 mins, an hour, whatever you wantWhat to readDreams on a Pillow has been a decade in the making. Photograph: Rasheed AbueidehDreams on a Pillow, a game about the 1948 Nakba from Palestinian developer Rasheed Abueideh, has hit its funding goal. I spoke to Abueideh about the many obstacles he has faced in trying to tell a Palestinian story through a video game hardships that nobody should have to face down.Square Enix has announced a new policy that aims to protect its staff from harassment by toxic fans, and will not stop short of restricting the games and services of players who abuse its support staff or developers.The latest Awesome Games Done Quick speedrunning event raised over $2.5m for charity this past weekend. Personal highlight: the Crazy Taxi player accompanied by a live pop-punk band.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Pushing ButtonsFree weekly newsletterKeza MacDonald's weekly look at the world of gamingPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionWhat to clickQuestion BlockScissor Sisters Jake Shears selected Immortality in his On my radar column. Photograph: Half Mermaid ProductionsThis weeks question is from reader Tom:The Guardian has a regular On my radar column for interviewees to suggest what theyve been enjoying recently, and Ive always been surprised by the lack of games on there. Why do you think this is? Do people not think games are highbrow enough to mention? Profile/age of the people profiled? Or are we trained to think of games as not culture in that way?As someone who writes about games for the culture section of a newspaper, I come up against version of this question all the time: why arent games talked about in the same places, and in the same ways, that other art and entertainment is talked about? Games are culture, incontrovertibly, but they are also technology, and thats how a lot of people still think of them, as techy toys. I am very used to a certain level of condescension when it comes to games, and I suspect most people my age who grew up when games were scoffed at or considered potentially dangerous fear that reaction when they talk about them.So perhaps, when asked to pick out their cultural highlights, people do keep their gaming tastes to themselves, and foreground other things. But I do think this is changing with time. We are long past the time when games were considered nebulously shameful, and I notice that nowadays, even when I am speaking to someone who doesnt understand games very well, eg when Im guesting on a radio show, they nonetheless ask with respect and curiosity rather than condescension and dismissiveness. As more of us age into power this will only continue to change.If youve got a question for Question Block or anything else to say about the newsletter hit reply or email us on pushingbuttons@theguardian.com.

Ubisoft could be split up as Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag remake details leakAdam StarkeyPublished January 15, 2025 1:37pmUpdated January 15, 2025 1:37pm Black Flag looks to set sail once again (Ubisoft)Ubisofts future could involve a new venture with Tencent, as it looks to support the Nintendo Switch 2 in a big way.While 2024 was a pretty bleak year for the games industry at large, Ubisoft was one of the companies which suffered the most financially.The delay for Assassins Creed Shadows meant Ubisofts biggest money-maker missed the Christmas season, which came after a string of underperforming titles like Star Wars Outlaws, XDefiant, Skull And Bones, and Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown. As a result, Ubisofts share price dropped to its lowest point in almost 11 years.The future of Ubisoft is now a big question for this year, and after claims it was considering a buyout via Tencent, a new report suggests the founders of Ubisoft are debating teaming up with the Chinese media conglomerate to form a new subsidiary company.As reported by Bloomberg, Ubisofts founding Guillemot family and Tencent, which together own 29.6% of the voting rights over Ubisoft, are said to be considering creating a new venture that would include certain Ubisoft assets in a bid to boost the French companys value.While the specifics on the proposed deal arent exactly clear, the report claims it would allow Tencent to own a stake in the venture and gain more control over some of Ubisofts intellectual properties, as it looks to boost its video game business outside of China.Its said the two companies are evaluating which assets would be included in this new venture. Ubisofts biggest franchise by some distance is Assassins Creed, followed by the likes of Just Dance, Far Cry, and the Tom Clancy games. Can Assassins Creed Shadows turn the tide? (Ubisoft)According to the report, these deliberations are ongoing and no final decisions have been made, but this is said to be one potential route under consideration, along with the buyout reported in October last year.While its unclear how these deals would change the company moving forward, both deals suggest the Guillemot family will have to relinquish some control over Ubisoft. A minority investor, AJ Investments, previously called for current CEO Yves Guillemot to step down.What are Ubisofts new games for 2025?Aside from Assassins Creed Shadows, which launches on March 20, Ubisoft has a bunch of other Assassins Creed titles in development. These 10 games are reportedly set to release over the next five years, with the next one expected to be a remake of Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag, which still hasnt been officially announced.According to a report on Mp1st, this remake will be more than just a visual upgrade, with gameplay mechanics and elements also being improved. The Black Flag remake was previously rumoured to launch in November 2025, although nothing has been officially announced. A Fall Guys-inspired Assassins Creed multiplayer game codenamed Invictus was also said to be coming out around the same time, but its unclear if the delay to Assassins Creed Shadows has impacted these dates.As for Ubisofts other plans in 2025, reliable leaker NateTheHate has claimed the company has more than half a dozen games for the Switch 2 planned, and a lot of them are going to be late ports.On the ports specifically, he lists franchises like The Division and Tom Clancys Rainbow Six Siege, along with Assassins Creed Mirage. To my understanding, Assassins Creed Shadows is one of those in development ports, it just wont be ready for launch, and probably wont be ready for the launch window, he added.The leaker also claims theres some discussion and consideration of doing a Mario + Rabbids collection, although its unclear if this will include any new extras beyond the two games.Ubisoft was one of the few third party companies to support the original Switch at launch in 2017, with Just Dance, so its very likely it will have even more planned for Nintendos next console, especially as the two companies have collaborated in the past.More TrendingAs for what other third party games are expected for the console, rumours suggest Red Dead Redemption 2 might be on the way, along with Tekken 8. Ubisoft is expected to support Nintendos next console in a big way (Nintendo)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 Passant Rabie Published January 15, 2025 | Comments (1) | Firefly's Blue Ghost spacecraft shortly after reaching Earth orbit. Image: SpaceX Update: Wednesday, January 15, 9:10 a.m. ET: SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket, carrying Firefly Aerospaces Blue Ghost lander and ispaces Resilience lander, successfully blasted off earlier this morning at 1:11 a.m. ET from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Firefly says it managed to acquire signal and complete on-orbit commissioning, so the mission appears to be off to a good start. Original article follows. The Moon is about to get busy. A pair of landers are riding on board a SpaceX rocket this week, aiming to touchdown on the lunar surface and unpack a host of science instruments. The two missions are part of a commercial push to explore the Moon, marking the start of a new era for private spaceflight. Firefly Aerospaces Blue Ghost lander and ispaces Resilience lander are set for launch on Wednesday, January 15 at 1:11 a.m. ET. The missions will liftoff from Launch Complex-39B at NASAs Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, riding aboard SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket. NASA will livestream the launch on its website and NASA+, with the broadcast beginning at 12:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday. You can also tune in to the live feed below.Journey to the Moon Although both landers will launch together, they will each follow a different trajectory toward the Moon. Fireflys mission, named Ghost Riders in the Sky, will take 45 days to reach the Moon. For the first 25 days following launch, the Blue Ghost lander will orbit Earth before performing an engine burn to place it on a trajectory toward the Moon. Blue Ghost will spend four days en route to the Moon, and another 16 orbiting Earths satellite before attempting a soft touchdown on its dusty surface. The Resilience lander, on the other hand, will follow a much slower route to the Moon.After operating in an elliptical transfer orbit, the lander will conduct a lunar flyby, shifting into a low-energy trajectory for a planned soft landing on the Moon.The Japanese startups first mission to the Moon, launched in April 2023, took about four and a half months to reach lunar orbit, but the lander ultimately failed to stick its landing on the surface; the Hakuto-R Mission 1 (M1) Lunar Lander, as it was named, plummeted towards the Moon and crashed on its surface. Hakuto-R M1 had been carrying both commercial and government-owned payloads, including a tiny, two-wheeled transformable robot from the Japanese space agency.Clear for landing Following their journey to the Moon, both landers will be targeting lunar maresflat, dark plains formed by ancient impacts that were later flooded with lava and other material. More specifically, Blue Ghost is targeting Mare Crisium, the site of an ancient asteroid impact site once filled with basaltic lava. The basalts in Mare Crisium are between 2.5 and 3.3 billion years old, according to NASA.As for ispaces Resilience, the lander is set to explore Mare Frigoris, located in the Moons far northern regions. The location name translates to sea of cold, as it stretches along the northern part of the Moons disc for nearly 900 miles (1,400 kilometers). Whats inside the Blue Ghost lander? Texas-based Fireflys first mission to the Moon is a collaboration with NASA as part of the space agencys Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which aims to develop commercial delivery services to the Moon. NASA works with its partners in the industry to build landers that can pack its science and technology payloads and deliver them to the lunar surface.Blue Ghost is carrying 10 scientific instruments to study the lunar surface and gather data to support future human missions to the Moon, according to NASA. The instruments include: LEXI (or Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager), which will capture a series of X-ray images to study the interaction of solar wind and Earths magnetic field; the Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder, designed to measure electric and magnetic fields to characterize the structure and composition of the Moons mantle; and the Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies, which will capture how the landers plume disturbs lunar regolith as Blue Ghost touches down on the Moons surface. The mission is set to operate for a full lunar daythe equivalent of 14 days on Earth. During this time, Blue Ghost will also capture images of a lunar sunset, and collect data on how regolith on the Moon reacts to solar influences during lunar dusk. What did ispace pack into its Moon mission? Tokyo-based ispace is transporting privately owned customer payloads to the Moon aboard its lander, including a food production experiment, a deep space radiation probe, and a commemorative alloy plate.The Resilience lander is also carrying a small rover, named Tenacious, to explore the landing site, collect lunar regolith, and relay data back to the lander, according to ispace. Tenacious is equipped with a high-definition camera and a shovel. A model house by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg will be mounted on the rover, which were assuming is for decorative purposes. This launch is just the tip of the iceberg, with more landers scheduled to follow in the coming months and years. Intuitive Machines, which became the first private company to land on the Moon in February 2024, is gearing up to launch its second lunar lander toward the Moon. Its second mission is scheduled for launch sometime in February and will target the Moons south polar region. Astrobotic, which failed in its first attempt to land on the Moon in January 2024, is hoping for better luck this year. The Pittsburgh-based company is planning to launch its Griffin Mission One lunar lander sometime in 2025 under NASAs CLPS initiative. As the private space industry continues to grow, lunar drop-offs will likely become a regular occurrence as companies work to develop their delivery services to the Moon. What were about to witness this week is only just the beginning.Additional reporting by George Dvorsky.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Margherita Bassi Published January 14, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published January 13, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published January 9, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published January 8, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published January 7, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published January 6, 2025

The preservation of the environment and the harmonious integration of the built and natural elements are fundamental principles in contemporary architecture. Various design strategies are employed to achieve this balance, ranging from the revival of vernacular techniques to the use of advanced technologies. However, this concern goes beyond the choice of specific construction systems or innovative materials; it also manifests in the design approach that ensures the preservation of the site's natural elements. In this context, we present 15 homes designed to protect local trees, showcasing how architectural decisions can adapt to nature rather than impose on it.

Favorable Refresh Cycle, Windows 10 End Drove 2024 PC Shipment GrowthBy John P. Mello Jr.January 15, 2025 5:00 AM PT ADVERTISEMENTQuality Leads That Turn Into DealsFull-service marketing programs from TechNewsWorld deliver sales-ready leads. Segment by geography, industry, company size, job title, and more. Get Started Now. Shipments of personal computers grew in 2024, fueled by businesses replacing old hardware and Microsofts looming end of support for its Windows 10 operating system.According to market research firm Canalys, PC shipments climbed 3.8% in 2024 to 255.5 million units from 246.3 million in 2023. IDC, another research firm, pegged 2024 shipments higher 262.7 million but it also had higher 2023 shipments 260.2 million, for a year-over-year increase of 1%.2024 was a year of modest recovery and a return to traditional seasonality for the PC market as full-year shipments grew 3.8%, Canalys Analyst Kieren Jessop said in a statement.Growth increased slightly in Q4, with shipments rising by 4.6% year on year, signaling a positive trend as we moved to within a year of the Windows 10 end-of-support date, he continued.Holiday season demand was supported by strong discounting by vendors and retailers, enticing consumers who have become increasingly price-sensitive, he stated.Jessop noted that the use of buy now, pay later services supported that trend, with increasing examples of those offerings being leveraged to drive spending on big-ticket items, such as PCs.Meanwhile, he added that in China, government stimulus in the form of consumer subsidies helped to promote spending on notebooks amid a weakening demand environment.Strong Seasonal SalesThough the market has been experiencing a slower return to growth, there was some room for optimism in Q4 as government subsidies in China led to better than expected performance within the consumer segment, IDCs Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers Research Manager Jitesh Ubrani said in a statement.Beyond that, he continued, the U.S. and some European countries also showed strong performance due to end-of-year sale promotions, as well as enterprises continuing on the path of upgrading hardware before the end of support for Windows 10, which is scheduled for October 2025.Year-end sales were a little bit more aggressive than weve seen in recent years, added IDC Program Vice President for Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers Ryan Reith.Much of the promotional activity in the PC space throughout 2024 was aimed at moving inventory, he noted. PC makers wanted to keep things moving, even if it meant smaller margins because getting people on new hardware means other opportunities like selling them new software, he told TechNewsWorld.Commercial shipments, representing about 50% of the global PC market, were also an important part of the growth story. Companies refresh their PCs at a pretty stingy cadence, Reith said. Usually, its between three and four years in most of the developed markets. It can go a little bit longer in developing markets. But the reason they do that is not because the hardware isnt good. Its usually because of the software.Businesses can only go so long before they refresh. Youre not gonna keep a PC for 10 years in a business, added Jack E. Gold, founder and principal analyst with J.Gold Associates, an IT advisory company in Northborough, Mass.Covid brought in a ton of new machines three, three and a half, years ago, he told TechNewsWorld. Most companies refresh on a three-year basis. So were gonna see an uptick in business buying of PCs.End of Days for Win10Jessop added that a significant factor contributing to PC shipment growth in 2024, which will continue in 2025, is the size and age of the installed hardware base. Its never been larger or older than now, he told TechNewsWorld.Thats why Canalys forecasts that commercial PC shipments will continue to outgrow consumer shipments. Consumer price sensitivity and budget prioritization mean many people are delaying their next purchase, Jessop explained. Another factor stoking PC shipments is Microsofts announcement that it will stop supporting Windows 10 in October 2025. Hundreds of millions of those old PCs are ineligible to update to Windows 11, so businesses will be nudged toward refreshing their devices, Jessop said.Microsoft is getting increasingly aggressive in letting customers know that support is going to be ending, and they really need to upgrade to Windows 11, added Ross Rubin, the principal analyst with Reticle Research, a consumer technology advisory firm in New York City.Given the relatively stringent requirements for that, the only way to do so is to purchase a new computer, he told TechNewsWorld.AI PCs Puzzle ConsumersJessop cited the introduction of AI PCs into the market as an influencer of growth. Theyre being positioned as a halo category and are being used to open the door to conversations around a wider fleet refresh, he said.Paul Schell, an industry analyst with global technology intelligence firm ABI Research, sees AI PCs as having a significant impact on growth. We continue to see the introduction of AI PCs, and in particular notebooks/laptops, as being the driving force behind a shortening of refresh cycles, he told TechNewsWorld.In the AI PC segment, challenger Qualcomm has expanded its portfolio to include fewer premium chipsets including an SKU targeting the $600 laptop range which has a democratizing effect, as the first releases from all vendors, including Apple, Intel and AMD, were more premium, he said. Jessop, though, noted that despite the hype around the PCs at CES last week, the computers have failed to generate much excitement among buyers. Many channel partners we surveyed indicated that their customers are either unaware of Copilot+ PCs or are unwilling to pay a premium price for them, even if they are aware, he noted.This dual challenge limits the ability of the category to create a strong aspirational pull or halo effect, he continued. Customers are prioritizing pricing over perceived innovation, suggesting the value proposition for Copilot+ PCs needs stronger articulation or refining.AI PCs will be a big deal in 2025, contended Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst with SmartTech Research in Las Vegas. With special chips called NPUs [Neural Processing Units], theyre great for tasks like AI, language processing, and predicting things, he told TechNewsWorld. Businesses and people will want PCs that can use AI to make their work easier, more creative, and more automated.Im not convinced yet that AI will be a dominating factor, but as AI usage models become more compelling, AI PCs will become more attractive to the average mainstream user, he said.Eric Compton, director of technology equity research at Morningstar Research Services in Chicago, maintained that 2025 will be the same as 2024 in terms of fueling growth in PC shipments.The continued PC refresh cycle and the need to replace machines purchased during the boom years of 2020 and 2021 will be the primary factors, he told TechNewsWorld. If AI PCs can improve their functionality and generate some more unique demand, this could be a wildcard for additional demand.John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John.Leave a CommentClick here to cancel reply. Please sign in to post or reply to a comment. New users create a free account.Related StoriesMore by John P. Mello Jr.view allMore in Personal Computers

Get Over 300 Blender Add-ons & more https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4-Q7MyUxdZEvTkrEyhzQIBCWrwtZoSmG Interior Design Playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4-Q7MyUxdZFl_1YpXrDGoScl1kKua9RH Visit the Channel @architecturetopics Support My Shop And Get Free Assets https://buymeacoffee.com/architecturetopics Follow Me on Social Media!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/architecturetopics101/ Download Blender 3D https://www.blender.org/ _________________________________________________________________ Sub .........Visit the Channel for more dope jiggly wiggly stuff @architecturetopics ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------#3d #blender #blender3d

When Homo neanderthalensis first came in contact with Homo sapiens around 50,000 years ago, in whats now the Middle East, they encountered a host of diseases for which humans had no immunity for because they had never experienced them before.But, interbreeding would change the human genome, which likely continued until Neanderthals went extinct around 40,000 years ago. And even today humans are left with some Neanderthal genes, many of which pertain to the immune system.Interbreeding and Human ImmunityInterbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals allowed for genetic segments in the genome many of which were deleterious to humans, but some of which were helpful to spread amongst the population, says Dmitri Petrov, an evolutionary biologist at Stanford University. The segments that were adaptive and spread tended to be proteins that interacted specifically with RNA viruses, he says.Other research has shown that these viruses had an impact on the modern immune system. They likely gave humans an immunity boost and provided resistance to diseases that they had not come in contact with previously. RNA viruses can include things like Hepatitis A, dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and West Nile virus, amongst many others, although Petrov and his team did not identify particular types of RNA viruses in their research.This new immunity might also have had a downside in the form of allergies that come with a hypersensitive immune system. The inheritance of some genetic segments as a result of interbreeding left many humans with seasonal allergies, an overreaction to a perceived challenge to the immune system.Did Neanderthal Viruses Lead to Their Extinction?Persistent infections, meaning diseases that dont immediately kill you but instead slowly chip away at your body, have been thought by some experts to be one of the potential causes of the extinction of Neanderthals, according to a study published in the May 2024 edition of Viruses.These diseases, which included adenovirus, herpesvirus, and papillomavirus, were preserved in the bones of Neanderthals. Life-long infections like these would have made it hard for archaic humans living in already difficult conditions to do things like hunt, gather, reproduce, or just get by, thereby shortening their lifespans.If you have ebola, you die in a day or so, but these viruses have a different type of strategy, says study author Marcelo R. S. Briones, a geneticist and professor at the Medical School of the Federal University of So Paulo. Although their mortality is not that high, their morbidity (health problems that they cause) is high.His research has shown that we can go back to the time of Neanderthals and still detect the viruses that were present. Briones downloaded the entire Neanderthal genome from samples found in the Chagyrskaya cave in Russia.These samples were collected with great care to avoid contamination with modern DNA as opposed to earlier Neanderthal genomes, says Briones. Leaving Their MarkEarlier samples were collected and sequenced from museum specimens where people had handled the bones, which causes contamination. While persistent infections are still hypothetical as a cause of Neanderthal extinction, Briones did uncover them in the genome, so we know they were present.Neanderthal viruses had an impact on these early humans before they went extinct. They likely affected their ability to survive and compete with other early humans and may have eventually caused or at least contributed to their extinction.And they also left their mark on humans, who would adopt the diseases that they had never been exposed to before leaving Africa and eventually garner at least some immunity. Today, 40,000 years later, long after the Neanderthal extinction, we still have them locked away in our genomes.Article Sources:Our 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 Journal of Biological Research. Hominin interbreeding and the evolution of human variationDmitri Petrov, an evolutionary biologist at Stanford UniversityInstitut Pasteur. Neanderthal genes gave modern humans an immunity boost, allergiesMarcelo R. S. Briones, a geneticist and professor at the Medical School of Federal University of So PauloSara Novak is a science journalist based in South Carolina. In addition to writing for Discover, her work appears in Scientific American, Popular Science, New Scientist, Sierra Magazine, Astronomy Magazine, and many more. She graduated with a bachelors degree in Journalism from the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia. She's also a candidate for a masters degree in science writing from Johns Hopkins University, (expected graduation 2023).

Stack CommerceShareWe may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more Theres nothing like the panic of realizing your wallet isnt where you thought it was. Your stomach falls to your butt as you hope its just stuck between the couch cushions and not gone forever. But, when its not there either, you feel defeated. Prevent all that chaos with one of these wallet tracker cards.Not only will your phone notify you before leaving it behind, but you can also see your wallets real-time location on a map. Theyre basically Apple AirTags, except theyre in the shape of a credit card, so they fit perfectly in your wallet. Theyre also cheaper at $26.99 with free shipping compared to $29.Lets go back to that missing-wallet scene. Its nowhere to be found, but this time, you know you have this credit card-sized tracker tucked inside. Heres what to do:Open Apples Find My app on your phone.See its location on a map. Okay, good, its in the house somewhere.Tap play sound to narrow down its exact location.You hear it coming from the fridgeYou might not have found your wallet until it was time to cook dinner because you left it in there somehow. At least now you know where it is.Use the wallet tracker for up to five months before it needs to be recharged. You can see its current battery life on the Find My app, and throw it on any Qi-wireless charging pad for a quick power boost.Order one of these slim trackers for wallets for $26.99 with free shipping (reg. $42.99) and save 37 percent.StackSocial prices subject to change.MagTag Ultra Slim Tracker Card Works with Apple Find My App $26.99See Deal