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WWW.FORBES.COMNew Book Offers Reality Check On Sea Level RisePolar bear on ice floe. Melting iceberg and global warming. Climate changegettySea level rise mostly due to glacial melt largely caused by anthropogenic climate change has been a hot button topic for the past half century. But historically defining the basic parameters of global sea level has never been a trite exercise.Yet in a revelatory new book, Sea Level: A History, author Wilko Graf von Hardenberg, a senior research scholar at Germanys Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, deftly chronicles just how difficult it was to come up with a standard method of measuring mean sea level.In the process, Hardenberg gives us a richly detailed yet very accessible history of how over five centuries, the concept of measuring mean sea level was a painstaking process that advanced in fits and starts.Mean sea level is quite simply the average height of the ocean's surface over time. But the boundaries between land and sea are often skewed.The concept of sea level as an average is only one step in the long-term pursuit of a point of reference in a space that is never at rest, Hardenberg writes. Neat distinctions between land and sea are relatively recent products of the modern age, he notes. Coasts are actually ecotones, spaces in which different ecosystems meet and interact, porous regions that are part land, part water, he continues.Early DataThe earliest available data series on sea level relative to land began to be produced consistently almost five centuries ago in Amsterdam, Hardenberg writes in Sea Level. Elsewhere, tide gaugesthe tools necessary to collect sea-level measurementswere installed in an unorderly, piecemeal fashion, he notes. Such haphazard and unbalanced development and the consequent unevenness of available series has produced biases in our historical understanding of sea-level rise, Hardenberg writes.Long before the advent of advanced geodetic buoy systems, altimeters and satellites, our ancestors took a credible stab at defining a global mean sea level. They werent altogether successful, but they tried. And one must remember that even with todays global satellite technology, measuring changes in sea level from on high remains a somewhat iffy proposition.Sea Level: A HistoryUniversity of Chicago PressThats arguably one reason why recent dire predictions about climate change have thankfully not always come true.In a 2011 article for Climate Central, I point out that the state ofIn fact, according to NOAA, global mean sea level has risen about 89 inches since 1880. The rising water level is mostly due to a combination of meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets and thermal expansion of seawater as it warms, NOAA reports.Getting a handle on mean sea level.At the 1867 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Ohio-based geologist and surveyor Charles Whittlesey presented a paper on the impact of glaciation on the level of the oceans, Hardenberg writes. Whittlesey concluded that the melting of existing ice caps would cause a catastrophic rise, the author notes.Satellites have allowed scientists to overcome the limits of a sparse network of tide gauges and gravimeters, along the coasts and on midocean islands, finally supplying continuousand nearly globalsea-level data, Hardenberg writes.Yet satellites precision is not absolute, Hardenberg writes. In fact, valid, long-term series of observations reliably collected on the ground are essential for calibrating the instruments deployed on satellites, he notes.Dire PredictionsModels predict a rise of at least 15 centimeters by 2050 and possibly more than a meter by 2100, Hardenberg writes.As Sea Level points out, Miami has been dubbed the most vulnerable major coastal city in the world. And with its deltaic geography, the country of Bangladesh is virtually defenseless against tidal floods and sea-level rise, Hardenberg notes.Trial and ErrorSea Level offers a fascinating account of how science is often a piecemeal undertaking of trial and error. But the book also offers a sobering reminder of the inexactitude of today's global sea level measurements.As for sea level rise caused by anthropogenic climate change?Even though there's no question that anthropogenic climate change has played a major role in the current run-up of the global mean sea level, some of the most histrionic predictions about pending inundations have mercifully remained just that. Predictions. Not reality.Thats not to say that we should not take the subject seriously. But sea level rise linked to anthropogenic climate change is both insidious and nuanced. Those who are not well versed in the history of our planets long-term geology are often not aware that Earth's climate and its oceans have waxed and waned over millions and billions of years.The Bottom Line?There are no easy solutions; the climate change genie is out of the bottle, and we still have much to learn. But for those interested in learning how sea level fluctuations have historically been measured, the book Sea Level is well worth a read.0 Commentarios 0 Acciones 148 Views
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EA says Dragon Age: The Veilguard performed around half as well as expectedFacepalm: There was a lot of excitement when Dragon Age: The Veilguard was first announced, but it's fair to say that it failed to live up to the hype. EA has now revealed that the game had 1.5 million players, not unit sales, in its first two months of launch half what the company was expecting. In its preliminary third-quarter results for fiscal year 2025, EA writes that it is revising its anticipated mid-single-digit growth in live services net bookings to a mid-single-digit decline.EA places most of the blame on Global Football, aka EA Sports FC, which it says that after two consecutive years of double-digit net bookings growth is slowing down. CEO Andrew Wilson singled out EA Sports 25 for underperforming.EA also pointed to Dragon Age: The Veilguard for forcing it to revise projections. The company writes that the game "engaged" approximately 1.5 million players during the quarter, down nearly 50% from EA's expectations. The RPG was the other title that Wilson said underperformed.The use of the word "engaged" suggests that EA isn't talking about Dragon Age's unit sales. As noted by IGN, the game was available on the EA Play Pro subscription service, and the company may even be counting the free trial that was part of the cheaper EA Play service in its figures, so the actual number of units sold in the first two months (it launched after a third of Q3 had already passed) could be a lot lower than 1.5 million. Veilguard certainly wasn't a disaster on the scale of something like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League or Sony's Concord it was briefly Steam's best-selling game. Many companies would be more than happy to reach around 1.5 million sales in the first couple of months, but EA had big expectations for the game, and its launch week sales failed to reach the same levels as two other major RPGs: Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth and Dragon's Dogma II. // Related StoriesVeilguard was one of those games that critics appeared to enjoy more than players, based on the Metacritic scores. Beyond the gameplay itself, it was hard to ignore the controversy around what many called a political message that pushes too hard the cutscene in which a character misgenders another and does a set of push-ups to apologize, before lecturing the others on why this is better than traditional apologies, managed to irritate almost everyone, regardless of their views. The use of the term "nonbinary" in a fantasy setting didn't go down too well, either.Developer BioWare has confirmed there won't be any DLC for Veilguard as it is now concentrating fully on the next Mass Effect game. The disappointing sales likely influenced that decision.EA writes that it now expects net bookings of approximately $2.215 billion for the third fiscal quarter and an updated range of $7 billion to $7.15 billion for fiscal year 2025.0 Commentarios 0 Acciones 135 Views
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WWW.WSJ.COMTech, Media & Telecom Roundup: Market TalkFind insight on Netflix, Microsoft, Cisco and more in the latest Market Talks covering Technology, Media and Telecom.0 Commentarios 0 Acciones 136 Views
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WWW.NEWSCIENTIST.COMWhat should we do about societal divisions that run deeper than ever?Two sides of the US gun control debate meet at a protest in Cincinnati, OhioReuters/James Lawler DugganOutragedKurt Gray (Pantheon)It is hard to ignore just how bitterly divided the world feels right now. Over the past year, elections in more than 100 countries have exposed the widening gulf between opposing views. Online, debates spiral into hostility within seconds. In person, contentious topics are often avoided altogether.Like many, I have struggled to understand the other side, let alone imagine bridging the divide. But in Outraged: Why we fight about morality and politics and how to find common0 Commentarios 0 Acciones 139 Views
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WWW.BUSINESSINSIDER.COMBI Davos Diary: So who will manage your AI colleagues?Thursday is the last full day of the World Economic Forum in Davos.The rich and powerful have been discussing what 2025 will bring for the economy, tech, and business.This is what BI is seeing and hearing on the ground.Thursday is the last full day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where the rich and powerful have been discussing the year ahead in economics, business, and tech.This is what Business Insider is hearing and seeing on the ground.Who will manage your AI colleagues?The AI agents are coming, but who will manage them? It's a very real concern among some business leaders I've met with.HR software maker Lattice got some backlash last year when it announced it would start giving AI workers official employment records. The idea might not seem so ridiculous now as business leaders think about how to govern a new class of AI capable of carrying out certain tasks without human input. "We were ahead, but by months," Lattice CEO Sarah Franklin told BI at Davos.ManpowerGroup chief commercial officer Becky Frankiewicz also told BI she'd been hearing from business leaders who are thinking about ways to govern AI agents. Tech companies will likely be the first to jump in, she said, but she already knows of one consulting firm grappling with this challenge of the new AI era. "They've done the agents already," she said. "The next question they were asking was: do we need to have managers for the agents?" Hugh LangleyDavos is already prepping for 2026The conference doesn't technically wrap until midday Friday, but things are already winding down. Some people leave Thursday, while a good chunk of the delegates head out early Friday.But an end is just a new beginning, and that's the case for Davos 2026.Planning for next year's event has already begun. Plenty of companies will lock down their spaces along the Promenade the main street that runs through town where retail shops are transformed into a "haus" for the business renting it by the end of the week if they haven't already done so. When I first arrived on Sunday afternoon, I saw one shop with a large display advertising itself as a potential 2026 home base.Reservations at restaurants for big dinners also start filling up fast, although one person involved in event planning told me some establishments opt to wait a bit in hopes they can just rent out the entire space in one go.The entire week is a boon for local businesses and homeowners, who make many multiples above what they see selling things or renting out their space any other week of the year.Of course, some shops choose to stay open, like the town's luxury watch shop. (Its Rolex signage fits in quite well with the vibes, to be honest.)And then there's the one souvenir shop in the middle of town, which might secretly do the best business. A simple cotton T-shirt with some Davos branding can run you close to $40. Dan DeFrancesco0 Commentarios 0 Acciones 141 Views
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WWW.BUSINESSINSIDER.COM3 days into his second term, Trump is making headway on another big deal — this time, with Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia said it will invest at least $600 billion in the US over the next four years.President Donald Trump has long enjoyed a good relationship with Saudi Arabia's crown prince.Trump has moved quickly since taking office, signing executive orders and announcing investments.Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has told newly inaugurated President Donald Trump that his oil-rich nation will invest at least $600 billion in the US over the next four years.The crown prince told Trump about the investment during a congratulatory phone call on Wednesday evening, per a report from the state-run Saudi Press Agency published on Thursday.According to the report, the two leaders discussed how the US and Saudi Arabia can work together to promote peace and security in the Middle East.Representatives for Trump and Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.Trump has long enjoyed a good relationship with the crown prince. Saudi Arabia was the first foreign nation he visited during his first term.When Trump met the crown prince in June 2019, he described him as a "friend of mine " and lauded him for "opening up Saudi Arabia."Deal after dealShortly after being sworn in on Monday, Trump moved quickly, issuing a wave of executive orders covering areas including trade, immigration, and energy.He's also inked deals, both domestically and abroad.On Monday, Trump signed an executive order that would pause the ban on TikTok for 75 days. Trump said while signing the order that the US should own half of TikTok if he's able to halt the ban."I may not do the deal, or I may do the deal. TikTok is worthless, worthless, if I don't approve it," Trump said, adding that the social media platform could be worth $1 trillion.And on Tuesday, Trump announced Stargate, a new joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank. The president said Stargate plans to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure across the US."Before the end of my first full business day in Washington and the White House, we have already secured nearly $3 trillion of new investments in the United States and probably that's going to be six or seven by the end of the week," Trump said while announcing Stargate on Tuesday, though he did not elaborate on the sources of the new investments.Later, on Wednesday, Trump made an overture to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the Ukraine war. Trump said in a Truth Social post that he was doing Russia a big favor by offering to end the conflict."If we don't make a 'deal,' and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries," Trump wrote."We can do it the easy way, or the hard way - and the easy way is always better," Trump added.Saudi Arabia has its own prioritiesIt is unclear how Saudi Arabia's new investment in the US aligns with its economic priorities.In 2016, Saudi Arabia launched its Vision 2030 plan to transform its oil-dependent economy into a more diversified one boosted by tourism and sports. The kingdom has already pumped billions into its economic pivot, with some investments going to the US.But Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, said last year that it would focus more on its domestic economy. The PIF is the world's sixth-largest sovereign wealth fund, per the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute.The PIF's governor, Yasir Al Rumayyan, told delegates at Saudi Arabia's Future Investment Initiative business conference in October that the fund was planning to cut the proportion of foreign investments from 30% to between 18% and 20%."A lot of people would come looking for our money to be invested abroad. But that thing shifted over the years," Al Rumayyan said."So now, we're more focused on the domestic economy and we've been achieving and doing so many big things," he added.0 Commentarios 0 Acciones 140 Views
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METRO.CO.UKNintendo Switch 2 new 3D Mario and Zelda remaster listed for 2025 by retailerA new 3D Mario for Switch 2 is a given, but when exactly will it launch? (Nintendo)The initial line-up of Nintendo Switch 2 games wont be unveiled for a few months, but one retailer may have already leaked out important secrets.Aside from a new Mario Kart, and probably Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Nintendo has given no indication of what games it plans to release for the Nintendo Switch 2 this year.Nearly everyone (including us) has had a go at predicting which Switch 2 titles could drop during the consoles launch period, but well all have to wait until Nintendos April showcase to see how right or wrong we are.With everyone still hungry for Switch 2 news, even after the reveal trailer, a new retailer listing seems to have accidentally revealed what two of the most important first party games are.The listing was from American retailer Newegg and was for a $50 Nintendo eShop gift card, which suggests they werent trying to leak anything on purpose.Before it was changed, the description listed a number of Nintendo games scheduled for 2025, most of which we already know, like Metroid Prime 4, Pokmon Legends Z-A and Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition.However, it not only included the new Mario Kart (which is not necessarily a launch game but is assumed to be out this year) but also a new 3D Mario and Legend Of Zelda remake/remaster.The listing has since been updated to remove all mention of the Mario and Zelda games, as well as Mario Kart, but not before Insider Gaming saved a screenshot of it. Mario Kart is the only Nintendo franchise explicitly confirmed for Switch 2 (Insider Gaming/Newegg)As a retailer, Newegg could be privy to Nintendos release schedule and accidentally gave away too much. Whats also possible is that the list was purely guesswork on Neweggs part.A new 3D Mario for the Switch 2s first year is a common theory, especially since the original Switch got Super Mario Odyssey only seven months after the consoles launch.More TrendingThereve been rumours of a 3D Mario as a Switch 2 launch game as far back as 2023, with talk that it may also count as a new Donkey Kong game.As for Zelda, its been claimed since 2021 that Switch remasters of The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess will come out. Nintendos known for sitting on long completed projects until it finds a suitable gap in its release schedule, so its not too unreasonable to believe at least one of them could drop in 2025.A remaster of Breath Of The Wild has also been rumoured multiple times, as a way to show off the new consoles power difference, although this may have been confused with an alleged technical demo Nintendo was showing off to developers last year.The updated listing could be because Newegg is repeating rumours or it could be the result of actual insider knowledge theres no way to know at the moment. Whether their claim is accurate or not theyre yet another company thats going to be added to Nintendos naughty list for their lack of discretion. Those Zelda remasters have got to happen this year, right? Right? (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.GameCentralSign up for exclusive 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 Policy0 Commentarios 0 Acciones 143 Views
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GIZMODO.COMMysterious Radio Bursts Traced to the Edge of an Ancient, Dying GalaxyBy Margherita Bassi Published January 23, 2025 | Comments (0) | The CHIME telescopes that detected the February 2024 FRB. CHIME, Andre Renard, Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto The energy flare came from an old galaxy, upending prevailing theories about the source of fast radio bursts. In February 2024, scientists on Earth detected a powerful radio blast from outer space. Seeking to discover where it had come from, they traced the brief flash of energy back to its extraterrestrial sourceand discovered something unexpected. Scientists led by Northwestern University and McGill University have traced a fast radio burst (FRB) to the edges of an ancient elliptical galaxy. Scientists had previously thought that these quick radio blasts, which generate more energy in a single flare than our Sun generates in an entire year, are exclusively produced by young galaxies that steadily churn out new stars. The recent investigations, however, detailed in two sister studies published on January 21st in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, are prompting astronomers to reconsider the potential diversity of FRB sources. Dubbed FRB 20240209A, the February 2024 FRB wasnt just a one-and-done. Between February and July 2024, the same source flared 21 times.The prevailing theory is that FRBs come from magnetars formed through core-collapse supernovae, Tarraneh Eftekhari of Northwestern University, who participated in both studies, said in a university statement. Magnetars are neutron stars with very powerful magnetic fieldsand neutron stars are extremely small and dense celestial objects thought to form in the wake of some large stars explosive deaths, that is, supernovae. That doesnt appear to be the case here, Eftekhari continued. While young, massive stars end their lives as core-collapse supernovae, we dont see any evidence of young stars in this galaxy. Thanks to this new discovery, a picture is emerging that shows not all FRBs come from young stars. Maybe there is a subpopulation of FRBs that are associated with older systems.The old galaxy in question is 11.3 billion years old, and 2 billion lightyears away from us. Using computer simulations, Eftekhari and her colleagues discovered that the galaxy is extremely bright, and 100 billion times more massive than our Sun. It seems to be the most massive FRB host galaxy to date, Eftekhari said. Its among some of the most massive galaxies out there. Not only did the unusual FRB originate from an old galaxy, it also came from that galaxys edgespecifically, 130,000 lightyears from its center.The February FRB, marked with the oval outlines, is far from its home galaxy, the big yellow splotch. Gemini Observatory Among the FRB population, this FRB is located the [farthest] from the center of its host galaxy, said Vishwangi Shah of McGill, who participated in both studies. This is both surprising and exciting, as FRBs are expected to originate inside galaxies, often in star-forming regions. The location of this FRB so far outside its host galaxy raises questions as to how such energetic events can occur in regions where no new stars are forming. But FRB 20240209A is not the first FRB to be detected far away from regions of active star formationits the second. In 2022, astronomers traced M81 FRB, which is located 12 million light years from Earth, to a cluster of stars on the edge of galaxy Messier 81. FRB 20240209A could be a twin of the M81 event [M81 FRB]. It is far from its home galaxy (far away from where any stars are being born), and the population of stars in its home galaxy is extremely old. Its had its hey-day and is now coasting into retirement, said Wen-fai Fong of Northwestern University, who participated in both studies. At the same time, this type of old environment is making us rethink our standard FRB progenitor models and turning to more exotic formation channels, which is exciting.One of the studies suggests that, like M81 FRB, the new FRB might have also originated from a cluster of stars, called a globular cluster. A globular cluster origin for this repeating FRB is the most likely scenario to explain why this FRB is located outside its host galaxy, Shah explained. We do not know for a fact if there is a globular cluster present at the FRB position and have submitted a proposal to use the James Webb Space Telescope for follow-up observations of the FRB location. If yes, it would make this FRB only the second FRB known to reside in a globular cluster. If not, we would have to consider alternative exotic scenarios for the FRBs origin.In other words: back to the drawing board!Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Passant Rabie Published January 21, 2025 By Margherita Bassi Published January 19, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published January 18, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published January 14, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published January 10, 2025 By Margherita Bassi Published January 10, 20250 Commentarios 0 Acciones 145 Views
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WWW.ARCHDAILY.COMBuilding Among the Branches: A Showcase of Contemporary Treehouse ArchitectureBuilding Among the Branches: A Showcase of Contemporary Treehouse ArchitectureSave this picture!ORIGIN Tree House by Atelier LAVIT. Image Marco Lavit NicoraDespite their whimsical appearance, treehouses offer a unique platform for structural innovations and design explorations. Traditional treehouses rely on the trunks of trees for structural support, but, in order to ease the load supported by the tree, contemporary projects often introduce additional systems, such as stilts to maintain the image while offering additional support. One of the key advantages of elevating them in this way is the reduced environmental footprint. Treehouses can be designed to leave the forest floor untouched, preserving small-scale ecosystems. By freeing up the ground below, they minimize disruptions to native flora and fauna, allowing nature to thrive undisturbed. Similarly, many architects use the local topography to create seamless connections, incorporating ramps, stairs, or bridges that integrate with the landscape. These solutions not only improve accessibility but also enhance the overall experience creating an architectural promenade that moves between the treehouse and its surroundings."This sensitivity to the environment is reflected not only in the structural design but also in the careful selection of materials. The use of natural materials like wood, also helps the structure blend with its environment. Some designers have gone further by employing alternative materials such as mirrored panels to reflect the surrounding forest and mask the treehouse's presence entirely, demonstrating that the choice of material can contribute to creating a project that feels like an extension of its setting rather than an imposition on it. This collection highlights notable examples from Sweden, Denmark, Indonesia, and France, showcasing their diverse approaches.Read on to discover how these designs balance structure, environmental sensitivity, and aesthetics to create a great variety of tree house experiences. Related Article Tips for Building a Tree House The 7th room / SnhettaSave this picture!Tree Hotel / Tham & Videgrd ArkitekterSave this picture!Tree House / FB+ estudioSave this picture!Tree House / JAN TYRPEKLSave this picture!Tree House at Bambu Indah / IBUKUSave this picture!ORIGIN Tree House / Atelier LAVITSave this picture!Tree House / Pablo Luna StudioSave this picture!The Evans Tree House at Garvan Woodland Gardens / modus studioSave this picture!Senbo Resort Hangzhou Tree House / WH studioSave this picture!Treetop Hotel Lvtag Denmark / Sigurd LarsenSave this picture!Image gallerySee allShow lessAbout this authorMoises CarrascoAuthorCite: Moises Carrasco. "Building Among the Branches: A Showcase of Contemporary Treehouse Architecture" 23 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1025922/building-among-the-branches-a-showcase-of-contemporary-treehouse-architecture&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream0 Commentarios 0 Acciones 153 Views