New batch of GTA 6 copium has arrived (Rockstar)Less than a month into 2025 and we have our first GTA 6 trailer theory of the year, which claims a new video will arrive at the end of January.The last couple of months were rough for GTA 6 fans hoping Rockstar would have a new trailer to share. It had been a year since the initial reveal, so it wasnt too unreasonable to expect a second trailer was on its way.With no official news, some fans became convinced that Rockstar was cryptically teasing release dates in its social media posts, with a couple of outlandish theories using a motorbikes licence plate and the phases of the moon as evidence.And now theres a new theory, revolving around a new image on X, but it seems fans have wised up and are not putting so much faith in this one.Like previous theories, this one draws from an innocuous social media post from Rockstar, with this one advertising the GTA+ subscription for GTA Online.All the post says is that members can claim additional free content, like a Vapid Dominator GT muscle car, by signing up. In the accompanying image, you can see a shipping container on the left-hand side that has a vertical line of numbers, ending with a two in a square.Unsurprisingly, its been suggested that theres significance to the numbers, with a recent post to the fan-made GTA 6 subreddit pointing out how they add up to 30. This doesnt include that last two, but the theory is that this a reference to the fabled second trailer.As such, the theory is that said trailer will drop on Thursday, January 30. On its own, thats extremely flimsy, but the post attempts to back this up by pointing out that GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2 had release date reveals around similar times: Thursday, January 31 for the former and Thursday, February 1 for the latter.Plus, Take-Twos next earnings call is scheduled for February 6. Since trailers and other important details for Rockstar games have tended to arrive ahead of such earnings calls, its common for fans to suspect new info whenever one of them rolls around.Amusingly, most responses on Reddit are refusing to entertain the idea, demonstrating that fans have been burned enough times that theyre no longer putting stock in anything that isnt explicitly confirmed by Rockstar.More TrendingThe top comment from Dry-Fault-5557 is predictably, but appropriately, the Here we go again meme from GTA: San Andreas, while a couple of others use the far more recent Ive played these games before! meme from Squid Games second season.You never learn, is all AdvantageHonest6584 wrote, followed up by Those who dont learn from history are doomed to repeat it, from tonlimah.Our favourite reply comes from atomicitalian, who suspects the trailer theorists will get it right eventually, but compares them to doomsday cultists pointing at calendar dates and insisting this time the world will definitely end.A new trailer does have to happen at some point, as GTA 6 is supposed to be aiming for an autumn launch. Despite assurances by publisher Take-Two, though, there is an increasing assumption that there will be a delay, although one former Rockstar developer has claimed that wont be decided till closer to the target release window. Even if an exact release date gets announced, that wont mean GTA 6 wont be delayed (Rockstar)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 Policy

Vampire Survivors dev admits it has no plot but is getting a movie anywayMichael BeckwithPublished January 21, 2025 10:35amUpdated January 21, 2025 10:35am Add another upcoming game to movie adaptation to the pile (poncle)Developer poncle has casually dropped the news that Vampire Survivors is getting a live action movie while teasing more cross-media projects to come in 2025.When even games barely anyone remembers, like Segas Eternal Champions, are set to receive movie adaptations, it should come as no surprise to hear that indie hit Vampire Survivors has secured its own live action film deal.This is on top of the animated TV show that was announced in 2023. Both adaptations are being produced by Story Kitchen, which seems to be a go-to for such projects, as its also handling Amazons upcoming live action Tomb Raider show as well as the Streets Of Rage and Shinobi movies for Sega.Developer Luca poncle Galante has had nothing concrete to share about either project, but he has acknowledged that both will be tricky to get right, because of the games almost complete lack of story.This is something we discussed regarding Segas movie plans, where the company seemed to be oblivious to the fact that most of its old games had only the flimsiest of narratives.However, Galante does seem to be aware of this obvious problem. In a recent Steam post recapping all of 2024s Vampire Survivors content, he talks about how he and his team wanted to take their time finding the right partners for adaptations because of how difficult such projects will be.Rather than jumping the gun and make stuff for the sake of making it, we have preferred to wait to find partners that felt right, especially because to make anything that isnt a video game out of Vampire Survivors requires good ideas, creativity, and that quirky knowledge of the game, that is a very difficult triplet to get 100% right, explains Galante.That said, he does find the prospect exciting, specifically because of Vampire Survivors lack of a proper story, adding: Nobody can really anticipate how a film about it is going to be.For what its worth, Vampire Survivors does have some backstory involving a Dracula stand-in called Bisconte Dracul, who unleashes monsters in rural Italy, which prompts the Belpaese family to stop him.More TrendingIts all very Castlevania, but this does afford a vague basis for a movie or TV show plot, while allowing lots of creative freedom with how the characters and overall tone are handled.In fact, thats precisely what Galante suggested when we spoke with him last year: In Vampire Survivors, there isnt a strong and coherent narrative. For me thats a very strong point, actually. Because whoever is writing the TV series, the movie, whatever it gives them creative freedom to tell whatever story they want.Galante has also teased other cross-media projects that the team is hoping to reveal later this year, though you probably shouldnt expect any in-depth teasers for the movie or TV show.Both projects are likely still in the early stages and Galante also says that theyre respecting all the strikes, which suggests the ongoing Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) strike is having an impact on production. You have to wonder how a live action adaptation is going to interpret visual nonsense like this (poncle)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 Policy

AI-generated scientific research is polluting the online academic information ecosystem, according to a worrying report published in the Harvard Kennedy SchoolsMisinformation Review. A team of researchers investigated the prevalence of research articles with evidence of artificially generated text on Google Scholar,an academic search engine that makes it easy to search for research published historically in a wealth of academic journals. The team specifically interrogated misuse of generative pre-trained transformers (or GPTs), a type of large language model (LLM) that includes now-familiar software such as OpenAIs ChatGPT. These models are able to rapidly interpret text inputs and rapidly generate responses, in the form of figures, images, and long lines of text. In the research, the team analyzed a sample of scientific papers found on Google Scholar with signs of GPT-use. The selected papers contained one or two common phrases that conversational agents (commonly, chatbots) undergirded by LLMs use. The researchers then investigated the extent to which those questionable papers were distributed and hosted across the internet. The risk of what we call evidence hacking increases significantly when AI-generated research is spread in search engines, said Bjrn Ekstrm, a researcher at the Swedish School of Library and Information Science, and co-author of the paper, in a University of Bors release. This can have tangible consequences as incorrect results can seep further into society and possibly also into more and more domains.The way Google Scholar pulls research from around the internet, according to the recent team, does not screen out papers whose authors lack a scientific affiliation or peer-review; the engine will pull academic bycatchstudent papers, reports, preprints, and morealong with the research that has passed a higher bar of scrutiny. The team found that two-thirds of the papers they studied were at least in part produced through undisclosed use of GPTs. Of the GPT-fabricated papers, the researchers found that 14.5% pertained to health, 19.5% pertained to the environment, and 23% pertained to computing.Most of these GPT-fabricated papers were found in non-indexed journals and working papers, but some cases included research published in mainstream scientific journals and conference proceedings, the team wrote. The researchers outlined two main risks brought about by this development. First, the abundance of fabricated studies seeping into all areas of the research infrastructure threatens to overwhelm the scholarly communication system and jeopardize the integrity of the scientific record, the group wrote. A second risk lies in the increased possibility that convincingly scientific-looking content was in fact deceitfully created with AI tools and is also optimized to be retrieved by publicly available academic search engines, particularly Google Scholar. Because Google Scholar is not an academic database, it is easy for the public to use when searching for scientific literature. Thats good. Unfortunately, it is harder for members of the public to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to reputable journals; even the difference between a piece of peer-reviewed research and a working paper can be confusing. Besides, the AI-generated text was found in some peer-reviewed works as well as those less-scrutinized write-ups, indicating that the GPT-fabricated work is muddying the waters throughout the online academic information systemnot just in the work that exists outside of most official channels.If we cannot trust that the research we read is genuine, we risk making decisions based on incorrect information, said study co-author Jutta Haider, also a researcher at the Swedish School of Library and Information Science, in the same release. But as much as this is a question of scientific misconduct, it is a question of media and information literacy. In recent years, publishers have failed to successfully screen a handful of scientific articles that were actually total nonsense. In 2021, Springer Nature was forced to retract over 40 papers in the Arabian Journal of Geosciences, which despite the title of the journal discussed varied topics, including sports, air pollution, and childrens medicine. Besides being off-topic, the articles were poorly writtento the point of not making senseand sentences often lacked a cogent line of thought.Artificial intelligence is exacerbating the issue. Last February, the publisher Frontiers caught flak for publishing a paper in its journal Cell and Developmental Biology that included images generated by the AI software Midjourney; specifically, very anatomically incorrect images of signaling pathways and rat genitalia. Frontiers retracted the paper several days after its publication. AI models can be a boon to science; the systems can decode fragile texts from the Roman Empire, find previously unknown Nazca Lines, and reveal hidden details in dinosaur fossils. But AIs impact can be as positive or negative as the human that wields it. Peer-reviewed journalsand perhaps hosts and search engines for academic writingneed guardrails to ensure that the technology works in service of scientific discovery, not in opposition to it.

How Did BIM Help Notre-Dame Rise from the Ashes?Save this picture!Courtesy of Nicolas MangonIn many cultures, fire is a sacred element used in rituals of rebirth and renewal. It carries a dual symbolism, being both a creator and a destroyercapable of illuminating paths or consuming everything in its wake. In Greek mythology, for example, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity, marking it as a symbol of progress, knowledge, and creative power. However, fire also evokes destruction, as seen in biblical tales like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, where it was used as divine punishment. This duality was also evident in the 2019 fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral, which devastated its historic structure. The disaster sparked a wave of solidarity and led to unprecedented technological advancements, with restoration efforts utilizing digital tools such as laser scanning and Building Information Modeling (BIM) to recreate intricate details and preserve architectural heritage.Even before firefighters fully extinguished the flames, a surge of donations flowed in for this symbol of Western civilization built in the 12th century. Among the restoration efforts, Autodesk played a pivotal role by contributing technology and expertise, providing its software, and creating detailed BIM models of the cathedral for reconstruction. These digital tools enabled precise planning and collaboration, ensuring that intricate structural details and historical authenticity were preserved while demonstrating how technology can be a powerful ally in efforts to conserve built heritage. We spoke with Nicolas Mangon, VP of AEC Industry Strategy at Autodesk, about this process and how BIM usage benefited the cathedral's reopening.Save this picture!The 3D BIM model was created through a combination of laser scanning, photogrammetry, and drone footage, taking over a year to complete. This effort resulted in a detailed digital twin of the structure as it appeared before the fire. The project was a collaboration between Autodesk and Art Graphique & Patrimoine (AGP), a leading French company specializing in laser scanning and digitizing historic monuments. The model was essential in addressing three major challenges: facilitating collaboration among more than 200 companies and 2,000 individuals involved in the project, meeting the ambitious five-year restoration timeline, and overcoming the limited documentation of the cathedral's original design. The BIM model also enabled precise planning, construction phase simulation, and early identification of potential issues, ensuring the project stayed on track. We collected billions of points to capture every intricate detail of the cathedral, from its vaulted ceilings to its iconic spire. Because of the complex structural details and sheer size of the Notre-Dame, it took over a year to create the full-scale model as it existed before the fire. No one had built a spire like this in over 100 years, and the 3D model was used to guide the new design to honor its historic integrity as well as test and understand its stability against storms. Nicolas Mangon Save this picture!Save this picture!The model guided the project to honor its historical authenticity while incorporating modern engineering to enhance resilience against environmental stressors such as storms. Additionally, the mapping facilitated logistical planning, particularly given the site's limited storage and restricted access. By simulating material deliveries, worker routes, and construction phases, it improved efficiency and safety throughout the process. The 3D BIM model was the solution to these challenges; it enhanced collaboration, clarity, and efficiency across the reconstruction teams, was used to simulate and plan every phase of construction, and predicted issues that could arise before they occurred on the jobsite. The BIM model, and our software, which Autodesk donated to the tablissement public Rebtir Notre-Dame de Paris, provided a shared and scalable 3D database to guide collaboration amongst the project's architects, engineers, and historians. Nicolas Mangon The shared BIM platform served as a central database, enabling architects, engineers, historians, and restoration specialists to work cohesively. This unified approach ensured that every restoration phase adhered to historical integrity and modern safety standards. The restoration of Notre-Dame has also set a benchmark for the use of BIM technology in preserving other cultural heritage sites. As Mangon points out, this project shows the importance of proactive measures, such as the digital documentation of historic landmarks, to safeguard them against potential disasters. Beyond restoration, BIM's predictive capabilities can simulate how structures will respond to environmental challenges, guiding maintenance and conservation strategies for future centuries.The restoration of Notre-Dame transcends a mere recovery effortit stands as a pivotal moment in marrying technology with historical preservation. Leveraging 3D BIM modeling allowed for unparalleled precision and efficiency, raising the bar for safeguarding historic monuments. By uniting specialists across disciplines on a single collaborative platform, the project exemplified how technological innovation can secure cultural heritage for future generations. This achievement underscores the critical need to invest in the digital documentation of global landmarksa forward-looking approach that strengthens resilience against the dual tests of time and environmental adversity.Save this picture!Image gallerySee allShow lessAbout this authorEduardo SouzaAuthorCite: Eduardo Souza. "How Did BIM Help Notre-Dame Rise from the Ashes? " 21 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1025809/how-did-bim-help-notre-dame-rise-from-the-ashes&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 stream

Raj Sabhagruh Discourse Hall / Serie ArchitectsSave this picture! Rory GardinerBilpudi, IndiaArchitects: Serie ArchitectsYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2024 PhotographsPhotographs:Rory Gardiner More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Serie Architects has completed the much-anticipated Rajsabahgruh, the centrepiece building in the 100-ha masterplan development for the Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram, Dharampur, Gujarat, India.The Raj Sabhagruh is an ambitious complex, housing a 5,000-seater auditorium, classrooms, discourse rooms, a 1,000-square-meter museum, a gift shop and a 300-seater meditation hall, stacked within a 40-meter-tall building at the apex of a crescent-shaped 60-meter hillock.Save this picture!Awarded to Serie Architects in 2012 through an international invitational competition, the design of Raj Sabhgruh draws its ideas from the Jain Samavasaran, a fabled temple, composed of a tapering ascension of platforms, housing humans, animals, and demi-gods in divine communion with a 'Tirthankara', an enlightened being, seated at the apex of this formation. This mythical building represents the aggregation of knowledgethrough discourse and learningas building blocks, to bring devotees ever closer to enlightenment. This concept is reified in all Jain temples, where the aggregation of self-similar elements creates lofty shikarascurved, pyramid-like forms that cap the sanctum sanctorium at the heart of the temple and appear to reach for the sky. Serie's design consists of 13 stacked rooms, rotated 45 degrees as they stack upwards. This rotational stacking gives rise to an interlocking sheer wall structure made up of thin, gently curved concrete sheer walls, perforated to let in natural light. This lean architecture, combining structure as faade and space definers, aims to reduce the material used for the entire building. Programmatically, one ascends upwards from spaces of the discourse hall at the ground level, to experiential learning within the museum at the second level, deep study within classrooms at the third and finally to introspection within the meditation hall at the apex tier. A journey from speech to silence.Save this picture!Save this picture!A circular 5,000-seater auditorium anchors the plan at the ground level, accessed by a large circumambulating foyer with an array of 8 entrances radially placed at the cardinal and intermediate directions. Four curving and intersecting concrete arches span across the 54-meter diameter and 20-meter-tall concrete drum to create a column-free interior. The resultant square formed at the intersection of the arches forms the structural seat of the meditation hall placed above the auditorium.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!An array of concentric, timber, acoustic baffles radiate outward from the centre of the drum ceiling, recalling the radial patterns of the intricately carved sky-domes found within the ceilings of the Maha-mandapa, the primary gathering halls of ancient Jain temples. The circular auditorium with the stage for the Guru, placed within its eastern quadrant draws the audience close to him in intimate dialogue and instruction. A suspended balcony provides clear sight lines to the stage while a flat auditorium floor allows for a flexible space where various programs and events can unfold.Save this picture!Save this picture!The 300-seater meditation hall, placed above the auditorium rises 20 meters to cap the building composition as a glowing lantern, with over 1000 glowing pins of light etched into its marbled surface, visible afar from the streets of Dharampur. Necessitated as a completely dark interior, a double structure of space frames holds up the exterior volume and interior space independently. An array of glowing, white acoustic panels rotates gradually within the interior of the hall, drawing the eye and mind upwards to deep contemplation.Save this picture!The exterior concrete sheer walls are clad in 50mm thick, hand-chiseled, rough-cut Makrana white marble bricks. These bricks, salvaged from discarded marble slabs, are deliberately small to accommodate the curvature of the sheer walls, adding a fine texture to the facade. Utilizing discarded marble enhances the lean architectural approach of Serie's design and reduces construction costs. Over 800,000 bricks were hand-laid over the 36 faces of the building's volumes over two years, reflecting the same materiality as the monolithic trabeated structure of the Jain temple completed a few years prior to the Raj Sabhagruh. The rough cuts expose the crystalline structure of the marble, which refracts and disperses light in numerous luminous tones and hues across the building's surfaces, changing with the sun's movement throughout the day. Deep-set circular windows bring daylight deep into the interior, adding a layer of visual depth and animating the monolithic form.Save this picture!Save this picture!Christopher Lee and Kapil Gupta, Principals at Serie Architects, explain, "We worked very closely with Ashram and the Pujya Gurudevshri Rakeshji, listening to their needs and aspirations, responding with architectural ideas, and discursively refining them over a two-year long design period. We tested several iterations exploring typologies of sacred form. There was a deep desire to find an architecture that was contemporary, memorable and timeless, that could serve as a signifier for a young, growing Ashram".Save this picture!The architecture that emerges can accommodate a wide range of uses and continues to evolve with the spiritual mission it serves. It acts as a backdrop where Ashram life can unfold, anchoring it as a place for the acquisition of knowledge and inner spiritual experience.Save this picture!Save this picture!The building sits on an expansive plinth, a large plaza radiating outwards from its center, connecting it to a large dining hall to the north, a 5000-seater open-air amphitheater to the west and the Jain temple to the south. The plaza is laid out in cool, concentric white marble rings that reflect away the heat of the summer sun and is dotted with rows of shade-giving ficus trees. The plaza enables the social life of the Ashram to unfold over it, as thousands of devotees and visitors move from building to building through their daily rhythms of discourse, study and meditation, punctuated by meals and sessions of rest. The gardens that are laid out to the West of the building, on either side of the amphitheater, were designed by local landscape architects, Ficus Design and contain a sacred grove of 108 ancient species of sacred trees that cascade down the slopes of the hill. Shaded pathways through the grove allow residents to move between their homes and plazas.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessProject locationAddress:Bilpudi, IndiaLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeSerie ArchitectsOfficePublished on January 21, 2025Cite: "Raj Sabhagruh Discourse Hall / Serie Architects" 21 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1026005/raj-sabhagruh-discourse-hall-serie-architects&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 stream

Stack CommerceShareWe may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more Whats your excuse for not having Windows 11? Maybe you think youll have to re-learn how to use your computer after the update. Or youre one of the classic Windows 10 holdouts who just think the original is better. Well, were about to change your mind.Microsoft plans to end Windows 10 support later this year. What does that mean for you? No more updates, security fixes, or technical support. While you dont have to upgrade to Windows 11, you could join the future and get the futuristic look, new productivity tools, an AI assistant, and so much more.Plus, were selling the Pro version of Windows 11 for only $19.97 to the first 50 customers (reg. $199). If you click our link and see the discounted price, there are still cheap codes available, so get yours before theyre gone! Each code can upgrade two compatible PCs.Still not sure? Well hold your handWe know its a tough decision to change the whole look of your computerkind of like remodeling your housebut a lot of users talk about how fast they get used to the new layout. And its not that different from Windows 10, just like a makeover.Plus, youll have plenty of new productivity tools to help you mourn the loss of your beloved Windows 10:Snap layouts and desktops for seamless multitaskingWidgets for easy access to your most-used appsImproved voice typingWindows Copilot, the new AI assistantAnd dont even get us started on the Windows 11 Pro exclusive features. Only available for paid users like yourself, youll get BitLocker hard drive encryption, Windows Sandbox, Hyper-V, and Azure AD for improved security and professional projects.Get your discounted Windows 11 Pro key at $19.97 before we sell out (reg. $199). These are only available to the first 50 customers, and no coupon is needed.StackSocial prices subject to change.Microsoft Windows 11 Pro $19.97See Deal

Nature, Published online: 21 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00073-8The secure and ethical use of genetic testing can assist family reunifications in Ukraine and other settings for humanitarian disasters.

Nature, Published online: 21 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00068-5Developers have tricks to stop artificial intelligence from making things up, but large language models are still struggling to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Newly described scorpion can spray and inject its venom the first South American species known to do this.

How's your knowledge of Earth's geology? Flat, round or global?