In 2021, I dyed my brown hair white, and unsurprisingly, it's never been the same. While I don't regret dyeing my hair, I do miss how naturally healthy it used to be, and I regret not taking better care of it when it was dyed. Though the bleach is 99% out of my hair, I've been left with side effects like frizziness and dullness, while my scalp remains as sensitive, dandruff-prone and quick to become oily as it has always been.In my quest for healthier hair, I've taken more time to research my hair type and what it takes to make said type healthy. I found that I have 2a/2b waves and curls. But when I follow a wavy hair routine, my hair becomes tangled overnight and requires brushing the next morning. Because I have thin hair, the curls disappear and poof out when I brush it, creating an aura of frizz around my head. The other problem? I'm low-maintenance, so at this point, I've hit my effort limit.Time and time again, when looking for a simple solution, I kept seeing this advice: Use a silk pillowcase. Almost every Reddit thread, YouTube video and article I've seen promotes silk's wonders for hair and skin. I was dubious but decided to give it a try. Cozy Earth sent me its 100% mulberry silk pillowcase (currently on sale for $82) to put to the test. Before using a silk pillowcase Upgrade your inbox Get cnet insider From talking fridges to iPhones, our experts are here to help make the world a little less complicated. I've been using 100% cotton pillowcases for the past few years. While I wouldn't say they've provided the most luxurious experience, they get the job done. However, I wake up every day with tangled, frizzy hair and fabric lines on my face. This is compounded by the fact that I'm a hot sleeper, which adds to the chaos especially since my cotton pillowcases aren't cooling.Following wavy hair routines, post-shower, I would use a leave-in conditioner or wave spray to scrunch my hair, emphasizing my curls. I try not to use too much product since my hair is thin and quick to look oily. After that, it dries and looks presentable. But then, I go to bed and wake up with this Anna Gragert/CNETThis hair is tangled to the point where it requires brushing (combing through with my fingers won't work). I'm left with a poof of frizz with no defined curls or waves in sight. This has happened so often that I've stopped performing my post-shower wavy hair routine since my bedhead is powerful enough to make the whole endeavor feel pointless.Silk pillowcases reduce friction and don't absorb as much moisture, which helps preserve hairstyles, maintain hair hydration and prevent tangles and breakage. Because of the gentle fabric, it is also said to be great for sensitive, acne-prone skin -- though it is not a one-stop miracle cure. With this information in mind, I switched out my cotton pillowcase for a silk one.After using a silk pillowcaseUpon resting my head on the pillowcase, I immediately felt a difference. The lack of friction made it easier for me to glide my skin and hair across the case, while the fabric has more of a cooling effect than cotton (perfect for hot sleepers like me). Now, for the real test: sleeping with the silk pillowcase.I loved sleeping with this fabric. It felt much cooler and more luxurious than my cotton pillowcases. Plus, there were no residual fabric lines on my skin. As for my hair, I performed my post-shower wavy routine, went to bed and woke up like this Anna Gragert/CNETWhile my hair still became messier overnight, it wasn't nearly as tangled and frizzy as it typically is. I could still make out more pronounced waves and slight curls. Usually, when I wake up, my hair looks like it's mad at me, but this time, it just looked perturbed. It was easier to comb out with my fingers, meaning that the hairbrush was only slightly necessary and, as a result, my frizz poof was reduced. My hair also felt softer to the touch and more hydrated.Since silk pillowcases can be more expensive than cotton ones, I secretly hoped this experiment wouldn't work. But based on these results, I think silk pillowcases are worth it -- especially if you're prepared to take care of them to prolong their lifespan.These are Cozy Earth's care instructions for its silk pillowcase: "Machine washable, cool iron, DO NOT DRY, mild detergent OR HAND WASH delicately." I've seen other brands recommend treating your silk product gently at every step by prioritizing hand washing or using the washing machine's gentle cycle with the item in a separate mesh laundry bag for delicates.Again, I'm low-maintenance: I used the washing machine with a mild detergent. My apartment building's model doesn't have a gentle cycle, so I placed the pillowcase in a protective mesh bag before washing it. Then, I let it air dry flat and had no issues.The verdict Anna Gragert/CNETIf you're tired of bedhead, sleep hot or hate waking up with fabric lines on your skin -- and you have the cash to spare or a birthday wishlist -- I think a silk pillowcase is worth it. Generally, I believe any product that can improve your sleep is worth it if you're willing to take care of it properly.If you're looking to save and still reap the benefits of a silky pillowcase, CNET's favorite budget silk pillowcase is just $10. As for no more aggressive bedhead, that is priceless.

January 24, 20257 min readWhats in ZYN, the FDA-Authorized Nicotine Pouch? Is It Harmful?ZYN, the popular brand of flavored nicotine pouches, recently earned FDA authorization for reducing smoking, but some questions linger. Experts explain the efficacy and potential health risks of nicotine pouchesBy Lauren J. Young edited by Dean VisserZYN smokeless nicotine pouch containers for sale at a convenience store on January 27, 2024. Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesNicotine pouchessmall, flavored packets placed between the gums and lipshave recently become an increasingly appealing option for people trying to avoid cigarettes and traditional smokeless oral tobacco products. Since the pouches were introduced to the U.S. market in 2014, theyve found a steady following, particularly among people between the ages of 25 and 44. This month 20 products from the popular ZYN brand became the first such pouches to be authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. While this falls short of the FDAs designation of being approved as generally safe, it allows ZYN to continue selling its three- and six-milligram nicotine pouches in 10 different flavors, including spearmint, citrus, coffee, cinnamon and menthol.The FDAs decision on ZYN, whose manufacturer, Swedish Match, had applied for authorization in 2020, was long overdue, says Jasjit Singh Ahluwalia, a physician and public health scientist at Brown University, who has studied nicotine addiction for more than 30 years. The agencys ruling drew from a study facilitated by Swedish Match that suggests the pouches got people to switch from other tobacco products such as cigaretteswhich can contain dozens of compounds linked to cancer or other diseases. Pouches such as ZYN contain substantially fewer harmful chemicals than cigarettes.The FDA apparently concluded that the public health benefits have outweighed the risks, says Mary Hrywna, an associate professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health and a founding member of the universitys Institute for Nicotine and Tobacco Studies. It doesnt mean that the products are safe.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.ZYN pouches were the top-selling oral nicotine brand in the U.S. by the end of 2023; that same year Philip Morris International (PMI), the tobacco conglomerate that owns Swedish Match, reported shipping almost 385 million cans of the pouches to the U.S. More broadly, total U.S. nicotine pouch sales rose from 126 million units in the last five months of 2019 to 808 million in the first three months of 2022, according to a JAMA report. Hrywna says that the FDAs authorization of ZYN is a good first step in cracking down on bad actors.The market has exploded, and some of those manufacturers are just opportunists exploiting the lack of enforcement, Hrywna says. Now theres at least one authorized [pouch] product, and so at the very least, I would think that the FDA could now take more forcible action on products that have not submitted any type of application.Nicotine pouches rise in popularityand their potentially enticing flavors and marketinghave driven up concern about underage use. In the U.S. people must be age 21 or older to legally purchase any nicotine product, but last April the FDA issued more than 100 warning letters to brick-and-mortar and online retailers that sold ZYN to people under age 21. The 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey found that pouch use among middle and high school students was 1.8 percent, meaning approximately 480,000 students. The FDA notes this rate among youth to be relatively lowe-cigarette use was 5.9 percent (1.63 million students) in comparisonbut groups are concerned about any level of use by kids. So-called ZYNfluencers on TikTok and other social media platforms have been criticized for promoting the pouches to young adults.In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for PMI told Scientific American in an e-mail that U.S. affiliates are committed to responsible marketing practices focused on limiting access to adults 21 years of age and older. PMIs U.S. affiliates do not use social media influencers in the U.S. or people under the age of 35 in marketing materials. The company further stated that it uses third-party age-verification technology for marketing campaigns.Scientific American spoke further with Ahluwalia and Hrywna about how nicotine pouches work, what scientists know about their effectiveness as a tobacco alternative and what their potential health concerns are.What are nicotine pouches, and how do they work?Traditional smokeless tobacco products, often called snuff, dip or snus, consist of ground tobacco leaves sealed in tiny permeable bags or placed directly into the cheek. ZYN and other pouches instead contain a manufactured powder of nicotine salts (derived from natural tobacco or made synthetically), flavorings and fillers.Most users spit out a nicotine pouch after 15 minutes to an hour. While its tucked between the gum and lip, the nicotine salts dissolve and diffuse through the porous, tea-bag-like pouch, absorbing into the mouths mucosal lining. When it does that, it enters the blood system, Ahluwalia says. Nicotine molecules bind to the bodys nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, which are involved in regulating the dopamine reward system, and the resulting feel-good sensation is what makes nicotine addictive.Individual nicotine pouches.Andrii Atanov/Getty ImagesHow effective are nicotine pouches at curbing cigarette use compared with other alternatives?Various nicotine products such as gum, patches, lozenges and pouches can be used as an alternative to cigarettes and other tobacco products, presumably reducing some health riskssuch as those associated with the combustion of smokingor making it easier to quit entirely by tapering off nicotine in a measured way.An effective nicotine addiction treatment typically involves mimicking the peaks and troughs of the smoking experience, Ahluwalia says. After a puff on a cigarette, in five minutes, you have peak levels of nicotine, and then it goes down after about 30 minutes. So its a perfectly addictive drug, he explains. Your nicotine receptors are naked and hungry for more, so you take another cigarette, and its just a beautiful vicious cycle.One cigarette can contain 10 to 15 mg of nicotine. A piece of nicotine gum often has much lessbetween 2 and 4 mg. Pouches, especially if a higher dose like six milligrams and eight milligrams, can emulate a cigarette more in getting higher levels of nicotine, Ahluwalia says. It wont give you that same peak, but it can get to some good levels that are respectable enough to sort of saturate the nicotinic receptors in your brain. (Ahluwalia is currently developing a prescription pharmaceutical product that delivers nicotine in the lungs, and he has served on scientific advisory boards of various manufacturers of nicotine products.)One of the company-led assessments submitted to the FDA found that 24 percent of people who had used cigarettes, traditional smokeless tobacco products or both in addition to ZYN switched completely to the new pouch products after 10 weeks. Another assessment found that in a separate survey group, the proportion of people who used cigarettes in addition to ZYN decreased from 42 percent to 15 percent over a median time of five to six months.There is evidence that the [pouch] products deliver substantial levels of nicotine that are able to curb tobacco-related withdrawal symptoms, Hrywna says, but she adds that additional independent studies in humans are needed. I think we need more evidence on whether nicotine pouches promote long-term, sustained product switching and that they actually reduce the harm from tobacco, she says.What do we know about nicotine pouches health risks?In a review of nicotine pouch studies, human trialsall funded by pouch manufacturersshowed minimal damage to tooth enamel and reductions in preexisting oral lesions from other tobacco products. Urine and blood samples from people using the VELO brand nicotine pouch contained lower levels of several harmful biomarkers compared with samples from cigarette smokers. But a biomarker of oxidative cell damage, along with two biomarkers related to cardiovascular disease risk, were not significantly different from those found in smokers.Like any nicotine product, the pouches can have short-term side effects such as elevated heart rate, irritation and nausea. The small packets shouldnt be chewed or swallowed. Some nicotine from pouches will inevitably be ingested into the stomach when people swallow their saliva. The liver will eventually metabolize it, but Ahluwalia says this can cause side effects such as hiccups and bloating.We know that nicotine pouches do contain far, far fewer harmful constituents compared to traditional tobacco products, Hrywna says. A 2023 toxicological screening of 48 nicotine pouches from 22 brands identified 186 chemical components in addition to nicotine; eight of these are considered hazardous by the European Classification, Labeling and Packaging Regulation, and three are classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. But the overall number of chemicals is still much lower than that of those typically found in cigarette smokewhich can contain more than 7,000 chemicals.Assessing the relative harms and risks of nicotine is nuanced, Ahluwalia says. Considerable research has found links between nicotine and cardiovascular disease, cancer and cognitive development in growing brains, but findings in humans are not completely conclusive. Research does show that nicotine causes clear health risks during pregnancy; it can cross the placental barrier and affect the fetus, Ahluwalia notes. Addiction is also a major concern with any product containing nicotineand these pouches do have a very high potential for nicotine dependence, Hrywna says.Because nicotine pouches are so new, the amount of safety and efficacy evidence is still relatively small, Hrywna says. In the FDAs authorization announcement, the agency said it will closely monitor the marketing and use of these products. We dont want to see young people taking up nicotine in any form, Hrywna says. If youth use becomes problematic, I think the FDA now has a stronger legal basis to take action on marketing of authorized products and removing unauthorized products in the market.

OpinionJanuary 24, 20254 min readTeaching Evolution Has a Bright Future in the U.S.A century after the Scopes trial, hopeful prospects beckon for teaching the unifying principle of the biological sciences in the U.S.s classroomsBy Glenn Branch edited by Daniel VerganoLawyers, scientists, and supporters of the legal challenge to anti-evolution law, July 1925. Dayton, Tennessee. Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock PhotoOne hundred years ago a young teacher, John T. Scopes, went on trial in Dayton, Tenn., for violating a recently enacted state law that forbade the states educators to teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals. Ever since religiously motivated attempts to undermine the teaching of evolution in the U.S.s public schools have not only continued but also adapted in response to legal setbacks.Today, however, there are encouraging trends that suggest that the arc of history is bending toward teaching evolution.Famously, Scopes was convicted, and although the conviction was overturned on appeal, the Butler Act, under which he was prosecuted, remained on the booksand was joined by similar laws enacted in Arkansas and Mississippi later in the 1920s. It was not until 1967 that the Tennessee legislature repealed the Butler Act, partly in reaction to the negative publicity surrounding the Scopes trial provoked by the Hollywood blockbuster Inherit the Wind. In the following year the Arkansas law was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in its decision in Epperson v. Arkansas, and its Mississippi counterpart was similarly ruled to be unconstitutional by the states highest court in 1970.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.A second wave of attacks on evolution education ensued. Their strategy was not to ban the teaching of evolution but to balance it by requiring the teaching of such purportedly scientifically crediblebut clearly religiously motivatedalternatives to evolution as biblical creationism, creation science and intelligent design. These attacks were unsuccessful, thanks to a series of decisions in the federal courts. The most recent came in Kitzmiller v. Dover, the 2005 case in which a Pennsylvania school districts policy of requiring teachers to recommend intelligent design to their students as a scientifically credible alternative to evolution was found unconstitutional.Anticipating the Kitzmiller decision, a third wave of attacks emerged early in the 21st century. The new strategy was not to ban or to balance the teaching of evolution but to blunt it by requiring, or more commonly permitting, teachers to misrepresent evolution as scientifically controversial. A handful of statesMississippi, Louisiana and Tennesseepresently have such laws on the books. It is difficult to challenge these laws as unconstitutional in the abstract without a teacher who actually claims their protection to proselytize against evolution to their students. But it is also unclear whether any teachers have taken the opportunity to miseducate their students about evolution.What is clear, however, is that the teaching of evolution in American public schools is improving. Comparing nationally representative surveys of public high school biology teachers conducted in 2007 against 2019 reveals that more is being taught about evolution in generaland substantially more is being taught about human evolution, which, as the wording of the Butler Act suggests, is especially contentious. And while in 2007 a bare majority of these teachers reported that they emphasized the scientific credibility of evolution while not emphasizing creationism as a scientifically credible alternative, in 2019 it was a commanding majority, 67 percent, who did so.What accounts for such a striking improvement in the emphasis on evolution in the high school biology classroom? The cause is partly the improved treatment of evolution in state science standards, which specify what knowledge and know-how students are expected to acquire in the course of their K12 science education. The majority of state science standards are now based on a National Research Council framework that recognizes as a core principle of the life sciences that all organisms are related by evolution and that evolutionary processes have led to the tremendous diversity of the biosphere. So there are incentives to ensure that science educators are equipped and encouraged to teach accordingly.There is still plenty of room for improvement: even in the 2019 survey, 17.6 percent of high school biology teachersmore than one in sixreported emphasizing, wrongly, that creationism is a scientifically credible alternative to evolution. Many of those teachers were creationists themselves: 10.5 percent of respondents indicated that they personally agreed that God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so. The remainder presented creationism as scientifically credible presumably as a result of inadequate preparation or community pressure, whether implicit or explicit.And there is still reason for concern about attempts to undermine the teaching of evolution in the public schools. As recently as 2024, the West Virginia legislature considered a bill that, as introduced, would have allowed public school teachers to present intelligent design as a theory of how the universe and/or humanity came to exist. Fortunately, the reference to intelligent design was removed before the bill passed. Even so, such concerns are newly urgent in light of the Supreme Courts recent abandonment of the legal tests for whether a government action is constitutional that enabled the successful litigation against the second wave of attacks on evolution education.Nevertheless, despite the occasional outbreak of explicit attacks and a background level of implicit hostility across the country, creationist attacks on evolution education are on the wane. Acceptance of evolution became a majority position among the American public more than a decade ago, according to multiple independent polls, and there are signs of a shift even among religious communities that have been traditionally hostile to evolution. In short, a century after Scopess eight-day trial ended, theres now reason to hope that someday every student in the U.S.s public schools will be in a position to appreciate that nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.Disclosure: The author of this article is deputy director of the National Center for Science Education, which was on the plaintiffs legal team in the Kitzmiller v. Dover case in 2005 and conducted the 2019 survey of science teachers with Eric Plutzer of Pennsylvania State University.This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Strange but not true? Did a US game publisher really get raided by US intelligence services over a fighter plane that never existed?The hunt for truth in the legend of the F-19.Image credit: Eurogamer / MicroProse Feature by Robert Purchese Associate Editor Published on Jan. 24, 2025 Would you rather a story be exciting or true? Assume the story you're hearing is not current and the validity of it does not matter for any reason other than satisfying your curiosity. It is, for all intents and purposes, a harmless tale. It's not a stretch, I don't think, to say we enjoy seeing the reaction on people's faces when we surprise them with a good story, or when we make them laugh, or when we shock them, just as we like being surprised and amused and shocked by someone else's story in return. Does it matter, then, whether a story is entirely, 100 percent true?Have a look at this. It was a comment made on Eurogamer about MicroProse aerial combat sim F-19 Stealth Fighter. "They took a bunch of rumours about - and sightings of - a supposed US stealth fighter (the F-117 was not announced or confirmed at the time) and extrapolated backwards to figure out how it would work. They got so much right that their offices got raided by US intelligence services, who were convinced they must have had inside intel." Offices raided by US intelligence services? It set my internal storytelling radar off.I was six years old when the F-19 Stealth Fighter game came out in 1988, so it's no surprise I hadn't heard the story before, but here and now I was captivated both by the drama of it and by how it had been remembered for so long. I followed it up with the commenter who'd told it, the ever knowledgeable Rogueywon, but they had no more information to share. All we had was a half-remembered story. The question was: could it be true? I had to find out. Image credit: EurogamerImmediately, though, I ran into a problem. F-19 Stealth Fighter, an aerial combat simulation about stealthily bombing targets before trying to get away in one piece, is 37 years old this year, meaning the people who worked on it - adults at the time - did so a long time ago, and are either not working in games any more, hard to find, or, in some cases, not around any more at all. MicroProse even blinked briefly out of existence in the late 90s, and while it eventually returned some years later, it's no longer the company we remember - the company that originated legendary gaming series like Civilization and X-Com.The company was founded by two people in 1982: Bill Stealey and - a name you'll certainly recognise - Sid Meier, with Andy Hollis also playing a key early role. Sid Meier's strategy games defined MicroProse, but it had an equally strong reputation for military simulations - particularly aircraft-based ones. F-19 followed a pedigree at the studio, then - MicroProse knew what it was doing. But did it know what it was doing a little too well?Let's start at the very beginning - what's this all about? Key point number one: the F-19 was not a real plane but a made up one. It came about after years of speculation about what the next aircraft in the F-series - F standing for fighter - would be. This is a series of planes which stretches back to World War 2 and that's stuck fairly rigidly to an F-numbering naming system since then. It still continues to this day; we're on F-35 currently. That an F-19 would follow an F-18, then, was like saying night would follow day. Everyone expected it. People also expected the F-19 to be a stealth fighter rather than a regular fighter, and so, the speculation began. Was John Andrews - the subject of Cotti's book - the real creator of the fictional F-19? | Image credit: Francesco CottiNow, MicroProse I'll come back to in a moment, but at the heart of the speculation surrounding the F-19 was, of all things, an American model aircraft maker called John Andrews. He worked for American scale model maker Testors and was one of the chief designers there in the 80s. He also happened to be - as I suppose goes with the territory - a passionate and lifelong follower of military aviation technology. One with good connections in the industry.According to Italian writer Francesco Cotti, who wrote a book on Andrews called The Stealth Fighter (and an accompanying article about Andrews on the website The Aviationist), it was Andrews who came up with the iconic design of the F-19 - the same one we see in the MicroProse game. Using a mixture of educated guesses, maths and aviation design nouse, Andrews created a curvy, slightly triangular and space-age looking aircraft - a design that evoked spy chic while also being plausible. And the public ate it up. Within a year, it had become Testors' best-ever selling kit.Such success didn't go unnoticed. "The inevitable 'problems' arose from declaring that he had unraveled the Cold War's most secret military program based solely on intuition," wrote Cotti in his article on The Aviationist. "John was approached by the FBI, Air Force security services, and likely other government entities. They all wanted to know how he obtained that information, which, if leaked, could have meant a life sentence."Remember, we're talking about a time period here at the tail-end of the Cold War. The design of a stealth fighter is by its very nature a secretive project, let alone in the climate of the Cold War, where military one-upmanship was like a battleground itself. That a model aircraft company should be hitting so close to the mark, in terms of design, would be an understandable cause for concern for the intelligence services. Paranoia was running high."John consistently responded to their questions," Cotti wrote, "explaining that he had thoroughly studied the SR-71's shape (which was believed to be stealth at the time) and had mastered radar physics through mathematics and reading books on radar theory." The SR-71 Blackbird is legendary. Released in the 60s, it was another sleek black, curvy spy thriller like Andrews' F-19 design, only it was too big to be classified as a stealth craft, designed instead to fly long-range and up very high. "His F-19 was the result of logical and mathematical reasoning," Cotti said. Perhaps the only reason Andrews really got away with it was because the eventual real stealth fighter, the F-117 Nighthawk, looked distinctly different - more wedged shaped and angular. And yet, the popularity of Andrews' evocative F-19 design continued to capture imaginations.The F-19 Testors model, designed by John Andrews. It's gorgeous.Watch on YouTubeIt's in Andrews' story we glimpse what is probably the conflated truth of the F-19 Stealth Fighter legend, but the problem I have verifying it is key MicroProse figures are hard to get to now. Sid Meier is shielded by layers of Take-Two PR, Andy Hollis has disappeared from games, and Bill Stealey is somewhere doing something game-related, but what and where, I'm not entirely sure. The world moved on. Plus if I were to find them, they might not remember what I'm talking about anyway. Decades have passed.But I'm nothing if not persistent, and I do eventually reach Andy Hollis via a messaging app. Eager to discover a story, I recount the tale. "Not true," he says, abruptly. "No controversy." The MicroProse offices hadn't been raided by US intelligence services and nothing untoward had occurred. I assume the conversation is over but Hollis surprises me with something of a postscript."Bill Stealey liked to exaggerate when telling stories so it's quite possible this can be traced back to that trait," he says. "But I have no proof of that. Sounds like an urban legend. All of our interactions with the military were quite positive and came from our own initiatives." John Wilbur "Wild Bill" Stealey, with his wife. It's an older photograph but one of his favourites. | Image credit: Bill StealeyBill Stealey liked to exaggerate - could that be where this all came from? The door to a story was still ajar.Then another stroke of luck: a message from Take-Two saying Sid Meier had unexpectedly replied to my request for a comment. "I think Bill Stealey will have the best recollection regarding this," wrote Meier. "I don't remember any raid on the MicroProse offices. There was a lot of secrecy and speculation about the stealth fighter around the time we released F-19." And then this line which I love: "The real stealth fighter was less interesting than ours because we had machine guns, and it did not."There was Bill Stealey's name again - was there something in this after all?John Wilbur "Wild Bill" Stealey, to use his full name - and nickname - comes with a bit of a reputation. He's in his mid-70s now but was once training to be a pilot in the United States Air Force, an identity he carried with him proudly for the rest of his life, despite a pivot into the business of making games. He was an avid pilot for years, and many of the games he made were flight based. And when a colleague passed on his contact details to me, they said I'd be lucky to get a word in edgeways with him. They weren't wrong.I reach Stealey at home in Florida via video call, and from the moment he picks up, he begins telling stories, all with the intention - it seems - of making me laugh. He's a strong personality. Did I know that English actor David Niven was also a pilot and that he trained at Cromwell, the English equivalent of America's prestigious West Point, which he, Stealey, coincidentally trained at? "Anyway, that's another story," he says, before I can answer. "As you can see, I do like to tell stories. At my advanced age, it's the only thing I can remember."Eventually, we settle down. "So let me tell you the real story of F-19," he says. "Ready?" Image credit: EurogamerThe story begins with another question. "Hunt for Red October - you know what that is?"I recall it being something about a submarine and maybe Sean Connery was in it. It was based on a book."And who did it?" he asks. "Google it quick. Come on.""Oh," I say as the penny drops. "Tom Clancy."It's a name we're well aware of in video games because it's stamped on every Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell box we've ever seen. Tom Clancy, if you don't know, was the incredibly successful author of military espionage novels, which were later adapted into films and, of course, games. The Hunt for Red October, which introduced the character Jack Ryan to the world in 1984, was his first book.It's the Hunt for Red October where the F-19 story starts, according to Stealey. He got wind of it and its popularity - apparently US President Ronald Reagan endorsed it at the time, boosting sales enormously - and decided to pitch Clancy about a partnership. As you do. "I knew Tom only lived about 20 miles from us in the Baltimore area so I called him up and said, 'Tom, you let the other people make the game [he's referring to a 1987 Commodore 64 game by the same name, made by Oxford Digital and Argus Press] - I can do a better one.'"But if Stealey was intimidated by Clancy's celebrity, he doesn't let it show - he makes a joke of it, even. "Well he's really a failed insurance guy, let's be very clear," he says, laughing.Stealey phoned Clancy, then, and pitched him the idea of making a game about his second book Red Storm Rising, which was released in 1986, and Clancy, apparently interested, invited Stealey and business partner Sid Meier to his house to talk about it. "We went down and met him and his wife and he wanted to take us shooting," Stealey says. "He had a shooting range in his basement. Tom couldn't see, he was not coordinated, but he thought he was cool. So we got to know him and we were in the middle of trying to license Red Storm Rising."In other words: they began to establish a business relationship, which is important for what happens next, when Stealey gets a hush-hush phone call from Clancy about a top secret in-development fighter plane.Tom Clancy giving a talk in 1986, the year his second novel Red Storm Rising was released.Watch on YouTube"So I'm at the Pentagon," Stealey says - this is for real by the way: he was a reservist in the Air Force and would visit the Pentagon regularly - "and [Clancy] calls me. I said, 'Tom, you can't call the Pentagon.' But he says," and at this point Stealey's voice drops to a whisper, "'I've got something secret to tell ya.'" Stealey reminds Clancy they're not on a secure line, as though they were in one of Clancy's novels, so they arrange to talk about it in person."Guess what?" Clancy says when they do - Stealey's voice is still a whisper."I said, 'What - what, Tommy?'"He says, 'There's a stealth fighter coming.'"I said, 'Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.'"He says, 'No - I just heard it. And it's called the F-19.'"According to Stealey, then, it's Tom Clancy who tells MicroProse about the F-19, based on inside information he had. "Nobody should have told him anything but he was a pain-in-the-ass insurance salesman..." Stealey says, grinning. So, sensing an opportunity, Stealey decides to make a game about it.He takes the tip-off to a game designer at MicroProse called Arnold Hendrick and effectively leaves it with him, to flesh out. "If you never heard of Arnold, he was the best game designer we had," Stealey says. You might remember the role-playing game Darklands - that was famously made by Hendrick. "Most of our original military games were actually done by Arnold, and he wrote all those great manuals. Did you ever see one of our manuals?" Stealey asks. "300 pages of BS!"So I went to Arnold Hendrick. Arnold was really good at searching things and getting the real facts. Arnold was brilliant [...] I went to Arnold and Arnold put together all the things he thought it should have." And then Sid Meier put a machine gun on it.This is a lovely look at F-19 Stealth Fighter, and I can't get enough of that deep voice over.Watch on YouTubeSadly, however, Hendrick is no longer around to verify this - he died five years ago - so I can't be sure where he pulled his information from. Remember, this is a pertinent point for establishing the veracity of that original F-19 Stealth Fighter legend, the one in the Eurogamer comment. Did MicroProse come up with the F-19 design or did it copy it from somewhere else? Given the similarities to the Testors model aircraft - barring the machine gun, of course - I think it's reasonably safe to assume the latter.Nevertheless, in 1988, MicroProse had a game ready to ship, and after a short delay, targeted 10th November as the game's release date.Unknown to Stealey at the time, the Air Force also had plans of its own that day. "I get to the Pentagon and they say, 'We're going to announce the new stealth fighter at two o'clock today.'" He couldn't have been more pleased. That the Air Force would unveil their F-19 on the same day as his F-19 game came out was coincidence made in marketing heaven.But the grainy photograph that Assistant Secretary of Defence J. Daniel Howard held up to press that day wasn't of an F-19 but the F-117 instead - a craft I'm just now learning had the nickname "wobblin' goblin'", brilliantly. "And I went, 'Oh darn,'" Stealey says, laughing. Does that sound like the reaction of someone with inside information? Not to me it doesn't. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.It didn't stop the game being successful, though, just as it didn't stop Testors F-19 Stealth Fighter being far and away its most successful model. MicroProse shifted 5 million copies of the game, Stealey says, and what's more, it presented a ready made opportunity for a follow-up. "We changed the box and Arnold did a few more things that he'd heard about; we updated it, we shipped F117a, and sold another 5 million!" And at this, Stealey leans back and throws his hands up in a gesture like triumph. "Come on, babe, what a great story!"You know, it's hard not to be taken in by him, and by his enthusiasm. It is a great story. That it should all begin with top secret information divulged by a whispering Tom Clancy - who's also not around to verify any of this - is not what I expected at all. It's a story that evokes an era where people had secret conversations, when knowledge was a little less centralised, and where the gaps existed for stories like these to materialise. Who knows? Perhaps it is true. But every so often I catch little inconsistencies in what Stealey tells me and I begin to wonder.What's clear, though, is there was no office raid on MicroProse by the US intelligence services, and I'm doubtful whether the F-19 game even registered on the Air Force's radar at all. The only person who apparently said anything about it to Stealey there was his Pentagon boss, who he's more eager to tell me still plays games with him.So as I say goodbye to Stealey more than a dozen stories later - did I know that Sir Clive Sinclair asked him on a date once, he says, grinning again - I can't help but smile. I found a story after all. It wasn't the one I was expecting and I don't know how true it is, but it was a story that entertained me all the same - that shocked me, that amused me, and excited me. It's a story that will keep the F-19 Stealth Fighter game forever in my mind. I ask you again: does it really matter if it's not true?

BioWare appears to have bid farewell to any further updates for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, following the launch this week of the game's Patch 5. Read more

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereA new DOOM mod based on Bethesdas popular RPG series Fallout has been released. Created for DOOM II, players take on the role of the DOOM Dweller to find a Water Chip to save their home from devastation.While players wait until March for the release of DOOM: The Dark Ages, fans of the original games can revel in this awesome Fallout-themed map. Dubbed Fallout: Vault 666, the new mod combines the brilliance of DOOMs classic gameplay with the unbeatable aestetic of Fallout.Fallout and DOOM combineCreated by modder Carl Asami, the new DOOM WAD sees you travel through a vault, fighting classic enemies and unlocking new weapons. As you explore, youll be able to unlock Fallout-style machine pistols, the foe-destroying Power Fist and more.As is essential for any good Fallout-themed mod, you can even find the ever-adorable Dogmeat trapped within Vault 666. As well as being able to help you rip and tear your way through the hordes of Hell, you can also pet the fluffy follower to your hearts content.Alongside the traditional DOOM gameplay, the new Fallout Vault 666 mod also has multiple endings depending on your choices in the FPS game. Depending on how you act and which secrets you discover, youll be able to unlock different ending slideshows each with their own bespoke art. Its not as complex as, say, any traditional Fallout game, but its pretty damn awesome for a DOOM map. The mod even has its own voice acting.This project has taken up a year of my life. It was never even intended to be publicly released, but its grown too large to hide now, the modder explained on ModDB. This was supposed to be a babys first map kind of deal, not this half-baked Fallout conversion monstrosity. Like, why does this map have sound and music from The Thing and Halloween movies? Hell, the Dingo Pictures music is only there to amuse Max. Its something only my weird mind could muster!For more Fallout news, read why Fallout designer Bruce Nesmith wants to move away from massive AAA games or read how Starfield developer Nate Purkeypile believes the game is the antithesis of Fallout 4.Doom 2Platform(s):Xbox 360Genre(s):UnknownSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereBungie has just recently released a fresh TWID blog post to get fans prepared for Episode Heresy on February 4th. This overview has revealed that a popular OP weapon archetype is getting nerfed so it stops dominating everything, and it has also revealed a host of balance changes for classes and more. Now, following the release of TWID, Bungie has announced even more upcoming buffs for Destiny 2 Episode Heresy.More Destiny 2 Episode Heresy buffsOn the official Destiny2Team X account, Bungie has revealed another Episode Heresy buff that was not revealed in the newly released TWID blog post. This buff pertains to the Glaives weapon archetype.As part of the balance changes for Glaives in Episode Heresy, Bungie has also reduced the delay before the explosion happens on glaive projectile kills when using the Hunter Exotic Triton Vice.This buff will accompany the following changes to Glaives listed in TWID:Significantly increased Aim Assist, Aim Magnetism, and Damage Falloff Ranges across the board for all Glaives.Improved Glaive projectile hit registration.Increased the baseline effects at all stat values for:Handling speeds, including shield ready speed and draw and stow speed.Magazine sizeProjectile speedReload speedFinal hit of the melee combo deals double damage.This hit also inflicts much more flinch on PvE combatants.Even more balance changes not mentioned in TWID will be part of the Episode Heresy patch notes. Bungie has teased they might reveal more on socials before the patch notes drop, so make sure to keep an eye on the Destiny2Team X account.Image credit: @Destiny2Team on XWith Episode Heresy, Bungie are improving the baselines stats and behaviours of Glaives in an effort to make them more appealing and less of a niche weapon-type. Bungie is aiming to make them more agile [with the] need to reload less often, and they will also be more effective at longer ranges and more forgiving, as well as more impactful when completing their full melee combo.Check out the TWID blog post to see all of the Episode Heresy balance changes announced so far. In other Episode Heresy news, Bungie has revealed a long list of mega buffs and new abilities, as well as some awesome new weapons coming to D2. `Destiny 2Platform(s):Google Stadia, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Web, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/XGenre(s):Action, Adventure, First Person, Massively Multiplayer, Shooter8VideoGamerSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

The atriums trunkscape installation by OMA.Photo: Courtesy of Louis Vuitton.They also wanted to convey history. The trunk is the core and gene of the brand, reflects Shigematsu. That is where all the innovations started to be visible. Those breakthroughs, well known to any student of fashion, began when a young French cabinetmaker by the name of Louis Vuitton pioneered a marvelous malleforgoing curved lids in favor of stackable flat tops and engineering a specialty waterproof canvas. As the mode of travel changed from ship to train to plane to automobile, Louis Vuitton always adapted the idea of efficient packing, says Shigematsu, referring to the subsequent expansion into custom wardrobes. Patterns too evolved, with the advent of the red stripe of the 1870s, the Damier check in the late 1880s, and the classic monogram at the turn of the 20th century.The caf.Photo: Courtesy of Louis Vuitton.

In Giorgio de Chiricos 1927 painting Mobili nella Valle, an arrangement of furniture is dropped, rather surrealistically, into a desert landscape. Some 40 years after its creation, this strange, metaphysical scene would inspire Italian sculptor Mario Ceroli to realize the three objects from the artworka cabinet, an armchair, and a tall-backed seatin planks of Russian pine.The throne-like Sedia Alta, Italian for High Chair, swiftly became the most recognizable piece of the bunch, making its debut as part of the scenography Ceroli developed for performances of Shakespeares Richard III at Teatro StabilediTorino in 1968. By the early 1970s it was put into production by the radical Italian design brand Poltronova.Mario Cerolis Sedia Alta at a Paris home by Pierre Yovanovitch.Photo: Jrme GallandFor me, furniture is a sculpture created to be touched, to be used, says the artist, who lives with several iterations of the chair in his own Rome studio and home, which will open to the public as a museum at the end of 2025. Placed in a domestic context, the unusual form delivers the same uncanny effect that it does in de Chiricos painting. Take, for example, Ico Parisis space-age-y 1970s Casa Fontana, in Lake Como, where the chairs gather round a slick, lacquered dining table like objects from another time and place. Meanwhile in a Paris house by AD100 designer Pierre Yovanovitch, a single Sedia adds a dreamlike quality to a bedroom-office.The Ico Parisidesigned Casa Fontana, circa 1972.Photo: Courtesy of Archivio del Design di Ico Parisi.

Meta's engagement is steady after the company cut fact-checking and diversity programs.A potential TikTok ban might've overshadowed concerns about the policy changes.Meta's in-app revenue increased, with global downloads rising.In the days after Meta said it was eliminating fact-checking and scaling back diversity programs, thousands of users reportedly voiced their intention to leave the company's platforms.The data tell a different story.Engagement on Meta's core platforms is similar now to what it was earlier this month before the company announced it would replace third-party fact-checkers with community notes and roll back its DEI initiatives. New data from multiple analytics firms show a slight decline in engagement following the policy changes was reversed after news of a TikTok ban, which prompted users to return to Mark Zuckerberg's platforms."The data especially the number of daily active users (DAUs) tells the story that usage started to fall after all the headlines came out about the changes Meta was making," Thomas Grant, vice president of research at market intelligence firm Apptopia, told Business Insider. "But, then the news about the potential TikTok ban changed that trend and people started engaging with the [apps] more again."Meta declined to comment when reached by BI.Gen Z users support Meta doing away with fact-checkingAccording to Apptopia data, Facebook's daily active users, which had been down about 2% year-over-year for most of January, began showing year-over-year growth on January 18, as speculation intensified ahead of a Supreme Court decision on TikTok.Instagram saw an even stronger rebound, with DAUs rising on January 18 and continuing to grow above previous year's levels on both January 19 and 20."It seems like people did start leaving the app as all the headlines about changes in policies hit, but then that whole movement got swamped by the TikTok ban news," Grant said.Leading up to the initial TikTok ban, Meta's Instagram Reels, its short-form video platform, was named as an alternative to TikTok by some users. "TikTok refugees" also flocked to RedNote, a China-based social media app.Notably, a CivicScience survey of 1,346 Americans found that 36% of participants support Meta's move to kill fact-checking in favor of Community Notes, compared to 32% who oppose it (the remaining 32% were neutral). Support was particularly strong among Gen Z users ages 18-24, with 53% backing the changes.Meanwhile, download and revenue data from market intelligence firm App Figures tells yet another story.Meta's in-app purchase revenue is upWhile US downloads for Meta's apps did decline slightly after the policy changes Facebook downloads were down 8% and Instagram downloads were down 5% the revenue that Meta earns from in-app purchases on Facebook and Instagram increased during the same period (Threads, Meta's X-clone, does not offer in-app purchases yet)."After looking at the download and revenue data for Meta's social apps, I was unable to detect any substantial or out-of-the-ordinary decline," Randy Nelson, head of insights at App Figures, told BI. "In fact, in some cases there were increases," he said.App Figures' comparison of the 13 days before and after Meta's announcement to put an end to fact-checking shows that US in-app purchases on Meta's platforms grew to $1.9 million for Facebook and $3 million for Instagram, representing increases of 5% and 3%, respectively.The company saw similar gains worldwide, with Facebook's in-app revenue reaching $5.2 million and Instagram's hitting $8.9 million. However, these figures, don't include Meta's primary revenue source: advertising.Globally, the download numbers are favorable for Meta.Instagram's worldwide downloads increased by 5% after the changes were announced, while Facebook saw a modest 1% uptick, according to App Figures.More data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower reinforces these findings. The firm found that user activity across Meta's apps has remained steady since the policy changes.Only Instagram saw a brief 1% weekly decrease in average DAUs immediately following the announcements, but quickly recovered the following week, according to data shared with BI.The bottom line? The recent policy changes haven't dented Meta's numbers. For now, the company's platforms, used by more than three billion people around the world, remain as entrenched as ever.Do you work at Meta? Contact this reporter from a nonwork email and device at pdixit@insider.com or pranavdixit@protonmail.com. You can also reach him securely via Signal at . Your identity will be protected.