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January 23, 20254 min readWhy Grapefruit Interferes with Medication, and What to Do about ItCould gene editing produce a tasty citrus fruit that doesnt interfere with prescription drugs?By Charlotte Hu edited by Tanya Lewis Serhii Tychynskyi/Getty ImagesUnfortunately for lovers of grapefruit, mixing the appealingly bitter citrus with certain medications can lead to dangerous side effects. According to the National Capital Poison Center, a not-for-profit poison control organization, at least 85 drugsincluding commonly prescribed antidepressants, statins and antibioticshave known or suspected interactions with grapefruit or grapefruit juice. But plant researchers are now working on a possible solution: genetically engineering a variety of the fruit that is medication-safe.Over the past few decades, scientists have zeroed in on the main culprit responsible for grapefruits notorious interfering effect: a class of chemicals called furanocoumarins. These molecules can bind to and inactivate an enzyme in the intestines called CYP3A4 that helps metabolize certain drugs. This leads to excessive levels of the drug in the bloodstream and thus to a risk of harmful overdose. (Through a different mechanism, grapefruit can have the opposite effect on some drugs, such as certain antihistamines.) Many popular citrus fruitssuch as grapefruit, limes and pomeloscontain furanocoumarins, but some varieties of oranges, including Valencia, navel and mandarin oranges, have low or negligible levels of these chemicals.In a study published recently in New Phytologist, researchers at Israels Volcani Institutefound a gene that plays a key role in producing furanocoumarins in grapefruit. According to the study authors, editing out this gene could potentially yield a variety of grapefruit that doesnt interfere with medication in this way.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.There have been chemical efforts to remove the furanocoumarins from the juice. People also crossed mandarin and pomelo, which yielded grapefruit like products, says Yoram Eyal, a professor at the Volcani Center and a co-author of the paper. But the commercial production of grapefruit juice is very [regulated], so you cant sell something that resembles a grapefruit as a grapefruit juice.Eyal and his colleagues wanted to try a new approach by designing a grapefruit without furanocoumarinsand now we know which gene to target, he says.The researchers found the gene by crossing grapefruit and mandarin orange, then examining the genetics of the resulting plants. We saw in the progeny that 50 percent of them produce furanocoumarins and 50 percent do not. That indicated that maybe theres only one gene involved in this pathway of furanocoumarin biosynthesis, says Livnat Goldenberg, a postdoctoral researcher at the Volcani Instituteand the studys first author. Then we checked it for activity, and we saw it does produce the first component of the furanocoumarin pathway.Paul Watkins, director of the Watkins Lab for Drug Safety Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has previously worked with stakeholders in the Florida citrus industry to figure out how grapefruit interferes with medication. He and his colleagues conducted experiments and found that after removing the furanocoumarins from grapefruit juice, the main known grapefruit-drug interactions didnt occur.But ridding the juice of these chemicals, using a process similar to the one used to make lactose-free milk, was expensiveand it impacted the taste.Unfortunately, the juice also lost its spunk because in the process of taking out the furanocoumarins, [it] took out a lot of other stuff, says Watkins, who was not involved in the New Phytologist study. If you could use a technique like CRISPR [a method of editing genes] and create a whole line of grapefruit that didnt have this potential for drug interactions... theres substantial value in that economically, commercially, and for people who really like grapefruit juice.Identifying a gene common to furanocoumarin synthesis is just the first step, and the Volcani team is currently using CRISPR to create a set of real-world trees. Were in the process of developing this kind of grapefruit, Eyal says. But he notes that it can take around four years for the edited plant to become a tree that produces fruit.Ultimately, the researchers goal is to produce a viable grapefruit tree that can be classified as genome-edited but not as a genetically modified organism (GMO); in some countries, including Israel and the U.S., crops that are CRISPR-edited but dont have a new gene can be designated non-GMO. And because a lack of the gene for furanocoumarins doesnt seem to make citrus plants such as mandarins more susceptible to disease or insects, Eyal says, he and his colleaguesarent worried about significant impacts on grapefruit trees health. He also doesnt expect big impacts to grapefruits nutritional benefits. Furanocoumarins are considered antioxidants, he adds, but there are a lot of other antioxidants, [such as] vitamin C and flavonoids.If its genome-editing efforts bear fruit, the Volcani team intends to collaborate with researchers in the medical field to test the modified fruit juice, first in the lab and eventually in human studies.The long-term goal is developing varieties of grapefruit that are furanocoumarin-free, Eyal says, and providing them to growers of grapefruit.

January 23, 20255 min readAre Cats Actually Liquid?A physicist weighs in on the fluid feline memeBy Manon Bischoff edited by Daisy YuhasCats have a surprising amount of commonalities with liquidsat least from the perspective of physicists who study fluid dynamics. alex_black/Getty ImagesOn New Years Day about 15 years ago, we spent hours looking for our cat. The fireworks had frightened the poor animal so much that it had hidden somewhere. We searched all its favorite places without success. The feline seemed to have vanished. But at some point, we were amazed to see something black and fluffy crawl out of a long, narrow opening under our fireplace. Tigrou, our house cat, had hidden in a space seemingly too narrow for the creature to fit.Many other people have made similar observations. Memes referring to cats as liquid have been circulating online for several years. And they caught the eye of physicist Marc-Antoine Fardin of the Jacques Monod Institute, now at Paris City University and the French National Center for Scientific Research. I spend some time on the Internet, he said in a 2019 TEDx talk, for research purposes, of course. In the spring of 2014, Fardin began to scientifically study the fluid behavior of catsa pastime that allowed him to avoid his real work. This procrastination actually led to some success, he explained in his talk. It won me the Ig Nobel Prize of Physics, which rewards research that makes you laugh as well as think.There is more than one way to think about states of matter, such as liquids and solids. For example, in school you may have learned that molecules within a solid are tightly packed together in fixed positions, whereas those in a liquid move more freely around one another.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.But Fardins research is based on the science of fluid dynamics, or rheology. In this field, objects that have a constant volume and a fixed shape are solids. By contrast, the volume of liquid substances remains the same, but their shape can change. The latter criterion seems to apply to cats: despite a constant volume, they can bend as they please to fill a container such as a cardboard box or a sink. This means that cats should be classified as liquids, right?The question is not so easy to answer. If we wait long enough, everything eventually flows. Thats the motto of rheology, Fardin said during his TEDx talk. For example, the solid asphalt of a sloping road continues to flow very slowly, which can be observed after several years or decades. Solids can also be deformed if enough pressure is applied to them. On the other hand, liquids can also have solid properties. Ketchup, for instance, only flows out of an open glass bottle after it has been shaken several times.What Is a Liquid?The previously given definition of a liquid is therefore not entirely valid. What is liquid clearly depends on how long you observe something. Rheologists therefore use a value called the Deborah number (De), which depends in part on the observation time (T), to indicate how liquid an object is. In principle, the smaller the Deborah number, the more liquid the substance.In addition to the observation time, the Deborah number also depends on the so-called relaxation time (), the time it takes for a fluid to adapt its shape. If you pour water into a glass, it fills it up very quickly, so the relaxation time is very short. With a viscous liquid such as honey, however, you have to wait longer. By setting the relaxation time and the observation time in the ratio T, you get the Deborah number. For values less than 1, materials are considered liquid. If the Deborah number is greater than or equal to 1, however, they are said to be solid.The longer you observe something, the smaller the Deborah number becomes and the more fluid it appears. Mountains are indisputably solid for us. During a human lifetime, no flow behavior can be detected. But over millions of years, this changes. In fact, the name of the Deborah number comes from a line in a section of the Old Testament known as the Song of Deborah. (Although translations vary, the King James Version is: The mountains melted from before the Lord.)Big picture: the Deborah number reminds us that its not clear whether cats qualify as a liquidor precisely what a liquid isbecause that depends on how long you observe them.Cats and Liquids Share Many CharacteristicsNevertheless, rheological studies can be carried outand these reveal cats many liquid characteristics. To calculate the Deborah number of cats, you have to determine their relaxation time. This varies from animal to animal, depending on its breed, age, and so on. Young kittens, for instance, may have a longer relaxation time because they fidget a lot. It can take hours for them to settle down and adapt their shape to their environment.Cats like to take up as much space as possible in small containers.Nils Jacobi/Getty ImagesIn his lecture, Fardin pointed out that the shape of the container or environment also matters. For example, cats may relax more quickly on their owners lap than in a carrier in which they are transported to the vet.This variability hardly disqualified cats from liquid status. Many familiar fluids feature relaxation times that vary based on their environment. Water forms droplets on repellent surfaces such as Teflon, while it spreads easily on other surfaces.In work published in the journal Rheology Bulletin in 2014, Fardin had proposed that the relaxation time of young adult cats is between one second and one minute. This estimate allows the Deborah number to be calculated: if, say, a cat squeezes itself into a small cardboard box within five seconds and is observed for one minute, then De = 0.0833.... That is significantly smaller than 1: the cat is clearly exhibiting fluid behavior.As Fardin pointed out in his paper, cats share other properties with liquids. For example, they have a yield stress, meaning that a minimum amount of force must be applied before they flow out of a container. The same applies to ketchup in a plastic bottle, which must be squeezed out. In addition, cats, like a fluid, adapt their body to the vessel they enter so that they fill it completely. Another characteristic that cats share with some liquids is their high surface tension, which comes into play as they press in or out of a small container.Fardin was also interested in other flow properties of cats, such as whether they could create turbulence. But cats, he noted in his paper, fall in a class of biologically active materials alongside bacteria, flocks and schools, which have their own motive power, and are therefore hard to assess in this way.In conclusion, much more work remains ahead, but cats are proving to be a rich model system for rheological research, Fardin wrote.Biology offers a different lens on this question. From a life science point of view, these animals resemble a liquidmuch more so than other creatures such as humansbecause of their movable (and sometimes missing) collarbone. Once their head fits through an opening, the rest of the body can easily follow. This is how Tigrou flowed into the narrow gap beneath our fireplace.This article originally appeared in Spektrum der Wissenschaft and was reproduced with permission.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 review: the new fastest gaming GPUThe Founders Edition delivers exceptional performance in an impossibly small form factor.Image credit: Nvidia/Digital Foundry Review by Richard Leadbetter Technology Editor, Digital Foundry Additional contributions byWill JuddPublished on Jan. 23, 2025 Page 1 of 8 Next page Nvidia's RTX 50-series "Blackwell" graphics cards arrive with this, the RTX 5090. At $2000/1940, this is an extremely expensive proposition, but it makes some alluring promises in return: best-ever gaming performance from the GB202 GPU, 32GB of high-speed GDDR7 memory for games or content creation, and DLSS 4 with multi frame generation to max out almost any monitor's maximum refresh rate in supported games. Does it deliver? To find out, we've tested the RTX 5090 Founders Edition in our new suite of challenging titles, looking at RT and raster performance across a range of resolutions and in some of the most demanding scenes we've identified from our tech reviews of PC games, many with custom benchmark runs exclusive to Digital Foundry. Before we get into the benchmark results, let's cover off the physical design of the card itself, our performance expectations based on its specs and how we'll be testing it. Here's the video review of the RTX 5090. Watch on YouTubeIt's immediately apparent that this Nvidia Founders Edition model is by far the most compact flagship card we've seen from Team Green in years, with a two-slot design that actually fits into small form factor PCs despite drawing a rated 575W. That magic trick is achieved through a centralised PCB and two flow-through fans, which draw air straight through two impressively dense fin stacks and out the other side. It's an astonishing piece of industrial design. Third-party cards from Nvidia's partners are expected to tread more familiar ground, with the more customary triple-fan, triple-fan designs, so the Founders Edition model could be even harder to find than usual. (We've rounded up the UK and US RTX 5090 retailers with listings for bookmarking purposes if needed.) Either way, you can expect hefty power delivery, with the FE card requiring a 600W 12V-2x6 power cable, which can be attached directly from compatible ATX 3.0+ PSUs or connected to four 8-pin PCIe cables using the adapter provided. This is angled on the FE card, to prevent undue strain on the cable, while the revised connector ought to prevent the charring we experienced on one RTX 4090 FE unit. As well as the usual HDMI 2.1 port, there are three DisplayPort 2.1 ports, allowing for compatible 4K 240Hz HDR displays to be connected without the need for DSC (display stream compression). NvidiaRTX 5090RTX 5080RTX 5070 TiRTX 5070GPUGB202GB203GB203GB205Cores217601075289606144Boost clock2.41GHz2.62GHz2.45GHz2.51GHzTensor core TOPS335218011406988RT core TFLOPS31817113394Memory32GB GDDR716GB GDDR716GB GDDR712GB GDDR7Memory bus width512-bit256-bit256-bit192-bitMemory bandwidth1792GB/s960GB/s896GB/s672GB/sTotal Graphics Power575W360W300W250WPSU recommendation1000W850W750W650WPower connector600W PCIe 5.0 (4x 8-pin)450W PCIe 5.0 (3x 8-pin)300W PCIe 5.0 (2x 8-pin)300W PCIe 5.0 (2x 8-pin)Price$1999/1939$999/979$749/729$549/539Release DateJanuary 30thJanuary 30thFebruaryFebruaryIn terms of specs, we're looking at 21,760 CUDA cores, rated boost clocks of 2.41GHz and 1792GB/s of memory bandwidth, with that 32GB of GDDR7 attached via a super-wide 512-bit bus. That translates into fairly substantial gains versus the RTX 4090 FE, which has "only" 16,384 CUDA cores and a 384-bit memory interface good for 1018GB/s of bandwidth, though that card did run at even higher boost clocks of 2.52GHz. That means a 33 percent increase in GPU cores, a 77 improvement in memory bandwidth and a 28 percent increase in power consumption. Most of Nvidia's marketing materials regarding the 5090 versus the 4090 have focused on comparisons with multi frame generation versus single frame generation, so it'll be fascinating to see how the two flagship cards card in true apples-to-apples tests. We'd expect something in the range of 25 to 35 percent should be possible, looking at the spec differences, but there are plenty of complications that could shift the results one way or another. For all of our results, we're using a top-end system based around the fastest gaming CPU, the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, to shift the burden to the graphics card as much as possible. We also have 32GB of Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000 CL30 memory, a high-end Asus ROG Crosshair X870E Hero motherboard and a 1000W Corsair PSU. With all that said, let's get into the benchmarks. Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 AnalysisTo see this content please enable targeting cookies. Page 1 of 8 Next page

art of rally developer reveals cosy co-op off-roading experience over the hillTorque to the hand.Image credit: Funselektor News by Victoria Kennedy News Reporter Published on Jan. 23, 2025 Funselektor, the developer behind art of rally, has revealed a co-op off-road exploration game titled: over the hill."Explore the world in the golden age of offroading. Drive iconic vehicles from the 60s to 80s by yourself or with friends through challenging trails and beautiful scenery," reads the official blurb. Tow ropes may be required to get your fellow car enthusiasts out of a tight spot, if the announcement trailer (below) is anything to go by. It all looks a bit like a cosy take on a Top Gear challenges of old, obviously with a lot less yelling of "Poweeeer!" by the hosts, mixed with some Pacific Drive elements.over the hill Announcement Trailer. Watch on YouTubeThe game's biomes have all been inspired by real locations, and while they can be explored with your friends by your side, you can also take to the road (or track) on your own if you just fancy a quiet drive to clear your head. Weather will change around you as the sun sets and night comes, with the developer promising a "dynamic, immersive experience" on over the hill's release. There will also be hidden objectives and challenges dotted around, so something to keep an eye out for."After having developed several games about motorsport, we wanted to go off-track by offering players a vast world to lose themselves at a slower pace," said Funselektor founder Dune Casu."In a way, this game is similar to the experience I've had journeying across North America in my trusty camper van. There's something special about being in the wilderness in the middle of nowhere, from the peace, the sounds of nature and less distraction from the civilized world. I hope this game can really drive that feeling home."If this all sounds like your thing, you can add over the hill to your wishlist on Steam. Image credit: FunselektorAs for Funselektor's previous game art of rally, we called it a "blast" on its release in 2020."It's as graceful and poised as Michle Mouton holding a Quattro S2 at an impossible angle, and as stylish as any driving game I've played. There might be more complex takes than art of rally on the discipline out there, but none of them is as quick to get to the appeal of off-roading as this," reads Eurogamer's art of rally review.

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 hereHelldivers 2 has a slew of weapons in the game, and most of them perform really well thanks to the influx of buffs that happened towards the tail-end of 2024. There are still a few weapons that deserve buffs, though, and we dont know when the next set of balance changes will happen. Fortunately, while we wait for the next set of buffs to eventually release, a Helldivers 2 exploit shows how to fire twice as fast with a weapon that has poor RPM.How to fire twice as fast with Eruptor in Helldivers 2The Eruptor is a weapon that some Helldivers 2 fans would like to see Arrowhead buff. While players dont have an issue with its dmg or ultimate function, the bone of contention is with its 25 RPM.While we dont know if a buff for its RPM will ever arrive, the good news is that there is an exploit to increase its RPM to 50, and even 55 when you become good at the trick.Reddit user lilpeachboy has shared instructions for how to perform the exploit. Upon firing the Eurptor, you must immediately switch to your secondary weapon, and then switch back to your Eruptor and immediately fire again.The OP says that the exploit is slightly difficult to master because theres a hard limit on the guns maximum firing rate, and swapping back and forth too fast will cause the technique not to work. However, if you manage to master the exploit, you can get an RPM of 55.Lastly, the OP argues that the exploit is worth learning because the Eruptor is superior to the Exploding Crossbow. This is because the Eruptor has shrapnel damage, and it has an explosive radius that is 1m wider.You can check out gameplay footage of the exploit in-action via the embedded Reddit post below:For more Helldivers 2, check out our guide to thebest warbonds ranked, along with thebest stratagemsandbest throwables. We have also a guide to thebest weapons, and, if youre coming back to HD2 for the first time in a long while, we have a bunch oftips and tricksto help you get reaccustomed to the battlefield.Helldivers 2Platform(s):PC, PlayStation 5Genre(s):Action, Shooter, Third Person8VideoGamerSubscribe 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 here Contents hide Call of Dutys current era heavily involves crossovers and collaborations with several franchises from the world of gaming, movies, and TV. The recent collaboration with the hit Netflix show Squid Game saw the arrival of unique limited-time modes in Black Ops 6 and Warzone alongside a wealth of exclusive cosmetic items available to purchase.As Season 2 moves into view, fans dropping into multiplayer and battle royale matches hope Treyarch and Raven Software can address the game-breaking flaws ruining the action. Ahead of the upcoming update, Activision has unveiled the next huge Call of Duty collaboration which is the perfect example of the publisher rinsing and repeating the past.The Terminator returns to Call of DutyOn January 22, 2025, the Season 2 roadmap for Call of Duty revealed The Terminator is the next collaboration, much to the annoyance of fans hoping for something new.Season 2 of Black Ops 6 and Warzone isnt the first time The Terminator has joined forces with Call of Duty. During the Vanguard cycle, Terminator T-800 and T-1000 models arrived as playable Operators in Sledgehammer Games World War 2 shooter.Despite the complete mismatch in time periods, the first collaboration with The Terminator 2 movie was well-received among fans dropping into the action. Four years later, Activision is hoping to cash in once more with an in-game event and the inevitable appearance of themed bundles in the store.Why is The Terminator returning to Call of Duty?The reappearance of The Terminator in Call of Duty is certainly disappointing for those who have already seen characters from the movie appear in matches in some capacity. However, theres an in-game event for you to get your teeth sunk into this time.With a wealth of unique rewards available for players to unlock, theres every chance Activision will replicate the success of the first Terminator crossover in 2025. Were still patiently waiting for Master Chiefs arrival in whats bound to be a generational crossover between two giants of the first-person shooter genre.For more CoD intel, check out the best controller settings for maximum accuracy along with the best Jackal PDW loadout for close-quarters action.Call of Duty: Black Ops 6Platform(s):PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/XGenre(s):ShooterSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

During her 2023 apartment search, New York City native and interior designer Kate McElhiney craved a character-filled unit that she and her husband could call their ownand she wasnt willing to settle for a so-so space in the process. It started to seem like all rental landlords were in cahoots to make each apartment more boring than the next, McElhiney reflects. However, when touring her current placea 750-square-foot unit located on one of Brooklyn Heights famed fruit streetsshe immediately saw potential in the exposed wood beams and lofted duplex layout.Interior designer Kate McElhiney in her Brooklyn Heights home.The floor plan is a little bit squirrely, so it was trickier than normal to figure out furniture for the downstairs space, shares McElhiney, who has spent the last year making the fourth-floor walk-up feel like home. Though the designer was hesitant to spend too much money transforming a rental, she was eager to customize her unit using her many existing decorative items, without picking up so much as a paintbrush in the process. I had amassed a good collection of lamps, textiles, and artwork in the years before we moved in, so it was a joy to finally be able to use all my pieces and see them come together so easily, explains McElhiney, who worked for Kari McCabe, the founder of Kari McCabe Inc., for four years after college. She taught me everything and imparted her love of Scandinavian design on me too, McElhiney says. She also introduced me to my now husband, who was working for her husband at the time.McElhineys next role was working for AD100 talent Peter Pennoyer. His in-house interior design team was led by Alice Engel, who is still a great friend, she shares. At PPA, I learned how to stretch my imagination as Peter and Alice knew artisans and craftspeople who could make anything we could dream upa creatives dream.McElhineys husband has played the piano since he was five years old. He had an old keyboard, and I finally convinced him to upgrade to this white-oak veneered stunner when we moved to this apartment, the designer says. Above the piano hang two of McElhineys own abstract works. The designer received her MFA in painting from Pratt Institute.McElhiney shares that this Swedish cabinet is from an auction house in Stockholm. Ive always been obsessed with the original Josef Frank botanical cabinets and discovered that vintage reproductions often come up for auction in Sweden, she says. I started following a few and finally pounced on this more diminutive one, perfect under the eaves.Living in a small space, the designer prefers more streamlined pieces and found herself drawn to colorful accents when furnishing this unit. Its important to remember what truly speaks to you when designing your own space, McElhiney says, as opposed to trying to copy a certain style that you think looks good online. She adds that her husband, who is also a color lover, offered many thoughtful design suggestions too. He actually had one of the best money-saving ideas, which was to order two smaller sisal rugs and push them together instead of ordering a custom shaped sisal rug to fit the L-shaped downstairs space, the designer shares.Most PopularTravelThe 11 Most Beautiful Mountain Cities in the WorldBy Emma TubbsArchitecture + DesignA Creative Directors Milan Home Is a Master Class in Secondhand ShoppingBy Kelly DawsonMagazineMieke ten Have Fashions a Home for Hudson Valley NeighborsBy Michael BoodroMcElhiney considers this dining nook one of her best small-space hacks. The banquette in the dining area allows us to push the dining table closer to the wall, she says, noting that she sourced the fabric for the Billy Baldwin piece in New York Citys Garment District. The print hanging above the banquette is the only piece of art in the apartment that wasnt one of McElhineys or another family members own creations.The small, utilitarian kitchen is far from boring thanks to some thoughtful pattern play.McElhiney finds inspiration all over, often through art. The Siena show at The Met has given me an intense craving to use vermillion red in a project soon, she shares. Im also frankly obsessed with Saint Ursulas bedroom in Carpaccios The Dream of St Ursula. Though shes only 31 years old, McElhiney acknowledges that living in a high-story walk-up apartment may not be ideal for the long haul. However, she says, We love lying in bed at night and being able to see the moon and a couple of stars from the skylight in our room. I think we will live here as long as we can.Most PopularTravelThe 11 Most Beautiful Mountain Cities in the WorldBy Emma TubbsArchitecture + DesignA Creative Directors Milan Home Is a Master Class in Secondhand ShoppingBy Kelly DawsonMagazineMieke ten Have Fashions a Home for Hudson Valley NeighborsBy Michael BoodroVintage Svenskt Tenn curtains, also from a Swedish auction house, hang in the joint office/guest room space. Adding the curtains around the twin bed in my office made the space feel so much more intentional than it would have otherwise, says McElhiney, who explains that, ever since she was a little girl, shes always wanted a nook bed. She adds, We havent had a guest stay here yet, but I sometimes read my book in there or take a nap.The bedroom boasts skylights, not commonly found in New York City rentals. McElhiney stuck with soothing blues and whites for her sleep space, allowing the exposed beams and wood trim to pop.

As the COVID-19 pandemic roiled the world in 2020, Catherine Kwong succumbed to the siren call of The Sea Ranch, the quietly radical planned community that sprang up in the 1960s along 10 miles of glorious Northern California coastline. The landmark developmentconceived by a group of pioneering Bay Area architects and planners as a progressive haven centered on harmony with the natural environmentprovided the perfect pastoral escape hatch for the San Franciscobased interior designer and her family. Ive always been obsessed with The Sea Ranch from an architectural point of view. It casts such a spellletting nature envelop you as youre cradled in this incredible landscape right by the ocean, Kwong says.The designer and her husband, Brian, settled on a home built in 1972 by architect John Haag, who worked for years as an associate in the office of Joseph Esherick, one of the communitys founding visionaries. The house had been carefully tended to over time, so it was in great condition. It encapsulated the ethos of the 1970s era at The Sea Ranch, Kwong recalls, describing the homes archetypal cedar construction, folded planes, sloping rooflines, and generous windows framing views through the forest and out to the Pacific. We wanted to preserve the integrity of the original design so we tried not to do too much, she adds.Designer Catherine Kwong.Photo: Bess FridayKwongs ministrations to the interior included refurbishing portions of the existing millwork, adding a window seat in the kitchen, and renovating the kitchen and baths in a way that feels sympathetic to the modesty of the original plans. One of her more noticeable changes was replacing the carpet in the kitchen with ceramic tiles laid out in a gingham motif. There are little pattern and color moves throughout, but I wanted to keep everything pretty quiet, Kwong says of her limited interventions. A few pedigreed decorative piecesamong them a Roger Capron tiled cocktail table, Alvar Aalto dining chairs, and a vintage Tommi Parzinger candelabra perched on a Michael van Beuren cabinetpepper the restrained mix.Life at The Sea Ranch is predictably bucolic, frequently focused on divertissements for the couples young children, Miles and Juliet. The kids have their favorite hikes and their favorite beaches. We make plans based on the tides, Kwong notes. There are plenty of activities, like foraging and silk scarf acrobatics. Theres even a class in biological illustration. Its the most Sea Ranch thing you can think of.The restrained interior features a classic Eames Lounge Chair and George Nelson pendant lamps.Photo: William Jess Laird.

A hot potato: Meta has responded to complaints from Facebook, Instagram, and Threads users who say they suddenly found themselves following Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and First Lady Melania Trump without their knowledge. There are also reports of Democratic content being hidden. Some have pointed to Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's recent shifting political stance as the cause, but the company claims otherwise. Meta's communication director, Andy Stone, responded to the reports on Threads and X. He wrote that people were not made to automatically follow any of the official accounts for the President, Vice President or First Lady.Stone went on to say that the accounts are managed by the White House, so the content on the pages changes with a new administration but the followers remain unchanged. The same procedure was carried out during the last presidential transition.However, there are plenty of replies that cast doubt on Stone's explanation. Many people say they never followed Biden, Trump, or any political accounts, yet they are suddenly following the POTUS, VPOTUS, and FLOTUS accounts.There are also complaints that those who suddenly found they are following Trump cannot unfollow him. Stone said that it may take some time for follow and unfollow requests to go through as the White House accounts change hands. // Related StoriesIt's been noted that when a candidate leaves office, Meta creates archived POTUS accounts that followers are automatically signed up to. Some claim that as this happened, they automatically started following Trump, Vance and Melania Trump accounts.Something else that has led to people accusing Meta of political bias is happening on Instagram. Users say that when doing hashtag searches for #Democrat or #Democrats, they are seeing messages that state, "We've hidden these results," and "Results for the term you searched for may contain sensitive content." Meta said the issue is caused by a technical problem affecting multiple hashtags, including some related to the Republican Party.Seperate reports that people are seeing more political content in their feeds are a result of the changes that Zuckerberg announced at the start of January. The CEO also suspended the fact-checking program and reduced the amount of censorship on Meta's platforms. He later appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast, where he said that companies need more "masculine energy." It led to a lawyer dropping Meta as a client in a copyright case due to Zuckerberg's "toxic masculinity and neo-Nazi madness."