In brief: Is Snake becoming the new Doom? A few weeks after the classic mobile title was shrunk down to a 56-byte QR code, someone has developed what's likely to be the world's smallest version of the game. It's so tiny that it requires a microscope to play correctly. The microscopic version of Snake is the work of software developer Patrick Gillespie, who demonstrated the amazing feat on his YouTube channel.Gillespie explains in the video that he created a JavaScript Snake game 15 years ago. His goal was to shrink it down to the point where the game uses the individual subpixels of a monitor.Subpixels are the smaller components that make up a single pixel on a digital display. They typically come in red, green, and blue lights, and their brightness is adjusted to create the different colors that we see while looking at a display.Gillespie used his iMac for the browser-based project as its pixel geometry is an RGB stripe formation. The project didn't get off to a smooth start as he struggled to make the game show just one color in each subpixel. The green subpixel was showing some red and blue, requiring him to switch to an LED color space with a wider gamut.For those who don't own a microscope but still want to try this subpixel version of Snake, it can be played in a web browser at maximum zoom, though you also need to use the Windows Magnifier function turned up to maximum. This won't be as effective as using a microscope, of course. // Related StoriesYou can check out Gillespie's Snake game on his personal website. You can also take a look at the code over on GitHub to discover more about how it was put together.This is the second unconventional version of Snake we've seen this month. A couple of weeks ago, developer donno2048 managed to squeeze the game down to just 56 bytes, making it small enough to be encoded into a single QR code. You can check out the demo of that project right here.

Global chip stocks slumped Monday on DeepSeek revealing it had developed AI models that nearly matched American rivals despite using inferior chips.

Transmission electron micrograph of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (gold) within a nasal cellBSIP SA/AlamyPeople who had lost their sense of smell after catching covid-19 partly regained it following the injection of blood cells called platelets into their noses, which could help to improve their quality of life.Since the beginning of the pandemic, a loss or change to your sense of smell or taste has been considered a common covid-19 symptom.The SARS-CoV-2 virus enters cells in the nose, causing inflammation that can damage neurons,

On January 8, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang jolted the stock market by saying that practical quantum computing is still 15 to 30 years away, at the same time suggesting those computers will need Nvidia GPUs in order to implement the necessary error correction. However, history shows that brilliant people are not immune to making mistakes. Huangs predictions miss the mark, both on the timeline for useful quantum computing and on the role his companys technology will play in that future. Ive been closely following developments in quantum computing as an investor, and its clear to me that it is rapidly converging on utility. Last year, Googles Willow device demonstrated that there is a promising pathway to scaling up to bigger and bigger computers. It showed that errors can be reduced exponentially as the number of quantum bits, or qubits, increases. It also ran a benchmark test in under five minutes that would take one of todays fastest supercomputers 10 septillion years. While too small to be commercially useful with known algorithms, Willow shows that quantum supremacy (executing a task that is effectively impossible for any classical computer to handle in a reasonable amount of time) and fault tolerance (correcting errors faster than they are made) are achievable. For example, PsiQuantum, a startup my company is invested in, is set to break ground on two quantum computers that will enter commercial service before the end of this decade. The plan is for each one to be 10 thousand times the size of Willow, big enough to tackle important questions about materials, drugs, and the quantum aspects of nature. These computers will not use GPUs to implement error correction. Rather, they will have custom hardware, operating at speeds that would be impossible with Nvidia hardware. At the same time, quantum algorithms are improving far faster than hardware. A recent collaboration between the pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim and PsiQuantum demonstrated a more than 200x improvement in algorithms to simulate important drugs and materials. Phasecraft, another company we have invested in, has improved the simulation performance for a wide variety of crystal materials and has published a quantum-enhanced version of a widely used Advances like these lead me to believe that useful quantum computing is inevitable and increasingly imminent. And thats good news, because the hope is that they will be able to perform calculations that no amount of AI or classical computation could ever achieve. We should care about the prospect of useful quantum computers because today we don't really know how to do chemistry. We lack knowledge about the mechanisms of action for many of our most important drugs. The catalysts that drive our industries are generally poorly understood, require expensive exotic materials, or both. Despite appearances, we have significant gaps in our agency over the physical world; our achievements belie the fact that we are, in many ways, stumbling around in the dark. Nature operates on the principles of quantum mechanics. Our classical computational methods fail to accurately capture the quantum nature of reality, even though much of our high-performance computing resources are dedicated to this pursuit. Despite all the intellectual and financial capital expended, we still dont understand why the painkiller acetaminophen works, how type-II superconductors function, or why a simple crystal of iron and nitrogen can produce a magnet with such incredible field strength. We search for compounds in Amazonian tree bark to cure cancer and other maladies, manually rummaging through a pitifully small subset of a design space encompassing 1060 small molecules. Its more than a little embarrassing. We do, however, have some tools to work with. In industry, density functional theory (DFT) is the workhorse of computational chemistry and materials modeling, widely used to investigate the electronic structure of many-body systemssuch as atoms, molecules, and solids. When DFT is applied to systems where electron-electron correlations are weak, it produces reasonable results. But it fails entirely on a broad class of interesting problems. Take, for example, the buzz in the summer of 2023 around the room-temperature superconductor LK-99. Many accomplished chemists turned to DFT to try to characterize the material and determine whether it was, indeed, a superconductor. Results were, to put it politely, mixedso we abandoned our best computational methods, returning to mortar and pestle to try to make some of the stuff. Sadly, although LK-99 might have many novel characteristics, a room-temperature superconductor it isnt. Thats unfortunate, as such a material could revolutionize energy generation, transmission, and storage, not to mention magnetic confinement for fusion reactors, particle accelerators, and more. AI will certainly help with our understanding of materials, but it is no panacea. New AI techniques have emerged in the last few years, with some promising results. DeepMinds Graph Networks for Materials Exploration (GNoME), for example, found 380,000 new potentially stable materials. The fundamental issue is that an AI model is only as good as the data it's trained on. Training an LLM on the entire internet corpus, for instance, can yield a model that has a reasonable grasp of most human culture and can process language effectively. But if DFT fails for any non-trivially correlated quantum systems, how useful can a DFT-derived training set really be? We could also turn to synthesis and experimentation to create training data, but the number of physical samples we can realistically produce is minuscule relative to the vast design space, leaving a great deal of potential untapped. Only once we have reliable quantum simulations to produce sufficiently accurate training data will we be able to create AI models that answer quantum questions on classical hardware. And that means that we need quantum computers. They afford us the opportunity to shift from a world of discovery to a world of design. Todays iterative process of guessing, synthesizing, and testing materials is comically inadequate. In a few tantalizing cases, we have stumbled on materials, like superconductors, with near-magical properties. How many more might these new tools reveal in the coming years? We will eventually have machines with millions of qubits that, when used to simulate crystalline materials, open up a vast new design space. It will be like waking up one day and finding a million new elements with fascinating properties on the periodic table. Of course, building a million-qubit quantum computer is not for the faint of heart. Such machines will be the size of supercomputers, and require large amounts of capital, cryoplant, electricity, concrete, and steel. They also require silicon photonics components that perform well beyond anything in industry, error correction hardware that runs fast enough to chase photons, and single-photon detectors with unprecedented sensitivity. But after years of research and development, and more than a billion dollars of investment, the challenge is now moving from science and engineering to construction. It is impossible to fully predict how quantum computing will affect our world, but a thought exercise might offer a mental model of some of the possibilities. Imagine our world without metal. We could have wooden houses built with stone tools, agriculture, wooden plows, movable type, printing, poetry, and even thoughtfully edited science periodicals. But we would have no inkling of phenomena like electricity or electromagnetismno motors, generators, radio, MRI machines, silicon, or AI. We wouldnt miss them, as wed be oblivious to their existence. Today, we are living in a world without quantum materials, oblivious to the unrealized potential and abundance that lie just out of sight. With large-scale quantum computers on the horizon and advancements in quantum algorithms, we are poised to shift from discovery to design, entering an era of unprecedented dynamism in chemistry, materials science, and medicine. It will be a new age of mastery over the physical world. Peter Barrett is a general partner at Playground Global, which invests in early-stage deep-tech companies including several in quantum computing, quantum algorithms, and quantum sensing: PsiQuantum, Phasecraft, NVision, and Ideon.

The boss of Emirates thinks Airbus should make a new version of the double-decker Airbus A380.Tim Clark suggested new lighter materials and more fuel-efficient engines could make it more viable."If we were to put $20 billion on the table for Airbus, they'd probably build it for us," he told BI.A revamped version of the Airbus A380 could get orders from several airlines, the president of Emirates told Business Insider.Asked if he'd like Airbus to resume production of the superjumbo, Tim Clark replied, "Well, they know we do. I've given them the designs."The "compelling nature" of a four-engine plane remains "quite clear to many, many people," he said. Tim Clark of Emirates thinks the A380 remains a "compelling" aircraft for some airlines. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images Emirates is by far the largest operator of the double-decker plane, with a fleet of 118. Singapore Airlines is next with just 13.Airbus ended production of the A380 in 2021 18 years after it began.The four-engined plane received 251 orders from 14 customers, with many airlines wary of its high operating costs.However, Clark suggested that a modernized version of the A380 could be up to 25% more fuel efficient.He pointed to using lighter and more aerodynamic materials, as well as new engines with UltraFan technology being developed by Rolls-Royce.Clark said the Airbus A380 is "probably the most profitable asset we've got," while a more fuel-efficient version would be cheaper to operate as well as more environmentally friendly."I believe there is a case," Clark told BI. "The risk-averse nature of my peer group, CEOs, and boards is probably a major inhibitor to that But if we were to put $20 billion on the table for Airbus, they'd probably build it for us."Airbus did not respond to a request for comment from BI.While some airlines, such as Air France and Thai Airways, retired their A380s during the pandemic, the superjumbo has since seen a resurgence.Lufthansa brought eight of its 14 out of retirement, and Etihad has reactivated six A380s. Global Airlines, a British startup, has acquired one formerly used by China Southern Airlines and hopes to launch commercial flights between London and New York this year. Emirates is fitting premium economy cabins on many of its A380s. Ryan Lim/AFP/Getty Images The A380 has been popular with passengers because its size offers more comfort, and it's quieter than other wide-body jets, especially when seated on the upper deck.Its mammoth size has also allowed airlines to install luxurious amenities, like Emirates' bar and shower for first-class passengers.But its huge capacity of about 500 passengers means it needs to be used on very popular routes. This works well for Emirates' hub-and-spoke route model connecting passengers to destinations around the world via Dubai but less so for others. Airbus did not get any orders from airlines in North or South America, for example.Capacity constraintsYet, Clark thinks the A380 could be a solution as some major airports face constraints as demand for air travel keeps rising."If you look at the demand as it stands for all of us, not just Emirates, all of us today, there is a high-class problem in the making," he said. A British Airways A380 takes off from London Heathrow Airport. Tejas Sandhu/SOPA/Getty Images Clark pointed to increasing passenger numbers at New York's JFK, Boston, Paris, Frankfurt, and London Heathrow where a debate has been ongoing for many years about constructing a third runway to cope with demand."It's a no-brainer for the aviation community, particularly in the airport world, to see the passengers getting off, say, an Emirates A380, 500 at a time into Heathrow or join it, empty their pockets in the departure lounge or the fast food or the merchandising rather than a slot occupied at 50 seats," Clark said.

A review of regulatory filings of the biggest multimanagers reveals New York's continued supremacy.Managers like Citadel and Balyasny have most of their PMs in New York, even if they are headquartered elsewhere.Despite interest in places like Miami, investing talent remains in established locales.This week, the $4.5 trillion hedge fund industry is gathered in Miami for iConnections' annual Global Alts conference. Nearly all of them will leave the Magic City after the conference concludes.While some big names have fled high-tax cities like New York and Chicago for sunny spots like Miami and West Palm Beach, especially amid the pandemic-era buzz over Wall Street South, the data show that New York is still the place to be for money-managing talent.Regulatory filings for the industry's largest multimanagers, including Citadel, Millennium, and Point72, show that a vast majority of those who "perform investment advisory functions" work from the Big Apple. Including the three aforementioned managers as well as Balyasny, Schonfeld, ExodusPoint, Verition, Walleye, and Hudson Bay, more than 75% of investing talent works in New York, a Business Insider review of ADVs and internal metrics from certain funds show.(Story continues after graphic. The ADVs, while updated throughout the year, show a snapshot of the investing head count for each firm from March, so the data reflects firms' staffing from last spring.)Even managers not based in New York such as Citadel, Point72, Verition, Hudson Bay, and Balyasny have more investing talent in Gotham than their respective headquarters in Florida, Connecticut, and Illinois. Walleye, which was once based in Minnesota and still has 21 investors in Minneapolis, moved its headquarters to New York at the end of 2023 and now has dozens more traders there than any other office."It's an apprenticeship business," Adam Kahn, founder of headhunter firm Odyssey Search Partners, told Business Insider. "For the most part, the opportunity to surround yourself with the best people is going to be in major money centers.""If you want to sit next to your PM, you need to be where your PM is," he said. And while there are senior leaders who have decamped to sunnier, cheaper spots around the country, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco still have a significant concentration of people.Greenwich and Stamford, a pair of bedroom communities of the New York metro, have also continued to be important centers of gravity for hedge funds, which have become a part of the social fabric of these Connecticut towns.Citadel's talent breakdown, according to its ADV showing data from last March, is interesting given the firm's billionaire founder's preference for Miami. Ken Griffin, who is originally from Florida, moved his firm's headquarters south from Chicago in 2022 and has commented that one day, the city could surpass New York as a financial center though he still referred to Manhattan as the "epicenter of thoughtful people passionately engaged in their careers" in 2023.While Griffin and some of his executives, including chief risk officer Joanna Welsh and commodities head Sebastian Barrack, have relocated, the firm's investing talent has not yet moved en masse to Florida.The data showed that more investment-focused staffers were based in the firm's two Texas offices, Houston and Dallas, than in its two Sunshine State offices, Miami and Tampa. The $66 billion fund has more investors in each of its two New York offices as well as its Greenwich, Chicago, and San Francisco offices than it did in its Miami outpost last March. (Story continues below the graphic)A person close to the manager said the firm is committed to Miami and plans to break ground on its new 54-story waterfront building that will serve as company headquarters sometime later this year or early next year."We've welcomed roughly 400 team members to this vibrant city since establishing the firms' global headquarters here in 2022, and we have exciting plans to keep growing our presence in the months and years to come," a statement from the firm reads. The 400 people include employees from both Citadel and Citadel Securities, Griffin's market maker.Can always catch a flightInvestors on the ground for these managers say different locations provide different benefits. Stockpickers focused on certain industries, like energy or technology, find places like Houston and San Francisco useful to be plugged into the companies they invest in. Quants who do not need to meet with corporate leaders to run their strategies say they're generally more flexible about where they can work than stockpickers who want to hear directly from CEOs.Meanwhile, young analysts working for portfolio managers based in Connecticut offices often reverse commute from New York to places like Greenwich or Stamford so they can still enjoy the nightlife and culture of the Big Apple.The ongoing talent war for top-shelf PMs means funds are generally more flexible on location, said Vikram Tandon, the head of Durlston Partners US, a recruiting firm. But that flexibility has a limit."The only people who demand to be somewhere and get it are the senior people who are setting up a whole team," Tandon said.This isn't to say Florida isn't on the rise. Data from hedge-fund seeder Borealis Strategic Partners shows that 11% of US hedge fund launches in 2024 were in Florida, compared to just 3% in 2020. The Tri-State area was at 52%, down from 56% the year prior, according to Borealis.Two portfolio managers who moved to Miami and West Palm in recent years for two different multimanagers told BI that it's been a net positive for them and their families.Plus, one of these PMs said, "It's only a two-hour flight back to New York."

I dont remember much from the first weeks of parenthood a colicky baby and extreme sleep deprivation will do that to you but I do vividly remember one night with my baby son when absolutely nothing I did seemed to help him. I walked him around: he screamed. I tried to feed him: he screamed. I put him down: more screaming. So it went for a couple of hours. I remember thinking: this is like a text adventure video game where none of the answers are right.Game designer and college teacher Nicholas OBrien had similar thoughts. His first child was born during the Covid-19 pandemic in New York City, and he and his partner were trapped at home, on the endless merry-go-round of menial baby-care tasks. It was getting to him, like it gets to all new parents. I didnt have a lot of social or emotional outlets besides my partner, he tells me. I felt like I needed to create something about how I was feeling, work my way through it by making something.The result is Bundle of Joy, a quasi-ridiculous yet heartfelt game about early fatherhood. It breaks baby care down into frenetic microgames: aim your spoon to feed baby! Press a button with decent timing to burp baby! Try to get a pair of tiny socks on to babys feet! Fit the babys head through the impossibly small opening in this tiny jumper! Some of these made me laugh with recognition; my kids are in school now, so I had forgotten about the little bulb that you use to suck snot out of a tiny nose, and how much they hate it when you try. Ive never had to fit a nebuliser over one of my childrens faces, but I have now successfully managed it with a virtual child.These frantic vignettes are interspersed with moments of reflection. If you fail at the games, you get stressed out, and the game makes you take a break and perform a few deep breaths. When the baby is sleeping, you can talk to your partner, reflecting on your feelings (and theirs). But mostly, youre caught up in the endless now, a sequence of repetitive actions. It does capture something of the busy monotony of caring for a baby: youre never at rest for a second, but the tasks are all so unstimulating and repetitive that it saps your very sense of personhood.OBrien initially made a prototype that was more narrative-driven, and heavier in tone, but he landed on this minigame-driven format because the act of play felt more closely aligned to his actual experiences. The thing that was so important to capture was that chaotic energy, that moment to moment feeling that you have when youre taking care of an infant, he says. So I thought, Whats a gameplay type thats very similar to that? The WarioWare/Bishi Bashi format immediately jumped to mind.The difficulty of each day varies based on how the baby has slept (and consequently how you have slept); day after day, when you revisit each game, theres a new wrinkle. The baby kicks their feet more enthusiastically when youre trying to get the socks on. A hand will appear to swipe the spoon away from their mouth. It takes an hour or two to play through, depending on how deeply you engage in the written dialogue during moments of calm.The thoughts and feelings that show up in these reflective moments are based not just on OBriens experiences, but those of other dads who shared their stories with him. They touch on many of the complex feelings that early parenthood excavates from your marrow: not just the exhaustion, joy and tedium of the moment, not just the self-doubt, but how you feel about your own parents and the way that you form relationships. On the advice of his partner, hes kept it to the experiences of one parent, rather than guessing at the experiences of the other; you can choose your co-parents gender at the beginning of the game, and everyones skin tone, but you are always playing from the perspective of Dad.Making Bundle of Joy has been an act of catharsis for its developer, and he hopes it might be cathartic for players, too. You feel stuck on a loop. I think a lot of parents have that feeling. Even when youre not in lockdown, you lose track of days, he says. Especially for dads, I dont think that theres a lot of material out there thats positive and reinforcing and encouraging. I hope its positive encouragement for people going through that experience. Youre doing it, you CAN do it. You dont have to beat yourself up along the way. The baby will do that!skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Pushing ButtonsFree weekly newsletterKeza MacDonald's weekly look at the world of gamingPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotion

Islamic Arts Biennale 2025 Opens in Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaSave this picture!View of the AlMidhallah exhibition component, the outdoor exhibition spaces, at the Islamic Arts Biennale 2025. Image Marco CappellettiThe second edition of the Islamic Arts Biennale, titled And All That Is In Between, has officially opened in Jeddah. Organized by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, the Biennale takes place at the Western Hajj Terminal of King Abdulaziz International Airport, a site that holds profound significance for millions of Muslim pilgrims traveling for Hajj and Umrah. The exhibition scenography is designed by the international architecture firm OMA, enhancing the experience with a thoughtful spatial narrative. The exhibition, which runs until May 25, 2025, explores how faith is experienced, expressed, and celebrated through feeling, thinking, and making.Save this picture!With over 30 international institutions participating, the Biennale presents a global perspective on Islamic arts. Contributions from institutions in Denmark, Egypt, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kuwait, Mali, Oman, Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Tunisia, Trkiye, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uzbekistan, and Vatican City highlight the diversity of Islamic artistic traditions. Visitors will have the rare opportunity to view historical artifacts from the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah, offering insight into the region's spiritual and cultural heritage.Led by Artistic Directors Julian Raby, Amin Jaffer, and Abdul Rahman Azzam, alongside Saudi artist Muhannad Shono as Curator of Contemporary Art, the Biennale presents over 500 objects and artworks across five exhibition halls and expansive outdoor spaces. A highlight of this year's edition is the first-ever public display of the complete Kiswah, the cloth that adorned the Holy Kaaba in the previous year, providing an intimate encounter with a sacred artifact. Related Article Saudi Arabia Secures FIFA 2034 World Cup Bid: Full List of Stadiums Revealed The exhibition features 29 newly commissioned works from over 30 artists from Saudi Arabia and beyond. These commissions engage in dialogue with the historical objects on display, bridging past and present through artistic interpretation. Notable international institutions lending works to the exhibition include the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, among others.Save this picture!The Islamic Arts Biennale consists of seven unique components: AlBidayah ("The Beginning"), AlMadar ("The Orbit"), AlMuqtani ("Homage"), AlMidhallah ("The Canopy"), AlMukarramah ("The Honored"), AlMunawwarah ("The Illuminated"), and AlMusalla. It is spread through indoor galleries and outdoor areas, across 100,000 square meters of dedicated exhibition space. Save this picture!A significant addition to this year's Biennale is the AlMusalla Prize-winning structure, designed by EAST Architecture Studio in collaboration with artist Rayyane Tabet and engineers AKT II. Inspired by traditional weaving techniques, the prayer space is constructed using sustainable materials derived from local date palm trees, reflecting an emphasis on ecological sensitivity and cultural continuity.Save this picture!In addition to the exhibition, the Biennale offers a comprehensive public program featuring talks, workshops, and symposia. Initiatives such as Biennale After School and Biennale After Work aim to engage diverse audiences, providing opportunities for hands-on artistic exploration and learning. Weekly events, including Culinary Thursdays and Cinema Nights, further enrich the visitor experience.With its expanded scale and diverse programming, the 2025 Islamic Arts Biennale solidifies its position as a leading platform for Islamic arts, fostering dialogue, collaboration, and a deeper understanding of Islamic heritage and contemporary artistic practices. The Biennale's emphasis on inclusivity and engagement makes it a significant cultural event within the broader context of Saudi Arabia's evolving cultural landscape.Save this picture!In other similar news, the inaugural Copenhagen Architecture Biennial, set to take place from September 18 to October 19, 2025, has announced its first curatorial theme, "Slow Down." In Turkey, the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (KSV) has appointed Christine Tohm as the curator for the 18th Istanbul Biennial, which will take place in three phases over three years from 2025 to 2027. Finally, the Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) has announced its sixth edition, marking the tenth anniversary of the renowned event, to take place from September 12, 2025, to February 28, 2026.Image gallerySee allShow lessAbout this authorNour FakharanyAuthorCite: Nour Fakharany. "Islamic Arts Biennale 2025 Opens in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia" 27 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1026207/islamic-arts-biennale-2025-opens-in-jeddah-saudi-arabia&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

The Impact of Wildfires on Building Codes: Reflections on the Recent Los Angeles FiresSave this picture!A Chase Bank branch on Sunset Boulevard burning on January 8. Image CAL FIRE_Official via Wikipedia under Public Domain LicenseIt has been nearly three weeks since one of California's most devastating wildfires began, triggering an immense effort to combat the blaze and mitigate further damage. As firefighters work to contain the remaining flames, the city braces for its first significant winter rainfall, raising concerns about flooding and landslides that may exacerbate the already extensive destruction. Amid these challenges, the wildfire has spurred widespread reflection at local and global levels. Discussions have emerged on topics such as the insurance system, firefighting infrastructure, water resources, global warming's role in high-wind fire conditions, and the impact of landscape design, particularly the use of non-native vegetation. Additionally, debates have surfaced about building design, questioning why some structures survived while others were destroyed and whether the widespread use of wood in construction should be reconsidered. Readers' letter submissions highlight alternative systems and note their drawbacks, such as their lack of earthquake resistance and costs. Related Article Los Angeles Officials Pass Regulation to Expedite the Rebuilding Process Historic Fires and Their Influence on Fire Safety RegulationsWildfires and fire tragedies are not new in the United States, with significant incidents recurring throughout history. These events have shaped urban planning and safety measures, leading to tighter regulations on firefighting infrastructure, fire-resistant building codes, and effective evacuation strategies. For context, the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire caused $9.7 billion in damages (adjusted to 2018 dollars) and over 3,000 casualties. Notably, eight of the ten largest wildfires in U.S. history have occurred since 2000, each resulting in damages exceeding $900 million (adjusted to 2018 dollars).Save this picture!Fire safety codes and standards have evolved in response to such past tragedies. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) attributes key developments to landmark incidents such as the 1908 Rhoades Opera House fire and the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, both of which claimed over 140 lives. These events prompted stricter regulations to ensure fire-safe building design, a process that has continued to evolve with each significant disaster and the lessons learned.Understanding Fire Safety Codes: Prioritizing Lives Over StructuresAs discussions on building codes, materials, and fire resistance continue, it is also essential to remind ourselves that fire and life safety codes are primarily designed to protect lives before preserving structures. These regulations are enforced to facilitate the safe evacuation of occupants, ensure a building can withstand disasters for a limited time, and prevent scenarios where the structure itself endangers individuals by collapsing or trapping them within.The primary objective of these codes is not to prevent a building's destruction during catastrophic fires but to buy critical time for occupants to escape and for emergency responders to intervene. Buildings are generally designed to maintain structural integrity for a specified durationtypically 1 to 3 hoursbefore materials inevitably weaken, burn, or fail. The required fire-resistance rating often depends on factors such as building occupancy, with larger or more populated structures necessitating longer durations of fire resistance.Save this picture!Fire-resistant materials and designs slow flame spread and maintain structural stability during this critical window, supporting evacuation and suppression efforts. While debates about optimal building materialstimber, concrete, or steelcontinue, it is crucial to recognize that building codes prioritize life safety above structural preservation.Possibilities for Evolving Building Codes to Enhance Flexibility and SafetyDiscussions about building materials are vital, encompassing broader considerations like sustainability, cost, recyclability, and maintenance. However, fire safety efforts cannot rely solely on material properties. Active fire suppression systems like sprinklers are critical for controlling fires and minimizing damage. For instance, the Hartford Hospital fire of 1961 led to the expansion of sprinkler requirements across various building types, underscoring their effectiveness.Unlike passive measures like fire-resistant materials and clear egress pathways, which aid evacuation, active systems actively combat fires, enhancing safety and reducing destruction. When combined with passive strategies, these systems significantly improve the chances of occupant survival and structural preservation. Yet, they are often not mandated for single-family residential buildings due to their lower occupancy levels and cost concerns. Adding suppression systems can substantially increase construction costs as well as infrastructural costs. This fire-resistivity discussion then triggers a much more significant consideration, affecting housing affordability issues.Save this picture!To address housing affordability concerns while enhancing fire safety, the industry might consider continuing to evolve a more flexible and adaptive approach to building codes. Instead of a one-size-fits-all strategy, localized codes could be implemented in high-risk areas, if not already done so, focusing on regions where the fire threat is most significant. This targeted approach acknowledges that not all single-family homes face the same level of risk, allowing for tailored solutions that prioritize safety where it is most needed. This level of discernment and fire safety requirement may also help begin negotiating on the complex insurance coverage subject.For affordable housing in high-risk zones, there may be ways to include incentives to encourage the adoption of advanced fire suppression systems. This strategy reduces reliance on restrictive building material requirements, which may be perceived as limiting, and shifts the focus to a combination of material properties and active fire suppression. Promoting creative and flexible solutions may enhance home safety, improve fire resistance, and support long-term resilience without disproportionately impacting housing costs and being restrictive in regulations.Emerging Fire Suppression Technologies and Possible StrategiesA significant challenge in fire safety lies in the gap between evolving codes and existing buildings. In parallel with continuing to rethink and improve the code governing building structures, it is equally important to address aging structures that remain occupied by a much more dated set of requirements. Structures built decades ago may comply with outdated codes but fall short of current safety standards. Unless these buildings undergo renovations and improvements, they typically remain exempt from updates. This raises an important question: How can we positively encourage dated buildings to adopt new technologies and safety measures without enforcing and/or waiting for renovations?Save this picture!Incentivizing homeowners to upgrade fire safety systems could yield widespread benefits, protecting lives and property while supporting the construction industry and reducing financial strains on insurers and governments. Emerging fire suppression technologies, originally designed for industrial or high-risk zones, are now inspiring potential residential applications. Modern fire suppression systems go beyond traditional heat-activated sprinklers, offering advanced solutions that could enhance home safety. These solutions offer greater flexibility, significantly reducing the need for extensive plumbing installations throughout the house, as traditional sprinkler systems require. This makes them more suitable for renovations and retrofitting existing homes.For example, innovative water suppression systems, such as automatic thermal imaging water cannons, are gaining traction within the market. Strategically placed, these systems can target and suppress fires at their source without requiring extensive plumbing infrastructural network, as is necessary for sprinkler systems. While these water cannons may quickly extinguish localized flames, they provide less comprehensive coverage than traditional sprinklers, offering a trade-off between targeted efficiency and broader protection.Save this picture!Can we envision a future where high-risk areas adopt resilient architecture, utilizing fire-resistant materials and advanced firefighting technologies? His evolving discussion highlights the importance of a multifaceted approach to fire safety. By integrating advancements in materials, suppression technologies, and urban planning; communities can develop more resilient strategies to protect lives and properties amid the growing challenges posed by climate change and natural disasters.Image gallerySee allShow lessAbout this authorJonathan YeungAuthorCite: Jonathan Yeung. "The Impact of Wildfires on Building Codes: Reflections on the Recent Los Angeles Fires" 27 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1026206/the-impact-of-wildfires-on-building-codes-reflections-on-the-recent-los-angeles-fires&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

Nature, Published online: 27 January 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00218-9Nobel laureate Steven Weinbergs posthumously published memoir details a swashbuckling life in physics.