A self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity rover, taken on June 15, 2018 NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSSWave ripplesthe undulating lines in sandy shores that form when the wind pushes shallow water back and forthare a common sight on Earths lakes and beaches. Now, NASAs Curiosity rover has identified two sets of ancient wave ripples on Mars, suggesting the presence of standing bodies of liquid water billions of years ago. Curiosity discovered the ripples in Mars Gale Crater region in 2022, as detailed in a study published this month in the journal Science Advances.We have been searching for these features since the Opportunity and Spirit landers began their missions in 2004, co-authorJohn Grotzinger, a geologist at the California Institute of Technology and former project scientist for Curiositys mission at NASAs Mars Science Laboratory, says in a statement.Previous missions discovered ripples formed by water flowing across the surface of ancient Mars, but it was uncertain if that water ever pooled to form lakes or shallow seas, Grotzinger continues. In 2014, Curiosity identified evidence of long gone but long-lived Martian lakes, and now, ten years later, Curiosity has discovered ancient lakes that were free of ice, offering an important insight into the planets early climate, he adds.The body of water that created the ripples must have been exposed to the wind, which is why the scientists deduced it was not covered in ice. In fact, solidified wave ripples are one of the most direct pieces of geological evidence for ancient bodies of standing water, per the statement.Curiosity found that the ripples are about 1.57 to 1.97 inches apart and approximately 0.24 inches high. The team plugged these measurements into a computer model, which used them to predict the presence of an ancient lake less than about 6.5 feet deep.Both sets of ripples are approximately 3.7 billion years old, but one is slightly older than the other. This suggests that atmospheric conditions allowed for the formation of standing water more than once in the planets history. Images taken by the Curiosity rover of wave ripples on Mars, annotated by the researchers Mondro et al., Science Advances, 2025The study joins a host of previous research proposing that, though Mars lost most of its atmosphere around the same time the ancient ripples formed, its bodies of water didnt immediately vanish.We can start to see that Mars didnt just have one wet period early in its history and then dried out, Edwin Kite, a geophysicist at the University of Chicago who led a previous study on ancient Martian rivers, told Space.coms Mike Wall in 2019. Its more complicated than that; there were multiple wet periods.The longer water existed on Mars surface, the more opportunities potential life could have had to evolve and inhabit the red world, Claire Mondro, a planetary geologist at the California Institute of Technology, explains in the statement.The discovery of the water ripples could influence future missions to Mars, suggests Eric Ralls of Earth.com. In fact, another team of scientists has recently investigated how water might have shaped Mars mysterious geology to inform an upcoming European Space Agency mission.The mounds in Chryse Planitia [a plain on Mars] are rich in clay minerals, meaning liquid water must have been present at the surface in large quantities nearly four billion years ago, Joe McNeil, a planetary scientist at the Natural History Museum in London and co-author of another study that came out earlier this year, said in a recent statement. The European Space Agencys upcoming Rosalind Franklin rover will explore nearby and could allow us to answer whether Mars ever had an ocean, and if it did, whether life could have existed there.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Astronomy, Geology, Mars, NASA, New Research, Outer Space, Planets, Solar System, Space Travel, Water

Endpoint, identity, and multi-domain attacks are dominating the enterprise threatscape today, fueled by new tradecraft invented using gen AI.Read More

The Movement Network Foundation, the organization dedicated to fostering innovation and advancing the adoption of MoveVM technology, is firing up its mainnet for blockchain apps including games. The group announced today the deployment of Movement Developer Mainnet, advancing its public mainnet journey. This phase continues the momentum from DecembRead More

Education software platform PowerSchool has started sending breach notifications to victims of a December 2024 cyberattack, but has yet to share how many people were affected or what exactly happened, reports BleepingComputer.PowerSchool, which has has more than 18,000 customers worldwide and serves over 60 million students, suffered a breach on December 28th that may have exposed personal data like names, addresses, Social Security numbers, medical information, and grades. In an update published on its website, PowerSchool says it has started notifying individuals in the US, Canada, and abroad affected by the security incident, including educators, current and former students, and parents and guardians as applicable. PowerSchool says it will offer affected students and educators complimentary identity theft protection services and two years of credit monitoring for adults.PowerSchool began the process of filing regulatory notifications with Attorneys General Offices across applicable US jurisdictions on behalf of impacted customers who have not opted-out of our offer to do so, the company wrote on its site. PowerSchool added its also starting to notify Canadian regulators and will send a separate update to international customers later in the week.PowerSchool has yet to release a detailed report disclosing what exactly happened or how many people have been affected. A breach notification posted on the Maines Attorney Generals office website reveals that33,488 people were impacted in Maine. The full scale of the breach could be much larger; attackers claimed in their extortion demand that they stole sensitive data from 62,488,628 students and 9,506,624 teachers, BleepingComputer reported.

Google Play will now display verification badges on approved VPNs as a way to highlight apps that prioritize user privacy and safety, the company announced on Tuesday. The new badge will appear on a VPN apps details page and within search results, proving that it meets specific standards outlined by Google.To qualify for the new verification badge, VPN apps must complete a Mobile Application Security Assessment (MASA) Level 2 validation, which evaluates an apps security. VPNs must also have at least 10,000 installs and 250 reviews, be published on Google Play for at least 90 days, submit information on how they collect user data, and opt in to independent security reviews. Google notes that while other factors contribute to the evaluation, completing these requirements significantly increase[s] a VPN apps chance of getting a verified badge.The update has good timing, as many users are downloading VPNs some of which may not be secure in order to gain access to TikTok, which still hasnt returned to Google Play or Apples App Store. VPN apps from Nord, hide.me, and Aloha have already received a verification badge.This builds on Googles efforts to provide more transparency and security in the Play Store. The company rolled out privacy labels in 2022 and later introduced a badge showing whether an app received an independent security review.

Learn Machine Learning like a PRO! 0 like January 28, 2025Share this postLast Updated on January 28, 2025 by Editorial TeamAuthor(s): Deltan Lobo Originally published on Towards AI. This member-only story is on us. Upgrade to access all of Medium.Photo by Markus Winkler on UnsplashYou might have wandered the internet for a complete roadmap to learn ML. You might have been flooded with tons of courses like Learn Machine Learning in 3 monthsMachine Learning SimplifiedLearn ML in 1 weekand there are several others like these.But all you need to know is to learn the specific concepts that are essential for you to be an ML person or engineer or whatever.So, after making several errors and watching countless hours of YouTube content, Ill try to make things easier for you.I am not here to sell you any course nor Im asking you to pay for a course. All the content that Ill provide is freely available on the internet.All the things I mention down would only work if you are CONSISTENT. Without consistency forget of being an ML engineer or ML geek.Ill provide some resources to learn stuff. Feel free to check out based on your preferred learning style or specific interests.Here are some things to remember when studying anything. Whether its machine learning or another type of technology. Youll do better in most situations if you learn Read the full blog for free on Medium.Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming asponsor. Published via Towards AITowards AI - Medium Share this post

In the new trailer for Sinners, Ryan Cooglers first foray into the horror genre, a worldly voice warns, There are legends of people where the gift of making music [is] so true, it can conjure spirits from the past and the future. This gift can bring fame and fortune, but it can also pierce the veil between life and death.For anyone steeped in the history of American music, such mysticism and menace is part and parcel for a story set in the South. Still, the vampires are a new innovation on the part of writer-director Cooglers film, which follows Michael B. Jordan in the dual roles of twin brothers trying to make ends meet in 1930s era Mississippi. But even then, as Coogler sees it, a vampire yarn naturally lends itself to something like the rhythm and blues, as well as how those sounds were demonized a hundreds years ago when Jim Crow was the law of the land.The film deals with American music, blues music, Coogler says during a press conference that Den of Geek attended ahead of Sinners trailer drop. The filmmaker goes on to note that he is directly pulling from the legends around famed blues musicians Tommy Johnson and Robert Johnson, who despite having no relation both were whispered to have sold their souls to the Devil at a crossroads in Mississippi for the gift of musical talent. (In actuality, Robert might have been so accused because he was one of the biggest names who dared to turn his back from playing church spirituals in favor of the profits of secular, godless music.)Says Coogler, When you think about the vampire as it exists, its got an association or a counterpart in almost every culture. But it is the supernatural creature most associated with seduction, thats most associated with choice. And that aspect is something thats very present when blues music was also called the Devils music. Theres a contrast between a secular lifestyle and [Christian morality]. So the film is in conversation with all those things, but the duality is always at the heart of it.That seduction is on full display in the glimpses we have seen of the film. A teaser over the weekend revealed smiling white faces (including a devilish-looking Jack OConnell) as they begged to be let into a blues juke joint run by the brothers Elijah and Elias (Jordan, both). This obviously hints at the classic vampire trope of being wary of who you invite in. Meanwhile a gorier scene shown exclusively to the press reveals the downsides of exactly that when one of Elijahs friends returns and now also is asking for an invitation after going off with those white devils.The film marks a chance for Coogler, who is on his fifth collaboration in as many films with Jordan, to dive into his influences and inspirations. Horror itself has long interested him, with the director saying, I think the genre is for the popular consumers of film, but its also a genre that comes up when people ask about great pieces of art. And I think its because it feels ancient, the first story told around a fire was probably a horror story.And the horror campfire tales of, say, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantinos From Dusk Till Dawn seem self-evident on Sinners. Even so, the director points out he is inspired just as much by Rodriguezs The Faculty, as well as plenty of Coen Brothers with Inside Llewyn Davis and O Brother, Where Art Thou? mentioned specifically (fitting since the latter also features a devil at a crossroads and a hell of a guitar player).The biggest influences, however, are intriguingly less cinematic than they are spiritually linked: one is among the more darkly amusing episodes of The Twilight Zone, The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank, a yarn about a Southern man in 1920s Missouri returning from the dead after his own funeral; the other is a 1975 Stephen King novel also about vampires, Salems Lot.Salems Lot is about the town, Coogler says, and this movie is about this community.Still, Coogler emphasizes the mixture of blues, vampirism, and Mississippi is hitting on a lot more than fictional reference points. In fact, it might very well be the most personal work in Cooglers oeuvre.My maternal grandfather is from Mississippi, Coogler says, and my Uncle James who passed away while I was finishing up Creed is also from Mississippi My maternal grandfather passed before I was born, but I grew up in the house that he built after he moved to California. And I was fortunate to have a really close relationship with my Uncle James. And the seed of it started with that relationship with my uncle. He would listen to blues music all the time. He would only talk about Mississippi when he was listening to that music. And he had a profound effect on my life.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!Exploring that ancestral history through a popular form of entertainment like horror, with the vampires and the blood, and via glorious IMAX photography (a genre first for the type of movies to use 65mm IMAX cameras), is all meant to immerse modern viewers into a bygone time and place.The film for me personally was a reclamation of a time period and a place that my family doesnt talk about much, Coogler acknowledges, because its a lot of feelings associated with our history. We go there, showing these people in their full humanity. Full of life and full of music.Sinners opens on April 18.

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Remember when spotting a drone in the sky was a novelty? Now its like playing whack-a-mole with flying machines. Delivery drones, military drones, AI drones, hobby drones our skies are busier than the queue at airport security. Without air traffic control, were one step away from midair collisions and drones arguing over parking spots.Enter AirDodge, a Norwegian startup thats stepping in to tame the chaos. The Oslo-based company just secured a $500,000 pre-seed funding round, led by VC firms Nordic Makers and Antler. The investment will help AirDodge develop its U-Space software platform, designed to manage large-scale drone operations across Europe.At AirDodge, we envision a future where drones seamlessly integrate into the airspace, contributing positively to various industries while ensuring safety and compliance, said Umar Chughtai, who founded AirDodge in 2022. This funding will allow us to accelerate the development of our U-Space platform, bringing us closer to realising that vision.The AirDodge platform provides a real-time map of drone activity and aims to simplify the process of obtaining flight permissions. The tech aligns with the EUs U-Space standards which are designed to provide safe, efficient and secure access to airspace for large numbers of unmanned aircraft, operating automatically and beyond visual line of sight.The of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!In 2018, Londons Gatwick airport was forced to shut down after drones were spotted flying near the runway. The incident affected around 1,000 flights and 140,000 passengers. Many similar incidents have occurred over the years, from Stockholm to Frankfurt.If AirDodges tech had been around during the Gatwick fiasco, it couldve spotted the rogue drones in real-time, flagged them faster than airport security can confiscate a water bottle, and perhaps kept flights running smoothly. By enforcing no-fly zones and syncing drones with air traffic control, the platform might have saved 140,000 passengers a lot of headaches (and missed connections).Drone technology has the potential to have a positive impact on society, business and public services, but there is not yet a way to guarantee safety, said Kristian Jul Rsj, partner at Antler. High-profile disruptions are hindering the development of this technology and AirDodge will provide a much-needed solution.AirDodge will use the pre-seed funding to accelerate the development of its platform. The company aims to launch the alpha version in mid-2025.Across the EU, the market for drone services is soaring. One projection valuing it at 14.5bn by 2030, bringing in 145,000 new jobs. But as drones proliferate, so do the challenges.We have the drones, but we lack the infrastructure, said Nima Tisdall, partner at Nordic Makers. In this case, the infrastructure is not roads, plumbing, or electrical wires; but rather ethereal communication systems.Tisdall added that Airdodge had unusual strengths for the region.The founding team is forceful and ambitious qualities that can be surprisingly rare to find in Nordic entrepreneurs, but integral in building a category-winning business, she said. Were excited to be supporting a local player who can help unlock the large-scale adoption of drones across Europe. Story by Sin Geschwindt Sin is a climate and energy reporter at TNW. From nuclear fusion to escooters, he covers the length and breadth of Europe's clean tech ecos (show all) Sin is a climate and energy reporter at TNW. From nuclear fusion to escooters, he covers the length and breadth of Europe's clean tech ecosystem. He's happiest sourcing a scoop, investigating the impact of emerging technologies, and even putting them to the test. Sin has five years journalism experience and holds a dual degree in media and environmental science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Get the TNW newsletterGet the most important tech news in your inbox each week.Also tagged with

Stunning AI advances from Chinese startup DeepSeek have sent tech stocks tumbling across the US and Europe.DeepSeek released a free chatbot and new open-source AI models last week. Within days, the chatbot had overtaken ChatGPT to reach the top spot on the Apple App Stores free app rankings.The new R1 models sent further shockwaves through the AI world. R1 promised performance to rival OpenAI tops reasoning model at just a fraction of the cost. Marc Andreessen, one of the worlds most powerful VCs, called the release AIs Sputnik moment.The markets were also astounded. Shaken by the threat of a powerful, low-cost AI challenger from China, shares in US tech titans plummeted on Monday. Chip designer Nvidia set an alarming example. The chip designer suffered the largest rout in stock market history.The of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!European semiconductor firms were also hit hard. Shares in Dutch chip leader ASML the continents most valuable public tech company slumped by as much as 12%.Semiconductor firms Besi and Asm International also endured double-digit drops. Yet chip companies were not the only European businesses to feel a painful impacts.The continents power equipment makers were also clobbered. Stocks plummeted particularly sharply at Germanys Siemens Energy and Frances Schneider Electric.Amid the market torment, DeepSeek has also sparked excitement. By offering powerful yet affordable open-source models, the startup could accelerate the spread of AIs benefits across the world. For the sectors established leaders, however, the landscape has been shaken. Story by Thomas Macaulay Managing editor Thomas is the managing editor of TNW. He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers. Away from work, he e (show all) Thomas is the managing editor of TNW. He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers. Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse). Get the TNW newsletterGet the most important tech news in your inbox each week.Also tagged with