The latest report on Apples plans for a larger iMac suggest that the company may still be missing something.Apple did something almost unprecedented back in 2023 when it specifically confirmed there was no new 27-inch iMac on the way, but it did leave the door open for a larger iMac perhaps something with a 32-inch screen. But a report from Mark Gurman yesterday threw something of a spanner in the works A rare exception to Apples secrecyApple is famously secretive about its plans for future products, dating back to a strongly held belief by co-founder Steve Jobs. Steve argued that there was a magic to a surprise announcement which would be lost or diluted if the company revealed its plans ahead of time.Tech writers know theres no point asking Apple to comment on any product rumors, but you do get the occasional optimistic analyst raising questions in earnings reports. Apple always responds the same way, with a statement that it doesnt comment on reports of unannounced products, on its product roadmaps, on its future plans, or similar.Back in November 2023, however, there was a very rare exception. Asked about the fact that it hadnt launched an Apple Silicon version of the 27-inch iMac, the company said that it wouldnt be doing so.Leaving the door open for a larger iMacAs we noted at the time, that didnt mean it was ruling out a larger iMac than the 24-inch model. Weve been arguing for years that it was time for an iMac with a larger screen than 27 inches.Its not 2009 anymore. We now live in a world where 34-inch monitors are commonplace, 40-inch ones are not unusual and there are even 49-inch models around. Alongside these, the iMac display, impressive as it is in terms of resolution, looks cramped.andToday, 27-inch monitors are very commonly used in dual and triple monitor setups, rather than on their own.Of course, Ive also argued that a larger iMac could be considered redundant. If you want a large-screen Mac, you can buy an Apple Silicon Mac mini and the monitor of your choice. The Mac is small enough to even attach to the back of the monitor.But 27-inch iMac owners in the comments were quick to disagree.In what world is Stick it behind the display, and you never even have to see it the Apple way? Have we lowered our standards to the point where were willing to accept moving backwards from a single box that does everything?From similar comments there and elsewhere, it became clear that there are plenty of people who dont want to compromise on the all-in-one form factor. And a report from Mark Gurman over the weekend seemed to offer hope.But the latest report is missing somethingIt wasnt exactly Gurmans most definitive statement to begin with:Apple also will probablyeventually get around to offering a larger-screen iMac.Probably and eventually are not encouraging words for those waiting impatiently to upgrade. But when we put that line in context, it gets even less reassuring:The company remainsinterested in the professional market, though, and itsplanning newMac Pro and Mac Studio models.Apple also will probablyeventually get around to offering a larger-screen iMac.The implication here is that Apple sees a larger iMac as a professional product, pointing to a future iMac Pro with a bigger screen. Whats missing here is anything about a bigger consumer-level iMac. And thats what many seem to want.Right now, if I were an Intel 27-inch iMac owner whos been waiting to upgrade to an Apple Silicon model, and isnt interested in downgrading to a 24-inch screen, Id be feeling pretty depressed.Image: Apple/9to5MacAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Feb 17, 2025The Hacker NewsEnterprise Security / Attack SimulationCyber threats evolvehas your defense strategy kept up? A new free guide available here explains why Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) is the smart approach for proactive cybersecurity.This concise report makes a clear business case for why CTEM's comprehensive approach is the best overall strategy for shoring up a business's cyber defenses in the face of evolving attacks. It also presents a real-world scenario that illustrates how the business would fare against a formjacking attack under three security frameworks - Vulnerability Management (VM), Attack Surface Management (ASM), and CTEM. With VM, the attack might go unnoticed for weeks. With CTEM, simulated attacks detect and neutralize it before it starts.Reassuringly, it also explains that CTEM builds on a business's current VM and ASM solutions rather than requiring them to jettison anything they currently use.But firstWhat is CTEM?In response to increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, Gartner introduced Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) in 2022 as a more proactive security strategy. It laid out a five-step sequence of phases:VM and ASM LimitationsWith CTEM's holistic approach, security teams can assess both internal and external threats and respond based on business priorities. Part of the problem with relying on a VM framework is that it focuses on identifying and patching known vulnerabilities within a company's internal infrastructure. It's limited in scope and reactive by nature, so while this approach may be useful for dealing with an attack at the moment, VM-oriented solutions don't look beyond that. ASM offers a wider scope but is still limited. It provides visibility into external assets but lacks continuous validation capabilities, as the report explains.CTEM combines the strengths of VM and ASM but also provides continuous monitoring, threat validation, attack simulation, penetration testing, and prioritization based on business impact.CTEM is More Business-RelevantFor CISOs, prioritizing security efforts based on business impact is critical. Modern websites are highly dynamic, so security teams don't have the time to block and investigate every single change that might occur without severely limiting website functionality and negatively affecting the business.CTEM seeks to strike a balance between the competing demands of risk and cost by identifying and prioritizing the most potentially damaging risk factors. The level of risk that each business is willing to accept is referred to as its risk appetite, and by implementing a CTEM solution, it can respond to the threats it faces according to its own unique definition of where that level lies.CTEM is a mature and effective strategy for managing today's complex threat landscape, and while it can unlock better security cost-effectively, it does require strategic implementation. There are various CTEM solutions on the market that will fulfill the requirements of some or all of the implementation stages, and the downloadable PDF lists several of them (as well as a selection of VM and ASM solutions). A good one will map all assets in a website's digital infrastructure and monitor them for the kind of changes that signal the start of Magecart, ransomware, and other attacks, deliver timely alerts according to the company's risk appetite, assist with compliance monitoring, and more. Download the guide now to learn how CTEM can proactively protect your business from formjacking, ransomware, and other advanced threats.Found this article interesting? This article is a contributed piece from one of our valued partners. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

Eske Willerslev was on a tour of Montreals Redpath Museum, a Victorian-era natural history collection of 700,000 objects, many displayed in wood and glass cabinets. The collectionvery, very eclectic, a curator explainedreflects the taste in souvenirs of 19th-century travelers and geology buffs. A visitor can see a leg bone from an extinct Stellers sea cow, a suit of samurai armor, a stuffed cougar, and two human mummies. Willerslev, a well-known specialist in obtaining DNA from old bones and objects, saw potential biological samples throughout this hodgepodge of artifacts. Glancing at a small Egyptian cooking pot, he asked the tour leader, Do you ever find any grain in these? After studying a dinosaur skeleton that proved to be a cast, not actual bone, he said: Too bad. There can be proteins on the teeth. I am always thinking, Is there something interesting to take DNA from? he said, glancing at the curators. But they dont like it, because Willerslev, who until recently traveled with a small power saw, made a back-and-forth slicing motion with his hand. Willerslev was visiting Montreal to receive a science prize from the World Cultural Councilone previously given to the string theorist Edward Witten and the astrophysicist Margaret Burbidge, for her work on quasars. Willerslev won it for numerous breakthroughs in evolutionary genetics. These include recovering the first more or less complete genome of an ancient man, in 2010, and setting a record for the oldest genetic material ever retrieved: 2.4-million-year-old genes from a frozen mound in Greenland, which revealed that the Arctic desert was once a forest, complete with poplar, birch, and roaming mastodons. These findings are only part of a wave of discoveries from whats being called an ancient-DNA revolution, in which the same high-speed equipment used to study the DNA of living things is being turned on specimens from the past. At the Globe Institute, part of the University of Copenhagen, where Willerslev works, theres a freezer full of human molars and ear bones cut from skeletons previously unearthed by archaeologists. Another holds sediment cores drilled from lake bottoms, in which his group is finding traces of entire ecosystems that no longer exist. Were literally walking on DNA, both from the present and from the past. Eske Willerslev Thanks to a few well-funded labs like the one in Copenhagen, the gene time machine has never been so busy. There are genetic maps of saber-toothed cats, cave bears, and thousands of ancient humans, including Vikings, Polynesian navigators, and numerous Neanderthals. The total number of ancient humans studied is more than 10,000 and rising fast, according to a December 2024 tally that appeared in Nature. The sources of DNA are increasing too. Researchers managed to retrieve an Ice Age womans genome from a carved reindeer tooth, whose surface had absorbed her DNA. Others are digging at cave floors and coming up with records of people and animals that lived there. Were literally walking on DNA, both from the present and from the past, Willerslev says. Eske Willerslev leads one of a handful of laboratories pioneering the extraction and sequencing of ancient DNA from humans, animals, and the environment. His groups main competition is at Harvard University and at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.JONAS PRYNER ANDERSEN The old genes have already revealed remarkable stories of human migrations around the globe. But researchers are hoping ancient DNA will be more than a telescope on the pastthey hope it will have concrete practical use in the present. Some have already started mining the DNA of our ancestors for clues to the origin of modern diseases, like diabetes and autoimmune conditions. Others aspire to use the old genetic data to modify organisms that exist today. At Willerslevs center, for example, a grant of 500 million kroner ($69 million) from the foundation that owns the Danish drug company Novo Nordisk is underwriting a project whose aims include incorporating DNA variation from plants that lived in ancient climates into the genomes of food crops like barley, wheat, and rice. The plan is to redesign crops and even entire ecosystems to resist rising temperatures or unpredictable weather, and it is already underwaylast year, barley shoots bearing genetic information from plants that lived in Greenland 2 million years ago, when temperatures there were far higher than today, started springing up in experimental greenhouses. Willerslev, who started out looking for genetic material in ice cores, is leaning into this possibility as the next frontier of ancient-DNA research, a way to turn it from historical curiosity to potential planet-saver. If nothing is done to help food crops adapt to climate change, people will starve, he says. But if we go back into the past in different climate regimes around the world, then we should be able to find genetic adaptations that are useful. Its natures own response to a climate event. And can we get that? Yes, I believe we can. Shreds and traces In 1993, just a day before the release of the blockbuster Steven Spielberg film Jurassic Park, scientists claimed in a paper that they had extracted DNA from a 120-million-year-old weevil preserved in amber. The discovery seemed to bring the films premise of a cloned T. rex closer to reality. Sooner or later, a scientist said at the time, were going to find amber containing some biting insect that filled its stomach with blood from a dinosaur. But those results turned out to be falselikely the result of contamination by modern DNA. The problem is that modern DNA is much more abundant than whats left in an old tooth or sample of dirt. Thats because the genetic molecule is constantly chomped on by microbes and broken up by water and radiation. Over time, the fragments get smaller and smaller, until most are so short that no one can tell whether they belonged to a person or a saber-toothed cat. Imagine an ancient genome as a big old book, and that all the pages have been torn out, put through a shredder, and tossed into the air to be lost with the wind. Only a few shreds of paper remain. Even worse, they are mixed with shreds of paper from other books, old and new, says Elizabeth Jones, a science historian. Her 2022 book, Ancient DNA: The Making of a Celebrity Science, details researchers overwhelming fear of contaminationboth literal, from modern DNA, and of the more figurative sort that can occur when scientists are so tempted by the prospect of fame and being first that they risk spinning sparse data into far-fetched stories. When I entered the field, my supervisor said this is a very, very dodgy path to take, says Willerslev. But the problem of mixed-up and fragmented old genes was largely solved beginning in 2005, when US companies first introduced ultra-fast next-generation machinery for analyzing genomes. These machines, meant for medical research, required short fragments for fast performance. And ancient-DNA researchers found they could use them to brute-force their way through even poorly preserved samples. Almost immediately, they started recovering large parts of the genomes of cave bears and woolly mammoths. Ancient humans were not far behind. Willerslev, who was not yet famous, didnt have access to human bones, and definitely not the bones of Neanderthals (the best ones had been corralled by the scientist Svante Pbo, who was already analyzing them with next-gen sequencers in Germany). But Willerslev did learn about a six-inch-long tuft of hair collected from a 4,000-year-old midden, or trash heap, on Greenlands coast. The hair had been stored in a plastic bag in Denmarks National Museum for years. When he asked about it, curators told him they thought it was human but couldnt be sure. Well, I mean, do you know any other animal in Greenland with straight black hair? he says. Not really, right? The hair turned out to contain well-preserved DNA, and in 2010, Willerslev published a paper in Nature describing the genome of an extinct Paleo-Eskimo. It was the first more or less complete human genome from the deep past. What it showed was a man with type A+ blood, probably brown eyes and thick dark hair, andmost tellinglyno descendants. His DNA code had unique patterns not found in the Inuit who occupy Greenland today. Give the archaeologists credit because they have the hypothesis. But we can nail it and say, Yes, this is what happened. Lasse Vinner The hair had come from a site once occupied by a group called the Saqqaq, who first reached Greenland around 4,500 years ago. Archaeologists already knew that the Saqqaqs particular style of making bird darts and spears had vanished suddenly, but perhaps that was because theyd merged with another group or moved away. Now the mans genome, with specific features pointing to a genetic dead end, suggested they really had died out, very possibly because extreme isolation, and inbreeding, had left them vulnerable. Maybe there was a bad year when the migrating reindeer did not appear. Give the archaeologists credit because they have the hypothesis. But we can nail it and say, Yes, this is what happened, says Lasse Vinner, who oversees daily operations at the Copenhagen ancient-DNA lab. Weve substantiated or falsified a number of archaeological hypotheses. In November, Vinner, zipped into head-to-toe white coveralls, led a tour through the Copenhagen labs, located in the basement of the citys Natural History Museum. Samples are processed there in a series of cleanrooms under positive air pressure. In one, the floors were still wet with bleachjust one of the elaborate measures taken to prevent modern DNA from getting in, whether from a researchers shoes or from floating pollen. Its partly because of the costly technologies, cleanrooms, and analytical expertise required for the work that research on ancient human DNA is dominated by a few powerful labsin Copenhagen, at Harvard University, and in Leipzig, Germanythat engage in fierce competition for valuable samples and discoveries. A 2019 New York Times Magazine investigation described the field as an oligopoly, rife with perverse incentives and a smash-and-grab culturein other words, artifact chasing straight out of Raiders of the Lost Ark. To get his share, Willerslev has relied on his growing celebrity, projecting the image of a modern-day explorer who is always ready to trade his tweeds for muck boots and venture to some frozen landscape or Native American cave. Add to that a tale of redemption. Willerslev often recounts his struggles in school and as a would-be mink hunter in Siberia (Im not only a bad studentIm also a tremendously bad trapper, he says) before his luck changed once he found science. This narrative has made him a favorite on television programs like Nova and secured lavish funding from Danish corporations. His first autobiography was titled From Fur Hunter to Professor. A more recent one is called simply Its a Fucking Adventure. Peering into the past The scramble for old bones has produced a parade of headlines about the peopling of the planet, and especially of western Eurasiafrom Iceland to Tehran, roughly. Thats where most ancient DNA samples originate, thanks to colder weather, centuries of archaeology, and active research programs. At the National Museum in Copenhagen, some skeletons on display to the public have missing teethteeth that ended up in the Globe Institutes ancient-DNA lab as part of a project to analyze 5,000 sets of remains from Eurasia, touted as the largest single trove of old genomes yet. What ancient DNA uncovered in Europe is a broad-brush story of three population waves of modern humans. First to come out of Africa were hunter-gatherers who dispersed around the continent, followed by farmers who spread out of Anatolia starting 11,000 years ago. That wave saw the establishment of agriculture and ceramics and brought new stone tools. Last came a sweeping incursion of people (and genes) from the plains of modern Ukraine and Russiaanimal herders known as the Yamnaya, who surged into Western Europe spreading the roots of the Indo-European languages now spoken from Dublin to Bombay. Mixed history The DNA in ancient human skeletons reveals prehistoric migrations. The genetic background of Europeans was shaped by three major migrations starting about 45,000 years ago. First came hunter-gatherers. Next came farmers from Anatolia, bringing crops and new ways of living. Lastly, mobile herders called the Yamnaya spread from the steppes of modern Russia and Ukraine. The DNA in ancient skeletons holds a record of these dramatic population changes. Adapted from 100 ancient genomes show repeated population turnovers in Neolithic Denmark, Nature, January 10, 2024, and Tracing the peopling of the world through genomics, Nature, January 18, 2017 Archaeologists had already pieced together an outline of this history through material culture, examining shifts in pottery styles and burial methods, the switch from stone axes to metal ones. Some attributed those changes to cultural transmission of knowledge rather than population movements, a view encapsulated in the phrase pots, not people. However, ancient DNA showed that much of the change was, in fact, the result of large-scale migration, not all of which looks peaceful. Indeed, in Denmark, the hunter-gatherer DNA signature all but vanishes within just two generations after the arrival of farmers during the late Stone Age. To Willerslev, the rapid population replacement looks like some kind of genocide, to be honest. Its a guess, of course, but how else to explain the limited genetic contribution to subsequent generations of the blue-eyed, dark-haired locals whod fished and hunted around Denmarks islands for nearly 5,000 years? Certainly, the bodies in Copenhagens museums suggest violencesome have head injuries, and one still has arrows in it. In other cases, its obvious that populations met and mixed; the average ethnic European today shares some genetic contribution from all three founding groupshunter, farmer, and herderand a little bit from Neanderthals, too.We had the idea that people stay put, and if things change, its because people learned to do something new, through movements of ideas, says Willerslev. Ancient DNA showed that is not the casethat the transitions from hunter-gatherers to farming, from bronze to iron, from iron to Viking, [are] actually due to people coming and going, mixing up and bringing new knowledge. It means the world that we observe today, with Poles in Poland and Greeks in Greece, is very, very young. With an increasing number of old bodies giving up their DNA secrets, researchers have started to search for evidence of genetic adaptation that has occurred in humans since the last ice age (which ended about 12,000 years ago), a period that the Copenhagen group noted, in a January 2024 report, involved some of the most dramatic changes in diet, health, and social organization experienced during recent human evolution. Every human gene typically comes in a few different possible versions, and by studying old bodies, its possible to see which of these versions became more common or less so with timepotentially an indicator that theyre under selection, meaning they influenced the odds that a person stayed alive to reproduce. These pressures are often closely tied to the environment. One clear signal that pops out of ancient European genes is a trend toward lighter skinwhich makes it easier to produce vitamin D in the face of diminished sunlight and a diet based on grains. DNA from ancient human skeletons could help us understand the origins of modern diseases, like multiple sclerosis.MIKAL SCHLOSSER/UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN New technology and changing lifestyleslike agriculture and living in proximity to herd animals (and their diseases)were also potent forces. Last fall, when Harvard University scientists scanned DNA from skeletons, they said theyd detected rampant evidence of evolutionary action. The shifts appeared especially in immune system genes and in a definite trend toward less body fat, the genetic markers of which they found had decreased significantly over ten millennia. That finding, they said, was consistent with the thrifty gene hypothesis, a feast-or-famine theory developed in the 1960s, which states that before the development of farming, people needed to store up more food energy, but doing so became less of an advantage as food became more abundant. Many of the same genes that put people at risk for multiple sclerosis today almost certainly had some benefit in the past. Such discoveries could start to explain some modern disease mysteries, such as why multiple sclerosis is unusually common in Nordic countries, a pattern that has perplexed doctors. The condition seems to be a latitudinal disease, becoming more prevalent the farther north you go; theories have pointed to factors including the relative lack of sunlight. In January of last year, the Copenhagen team, along with colleagues, claimed that ancient DNA had solved the riddle, saying the increased risk could be explained in part by the very high amount of Yamnaya ancestry among people in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. When they looked at modern people, they found that mutations known to increase the risk of multiple sclerosis were far more likely to occur in stretches of DNA people had inherited from these Yamnaya ancestors than in parts of their genomes originating elsewhere. Theres a twist to the story: Many of the same genes that put people at risk for multiple sclerosis today almost certainly had some benefit in the past. In fact, theres a clear signal these gene versions were once strongly favored and on the increase. Will Barrie, a postdoc at Cambridge University who collaborated on the research, says the benefit could have been related to germs and infections that these pastoralists were getting from animals. But if modern people dont face the same exposures, their immune system might still try to box at shadows, resulting in autoimmune disease. That aligns with evidence that children who arent exposed to enough pathogens may be more likely to develop allergies and other problems later in life. I think the whole sort of lesson of this work is, like, we are living with immune systems that we have inherited from our past, says Barrie. And weve plunged it into a completely new, modern environment, which is often, you know, sanitary. Telling stories about human evolution often involves substantial guessworkfindings are frequently reversed. But the researchers in Copenhagen say they will be trying to more systematically scan the past for health clues. In addition to the DNA of ancient peoples, theyre adding genetic information on what pathogens these people were infected with (germs based on DNA, like plague bacteria, can also get picked up by the sequencers), as well as environmental data, such as average temperatures at points in the past, or the amount of tree cover, which can give an idea of how much animal herding was going on. The resulting panelsof people, pathogens, and environmentscould help scientists reach stronger conclusions about cause and effect. Some see in this research the promise of a new kind of evolutionary medicinedrugs tailored to your ancestry. However, the research is not far enough along to propose a solution for multiple sclerosis. For now, its just interesting. Barrie says several multiple sclerosis patients have written him and said they were comforted to think their affliction had an explanation. We know that [the genetic variants] were helpful in the past. Theyre there for a reason, a good reasonthey really did help your ancestors survive, he says. I hope thats helpful to people in some sense. Bringing things back In Jurassic Park, which was the highest-grossing movie of all time until Titanic came out in 1997, scientists dont just get hold of old DNA. They also use it to bring dinosaurs back to life, a development that leads to action-packed and deadly consequences. The idea seemed like fantasy when the film debuted. But Jurassic Park presaged current ambitions to bring past genes into the present. Some of these efforts are small in scale. In 2021, for instance, researchers added a Neanderthal gene to human cells and turned those into brain organoids, which they reported were smaller and lumpier than expected. Others are aiming for living animals. Texas-based Colossal Biosciences, which calls itself the first de-extinction company, says it will be trying to use a combination of gene editing, cloning, and artificial wombs to re-create extinct species such as mammoths and the Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine. Colossal recently recruited a well-known paleogenomics expert, Beth Shapiro, to be its chief scientist. In 2022, Shapiro, previously an advisor to the company, said that she had sequenced the genome of an extinct dodo bird from a skull kept in a museum. The past, by its nature, is different from anything that exists today, says Shapiro, explaining that Colossal is reaching into the past to discoverevolutionary innovations that we might use to help species and ecosystems thrive today and into the future. The idea of bringing extinct animals back to life seemed like fantasy when Jurassic Park debuted. But the film presaged current ambitions to bring past genes into the present. Its not yet clear how realistic the companys plan to reintroduce missing species and restore natures balance really is, although the public would likely buy tickets to see even a poor copy of an extinct animal. Some similar practical questions surround the large grant Willerslev won last year from the philanthropic foundation of Novo Nordisk, whose anti-obesity drugs have turned it into Denmarks most valuable company. The projects concept is to read the blueprints of long-gone ecosystems and look for geneticinformation that might help major food crops succeed in shorter or hotter growing seasons. Willerslev says hes concerned that climate change will be unpredictableits hard to say if it will be too wet in any particular area or too dry. But the past could offer a data bank of plausible solutions, which he thinks needs to be prepared now. The prototype project is already underway using unusual mutations in plant DNA found in the 2-million-year-old dirt samples from Greenland. Some of these have been introduced into modern barley plants by the Carlsberg Group, a brewer that is among the worlds largest beer companies and operates an extensive crop lab in Copenhagen. Eske Willerslev collects samples in the Canadian Arctic during a summer 2024 field trip. DNA preserved in soil could help determine how megafauna, like the woolly mammoth, went extinct.RYAN WILKES/UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN One gene being studied is for a blue-light receptor, a protein that helps plants decide when to flowera trait also of interest to modern breeders. Two and a half million years ago, the world was warm, and parts of Greenland particularly somore than 10 C hotter than today. That is why vegetation could grow there. But Greenland hasnt moved, so the plants must have also been specially adapted to the stress of a months-long dusk followed by weeks of 24-hour sunlight. Willerslev says barley plants with the mutation are already being grown under different artificial light conditions, to see the effects. Our hypothesis is that you could use ancient DNA to identify new traits and as a blueprint for modern crop breeding, says Birgitte Skadhauge, who leads the Carlsberg Research Laboratory. The immediate question is whether barley can grow in the high northsay, in Greenland or upper Norway, something that could be important on a warming planet. The research is considered exploratory and separate from Carlsbergs usual commercial efforts to discover useful traits that cut costsof interest since it brews 10 billion liters of beer a year, or enough to fill the Empire State Building nine times. Scientists often try hit-or-miss strategies to change plant traits. But Skadhauge says plants from unusual environments, like a warm Greenland during the Pleistocene era, will have incorporated the DNA changes that are important already. Nature, you know, actually adapted the plants, she says. It already picked the mutation that was useful to it. And if nature has adapted to climate change over so many thousands of years, why not reuse some of that genetic information? Many of the lake cores being tapped by the Copenhagen researchers cover more recent times, only 3,000 to 10,000 years ago. But the researchers can also use those to search for ideassay, by tracing the genetic changes humans imposed on barley as they bred it to become one of humanitys founder crops. Among the earliest changes people chose were those leading to naked seeds, since seeds with a sticky husk, while good for making beer, tend to be less edible. Skadhauge says the team may be able to reconstruct barleys domestication, step by step. There isnt much precedent for causing genetic information to time-travel forward. To avoid any Jurassic Parktype mishaps, Willerslev says, hes building a substantial ethics team for dealing with questions about what does it mean if youre introducing ancient traits into the world. The team will have to think about the possibility that those plants could outcompete todays varieties, or that the benefits would be unevenly distributedhelping northern countries, for example, and not those closer to the equator. Willerslev says his labs evolution away from human bones toward much older DNA is intentional. He strongly hints that the team has already beat its own record for the oldest genes, going back even more than 2.4 million years. And as the first to look further back in time, hes certain to make big discoveriesand more headlines. Its a blue ocean, he saysone that no one has ever seen. A new adventure, he says, is practically guaranteed.

Many artists worry about the encroachment of artificial intelligence on artistic creation. But Sougwen Chung, a nonbinary Canadian-Chinese artist, instead sees AI as an opportunity for artists to embrace uncertainty and challenge people to think about technology and creativity in unexpected ways. Chungs exhibitions are driven by technology; theyre also live and kinetic, with the artwork emerging in real time. Audiences watch as the artist works alongside or surrounded by one or more robots, human and machine drawing simultaneously. These works are at the frontier of what it means to make art in an age of fast-accelerating artificial intelligence and robotics. I consistently question the idea of technology as just a utilitarian instrument, says Chung. [Chung] comes from drawing, and then they start to work with AI, but not like weve seen in this generative AI movement where its all about generating images on screen, says Sofian Audry, an artist and scholar at the University of Quebec in Montreal, who studies the relationships that artists establish with machines in their work. [Chung is] really into this idea of performance. So theyre turning their drawing approach into a performative approach where things happen live. Audiences watch as Chung works alongside or surrounded by robots, human and machine drawing simultaneously. The artwork, Chung says, emerges not just in the finished piece but in all the messy in-betweens. My goal, they explain, isnt to replace traditional methods but to deepen and expand them, allowing art to arise from a genuine meeting of human and machine perspectives. Such a meeting took place in January 2025 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where Chung presented Spectral, a performative art installation featuring painting by robotic arms whose motions are guided by AI that combines data from earlier works with real-time input from an electroencephalogram. My alpha state drives the robots behavior, translating an internal experience into tangible, spatial gestures, says Chung, referring to brain activity associated with being quiet and relaxed. Works like Spectral, they say, show how AI can move beyond being just an artistic toolor threatto become a collaborator. Spectral, a performative art installation presented in January, featured robotic arms whose drawing motions were guided by real-time input from an EEG worn by the artist.COURTESY OF THE ARTIST Through AI, says Chung, robots can perform in unexpected ways. Creating art in real time allows these surprises to become part of the process: Live performance is a crucial component of my work. It creates a real-time relationship between me, the machine, and an audience, allowing everyone to witness the systems unpredictabilities and creative possibilities. Chung grew up in Canada, the child of immigrants from Hong Kong. Their father was a trained opera singer, their mom a computer programmer. Growing up, Chung played multiple musical instruments, and the family was among the first on the block to have a computer. I was raised speaking both the language of music and the language of code, they say. The internet offered unlimited possibilities: I was captivated by what I saw as a nascent, optimistic frontier. Their early works, mostly ink drawings on paper, tended to be sprawling, abstract explosions of form and line. But increasingly, Chung began to embrace performance. Then in 2015, at 29, after studying visual and interactive art in college and graduate school, they joined the MIT Media Lab as a research fellow. I was inspired by the idea that the robotic form could be anythinga sculptural embodied interaction, they say. Drawing Operations Unit: Generation 1 (DOUG 1) was the first of Chungs collaborative robots.COURTESY OF THE ARTIST Chung found open-source plans online and assembled a robotic arm that could hold its own pencil or paintbrush. They added an overhead camera and computer vision software that could analyze the video stream of Chung drawing and then tell the arm where to make its marks to copy Chungs work. The robot was named Drawing Operations Unit: Generation 1, or DOUG 1. The goal was mimicry: As the artist drew, the arm copied. Except it didnt work out that way. The arm, unpredictably, made small errant movements, creating sketches that were similar to Chungsbut not identical. These mistakes became part of the creative process. One of the most transformative lessons Ive learned is to poeticize error, Chung says. That mindset has given me a real sense of resilience, because Im no longer afraid of failing; I trust that the failures themselves can be generative. DOUG 3COURTESY OF THE ARTIST For the next iteration of the robot, DOUG 2, which launched in 2017, Chung spent weeks training a recurrent neural network using their earlier work as the training data. The resulting robot used a mechanical arm to generate new drawings during live performances. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London acquired the DOUG 2 model as part of a sculptural exhibit of Chungs work in 2022. DOUG 2COURTESY OF THE ARTIST DOUG 4COURTESY OF THE ARTIST For a third iteration of DOUG, Chung assembled a small swarm of painting robots, their movements dictated by data streaming into the studio from surveillance cameras that tracked people and cars on the streets of New York City. The robots paths around the canvas followed the citys flow. DOUG 4, the version behind Spectral, connects to an EEG headset that transmits electrical signal data from Chungs brain to the robotic arms, which then generate drawings based on those signals. The spatiality of performance and the tactility of instrumentsrobotics, painting, paintbrushes, sculpturehas a grounding effect for me, Chung says. Artistic practices like drawing, painting, performance, and sculpture have their own creative language, Chung adds. So too does technology. I find it fascinating to [study the] material histories of all these mediums and [find] my place within it, and without it, they say. It feels like contributing to something that is my own and somehow much larger than myself. The rise of faster, better AI models has brought a flood of concern about creativity, especially given that generative technology is trained on existing art. I think theres a huge problem with some of the generative AI technologies, and theres a big threat to creativity, says Audry, who worries that people may be tempted to disengage from creating new kinds of art. If people get their work stolen by the system and get nothing out of it, why would they go and do it in the first place? Chung agrees that the rights and work of artists should be celebrated and protected, not poached to fuel generative models, but firmly believes that AI can empower creative pursuits. Training your own models and exploring how your own data work within the feedback loop of an AI system can offer a creative catalyst for art-making, they say. And they are not alone in thinking that the technology threatening creative art also presents extraordinary opportunities. Theres this expansion and mixing of disciplines, and people are breaking lines and creating mixes, says Audry, who is thrilled with the approaches taken by artists like Chung. Deep learning is supporting that because its so powerful, and robotics, too, is supporting that. So thats great. Zihao Zhang, an architect at the City College of New York who has studied the ways that humans and machines influence each others actions and behaviors, sees Chungs work as offering a different story about human-machine interactions. Were still kind of trapped in this idea of AI versus human, and which ones better, he says. AI is often characterized in the media and movies as antagonistic to humanitysomething that can replace our workers or, even worse, go rogue and become destructive. He believes Chung challenges such simplistic ideas: Its no longer about competition, but about co-production. Though people have valid reasons to worry, Zhang says, in that many developers and large companies are indeed racing to create technologies that may supplant human workers, works like Chungs subvert the idea of either-or. Chung believes that artificial intelligence is still human at its core. It relies on human data, shaped by human biases, and it impacts human experiences in turn, they say. These technologies dont emerge in a vacuumtheres real human effort and material extraction behind them. For me, art remains a space to explore and affirm human agency. Stephen Ornes is a science writer based in Nashville.

Practice to work up plans for buildings up to 31 storeys tall on Camley Street scheme, part of north Londons Knowledge QuarterMorris & Co will design Site B, with FCBS leading on design for Site AMorris & Co has joined the design team of a 500m mixed-use life sciences district in Kings Cross.The practice will design towers up to 31 storeys in height for the Camley Street development, which is being master planned by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCBS).The redevelopment of two former industrial sites at Camley Street and Cedar Way will see the construction of around 36,000sq m of commercial floorspace and up to 410 homes for Ballymore and life sciences developer Lateral, which are working in a joint venture for Camden council.It is one of the largest proposals for north Londons Knowledge Quarter, a burgeoning life sciences and research district around Kings Cross which also includes AHMMs under-construction London Discovery Centre, the 1bn UK headquarters of global healthcare giant MSD.The scheme will be located on the northern edge of the Kings Cross Knowledge QuarterMorris & Co is understood to have been appointed towards the end of last year by Ballymore following the completion of its development agreement with Camden.The practice will lead on the larger southern site at 3-30 Cedar Way, designing a cluster of buildings ranging from 11 to 31 storeys.> Also read:Development partner sought for FCBS 500m life sciences schemeFCBS has retained its role as masterplanner of the wider development and will lead on the design of the northern site at 120 -136 Camley Street, which will contain buildings from 11 to 15 storeys.CGIs showing early proposals for FCBS' Camley Street masterplan1/2show captionA full planning application is expected to be submitted in the second half of this year, according to Ballymore.Others working on the scheme include Spacehub as landscape architect, Turley on planning, Montagu Evans on heritage, Hoare Lea on sustainability, Velocity on transport and Temple on environment.All existing buildings on the two sites will be demolished to make way for the new buildings, with enabling work expected to take around four months at Camley Street and six months at Cedar Way. The construction of the development is expected to take around 3.5 years.

The winning team will draw up plans to replace windows and redecorate the estate which is named after the locally born poet William Blake and features a mix of buildings constructed between 1922 and 1981.The latest project comes almost five years after the corporation selected Studio Partington to design replacement windows, external doors and rooflights across the Chamberlin, Powell & Bon-designed Golden Lane Estate in north London.According to the brief: William Blake Estate is located in Lambeth, with the oldest blocks built between 1922 and 1981. The Estate has a mixture of architecture ranging from the former mansion flats that line Kennington Road to the larger more modern houses to the south of the small estate.AdvertisementThe boundaries of the estate form an enclosed green space with a small children's play area which also creates peaceful and appreciated environments for all residents to enjoy.Located close to North Lambeth station, the William Blake Estate is a large housing development occupying a triangular site featuring three pubs the Pineapple, the Steam Engine and the Hercules.The latest procurement comes five years after earlier plans to upgrade windows across the estate were approved by local authority Lambeth Council.Bids for the latest commission will be evaluated 60 per cent on quality and 40 per cent on price. Applicants must hold employers liability insurance of 5 million, public liability insurance of 5 million and professional indemnity insurance of 5 million.Competition detailsProject title William Blake Windows and Redecorations - Architect AppointmentClientContract value TbcFirst round deadline Midday, 14 March 2025Restrictions TbcMore information https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/272c3b41-d9f2-4303-a3ed-d688e61b5e73

Buffy Cloud comforter Best overall comforter $195 at Buffy Rest Evercool Cooling comforter Best cooling comforter $199 at Rest Quince Premium Down Alternative comforter Best budget comforter $199 at Quince Sleep Number Comforter Best comforter for couples $280 at Sleep Number Garnet Hill Essential Down comforter Best down comforter $299 at Garnet Hill Layla Down Alternative comforter Best down alternative comforter $229 at Layla Brooklinen Down comforter Best lightweight down comforter $399 at Brooklinen Cozy Earth Bamboo Viscose comforter Best bamboo comforter $424 at Cozy Earth The right comforter can transform your bedroom while making your bed so cozy you'll never want to leave. With the number of options on the market, there will be one that matches your sleep preferences, aesthetic or even the season. However, this countless pool of options with different materials, fill and textures can make choosing the right one a difficult task.I've done all the work for you. I'm a sleep expert who has tested mattresses, sheets, pillows and bedding for years. If you're ready to upgrade, this list of the best comforters has you covered. To help you choose the best comforter, I tested 17 comforters -- or duvet inserts -- to bring you the top eight products out there.Read more: Best Mattress of 2025What is the best comforter overall?The Buffy Cloud comforter took the crown as the best comforter that I tested. I love it so much that I sleep with it every night. Its ultra soft and fluffy and exudes luxury and comfort, elevating the look of any bedroom. It has a eucalyptus fabric shell and an eco-friendly, certified-recycled fill, making it lightweight and airy. It's the type of comforter that just about anyone will like, and it's also one of the most affordable comforters on this list. Best comforters for 2025 Caroline Igo/CNET Our take: The Buffy Cloud comforter is a warmer, plusher pick. It's perfect for cooler weather or all seasons if you don't have any issues heating up at night. Even though I'm a hot sleeper, I've slept with this comforter for about a year now and dont have any complaints (although, I do like to keep my room at a cooler temperature). I also sleep only with this comforter -- no duvet cover, top sheet or other blankets.How it sleeps: The outside shell of the Buffy Cloud is made with eucalyptus fabric, which offers a softer and more breathable option than cotton. While I wouldnt say it's cool to the touch, it is more temperature-regulating than other down alternative comforters. Inside the Buffy Cloud is a soft, eco-friendly, certified-recycled fiber fill that gives the comforter a fluffy, lightweight and airy feel. It's an ultra-cozy addition to any bed. I would recommend a duvet cover since washing this huge, fluffy comforter can be a pain.Pros:Plush and warmSoft and breathable eucalyptus fabricEco-friendly bedding optionCons:Not for people who want a down or a lighter comforterFabric can snag if you machine-dryAdditional details:Fill: Recycled fiberShell material: Eucalyptus fabricSizes: Twin/Twin xl, Full/Queen, King/Cal KingCare: Machine-washableTrial period: 50-night trial or 7-day free trial $195 at Buffy Caroline Igo/CNET Our take: The Rest Evercool Cooling comforter earned the top spot on my Best Cooling Comforters list. It's one of the only comforters I've tested that's truly cool to the touch thanks to its naturally cooling Tencel and Sorona materials. This is the best comforter for those who heat up during the night.How it sleeps: This comforter is thin and looks more like a blanket than fluffy bedding. Due to its materials, such as Tencel lyocell, the Rest Evercool Cooling comforter is naturally moisture-wicking and will help to keep hot sleepers at a good temperature all night. My boyfriend and I practice the Scandinavian sleep method at night, so he sleeps with this comforter while I use the Buffy Cloud. Like me, hes a hot sleeper and hasnt had any problems with night sweats. It has also held up against our pets and many washes.Pros:Best for hot sleepers or anyone who heats up at nightSoft and very cool to the touchAvailable in six colors (three are reversible)Cons:Stitching tends to pull after many washesThin and wrinkles easilyNot for cool sleepers or those who want a thick comforterAdditional details:Fill: Tencel and Sorona materialShell material: Evercool Cooling fabricSizes: Twin/Twin xl, Full/Queen, King/Cal KingCare: Machine-washTrial period: 30-night trial $199 at Rest Caroline Igo/CNET Our take: Budget bedding is usually made of low-cost materials with a cheap polyester feel, but this is not the case when it comes to the Quince Premium Down Alternative comforter. It looks and feels similar to other more expensive comforters on the market. With a 100% cotton sateen shell, you cant beat the price and quality.How it sleeps: The Quince comforter resembles a full-priced down comforter rather than a down alternative like the Buffy Cloud. Its light, airy and on the thinner side, and the shell feels just like cotton covers found on down duvet inserts. The fill is microfiber but it doesnt feel cheap. I tested the all-seasons fill option and the thickness is a happy medium for hot and colder weather. It also has corner loops if you decide to put a cover on it (which I recommend because washing might cause the fill to clump together).Pros:You save about 50% compared to retail pricesThree fill options: lightweight, all-season and ultra-warmHypo-allergenic microfiber fill and soft 100% cotton sateen coverCons:Needs regular fluffing to keep fill evenStuffing may clump together after many washesAdditional details:Fill: MicrofibersShell material: 100% cotton sateenSizes: Twin, Full/Queen, King/Cal KingCare: Machine-washTrial period: 365-night trial $199 at Quince Editors' choice Taylor Leamey/CNET Our take: For anyone who sleeps with a partner who kicks the blanket off while you're freezing, consider the Create Your Perfect Comforter from Sleep Number. CNET sleep writer Taylor Leamey has been sleeping with this blanket for the last few months and is very impressed. Our sleep expert likes this customizable comforter so much that it received a 2024 CNET Editors' Choice Award.How it sleeps: The comforter is essentially two blankets joined by a zipper down the center. The zipper is under two fabric flaps, so you barely notice it's there. Each person gets to choose how warm they want their side of the blanket to be. Leamey said, "During my years of testing blankets and bedding products, I haven't encountered a comforter that is as customizable as the Create Your Perfect Comforter. Each person can choose between down and down alternative fills and three warmth options: light, medium and extra warmth." The extra warmth version provides plenty of warmth while still being breathable.Pros:Super comfortableThree warmth optionsTwo fill options: down or down alternativeCons:The zipper was stiff at firstMore expensive than other blanketsMust add two halves to your cart to make a full comforterAdditional details:Fill: 100% down or 100% polyesterShell material: 100% cottonSizes: Half-Queen or Half-KingCare: Machine-washableTrial period: 100-night trial; 1-year $280 at Sleep Number Caroline Igo/CNET Our take: While most down comforters are only available in white and require a duvet cover for some color, the Garnet Hill Essential Down comforter is durable, well-made and available in a dozen beautiful, bold colors. This bedding is ready to be used right out of the packaging; no duvet is needed.How it sleeps: There is only one weight available with this comforter: warm. While it isnt as fluffy as the Buffy Cloud comforter, the premium, 100% cotton shell and down fill trap in your body heat. If you're a hot sleeper, I would steer clear of this one, but it should work well for average sleepers and those looking for warmer winter bedding. The Garnet Hill Essential Down comforter isnt as soft as others on this list, but if you're a fan of down comforters, you'll likely be a fan of this one.Pros:Many colors to choose from100% Responsible Down Standard certified down and Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certifiedAll-season fillCons:Not as soft and fluffy as other options on this listNo corner loops if you want to use as an insertAdditional details:Fill: 100% Responsible Down Standard downShell material: 100% cottonSizes: Twin, Double/Queen, King/Cal KingCare: Machine-washableTrial period: 90-day trial $299 at Garnet Hill Caroline Igo/CNET Our take: Down alternative material is more affordable, hypoallergenic and eco-conscious than down. I find down alternative generally more comfortable since its loftier, softer and durable -- also, these comforters tend to lose less filling over time. The Layla comforter is an ideal fluffy, down alternative bedding that you can throw right into the wash.How it sleeps: Laylas outside shell is 100% cotton, which gives it a soft feel right away. Unlike traditional down covers, this comforter feels like your favorite lightweight cotton sheets. The inside is filled with clusters of microfibers that are satiny and fluffy. It has a baffle box stitch construction in the shape of puffy octagons. I find that this keeps the filling from bunching in the corners. This comforter is a little heavier than the others I tested, so I wouldn't recommend it to hot sleepers or for hot summer nights. It's perfect for cozying up the rest of the year.I like to use this comforter to cover my white bedding so my dogs can snuggle up in bed with me. While it has upheld too many washes to count, the color has faded over time.Pros:Fluffy and comfortableDown alternative is more affordable and hypoallergenicBaffle box stitch keeps fill in placeCons:Only available in white and a light grayThreading pulls and color fades after many, many washesAdditional details:Fill: Down alternativeShell material: 100% cottonSizes: Twin/Twin xl, Full/Queen, King/Cal KingCare: Machine-washableTrial period: 120-night trial $229 at Layla Caroline Igo/CNET

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Don't worry, Undertale fans, Toby Fox is still hard at work on "parallel story" Deltarune"Still console testing. There are fewer bugs, but there's a lot to go through."Image credit: Toby Fox News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Feb. 17, 2025 Toby Fox is still at work on Deltarune's third and fourth chapters, both of which are still expected to release later this year.Its first chapter launched as a free download towards the end of 2018, which was followed up by a second free instalment in September 2021. Since then, Fox has worked to keep fans updated - with both explicit and coded messages - most recently confirming that the team finally has the technology to permit demo saves to carry over into the main game on consoles.5 Secrets Hidden In The Music Of Undertale.Watch on YouTube"Still console testing," Fox said on social media overnight. "There are fewer bugs, but there's a lot to go through. (Haven't even tested PS5 yet)."In addition to fixing Ch3/Ch4, we also need to implement having saves from the demo carry over to the main game on consoles... We only received the technology to do this now. I hope it works!"Still console testing. There are fewer bugs, but there's a lot to go through. (Haven't even tested PS5 yet)In addition to fixing Ch3/Ch4, we also need to implement having saves from the DEMO carry over to the main game on consoles... We only received the technology to do this now. I hope it works! tobyfox (@tobyfox.undertale.com) February 16, 2025 at 11:44 PMTo see this content please enable targeting cookies.Fox also recently revealed that he showed "my family and friends a minigame I've been working on for [Deltarune], and they all described it as 'a cry for help because your game is not out'."Deltarune charts the adventures of human teenager Kris and their lizard friend Suzie in the mystery Dark World. It's a spiritual successor to retro-style RPG Undertale, though it takes place in a different setting. Initially, the plan had been to release chapters three, four and five together, and make the game available to purchase. Last year, however, this plan changed, as Fox said chapter 5 was still a way off."And I don't think anybody really wants to wait that long to release anything. Especially me," Fox explained at the time.Find out more by reading Deltarune is a game about playing, and it's bloody brilliant.

The Last of Us' Neil Druckmann says he doesn't have the confidence to plan for sequels"I think you're jinxing yourself if you're starting to think about the sequel when you're working on the first game."Image credit: Naughty Dog News by Victoria Kennedy News Reporter Published on Feb. 17, 2025 The Last of Us' Neil Druckmann has said making sequels to Naughty Dog's beloved franchises requires a level of confidence that, believe it or not, he claims he doesn't have.Speaking during the DICE summit last week with fellow game developer Cory Barlog, the Last of Us' director was asked: "How do you and your teams approach character development over multiple games?"Barlog said he had "way too much of the Charlie Day crazy conspiracy board" method of planning, referring to that Pepe Silvia scene from Always Sunny in Philadelphia which has become a bit of a meme. But Druckmann, meanwhile, said he had a different approach, as he "never [thinks] about multiple games".The 7 Best Game Franchise Revivals Ever. Watch on YouTube"The game in front of us is so all consuming," Druckmann explained (thanks IGN). "I think you're jinxing yourself if you're starting to think about the sequel when you're working on the first game. So when I was making The Last of Us 2, yeah, sure. Every once in a while an idea pops in your head of where it might go if we get the chance to do another one. But I just approach it as, 'what if I never get to do another one?' ...I'm not saving some idea for the future. If there's a cool idea, I'm doing my best to get it into here."Druckmann said that, when a sequel to a game does come around, it's only then that he looks back on what the studio has already done, to decide where story points and characters can go. "And if I feel like the answer is, they can't go anywhere, then I go, 'I think we'll just kill them off'," he said."I'm half joking, but we just find the next game," Druckmann continued. "When we made Uncharted 1, we had no idea we would do the train sequence of Uncharted 2, or where Nathan Drake would be. We figured it out when we made Uncharted 2. And eventually, [it was] the same when we worked on Uncharted 3, [and the] same when we worked on Uncharted 4, where we look back and say: 'How do we not repeat ourselves? Where else could this character go? What else could get him back into the adventure?'"And we have to come up with a new answer. And if we don't have a new answer then we should ask ourselves, is this the right character? Is this the right game for us to work on? Or is it time to find something new?"Barlog, meanwhile, said he found connecting elements in games today with something he worked on a decade or so ago "magical", although noted this has its own stresses."It is absolutely, unequivocally the most unhealthy thing ever, because it is insanely stressful to try to fold and connect each of these pieces," Barlog shared. "Because, give or take five years, there's hundreds of people involved, and then a whole new group of people often are moved in on the next project. That's a bunch of different... perspectives, and likes and dislikes that are going to negatively impact you setting something up that early. And they're going to be like, 'Let's talk about this, because that was kind of the dumb. I don't know if I want to do that.'""I think for me that requires a level of confidence I just don't have," Druckmann responded. "Like this is going to be so successful, I know where this is going next. I'm like, I just want to focus on the next five days in front of me, let alone 10 years down the line." Image credit: Naughty Dog Image credit: SonyBack in 2021, Druckmann said Naughty Dog had a story outline for The Last of Us 3 penned that he hoped "one day can see the light of day". However, at this time, nothing was in development.Then in 2023, Druckmann reiterated that Naughty Dog is open to developing Part 3, but only if "[the team] can come up with a compelling story that has this universal message and statement about love", as it did with Parts 1 and 2."With The Last of Us, it's up to us whether we want to continue it or not... If we can't come up with something, we have a very strong ending with Part 2 and that will be the end," Druckmann said at the time.At the Game Awards in December, Naughty Dog lifted the lid on its upcoming game, a sci-fi hack 'n' slash called Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.