Extra-sensory perception The nine-armed octopus and the oddities of the cephalopod nervous system A mix of autonomous and top-down control manage the octopus's limbs. Kenna Hughes-Castleberry – Jun 7, 2025 8:00 am | 19 Credit: Nikos Stavrinidis / 500px Credit: Nikos Stavrinidis / 500px Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more With their quick-change camouflage and high level of intelligence, it’s not surprising that the public and scientific experts alike are fascinated by octopuses. Their abilities to recognize faces, solve puzzles, and learn behaviors from other octopuses make these animals a captivating study. To perform these processes and others, like crawling or exploring, octopuses rely on their complex nervous system, one that has become a focus for neuroscientists. With about 500 million neurons—around the same number as dogs—octopuses’ nervous systems are the most complex of any invertebrate. But, unlike vertebrate organisms, the octopus’s nervous system is also decentralized, with around 350 million neurons, or 66 percent of it, located in its eight arms. “This means each arm is capable of independently processing sensory input, initiating movement, and even executing complex behaviors—without direct instructions from the brain,” explains Galit Pelled, a professor of Mechanical Engineering, Radiology, and Neuroscience at Michigan State University who studies octopus neuroscience. “In essence, the arms have their own ‘mini-brains.’” A decentralized nervous system is one factor that helps octopuses adapt to changes, such as injury or predation, as seen in the case of an Octopus vulgaris, or common octopus, that was observed with nine arms by researchers at the ECOBAR lab at the Institute of Marine Research in Spain between 2021 and 2022. By studying outliers like this cephalopod, researchers can gain insight into how the animal’s detailed scaffolding of nerves changes and regrows over time, uncovering more about how octopuses have evolved over millennia in our oceans. Brains, brains, and more brains Because each arm of an octopus contains its own bundle of neurons, the limbs can operate semi-independently from the central brain, enabling faster responses since signals don’t always need to travel back and forth between the brain and the arms. In fact, Pelled and her team recently discovered that “neural signals recorded in the octopus arm can predict movement type within 100 milliseconds of stimulation, without central brain involvement.” She notes that “that level of localized autonomy is unprecedented in vertebrate systems.” Though each limb moves on its own, the movements of the octopus’s body are smooth and conducted with a coordinated elegance that allows the animal to exhibit some of the broadest range of behaviors, adapting on the fly to changes in its surroundings. “That means the octopus can react quickly to its environment, especially when exploring, hunting, or defending itself,” Pelled says. “For example, one arm can grab food while another is feeling around a rock, without needing permission from the brain. This setup also makes the octopus more resilient. If one arm is injured, the others still work just fine. And because so much decision-making happens at the arms, the central brain is freed up to focus on the bigger picture—like navigating or learning new tasks.” As if each limb weren’t already buzzing with neural activity, things get even more intricate when researchers zoom in further—to the nerves within each individual sucker, a ring of muscular tissue, which octopuses use to sense and taste their surroundings. “There is a sucker ganglion, or nerve center, located in the stalk of every sucker. For some species of octopuses, that’s over a thousand ganglia,” says Cassady Olson, a graduate student at the University of Chicago who works with Cliff Ragsdale, a leading expert in octopus neuroscience. Given that each sucker has its own nerve centers—connected by a long axial nerve cord running down the limb—and each arm has hundreds of suckers, things get complicated very quickly, as researchers have historically struggled to study this peripheral nervous system, as it’s called, within the octopus’s body. “The large size of the brain makes it both really exciting to study and really challenging,” says Z. Yan Wang, an assistant professor of biology and psychology at the University of Washington. “Many of the tools available for neuroscience have to be adjusted or customized specifically for octopuses and other cephalopods because of their unique body plans.” While each limb acts independently, signals are transmitted back to the octopus’s central nervous system. The octopus’ brain sits between its eyes at the front of its mantle, or head, couched between its two optic lobes, large bean-shaped neural organs that help octopuses see the world around them. These optic lobes are just two of the over 30 lobes experts study within the animal’s centralized brain, as each lobe helps the octopus process its environment. This elaborate neural architecture is critical given the octopus’s dual role in the ecosystem as both predator and prey. Without natural defenses like a hard shell, octopuses have evolved a highly adaptable nervous system that allows them to rapidly process information and adjust as needed, helping their chances of survival. Some similarities remain While the octopus’s decentralized nervous system makes it a unique evolutionary example, it does have some structures similar to or analogous to the human nervous system. “The octopus has a central brain mass located between its eyes, and an axial nerve cord running down each arm (similar to a spinal cord),” says Wang. “The octopus has many sensory systems that we are familiar with, such as vision, touch (somatosensation), chemosensation, and gravity sensing.” Neuroscientists have homed in on these similarities to understand how these structures may have evolved across the different branches in the tree of life. As the most recent common ancestor for humans and octopuses lived around 750 million years ago, experts believe that many similarities, from similar camera-like eyes to maps of neural activities, evolved separately in a process known as convergent evolution. While these similarities shed light on evolution's independent paths, they also offer valuable insights for fields like soft robotics and regenerative medicine. Occasionally, unique individuals—like an octopus with an unexpected number of limbs—can provide even deeper clues into how this remarkable nervous system functions and adapts. Nine arms, no problem In 2021, researchers from the Institute of Marine Research in Spain used an underwater camera to follow a male Octopus vulgaris, or common octopus. On its left side, three arms were intact, while the others were reduced to uneven, stumpy lengths, sharply bitten off at varying points. Although the researchers didn’t witness the injury itself, they observed that the front right arm—known as R1—was regenerating unusually, splitting into two separate limbs and giving the octopus a total of nine arms. “In this individual, we believe this condition was a result of abnormal regeneration [a genetic mutation] after an encounter with a predator,” explains Sam Soule, one of the researchers and the first author on the corresponding paper recently published in Animals. The researchers named the octopus Salvador due to its bifurcated arm coiling up on itself like the two upturned ends of Salvador Dali’s moustache. For two years, the team studied the cephalopod’s behavior and found that it used its bifurcated arm less when doing “riskier” movements such as exploring or grabbing food, which would force the animal to stretch its arm out and expose it to further injury. “One of the conclusions of our research is that the octopus likely retains a long-term memory of the original injury, as it tends to use the bifurcated arms for less risky tasks compared to the others,” elaborates Jorge Hernández Urcera, a lead author of the study. “This idea of lasting memory brought to mind Dalí’s famous painting The Persistence of Memory, which ultimately became the title of the paper we published on monitoring this particular octopus.” While the octopus acted more protective of its extra limb, its nervous system had adapted to using the extra appendage, as the octopus was observed, after some time recovering from its injuries, using its ninth arm for probing its environment. “That nine-armed octopus is a perfect example of just how adaptable these animals are,” Pelled adds. “Most animals would struggle with an unusual body part, but not the octopus. In this case, the octopus had a bifurcated (split) arm and still used it effectively, just like any other arm. That tells us the nervous system didn’t treat it as a mistake—it figured out how to make it work.” Kenna Hughes-Castleberry is the science communicator at JILA (a joint physics research institute between the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado Boulder) and a freelance science journalist. Her main writing focuses are quantum physics, quantum technology, deep technology, social media, and the diversity of people in these fields, particularly women and people from minority ethnic and racial groups. Follow her on LinkedIn or visit her website. 19 Comments

Email authentication protocols like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC play a critical role in protecting domains from spoofing and phishing. However, when SEGs are introduced into the email path, the interaction with these protocols becomes more complex. Security gateways(SEGs) are a core part of many organizations’ email infrastructure. They act as intermediaries between the public internet and internal mail systems, inspecting, filtering, and routing messages. This blog examines how security gateways handle SPF, DKIM, and DMARC, with real-world examples from popular gateways such as Proofpoint, Mimecast, and Avanan. We’ll also cover best practices for maintaining authentication integrity and avoiding misconfigurations that can compromise email authentication or lead to false DMARC failures. Security gateways often sit at the boundary between your organization and the internet, managing both inbound and outbound email traffic. Their role affects how email authentication protocols behave. An inbound SEG examines emails coming into your organization. It checks SPF, DKIM, and DMARC to determine if the message is authentic and safe before passing it to your internal mail servers. An outbound SEG handles emails sent from your domain. It may modify headers, rewrite envelope addresses, or even apply DKIM signing. All of these can impact SPF,  DKIM, or DMARC validation on the recipient’s side. Understanding how SEGs influence these flows is crucial to maintaining proper authentication and avoiding unexpected DMARC failures. Inbound Handling of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC by Common Security Gateways When an email comes into your organization, your security gateway is the first to inspect it. It checks whether the message is real, trustworthy, and properly authenticated. Let’s look at how different SEGs handle these checks. Avanan (by Check Point) SPF: Avanan verifies whether the sending server is authorized to send emails for the domain by checking the SPF record. DKIM: It verifies if the message was signed by the sending domain and if that signature is valid. DMARC: It uses the results of the SPF and DKIM check to evaluate DMARC. However, final enforcement usually depends on how DMARC is handled by Microsoft 365 or Gmail, as Avanan integrates directly with them. Avanan offers two methods of integration:1. API integration: Avanan connects via APIs, no change in MX, usually Monitor or Detect modes.2. Inline integration: Avanan is placed inline in the mail flow (MX records changed), actively blocking or remediating threats. Proofpoint Email Protection SPF: Proofpoint checks SPF to confirm the sender’s IP is authorized to send on behalf of the domain. You can set custom rules (e.g. treat “softfail” as “fail”). DKIM: It verifies DKIM signatures and shows clear pass/fail results in logs. DMARC: It fully evaluates DMARC by combining SPF and DKIM results with alignment checks. Administrators can configure how to handle messages that fail DMARC, such as rejecting, quarantining, or delivering them. Additionally, Proofpoint allows whitelisting specific senders you trust, even if their emails fail authentication checks. Integration Methods Inline Mode: In this traditional deployment, Proofpoint is positioned directly in the email flow by modifying MX records. Emails are routed through Proofpoint’s infrastructure, allowing it to inspect and filter messages before they reach the recipient’s inbox. This mode provides pre-delivery protection and is commonly used in on-premises or hybrid environments. API-Based (Integrated Cloud Email Security – ICES) Mode: Proofpoint offers API-based integration, particularly with cloud email platforms like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. In this mode, Proofpoint connects to the email platform via APIs, enabling it to monitor and remediate threats post-delivery without altering the email flow. This approach allows for rapid deployment and seamless integration with existing cloud email services. Mimecast SPF: Mimecast performs SPF checks to verify whether the sending server is authorized by the domain’s SPF record. Administrators can configure actions for SPF failures, including block, quarantine, permit, or tag with a warning. This gives flexibility in balancing security with business needs. DKIM: It validates DKIM signatures by checking that the message was correctly signed by the sending domain and that the content hasn’t been tampered with. If the signature fails, Mimecast can take actions based on your configured policies. DMARC: It fully evaluates DMARC by combining the results of SPF and DKIM with domain alignment checks. You can choose to honor the sending domain’s DMARC policy (none, quarantine, reject) or apply custom rules, for example, quarantining or tagging messages that fail DMARC regardless of the published policy. This allows more granular control for businesses that want to override external domain policies based on specific contexts. Integration Methods Inline Deployment: Mimecast is typically deployed as a cloud-based secure email gateway. Organizations update their domain’s MX records to point to Mimecast, so all inbound (and optionally outbound) emails pass through it first. This allows Mimecast to inspect, filter, and process emails before delivery, providing robust protection. API Integrations: Mimecast also offers API-based services through its Mimecast API platform, primarily for management, archival, continuity, and threat intelligence purposes. However, API-only email protection is not Mimecast’s core model. Instead, the APIs are used to enhance the inline deployment, not replace it. Barracuda Email Security Gateway SPF: Barracuda checks the sender’s IP against the domain’s published SPF record. If the check fails, you can configure the system to block, quarantine, tag, or allow the message, depending on your policy preferences. DKIM: It validates whether the incoming message includes a valid DKIM signature. The outcome is logged and used to inform further policy decisions or DMARC evaluations. DMARC: It combines SPF and DKIM results, checks for domain alignment, and applies the DMARC policy defined by the sender. Administrators can also choose to override the DMARC policy, allowing messages to pass or be treated differently based on organizational needs (e.g., trusted senders or internal exceptions). Integration Methods Inline mode (more common and straightforward): Barracuda Email Security Gateway is commonly deployed inline by updating your domain’s MX records to point to Barracuda’s cloud or on-premises gateway. This ensures that all inbound emails pass through Barracuda first for filtering and SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validation before being delivered to your mail servers. Deployment Behind the Corporate Firewall: Alternatively, Barracuda can be deployed in transparent or bridge mode without modifying MX records. In this setup, the gateway is placed inline at the network level, such as behind a firewall, and intercepts mail traffic transparently. This method is typically used in complex on-premises environments where changing DNS records is not feasible. Cisco Secure Email (formerly IronPort) Cisco Secure Email acts as an inline gateway for inbound email, usually requiring your domain’s MX records to point to the Cisco Email Security Appliance or cloud service. SPF: Cisco Secure Email verifies whether the sending server is authorized in the sender domain’s SPF record. Administrators can set detailed policies on how to handle SPF failures. DKIM: It validates the DKIM signature on incoming emails and logs whether the signature is valid or has failed. DMARC: It evaluates DMARC by combining SPF and DKIM results along with domain alignment checks. Admins can configure specific actions, such as quarantine, reject, or tag, based on different failure scenarios or trusted sender exceptions. Integration methods On-premises Email Security Appliance (ESA): You deploy Cisco’s hardware or virtual appliance inline, updating MX records to route mail through it for filtering. Cisco Cloud Email Security: Cisco offers a cloud-based email security service where MX records are pointed to Cisco’s cloud infrastructure, which filters and processes inbound mail. Cisco Secure Email also offers advanced, rule-based filtering capabilities and integrates with Cisco’s broader threat protection ecosystem, enabling comprehensive inbound email security. Outbound Handling of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC by Common Security Gateways When your organization sends emails, security gateways can play an active role in processing and authenticating those messages. Depending on the configuration, a gateway might rewrite headers, re-sign messages, or route them through different IPs – all actions that can help or hurt the authentication process. Let’s look at how major SEGs handle outbound email flow. Avanan – Outbound Handling and Integration Methods Outbound Logic Avanan analyzes outbound emails primarily to detect data loss, malware, and policy violations. In API-based integration, emails are sent directly by the original mail server (e.g., Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace), so SPF and DKIM signatures remain intact. Avanan does not alter the message or reroute traffic, which helps maintain full DMARC alignment and domain reputation. Integration Methods 1. API Integration: Connects to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace via API. No MX changes are needed. Emails are scanned after they are sent, with no modification to SPF, DKIM, or the delivery path.  How it works: Microsoft Graph API or Google Workspace APIs are used to monitor and intervene in outbound emails. Protection level: Despite no MX changes, it can offer inline-like protection, meaning it can block, quarantine, or encrypt emails before they are delivered externally. SPF/DKIM/DMARC impact: Preserves original headers and signatures since mail is sent directly from Microsoft/Google servers. 2. Inline Integration: Requires changing MX records to route email through Avanan. In this mode, Avanan can intercept and inspect outbound emails before delivery. Depending on the configuration, this may affect SPF or DKIM if not properly handled. How it works: Requires adding Avanan’s Protection level: Traditional inline security with full visibility and control, including encryption, DLP, policy enforcement, and advanced threat protection. SPF/DKIM/DMARC impact: SPF configuration is needed by adding Avanan’s include mechanism to the sending domain’s SPF record. The DKIM record of the original sending source is preserved. For configurations, you can refer to the steps in this blog. Proofpoint – Outbound Handling and Integration Methods Outbound Logic Proofpoint analyzes outbound emails to detect and prevent data loss (DLP), to identify advanced threats (malware, phishing, BEC) originating from compromised internal accounts, and to ensure compliance. Their API integration provides crucial visibility and powerful remediation capabilities, while their traditional gateway (MX record) deployment delivers true inline, pre-delivery blocking for outbound traffic. Integration methods 1. API Integration: No MX record changes are required for this deployment method. Integration is done with Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. How it works: Through its API integration, Proofpoint gains deep visibility into outbound emails and provides layered security and response features, including: Detect and alert: Identifies sensitive content (Data Loss Prevention violations), malicious attachments, or suspicious links in outbound emails. Post-delivery remediation (TRAP): A key capability of the API model is Threat Response Auto-Pull (TRAP), which enables Proofpoint to automatically recall, quarantine, or delete emails after delivery. This is particularly useful for internally sent messages or those forwarded to other users. Enhanced visibility: Aggregates message metadata and logs into Proofpoint’s threat intelligence platform, giving security teams a centralized view of outbound risks and user behavior. Protection level: API-based integration provides strong post-delivery detection and response, as well as visibility into DLP incidents and suspicious behavior.  SPF/DKIM/DMARC impact: Proofpoint does not alter SPF, DKIM, or DMARC because emails are sent directly through Microsoft or Google servers. Since Proofpoint’s servers are not involved in the actual sending process, the original authentication headers remain intact. 2. Gateway Integration (MX Record/Smart Host): This method requires updating MX records or routing outbound mail through Proofpoint via a smart host. How it works: Proofpoint acts as an inline gateway, inspecting emails before delivery. Inbound mail is filtered via MX changes; outbound mail is relayed through Proofpoint’s servers. Threat and DLP filtering: Scans outbound messages for sensitive content, malware, and policy violations. Real-time enforcement: Blocks, encrypts, or quarantines emails before they’re delivered. Policy controls: Applies rules based on content, recipient, or behavior. Protection level: Provides strong, real-time protection for outbound traffic with pre-delivery enforcement, DLP, and encryption. SPF/DKIM/DMARC impact: Proofpoint becomes the sending server: SPF: You need to configure ProofPoint’s SPF. DKIM: Can sign messages; requires DKIM setup. DMARC: DMARC passes if SPF and DKIM are set up properly. Please refer to this article to configure SPF and DKIM for ProofPoint. Mimecast – Outbound Handling and Integration Methods Outbound Logic Mimecast inspects outbound emails to prevent data loss (DLP), detect internal threats such as malware and impersonation, and ensure regulatory compliance. It primarily functions as a Secure Email Gateway (SEG), meaning it sits directly in the outbound email flow. While Mimecast offers APIs, its core outbound protection is built around this inline gateway model. Integration Methods 1. Gateway Integration (MX Record change required) This is Mimecast’s primary method for outbound email protection. Organizations route their outbound traffic through Mimecast by configuring their email server (e.g., Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, etc.) to use Mimecast as a smart host. This enables Mimecast to inspect and enforce policies on all outgoing emails in real time. How it works: Updating outbound routing in your email system (smart host settings), or Using Mimecast SMTP relay to direct messages through their infrastructure. Mimecast then scans, filters, and applies policies before the email reaches the final recipient. Protection level: Advanced DLP: Identifies and prevents sensitive data leaks. Impersonation and Threat Protection: Blocks malware, phishing, and abuse from compromised internal accounts. Email Encryption and Secure Messaging: Applies encryption policies or routes messages via secure portals. Regulatory Compliance: Enforces outbound compliance rules based on content, recipient, or metadata. SPF/DKIM/DMARC impact: SPF: Your SPF record must include Mimecast’s SPF mechanism based on your region to avoid SPF failures. DKIM: A new DKIM record should be configured to make sure your emails are DKIM signed when routing through Mimecast. DMARC: With correct SPF and DKIM setup, Mimecast ensures DMARC alignment, maintaining your domain’s sending reputation. Please refer to the steps in this detailed article to set up SPF and DKIM for Mimecast. 2. API Integration (Complementary to Gateway) Mimecast’s APIs complement the main gateway by providing automation, reporting, and management tools rather than handling live outbound mail flow. They allow you to manage policies, export logs, search archived emails, and sync users. APIs enhance visibility and operational tasks but do not provide real-time filtering or blocking of outbound messages. Since APIs don’t process live mail, they have no direct effect on SPF, DKIM, or DMARC; those depend on your gateway (smart host) setup. Barracuda – Outbound Handling and Integration Methods Outbound Logic Barracuda analyzes outbound emails to prevent data loss (DLP), block malware, stop phishing/impersonation attempts from compromised internal accounts, and ensure compliance. Barracuda offers flexible deployment options, including both traditional gateway (MX record) and API-based integrations. While both contribute to outbound security, their roles are distinct. Integration Methods 1. Gateway Integration (MX Record / Smart Host) — Primary Inline Security How it works: All outbound emails pass through Barracuda’s security stack for real-time inspection, threat blocking, and policy enforcement before delivery. Protection level: Comprehensive DLP (blocking, encrypting, or quarantining sensitive content)  Outbound spam and virus filtering  Enforcement of compliance and content policies This approach offers a high level of control and immediate threat mitigation on outbound mail flow. SPF/DKIM/DMARC impact: SPF: Update SPF records to include Barracuda’s sending IPs or SPF include mechanism. DKIM: Currently, no explicit setup is needed; DKIM of the main sending source is preserved. Refer to this article for more comprehensive guidance on Barracuda SEG configuration. 2. API Integration (Complementary & Advanced Threat Focus) How it works: The API accesses cloud email environments to analyze historical and real-time data, learning normal communication patterns to detect anomalies in outbound emails. It also supports post-delivery remediation, enabling the removal of malicious emails from internal mailboxes after sending. Protection level: Advanced AI-driven detection and near real-time blocking of outbound threats, plus strong post-delivery cleanup capabilities. SPF/DKIM/DMARC impact: Since mail is sent directly by the original mail server (e.g., Microsoft 365), SPF and DKIM signatures remain intact, preserving DMARC alignment and domain reputation. Cisco Secure Email (formerly IronPort) – Outbound Handling and Integration Methods Outbound Logic Cisco Secure Email protects outbound email by preventing data loss (DLP), blocking spam and malware from internal accounts, stopping business email compromise (BEC) and impersonation attacks, and ensuring compliance. Cisco provides both traditional gateway appliances/cloud gateways and modern API-based solutions for layered outbound security. Integration Methods 1. Gateway Integration (MX Record / Smart Host) – Cisco Secure Email Gateway (ESA) How it works: Organizations update MX records to route mail through the Cisco Secure Email Gateway or configure their mail server (e.g., Microsoft 365, Exchange) to smart host outbound email via the gateway. All outbound mail is inspected and policies enforced before delivery. Protection level: Granular DLP (blocking, encrypting, quarantining sensitive content) Outbound spam and malware filtering to protect IP reputation Email encryption for sensitive outbound messages Comprehensive content and attachment policy enforcement SPF: Check this article for comprehensive guidance on Cisco SPF settings. DKIM: Refer to this article for detailed guidance on Cisco DKIM settings. 2. API Integration – Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense How it works: Integrates directly via API with Microsoft 365 (and potentially Google Workspace), continuously monitoring email metadata, content, and user behavior across inbound, outbound, and internal messages. Leverages Cisco’s threat intelligence and AI to detect anomalous outbound activity linked to BEC, account takeover, and phishing. Post-Delivery Remediation: Automates the removal or quarantine of malicious or policy-violating emails from mailboxes even after sending. Protection level: Advanced, AI-driven detection of sophisticated outbound threats with real-time monitoring and automated remediation. Complements gateway filtering by adding cloud-native visibility and swift post-send action. SPF/DKIM/DMARC impact: Since emails are sent directly by the original mail server, SPF and DKIM signatures remain intact, preserving DMARC alignment and domain reputation. If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to reach out to EasyDMARC technical support.

One of the key use cases for generative AI involves answering questions over private datasets, with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) as the go-to framework. As new RAG techniques emerge, there’s a growing need to benchmark their performance across diverse datasets and metrics.  To meet this need, we’re introducing BenchmarkQED, a new suite of tools that automates RAG benchmarking at scale, available on GitHub (opens in new tab). It includes components for query generation, evaluation, and dataset preparation, each designed to support rigorous, reproducible testing.   BenchmarkQED complements the RAG methods in our open-source GraphRAG library, enabling users to run a GraphRAG-style evaluation across models, metrics, and datasets. GraphRAG uses a large language model (LLM) to generate and summarize entity-based knowledge graphs, producing more comprehensive and diverse answers than standard RAG for large-scale tasks.  In this post, we walk through the core components of BenchmarkQED that contribute to the overall benchmarking process. We also share some of the latest benchmark results comparing our LazyGraphRAG system to competing methods, including a vector-based RAG with a 1M-token context window, where the leading LazyGraphRAG configuration showed significant win rates across all combinations of quality metrics and query classes. In the paper, we distinguish between local queries, where answers are found in a small number of text regions, and sometimes even a single region, and global queries, which require reasoning over large portions of or even the entire dataset.  Conventional vector-based RAG excels at local queries because the regions containing the answer to the query resemble the query itself and can be retrieved as the nearest neighbor in the vector space of text embeddings. However, it struggles with global questions, such as, “What are the main themes of the dataset?” which require understanding dataset qualities not explicitly stated in the text.   AutoQ: Automated query synthesis This limitation motivated the development of GraphRAG a system designed to answer global queries. GraphRAG’s evaluation requirements subsequently led to the creation of AutoQ, a method for synthesizing these global queries for any dataset. AutoQ extends this approach by generating synthetic queries across the spectrum of queries, from local to global. It defines four distinct classes based on the source and scope of the query (Figure 1, top) forming a logical progression along the spectrum (Figure 1, bottom). Figure 1. Construction of a 2×2 design space for synthetic query generation with AutoQ, showing how the four resulting query classes map onto the local-global query spectrum.  AutoQ can be configured to generate any number and distribution of synthetic queries along these classes, enabling consistent benchmarking across datasets without requiring user customization. Figure 2 shows the synthesis process and sample queries from each class, using an AP News dataset. Figure 2. Synthesis process and example query for each of the four AutoQ query classes.  About Microsoft Research Advancing science and technology to benefit humanity View our story Opens in a new tab AutoE: Automated evaluation framework  Our evaluation of GraphRAG focused on analyzing key qualities of answers to global questions. The following qualities were used for the current evaluation: Comprehensiveness: Does the answer address all relevant aspects of the question?  Diversity: Does it present varied perspectives or insights?  Empowerment: Does it help the reader understand and make informed judgments?  Relevance: Does it address what the question is specifically asking?   The AutoE component scales evaluation of these qualities using the LLM-as-a-Judge method. It presents pairs of answers to an LLM, along with the query and target metric, in counterbalanced order. The model determines whether the first answer wins, loses, or ties with the second. Over a set of queries, whether from AutoQ or elsewhere, this produces win rates between competing methods. When ground truth is available, AutoE can also score answers on correctness, completeness, and related metrics. An illustrative evaluation is shown in Figure 3. Using a dataset of 1,397 AP News articles on health and healthcare, AutoQ generated 50 queries per class (200 total). AutoE then compared LazyGraphRAG to a competing RAG method, running six trials per query across four metrics, using GPT-4.1 as a judge. These trial-level results were aggregated using metric-based win rates, where each trial is scored 1 for a win, 0.5 for a tie, and 0 for a loss, and then averaged to calculate the overall win rate for each RAG method. Figure 3. Win rates of four LazyGraphRAG (LGR) configurations across methods, broken down by the AutoQ query class and averaged across AutoE’s four metrics: comprehensiveness, diversity, empowerment, and relevance. LazyGraphRAG outperforms comparison conditions where the bar is above 50%. The four LazyGraphRAG conditions (LGR_b200_c200, LGR_b50_c200, LGR_b50_c600, LGR_b200_c200_mini) differ by query budget (b50, b200) and chunk size (c200, c600). All used GPT-4o mini for relevance tests and GPT-4o for query expansion (to five subqueries) and answer generation, except for LGR_b200_c200_mini, which used GPT-4o mini throughout. Comparison systems were GraphRAG (Local, Global, and Drift Search), Vector RAG with 8k- and 120k-token windows, and three published methods: LightRAG (opens in new tab), RAPTOR (opens in new tab), and TREX (opens in new tab). All methods were limited to the same 8k tokens for answer generation. GraphRAG Global Search used level 2 of the community hierarchy. LazyGraphRAG outperformed every comparison condition using the same generative model (GPT-4o), winning all 96 comparisons, with all but one reaching statistical significance. The best overall performance came from the larger budget, smaller chunk size configuration (LGR_b200_c200). For DataLocal queries, the smaller budget (LGR_b50_c200) performed slightly better, likely because fewer chunks were relevant. For ActivityLocal queries, the larger chunk size (LGR_b50_c600) had a slight edge, likely because longer chunks provide a more coherent context. Competing methods performed relatively better on the query classes for which they were designed: GraphRAG Global for global queries, Vector RAG for local queries, and GraphRAG Drift Search, which combines both strategies, posed the strongest challenge overall. Increasing Vector RAG’s context window from 8k to 120k tokens did not improve its performance compared to LazyGraphRAG. This raised the question of how LazyGraphRAG would perform against Vector RAG with 1-million token context window containing most of the dataset. Figure 4 shows the follow-up experiment comparing LazyGraphRAG to Vector RAG using GPT-4.1 that enabled this comparison. Even against the 1M-token window, LazyGraphRAG achieved higher win rates across all comparisons, failing to reach significance only for the relevance of answers to DataLocal queries. These queries tend to benefit most from Vector RAG’s ranking of directly relevant chunks, making it hard for LazyGraphRAG to generate answers that have greater relevance to the query, even though these answers may be dramatically more comprehensive, diverse, and empowering overall. Figure 4. Win rates of LazyGraphRAG (LGR) over Vector RAG across different context window sizes, broken down by the four AutoQ query classes and four AutoE metrics: comprehensiveness, diversity, empowerment, and relevance. Bars above 50% indicate that LazyGraphRAG outperformed the comparison condition.  AutoD: Automated data sampling and summarization Text datasets have an underlying topical structure, but the depth, breadth, and connectivity of that structure can vary widely. This variability makes it difficult to evaluate RAG systems consistently, as results may reflect the idiosyncrasies of the dataset rather than the system’s general capabilities. The AutoD component addresses this by sampling datasets to meet a target specification, defined by the number of topic clusters (breadth) and the number of samples per cluster (depth). This creates consistency across datasets, enabling more meaningful comparisons, as structurally aligned datasets lead to comparable AutoQ queries, which in turn support consistent AutoE evaluations. AutoD also includes tools for summarizing input or output datasets in a way that reflects their topical coverage. These summaries play an important role in the AutoQ query synthesis process, but they can also be used more broadly, such as in prompts where context space is limited. Since the release of the GraphRAG paper, we’ve received many requests to share the dataset of the Behind the Tech (opens in new tab) podcast transcripts we used in our evaluation. An updated version of this dataset is now available in the BenchmarkQED repository (opens in new tab), alongside the AP News dataset containing 1,397 health-related articles, licensed for open release.   We hope these datasets, together with the BenchmarkQED tools (opens in new tab), help accelerate benchmark-driven development of RAG systems and AI question-answering. We invite the community to try them on GitHub (opens in new tab).  Opens in a new tab

When it comes to Apple, all eyes are on AI. Generative AI (genAI) is the most disruptive technology we’ve seen in years; it is weaving itself into all parts of life – so why should IT management be left unscathed? It won’t be, and the latest AI-powered IT management features within the Jamf platform will soon be the kind of tools IT expects. Jamf is a leading Apple-in-the-enterprise device management (and security vendor recently began offering enterprise support for Android devices). The company has been working away on AI features to support its solutions for some time, and has at last introduced some of these at its Jamf Nation Live event. The tools are designed to boost efficiency and support better decision-making when it comes to handling your fleets. Of course, you’d expect anyone fielding genAI solutions to say something like that, so what do these tools do? Introducing Jamf AI Assistant Available as a beta, AI Assistant is designed to support tech support! That means it will help IT admins find what they need and help them understand how and why devices they do find are configured. Jamf splits these two paths into two categories: Search skill and Explain skill. Search skill lets admins perform natural language inventory queries across their managed fleets, enabling them to quickly find devices within their flotilla that meet the search parameters. The goal is to make it quicker and easier to audit managed devices for compliance, and to troubleshoot when things go wrong. Explain skill caters to another facet of an IT admin’s daily challenges. As Jamf explains, it means the genAI can translate complex configurations and policies into clear, easy-to-understand language. This helps admins make informed decisions, streamline troubleshooting and manage policies more confidently, says Jamf. While these new Jamf tools don’t automate much of the workload facing IT, it’s not hard to see how once the AI can understand what’s happening on a Mac and identify those devices that meet a set of parameters, the only missing piece is to automate some of the workflow in between. This, of course, is the direction of travel and will likely ripple across IT and every platform. Who knows, it might even make the cost of supporting Windows fleets almost as affordable as that of managing fleets of Apple devices. (Though I doubt it.) Beyond AI Jamf also made a handful of announcements outside of AI, including the general availability of Blueprints, a set of tools the company announced at JNUC last year. Blueprints builds on Apple’s Declarative Device Management framework and is designed to simplify and accelerate device configuration by consolidating policies, profiles and restrictions into a single, unified workflow. This makes a lot of sense on a road map to further AI deployment, as well as for anyone attempting to manage and deploy large Apple fleets. I imagine admins preparing for mammoth college- or school-wide deployments will have some optimism that Blueprints could help save time. Don’t neglect that education tech is expected to deploy thousands of devices in a few weeks, so these tools should be significant to them. Jamf continues working on Blueprints, and has introduced a beta release of Configuration Profiles within Blueprints. This tech consists of a new dynamic framework designed to help teams manage devices at scale, thanks to the new dynamic framework for MDM key delivery. Ticket to ride Jamf has offered a Self Service+ portal since earlier this year. Aimed at end-users, the system lets users request, download and update apps, as well as monitor their device security. Those features have been expanded with identity management tools, so users can view their accounts change passwords, and request things like temporary admin access. The beauty of Self Service+ is that it enables users to do these things autonomously while keeping their devices fully auditable and compliant. The idea is that it’s a lot better to focus the expensive tech support teams on the big problems, rather than seeing them bogged down in small, transient (albeit important), challenges.  The company also introduced Compliance Benchmarks. Based on Apple’s macOS Security Compliance Project (mSCP), this system helps IT automate the process of securing their Apple devices. Jamf has also added malware detection to its App Installers module, which means every application made available through that system is scanned to maintain security confidence. That’s really important to companies attempting to provision apps to employees, particularly if they want to avoid accidental installs of hacked malware posing as the original app. You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.

Stone PC Case, Cooler Master GPU, DIY Case from Scratch, and Metal FansJune 4, 2025Last Updated: 2025-06-04Cooler Master is doing some really interesting stuff with its new casesThe HighlightsCooler Master’s upcoming MF600, MF500, and MF400 reconfigurable frame cases are assembled from columns and cornersThe company also showed off interesting stone facade case front panelsCooler Master is working on a “GPU” with AsusTable of ContentsAutoTOC Grab a GN Tear-Down Toolkit to support our AD-FREE reviews and IN-DEPTH testing while also getting a high-quality, highly portable 10-piece toolkit that was custom designed for use with video cards for repasting and water block installation. Includes a portable roll bag, hook hangers for pegboards, a storage compartment, and instructional GPU disassembly cards.IntroWe visited Cooler Master’s booth at Computex 2025 where the company showed off several new cases. Arguably the most interesting one is a modular case. It comes with, we believe, 8 corners and 12 columns.Editor's note: This was originally published on May 20, 2025 as a video. This content has been adapted to written format for this article and is unchanged from the original publication.CreditsHostSteve BurkeCamera, Video EditingMike GaglioneVitalii MakhnovetsWriting, Web EditingJimmy ThangCooler Master MF CasesThe case comes with a front panel that has a dust filter in it. With it all assembled, it looks like the cases in the image above. The cases are the MF series, with the largest one being the MF600, which we assume translates to “Motherf***ing 600.” There’s also the MF500 and the smaller MF400. Initially, Cooler Master is basically going to be selling pre-configured models. Eventually, the company wants to allow people to customize the case on their site and have it assembled and shipped from around the City of Industry. It’s pretty cool as it’s a fully modular approach.The side panels are secured to the case via magnets, which is actually a nice touch. Internally, the MF600 we saw came with 3x140mm fans on the front and 1x120mm fan on the back. The motherboard tray is pretty standard for the most part. Exceptions include a rail system that provides numerous holes for screws to go in, which allows Cooler Master to reconfigure things. Inside the case towards the back, there’s also a rail system, which forms bits and pieces of the motherboard tray that allow for more customizability. Cooler Master has been kind of on-and-off in the DIY space over the years where they’ve had some really big wins and some really big losses. They were also kind of absent for a while, but these MF cases represent a better showing from what we’ve seen in a while from the company. According to Cooler Master, a pre-configured MF600 is supposed to cost $200. We expect to test and review the case. The MF500 is supposed to go for $165 and includes 2x200mm fans in the front and 1x120mm fan in the back. The smallest MF case, the MF600, which is a very large micro ATX box, is going for $150. In terms of fans, it has 2x120mm ones at the bottom coupled with a 1x120mm fan in the rear.  Cooler Master also showed off different panel types they’re experimenting with. One of them included a facade-style stone. One of the pre-built MF cases we looked at had stuff flipped around in an inverted layout. One of the benefits of its rail system allows the case to have a bar that screws in which can support the GPU. Looking into this system, you can see that the PSU is at the bottom next to a bottom intake fan. Updated Cosmos Visit our Patreon page to contribute a few dollars toward this website's operation (or consider a direct donation or buying something from our GN Store!) Additionally, when you purchase through links to retailers on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission.Cooler Master’s updated Cosmos has the NVIDIA-like DGX style front. We also saw a variant of the Cosmos with thermal baffles in it. We have some criticisms of its execution, but overall, it’s an interesting idea.  The way the baffles are designed, Cooler Master is trying to bring air straight in through its channels. There’s a channel for the CPU that exposes the fin stack and Cooler Master's V8 CPU cooler. It conveys an idea similar to an engine cover. The GPU has a separate baffle beneath the CPU one. The company is trying to isolate air flow. In theory, this should work well and we would love this idea applied to more affordable cases, like the MF series, especially since they’re already kind of configurable. Looking at the back, fans can be mounted on the rear, which can help pull air out. We also saw another variant of the Cosmos case running liquid cooling with a distro block. It was coupled with 4x180mm fans and a “720” radiator, which pulled air into the case. Unfortunately, the air is blowing straight into the wall of a motherboard tray, but Cooler Master says the plan is to pull the air up and out of the case with additional 180mm fans on the top and to move the PSU towards the bottom of the case. Looking closer at the front of the special edition of the Cosmos cases, we can see the NVIDIA DGX shroud, which Cooler Master manufactures. It’s essentially like a sponge-like mesh. The special edition of the Cosmos doesn’t have a price yet, but the non-special edition variant is supposed to be around $400, which is before any potential tariffs. Cooler Master CoolersCooler Master showed off some CPU air coolers that had some 3D heat pipes, which had more heat pipes protruding from the center. The company also showed off its V8 cooler and a full-metal fan. The fan’s blades and frame are both aluminum.  Cooler Master Elite Series CasesCooler Master does some really cool sh*t but has a branding problem. For instance, the company’s “Elite” series cases, shown in the image above, are actually budget cases. From left to right, we believe they are called the Elite 482 ($50), Elite 600 ($65), Elite 490 Wood ($50), Elite 691 Wood ($60), Elite 693 ($60), Elite 692 ($70), Elite 302 ($40), and Elite 502 ($60). Our advice to Cooler Master here is for them to unf*ck these names.Most of the Elite series cases don’t come with fans with the exception of the Elite 302 and Elite 502, which come with 3 ARGB fans. MF360Next up are Cooler Master’s MF360 cases, which conveys that you can see inside the case from all sides. While it’s going to have some thermal challenges, to give the company credit, it’s actually really good looking. The MF360 is a showcase fish-tank style PC that you can see through from both sides. Inside the case, we saw a distro block and tubes routed through on both sides.Cooling XThe case in the image above, which goes by "Cooling X,” and uses the company’s new MF frame system. If you look at the corner, you can see the individual columns. At Computex, we saw it as a pre-built system.The top of the case has a magnetically attached panel, which just pulls right off. The panel itself provides really good porosity and the material is pretty nice. Removing the top panel exposes 2 offset fans. The back fan tries to pull in air with the front fan trying to exhaust air out of the top, which is why they’re offset. That’s kind of cool to see.  Cooler Master FansCooler Master showed off all-aluminum fans, which include the blades and frame. The MF120 XT is a 120mm model, is supposed to be $35, and the company says it goes up to 4,000 RPM. The fan’s RPM can also be button-controlled via an external remote and it uses a dual-ball-bearing solution. Cooler Master’s mixed fans, which use plastic blades coupled with an aluminum frame, come with fluid dynamic bearings (FDBs). The clearance between the fan blade tip and the frame is important as the smaller that clearance is, the better performance you get. The major downside is that as the fan ages, it can start to clip the interior of the frame. Having it too close can also negatively impact yields. The solution to this is LCP, which is incredibly expensive, or metal, because it doesn’t deform, but that’s also expensive. Right now, Cooler Master says it’s about a .8mm distance, which is pretty good. The company is targeting 0.6mm by the time the fan launches. Cooler Master Video Card Shroud Grab a GN15 Large Anti-Static Modmat to celebrate our 15th Anniversary and for a high-quality PC building work surface. The Modmat features useful PC building diagrams and is anti-static conductive. Purchases directly fund our work! (or consider a direct donation or a Patreon contribution!)Cooler Master also showed off some video cards, which is not something the company is typically involved with. Cooler Master created a GPU shroud with adjustable slats that can accommodate 15-30mm fans. This solution is geared towards pre-built PCs and isn’t planned to be sold separately.Examining one of the fans, we saw a standard 25mm-thick fan, which Cooler Master’s GPU shroud solution can adjust to via different notch options.Cooler Master is also using a vapor chamber, which is supported by 8x8mm heat pipes running through the shroud and a gigantic fin stack. In total, it weighs almost 7 pounds (3.2 kilograms).Cooler Master claims that, in terms of cooling, it performs similar to the 4-fan Astral solution at lower noise levels, but we don’t have those numbers. With 4,000 RPM fans running on a 600-watt heat load, Cooler Master claims a 5090 will run at about 49 degrees C or so for the GPU.

The cloud has changed everything. It’s faster, cheaper, and easier to scale than traditional infrastructure. Initially, most companies chose a single cloud provider. That’s no longer enough. Now, nearly 86% of businesses use more than one cloud. This approach—called multi-cloud—lets teams choose the best features from each provider. But it also opens the door to new security risks. When apps, data, and tools are scattered across platforms, managing security gets harder. And in today's world of constant cyber threats, ignoring cloud security is not an option. Let’s walk through real-world challenges and the best ways to protect business data in a multi-cloud environment. 1. Know What You’re Working With Start with visibility. Make a full inventory of the cloud platforms, apps, and storage your business uses. Ask every department—marketing, finance, HR—what tools they’ve signed up for. Many use services without informing IT. This is shadow IT, and it’s risky. Once you have the list, figure out what data lives where. Some workloads are low-risk. Others involve customer records, credit card data, or legal files. Prioritize those. 2. Build a Unified Security Strategy One of the biggest mistakes companies make is treating each cloud provider as a separate system. Every provider has its own rules, tools, and settings. If your security strategy is broken up, gaps will appear. Instead, aim for a single, connected approach. Use the same access rules, encryption standards, and monitoring tools across all clouds. You don’t want different policies on AWS and Azure—it just invites trouble. Tools like centralized dashboards, SIEM (Security Information and Event Management), and SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) help you keep everything in one place. 3. Enforce Strict Access Controls In a multi-cloud world, identity and access control are one of the hardest things to get right. Every platform has its own login system. Without proper integration, mistakes happen. Someone might get more access than they need, or never lose access when they leave the company. Stick to these practices: Use role-based access control. Limit permissions to the bare minimum. Turn on multi-factor authentication. Link logins across platforms using identity federation. The more consistent your access rules are, the easier it is to control who gets in and what they can do. 4. Use the Zero Trust Model Zero Trust means never assume anything is safe. Every user, device, and app must prove itself—every time. Even if a user is on your network, don’t trust them by default. This model reduces risk. It checks each request. It verifies users. And it looks for signs of abnormal behavior, like someone logging in from a new device or country. Zero Trust works well with automation and real-time monitoring. It also forces teams to rethink how data is shared and accessed. 5. Encrypt Data—Always Encryption is a basic but powerful layer of defense. It protects data whether it’s sitting in storage or moving between systems. If attackers get in, encrypted data is useless without the keys. Most cloud platforms offer built-in encryption. But don’t rely only on that. You can manage your own keys with tools like AWS KMS or Azure Key Vault. That gives you more control. To stay safe: Encrypt both at rest and in transit. Avoid default settings. Rotate encryption keys regularly. 6. Monitor in Real Time Security is not a one-time task. You need to watch your systems around the clock. Set alerts for things like large file downloads, unusual logins, or traffic spikes. Centralized monitoring helps a lot. It pulls logs from all your platforms and tools into one place. That way, your security team isn’t flipping between dashboards when something goes wrong. Also, use automation to filter out noise and surface real threats faster. 7. Set Up Regular Audits and Compliance Checks Multi-cloud setups are great for flexibility, but complex when it comes to compliance. Each platform has its own set of controls and certifications. Managing them all can be overwhelming. That’s why audits matter. Run security checks on a regular schedule—monthly, quarterly, or after every major change. Look for misconfigured permissions, missing patches, or unsecured data. And document everything. Also, make sure your tools help meet regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI DSS. Automated compliance scans can help stay on top of this. 8. Prevent Data Loss with Smart Policies Sensitive data is always at risk. Employees might share it by mistake. Attackers might try to steal it. That’s where Data Loss Prevention (DLP) comes in. DLP tools block unauthorized sharing of personal data, financial records, or internal files. You can create rules like “Don’t send customer SSNs over email” or “Block uploads of credit card data to personal drives.” DLP also supports compliance and helps avoid lawsuits or fines when accidents happen. 9. Automate Where You Can Manual work slows things down, and mistakes happen. That’s why automation is key in cloud security. Automate things like: Patch management Access reviews Backup schedules Security alerts Automation speeds up your response time. It also frees your security team to focus on serious issues, not routine tasks. 10. Centralized Security Control One major downside of multi-cloud isa lack of visibility. If you’re jumping between different tools for each cloud, you miss things. Instead, use a centralized security management system. It collects data from all clouds, shows risk levels, flags issues, and helps you fix them from one place. This unified view makes a huge difference. It helps you react faster and stay ahead of threats. Final Thought Cloud providers have made data storage and computing easier than ever. But with great power comes risk. Using multiple clouds gives more choice, but also more responsibility. Most businesses today are not ready. Only 15% have a mature multi-cloud security plan, says the 2023 Cisco Cyber Security Readiness Index. That means many are exposed. The good news? You can fix this. Start with simple steps. Know what you use. Lock it down. Watch it closely. Keep improving. And above all, treat cloud security not as a technical box to check, but as something critical to your business. Because in today’s world, a single breach can shut you down. And that’s too big a risk to ignore.

House of the Future | 1956 Photograph Exhibited at the 1956 Ideal Home Exhibition in London, the House of the Future by Alison and Peter Smithson is a visionary prototype that challenges conventions of domesticity. Set within the context of post-war Britain, a period marked by austerity and emerging optimism, the project explored the intersection of technology, material innovation, and evolving social dynamics. The Smithsons, already recognized for their theoretical rigor and critical stance toward mainstream modernism, sought to push the boundaries of domestic architecture. In the House of the Future, they offered not merely a dwelling but a speculative environment that engaged with the promise and anxieties of the atomic age. House of the Future Technical Information Architects: Alison and Peter Smithson Location: Ideal Home Exhibition, London, United Kingdom Client: Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition  Gross Area: 90 m2 | 970 Sq. Ft. Construction Year: 1956 Photographs: Canadian Centre for Architecture and Unknown Photographer The House of the Future should be a serious attempt to visualize the future of our daily living in the light of modern knowledge and available materials. – Alison and Peter Smithson 1 House of the Future Photographs 1956 Photograph © Klaas Vermaas | 1956 Photograph 1956 Photograph 1956 Photograph 1956 Photograph 1956 Photograph 1956 Photograph 1956 Photograph Design Intent and Spatial Organization At the heart of the House of the Future lies a radical rethinking of spatial organization. Departing from conventional room hierarchies, the design promotes an open, fluid environment. Walls dissolve into curved partitions and adjustable elements, allowing for flexible reinterpretation of domestic spaces. Sleeping, dining, and social areas are loosely demarcated, creating a dynamic continuity that anticipates the contemporary concept of adaptable, multi-functional living. Circulation is conceived as an experiential sequence rather than a rigid path. Visitors enter through an air-lock-like vestibule, an explicit nod to the futuristic theme, and are drawn into an environment that eschews right angles and conventional thresholds. The Smithsons’ emphasis on flexibility and continuous movement within the house reflects their belief that domestic architecture must accommodate the evolving rhythms of life. Materiality, Technology, and the Future Materiality in the House of the Future embodies the optimism of the era. Plastics and synthetic finishes dominate the interior, forming seamless surfaces that evoke a sense of sterility and futility. Often associated with industrial production, these materials signaled a departure from traditional domestic textures. The smooth, malleable surfaces of the house reinforce the Smithsons’ embrace of prefabrication and modularity. Technological integration is a key theme. The design includes built-in appliances and concealed mechanical systems, hinting at a utopian and disquieting automated lifestyle. Bathrooms, kitchens, and sleeping pods are incorporated as interchangeable modules, underscoring the house as a system rather than a static structure. In doing so, the Smithsons prefigured later discourses on the “smart home” and the seamless integration of technology into daily life. This material and technological strategy reflects a critical understanding of domestic labor and convenience. The house’s self-contained gadgets and synthetic surfaces suggest a future in which maintenance and domestic chores are minimized, freeing inhabitants to engage with broader cultural and social pursuits. Legacy and Influence The House of the Future’s influence resonates far beyond its exhibition. It prefigured the radical experimentation of groups like Archigram and the metabolist visions of the 1960s. Its modular approach and embrace of technology also foreshadowed the high-tech movement’s fascination with flexibility and systems thinking. While the project was ephemeral, a temporary installation at a trade fair, its theoretical provocations endure. It questioned how architecture could not only house but also anticipate and shape new living forms. Moreover, it crystallized the Smithsons’ ongoing interrogation of architecture’s social role, from their later brutalist housing schemes to urban design theories. In retrospect, the House of the Future is less of a resolved design proposal and more of an architectural manifesto. It embodies a critical tension: the optimism of technological progress and the need for architecture to respond to human adaptability and social evolution. As we confront contemporary challenges like climate crisis, digital living, and shifting social paradigms, the Smithsons’ speculative experiment remains an evocative reminder that the architecture of tomorrow must be as thoughtful and provocative as the House of the Future. House of the Future Plans Axonometric View | © Alison and Peter Smithson via CCA Floor Plan | © Alison and Peter Smithson, via CCA Floor Plan | © Alison and Peter Smithson, via CCA Section | © Alison and Peter Smithson, via CCA Section | © Alison and Peter Smithson, via CCA Section | © Alison and Peter Smithson, via CCA Section | © Alison and Peter Smithson, via CCA Section | © Alison and Peter Smithson, via CCA House of the Future Image Gallery About Alison and Peter Smithson Alison and Peter Smithson were British architects and influential thinkers who emerged in the mid-20th century, celebrated for their critical reimagining of modern architecture. Their work, including projects like the House of the Future, the Robin Hood Gardens housing complex, and the Upper Lawn Solar Pavilion, consistently challenged conventional notions of domesticity, urbanism, and materiality. Central to their practice was a belief in architecture’s capacity to shape social life, emphasizing adaptability, flexibility, and the dynamic interactions between buildings and their users. They were pivotal in bridging the gap between post-war modernism and the experimental architectural movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Credits and Additional Notes Banham, Reyner. Theory and Design in the First Machine Age. MIT Press, 1960. Forty, Adrian. Words and Buildings: A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture. Thames & Hudson, 2000. Smithson, Alison, and Peter Smithson. The Charged Void: Architecture. Monacelli Press, 2001. OASE Journal. “Houses of the Future: 1956 and Beyond.” OASE 75, 2007. Vidler, Anthony. Histories of the Immediate Present: Inventing Architectural Modernism. MIT Press, 2008. Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA). “House of the Future.”

These Australian Cockatoos Learned to Operate Drinking Fountains With Their Feet to Quench Their Thirst Birds in Sydney’s western suburbs have figured out how to get a sip from the fountains, even though they have access to nearby streams Cockatoos in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia, will wait in line for a taste of drinking fountain water. Klump et al., Biology Letters, 2025 Australia’s suburban-dwelling cockatoos are adept at picking up new skills. The clever birds had already figured out how to open trash cans to access scraps in neighborhoods outside Sydney—and now, scientists have observed others using their claws to turn on drinking fountains. Barbara Klump, a behavioral ecologist now at the University of Vienna, first noticed the cockatoos drinking from public water fountains west of Sydney in 2018. She thought someone had forgotten to turn off the water, but video footage from her research project showed a bird operating the handle with its foot. “Then, of course, a million questions went through my mind,” she tells Gemma Conroy at the New York Times. “How the hell did it figure that out?” Now, after monitoring cockatoos with wildlife cameras placed near one drinking fountain in Sydney’s western suburbs, Klump and her research team have confirmed that the birds regularly do this in local parks—something local wildlife experts also told her, per the New York Times. Over 44 days, the team recorded nearly 14 hours of the cockatoos around the fountain. The birds made 525 drinking attempts, of which 41 percent were successful. The findings were published Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters. Smart cockatoos use their beaks and claws to drink from water fountain Watch on Turning on the water fountains takes skill, so it makes sense that not all attempts worked out. To quench their thirst, the birds would place one foot on the fountain’s stem and the other on the spring-loaded handle, twisting it clockwise by leaning their body weight. “It’s a bit of an awkward body position they have to hold, but it’s pretty impressive,” says Lucy Aplin, an ecologist at the Australian National University and a study co-author, to Peter de Kruijff at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The researchers don’t yet understand why the birds go through the effort of maneuvering the fountains when there are easily accessible streams and creeks nearby. At the fountains, meanwhile, the cockatoos will wait for as long as ten minutes to get a turn to drink. “They appear to be quite willing to queue for a considerable amount of time,” Aplin says to Science News’ Jake Buehler. One possibility is that the birds have gotten a taste for the purer water coming from the fountains, explains Klump to Jack Tamisiea at Science. Or, the birds may prefer the height of the fountain, as drinking from a ground source leaves them less able to see predators like eagles and falcons. Spending time at the fountains could also be a form of social cohesion for the birds. “I think all three are possible,” Aplin says to Science News. The cockatoos might also just enjoy turning on the fountains, adds Alice Auersperg, a cognitive biologist at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, who was not involved in the research, to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “If there is no super urgent need and you’re not dying of thirst, then why not do something you enjoy?” Klump says to the New York Times. For now, the fountain drinking behavior hasn’t spread widely among Sydney’s cockatoos. The researchers looked through the citizen science platform Big City Birds, but they didn’t find any evidence of the behavior happening outside of the western suburbs. That’s unlike the species’ trash bin-opening habit, which has inconvenienced homeowners across at least 44 different suburbs. Residents in Brisbane, Australia, however, have also spotted cockatoos drinking from water fountains, Alpin says to the New York Times. The birds don’t migrate, so the two populations couldn’t have learned the behavior from each other. This suggests there’s potential for the “independent invention of the behavior and local spread in other places,” Alpin adds. Given their cleverness, it might not be long until more cockatoos are drinking from Australia’s fountains. Klump tells Science that she believes the birds are likely to come up with more ways to operate them, even fountains that turn on in a different way. “They’re so innovative and good at problem solving that they seem to eventually figure out a solution,” says Klump. “In a weird way, cockatoos constantly surprise me, but I’m also never that surprised.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

The inaugural edition of Shelter – a design fair on the occasion of NYCxDESIGN 2025, organized by the online collectible design platform Afternoon Light – was held on the third floor of Chelsea’s historic Starrett-Lehigh building. The 1930s-era daylit factory is an architectural relic from a time when industrial spaces of the same typology prioritized creative wellness through a structural-utilitarian-aesthetic unity. Its physicality provided an idyllic backdrop for the show’s eclectic, experimental design, which, when coupled with an expansive floorplate, promoted a sense of community among participants. More than 100 brands and makers across furniture, lighting, and product design converged on the bazaar of sorts to mingle with other trade professionals and media in what proved to be a creative convivance – something critical for in-person events looking to wrest audience attention and social currency back from the digital realm. Designers embraced the building’s ribbon-windowed, sun-drenched interior with some choosing to unfurl product-filled landscapes in lieu of walled booths while others opted for scene-building by erecting immersive sets. Aptly themed “Mart Nouveau,” Shelter’s successful launch has already positioned itself as a purveyor of taste and a collector of oddities in the best possible way. “We wanted to reference the industry-event tradition while also signaling that our activation is something entirely new… with a little aesthetic flair, too,” shares fair co-founder Minya Quirk. “Art Nouveau as a movement was about breaking from historical styles and creating something modern and forward-thinking, which we tempered by leaning into the larger concept of ‘shelter’ – protection, cover, the comfort of a hug.” Far from an exhaustive list, continue reading for a glimpse at 15 enchanting designers and the beguiling pieces that captured our attention at this year’s event. Matter.Made Matter.Made’s creative director and founder Jamie Gray launches the Delphi Pendant with star-like tubular detailing for a design that sparks great joy upon inspection. The versatile lighting collection is constructed of cast and machine brass paired with fluted glass in an homage to Greek columns. What’s more, the proprietary brass chain unlocks many use cases through customization as a pendant, sconce, and chandelier. N. Shook Reconfigurable, streamlined, and conceived as an architectural system. The Ledoux Prêt perforated shelving units, which revolve around a central spine, are satisfyingly thick with a lightness of form from their carefully calculated perforations. The cabinet doors swing on visible wooden hinges in an honest approach articulating their fully wooden joinery. Avram Rusu Studio Spring melds with summer in Psychogeography, a collaboration between Avram Rusu, Token, and Wallpaper Objects. The peachy-pink, biophilic glass orbs are whimsical by design suspended in space as they toe the line between sea creature and weeping botanicals. The sleek, bulbous forms and slightly organic folds pepper the collection with visual interest while enhancing their glow. Riffmade Riffmade’s Veil Curtain Desk is contemporary in appearance all the while deeply rooted in the domestic tradition that favors a slower pace. It supports a dynamic, modern work-life rhythm by hiding professional work stations behind a textile curtain and allowing users to create boundaries for the sake of their personal time. Jackrabbit Studio for Roll & Hill The Checa Stools commemorate Jackrabbit Studio’s first collection with New York-based, artisan manufacturer Roll & Hill. Each of the three options find themselves grounded in warmth, made even more inviting by Brett Miller’s inimitable round form-making, here inspired by the surface tension of water droplets. Ford Bostwick Finding furniture and lighting by way of architecture, designer Ford Bostwick takes the edge off rigid material forms with his indulgence in light and color. Lucy, the sculptural luminaire, can be stacked vertically or built out horizontally to create near-infinite linear combinations with her modules. She can be configured as a tower, room divider, wall feature, wall-mounted sconce, or ceiling-suspended pendant for a variety of programmatic needs. Yamazaki Home Smart brands like Yamazaki Home are approaching pet products with the same level of scrutiny and attention to detail as they would when designing goods for their human counterparts. The Tilted Pet Food Bowls elevate – quite literally – the dining experience for domesticated animals while creating a beautiful design object that doesn’t feel out of place in the contemporary home. Fort Standard Hardware Hardware bridges the gap between architecture and decorative objects, but few function with excellence at both. Fort Standard successfully expands into architectural hardware with beautiful home solutions through their Concave Collection. The slightly oversized handles boast a visual and physical weight that is hard to ignore. And, they are available in a variety of dimensions to accommodate a wide range of applications. M.Pei Studio (as curated by Colony) Maggie Pei presented her Portico Console Table and Wall Hanging Mirror as M. Pei Studio within a capsule showcase for Colony – a community of independent furniture, lighting, textile, and objects designers brought together by curator Jean Lin. Pei’s portico is monumental, meant for entryways that command passersby to gaze at and inspire a moment of personal reflection. A Space Studio Marble is arguably one of the trade’s most venerable building materials and A Space Studio takes a ‘waste not, want not’ approach to their use of it. The studio’s Slanted Armchair No. 1 is seductive, cut from a single sheet of Indian Onyx and leaning into its angular architecture. Michiko Sakano Studio Brooklyn-based, multi-hyphenate maker Michiko Sakano is all about duality. Her practice is an amalgam of art and design while her work blends utility with aesthetics. This current collection on view, Stacks, builds on previous explorations of jewelry. Here, rigid glass bangles of varying thicknesses and opacities are caught in tension as they melt into the layers below. It explores an inherent contrast between softness and structure, the negotiation between tradition and experimentation, and exemplifies Sakano’s skills as a fabricator when they meet her creative impulses. John Wells Heavy Metal & FDK Junior In a shared exhibition space, the natural patination of John Wells’ ES-07 Sconces complemented the iridescence found on Fernando Kabigting’s wall sconce from his collection 01 Capsule: Rooted in Nature. The two share a propensity for narrative driven design with contrasting approaches to storytelling through material finish and edgework. Wells’ sconces comprise stacked, terraced plates backed by LED strip lighting that echo elements of Art Deco design, while Kabigting looks to nature pulling inspiration from capillary waves caused by a droplet of water or the crinkled edge of crisp leaves. Heako Studio A good lede can make or break a story with its power to pull readers in. The same goes for objects with compelling visual contrast, which commands an audience. Soul-born artist Hea Ko knows how to craft a strong design narrative as demonstrated by the Himalaya Lunar Lamp. With this piece Ko creates a vignette distilling the serene yet powerful juxtaposition of the moon in dialogue with the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas – and bridging the natural with the celestial. Garnier Pingree Good collage is esoteric, expressive, and sometimes elusive, relying on chance for the perfect amalgamation of media. Marie Garnier and Asa Pingree, the duo behind Garnier Pingree, present the Claude Mirror I – a collage of simple shapes, a primary color, and superimposed textures – above their ‘A’ chair in a delightful display of materiality and wit. The seat offers a variety of ways to engage with comfort and even a little humor while settling in to relax.

A massive ongoing cryptojacking operation is actively exploiting misconfigured DevOps tools, including Nomad, Consul, Docker, and Gitea, to hijack computing power for cryptocurrency mining, Wiz Threat Research revealed. Dubb