Banning free plastic bags for groceries resulted in customer purchasing more plastic bags, study finds

US Secret Service robot dogs patroll Mar-A-Lago

NYU scientists create crystals to extract water from air without using energy

This study aimed to investigate whether trainee therapists could estimate client deterioration after each session […] psychotherapists were unable to identify clients getting worse during therapy and failed to predict clients who would end therapy with more severe psychological problems than before therapy

Scientists have identified a unique form of cell messaging occurring in the human brain, revealing just how much we still have to learn about its mysterious inner workings.

The current scientific consensus is that the placebo effect is a real healing effect operating through belief and suggestion. The evidence does not support this. In clinical trials of treatments, outcomes in placebo and no-treatment arms are similar, distinguishable only in tiny differences on self-report measures. A Case Against the Placebo Effect

Fair coins tend to land on the same side they started: Evidence from 350,757 flips

‘Handedness’ in snakes? […] only three out of 30 snakes showed a significant coil preference […] all three of these individuals were adult females and had a clockwise coil preference [PDF]

Instagram is flooded with hundreds of AI-generated influencers who are stealing videos from real models and adult content creators, giving them AI-generated faces, and monetizing their bodies with links to dating sites, Patreon, OnlyFans competitors, and various AI apps. The practice, first reported by 404 Media in April, has since exploded in popularity, showing Instagram is unable or unwilling to stop the flood

Phillips’s evening sale of modern and contemporary art in New York on Tuesday evening (19 November) […] The next lot, a double self-portrait by Jean-Michel Basquiat from 1983 that had previously belonged to actor-turned-artist Johnny Depp, had one of the night’s highest estimates at $10m to $15m. After receiving just one bid, auctioneer Henry Highley appeared to sell it for a hammer price of $9.3m, however following the sale’s conclusion a spokesperson for Phillips revealed that the work had in fact failed to sell—knocking about 17% off the night’s total. (A Basquiat work on paper earlier in the evening sold for its low estimate of $1m, or $1.2m with fees.)

In 1997, Laura Ingraham wrote an essay in The Washington Post in which she stated that she had changed her views on homosexuality after witnessing “the dignity, fidelity, and courage” with which her gay brother, Curtis, and his partner coped with the latter being diagnosed with AIDS; Curtis’s partner ultimately died of the disease. Curtis, on the other hand, has called his sister “a monster” and said she was influenced by their father, whom he described as a Nazi sympathizer as well as an abusive alcoholic.

That kid’s gonna be chasing that high for the rest of his life

Shareholder democracy is weird because you can just buy votes. In fact, that’s kind of the point: Each share of a public company usually has one vote,[1] so if you want to take control of the company, all you have to do is buy enough shares to win a shareholder vote. (Conservatively 50% plus one, but probably less, if you can get other shareholders to join you and/or they don’t vote.) The voting power is generally proportional to the economic ownership of the company; the more you own, the more say you have.

But it is reasonably easy to hedge stock. If you own a lot of stock of a company, and you want to (1) continue owning that stock but (2) not be fully economically exposed to the risk of the stock price, you can probably find a way to do that. Most simply, you could (1) buy 10 million shares of stock and (2) also borrow 10 million other shares of stock and sell them short. You’re long 10 million shares and short 10 million shares, so you have net zero exposure: If the stock goes up (or down), you will make (lose) money on the 10 million shares you own, and lose (make) an exactly offsetting amount of money on the 10 million shares that you are short. But you get to vote the 10 million shares that you’re long, while you don’t get negative votes for shares you are short.[2] So you have zero economic ownership but 10 million votes. […]

The fun question, which people email me about from time to time, is: What if you go long 10 million shares and short 20 million shares? Then (1) you get to vote 10 million shares and, as a big economic owner, you have a say in the running of the company, but (2) you actually profit if the company does badly, so your voting incentives will be bad.

{ Matt Levine / Bloomberg | Continue reading }

What makes a person a badass? We investigated the concept in four experiments (total N = 2,020), investigating why radically different kinds of people, ranging from peaceful advocates to fierce warriors, can each be considered badasses.

This meteorite was far larger than the infamous Cretaceous era ending one. ‘We’re looking at a bolide that was 500 to 200 times bigger than the one that killed off the dinosaurs.’ The impact 3.26 billion years ago triggered a giant tsunami, as well as clouding the oceans and darkening the skies for years to decades. The impact also evaporated tens of metres of seawater. Yet there was a silver lining: the churning of the seas brought bioavailable iron up from the ocean depths to its depleted surface and allowed some microbes to flourish, while the meteorite also brought phosphorus vital for life.

Scientists recently discovered amber fragments that suggest the snow-covered continent of Antarctica could have once been a lush jungle.

More than 1,770 oil sector lobbyists have travelled to the COP29 summit in Baku, making them the fourth largest delegation at the summit.

Do Losses Promote More Reflection Than Gains?

the regular consumption of moderate doses of coffee attenuates all-cause mortality, attenuates age-associated diseases (cardiovascular, stroke, cancer) […] average increase healthspan of 1.8 years of lifetime […] discrete benefits afforded by the consumption of 1 cup of coffee a day, maximal benefits afforded by 3 cups a day, followed by a waning of the benefits with increasing doses of coffee consumed daily […] both caffeine and non-caffeine components contribute to the benefits on lifespan of coffee consumption […] Coffee is the most consumed beverage after water with 2.25 billion cups consumed every day by circa 70% of the world population

Red color signals dominance in both animals and humans. This study investigated whether a red background color influences the perception of dominance in human faces and geometric shapes. […] results showed that faces were more likely to be perceived as dominant when presented against a red background than against green or gray backgrounds, for both female and male faces

A Physicist Says ‘Paradox-Free’ Time Travel Is Theoretically Possible

It’s thought that 4 per cent of the global population is plagued by a persistent, rumbling sound in their ears – the source of which is a total enigma. […] a team of French scientists who proposed that the Hum was potentially made by ocean waves hitting continental shelves, shaking the Earth and causing vibrations. Other scientists have hypothesised that it could be linked to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. […] 5G […] military and government sonic weaponry and mind control […] “There is this idea that it could be the total summation of all the human activity that we make; the idea that it’s actually causing some kind of continuous, standing wave of vibration in the world. And not everybody can hear it.” He cites research by scientist David Baguley into hyperacusis, a condition that makes certain people extremely sensitive to sound and can be linked to trauma.

Geographic Distribution of UAP Reports from May 1, 2023 - June 1, 2024 FUll story: Military’s UFO-Hunting Aerial Surveillance System Detailed In Report

A tiny new open-source AI model performs as well as powerful big ones. The results suggest that training models on less, but higher-quality, data can lower computing costs.

CONFIRMED: LLMs have indeed reached a point of diminishing returns

Three Mile Island’s Unit 1 owner announced last week that it has plans to reopen the plant and signed a deal with Microsoft. The company will purchase the plant’s entire electric generating capacity over the next 20 years.

Amazon goes nuclear, to invest more than $500 million to develop small modular reactors

Google to buy nuclear power for AI datacentres in ‘world first’ deal

The discovery of a rare species of bee by environmental regulators has blocked the plans of tech conglomerate Meta to build an artificial intelligence data center powered by nuclear energy

Why Are Cooling Towers Shaped Like [Truncated Cones]?

Haliey Welch, the 22-year-old who went viral for her “Hawk Tuah” video, […] amassed around 5 million followers across various social media platforms. After recently releasing her own podcast titled “Talk Tuah,” she’s now venturing into the tech world with a new AI-powered dating advice app called Pookie Tools. […] More established influencers, such as Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) and David Dobrik, have previously launched their own apps.

Dog-sitter films explicit OnlyFans content in client homes

How dogs were implicated during the Salem witch trials

How Al Capone Made Greyhound Racing Great More: When Chicago Went to the Dogs: Al Capone and Greyhound Racing in the Windy City, 1927–1933

Video Shows 2 Bees Working Together to Open a Bottle of Soda

Extract vocals, acapella, guitar, piano, bass, drums and various instruments from song or video files + more AI tools>

Museum of Bad Art

Between 2009 and 2012, iPhones had a built-in “Send to YouTube” button in the Photos app. Many of these uploads kept their default IMG_XXXX filenames, creating a time capsule of raw, unedited moments from random lives. Inspired by Ben Wallace, I made a bot that crawled YouTube and found 5 million of these videos! Watch them [here], ordered randomly.

Shop Imp Kerr and get 20% off any order over $50 with promo code WILDBABYWILD

Swedish tabloid Expressen revealed Wednesday that government officials have been ensuring in advance that all places frequented by Gender Equality Minister Paulina Brandberg are free of bananas — due to the minister’s strong phobia of the yellow fruit.

René Descartes died on February 11, 1650, in Stockholm, Sweden, succumbing to pneumonia at the age of 53. He was in Stockholm at the time to help the queen of Sweden set up an academy of science. Queen Christina, only 22 years old, made Descartes rise before 5:00 AM for her daily lesson—something which proved detrimental to his health, as he was used to sleeping late since childhood to accommodate his sickly nature. One morning, likely as a result of this early rising, combined with the freezing Swedish winters, Descartes caught a chill that proved to be fatal.

For the pleasure: “Good sense or reason must be better distributed than anything else in the world, for no man desires more of it than he already has. This shows that reason is by nature equal in all men.” –Descartes

Rob Horning: Since the U.S. election, the Twitter-like platform Bluesky has been the beneficiary of millions of users deciding that they had finally had enough of serving time on and adding value to a platform owned by a egomaniacal charlatan increasingly devoted to promoting right-wing propaganda. (Why did those users wait so long? Haven’t they heard of the sunk-cost fallacy?) […] fewer and fewer people bother to read text and society is purportedly becoming increasingly “post-literate.” (This was a theme in some election postmortems: that a significant portion of the U.S. electorate lacks the critical thinking skills that come from better reading habits and are thus readily susceptible to demagoguery.) Passive consumption of video is the algorithmically enforced norm on most platforms, which have become more or less indistinguishable from conventional television, with a rationalized, rigidly formatted flow of content and ads. (Most of what Raymond Williams wrote about TV in 1974 applies equally well to social media today.) A recent post from Katherine Dee speculates that “social media basically brought us to something like an oral culture”

impkerr.bluesky.social

Texting abbreviations seem insincere and not worth answering

consumption on small screens is starting to dominate globally […] 67% of consumers watch video on their small screen daily, compared to 50% who watch on their big screen.

It looks like Standards, Annie, HEALTH, Swans, and a number of other notable one-word artists were targeted directly. Spotify confirmed that the onslaught of AI garbage was delivered from one source. How fake music targets real artists

A Serbian Film is a 2010 Serbian exploitation horror film produced and directed by Srđan Spasojević in his feature directorial debut. It tells the experience of a financially struggling pornstar who agrees to participate in an “art film”, only to discover that he has been drafted into a snuff film with pedophilic and necrophilic themes. […] a number of sources have described A Serbian Film as the single most disturbing movie of all time

Berlin’s techno clubs close their doors […] Watergate will shut for good at new year

Study confirms Egyptians drank hallucinogenic cocktails in ancient rituals

I’m a neuroscientist who taught rats to drive − their joy suggests how anticipating fun can enrich human life — As animals – human or otherwise – navigate the unpredictability of life, anticipating positive experiences helps drive a persistence to keep searching for life’s rewards. In a world of immediate gratification, these rats offer insights into the neural principles guiding everyday behavior. Rather than pushing buttons for instant rewards, they remind us that planning, anticipating and enjoying the ride may be key to a healthy brain.

Octopuses are the species that are most likely to take over the world after humans. In the event of a wipeout through either wars or climate change, the marine invertebrates are said to possess the ‘physical and mental attributes necessary’ to evolve into the next civilisation-building species. […] Primates - long thought to be the successor to humans - would face the same challenges and also become extinct

Person dressed in a bear costume faked attacks on cars for insurance payout

CRISPR builds a big tomato that’s actually sweet. Deleting just two genes that control sugar production makes a more succulent fruit.

Memory Is Not Confined to Our Brains, Scientists Discover

A fundamental underlying question about the nature of overconfidence has continued to be subject to scholarly dispute: Is overconfidence a genuine psychological trait? […] some people do believe that they are able to perform relatively well on tasks even when there is little reason for that confidence. Our results support the claim that overconfidence might be a trait.

This study investigates the emerging phenomenon of “ghost hiring” or “ghost jobs”, where employers advertise job openings without intending to fill them. […] I find that up to 21% of job ads may be ghost jobs

bihon, is the refusal of heterosexual marriage. Bichulsan is the refusal of childbirth, biyeonae is saying no to dating, and bisekseu is the rejection of heterosexual sexual relationships. A World Without Men — The women of South Korea’s 4B movement aren’t fighting the patriarchy — they’re leaving it behind entirely.

The most common types of synesthesia · What are the rarest types of synesthesia? Do I have synesthesia?

Why didn’t people smile in old photographs?

Beginner’s Guide to Visual Prompt Injections: Invisibility Cloaks, Cannibalistic Adverts, and Robot Women

Alex Jones’ media empire has been sold at auction, and the winner is The Onion

Glaciers Reveal When Volcanoes Are on Brink of Eruption

Regular activity not only strengthens muscles but can bolster our bones, blood vessels, and immune system. Now, MIT engineers have found that exercise can also have benefits at the level of individual neurons. They observed that when muscles contract during exercise, they release a soup of biochemical signals called myokines. In the presence of these muscle-generated signals, neurons grew four times farther compared to neurons that were not exposed to myokines.

The open oval-shaped toilet seat compresses the buttocks, keeping the rectum in a lower position than if you were sitting on the couch. With gravity pulling the lower half of the body down, the increased pressure affects your blood circulation. […] the veins and blood vessels surrounding the anus and lower rectum become enlarged and engorged with blood, increasing the risk of hemorrhoids. Don’t sit on the toilet for more than 10 minutes, doctors warn

children who followed a consistent bedtime routine and fell asleep at the same time each night displayed better control of their emotions and behavior when they were under stress or working with others. Consistent bedtime may be more influential than sleep quality or duration

Teens who use social media see conspiracy theories come across their feed at least once per week, according to a new study

Last summer, UNESCO endorsed banning smartphones in schools, citing research that found students can take up to 20 minutes to refocus once distracted by a single notification. That’s a startling statistic, considering the volume of notifications teens receive. (One widely publicized study last year by a U.S. nonprofit pegged the number at 237 per day.) […] confiscating phones is challenging and controversial. Where it’s been successful, it’s not driven by lone teachers.

Dermatologists say hot water, especially when combined with soaps that contain fragrances and harsh ingredients, may damage the outermost layer, known as the skin barrier. The skin barrier is made of dead skin cells, said Dr. Paola Baker, a dermatologist in Boston who has researched its function. Surrounding those cells is a dense matrix of fatty substances such as ceramides, fatty acids and cholesterol, she said. These substances, called lipids, help retain moisture in the skin and protect it from environmental irritants and allergens. [NY Times]

Why Hunting Coyotes May Actually Increase Their Numbers

The holy grail of AI, Sejnowski explains, is artificial general intelligence: a machine that can think, learn and solve problems across a wide range of tasks, much like a human can. The current generation of LLMs is far from that. Referred to pejoratively by some researchers as ‘stochastic parrots’, they mostly mimic human language without true comprehension. […] The next generation of LLMs must undergo a developmental process akin to the childhood learning phase in humans, he surmises, learning from real-world interactions as well as data. […] The addition of robotics and sensorimotor systems would allow AI tools to perceive and interact with their environment, nudging current models towards artificial general autonomy.

Robot That Watched Surgery Videos Performs With Skill Of Human Doctor

Air fryers that gather your personal data and audio speakers “stuffed with trackers” are among examples of smart devices engaged in “excessive” surveillance, according to the consumer group Which? The organisation tested three air fryers, increasingly a staple of British kitchens, each of which requested permission to record audio on the user’s phone through a connected app.

the story of a woman who managed to fool a male-only, world-famous magic society into admitting her, before being unceremoniously kicked out when she revealed her true identity […] “We really do hope that Sophie can be found so that we can welcome her back into our society” The society now has more than 80 female members

The US Has a Cloned Sheep Contraband Problem

This elephant learned to use a hose as a shower. Then her rival sought revenge — Behaviors reveal sophisticated tool use—and possible “pranking”—among pachyderms

Plastic-eating insect discovered in Kenya

One of the most confounding concepts to emerge from the cauldron of early 20th-century physics was the idea that quantum objects can exist in multiple states simultaneously. A particle could be in many places at once, for example. The math and experimental results were unequivocal about it. And it seemed that the only way for a particle to go from such a “superposition” of states to a single state was for someone or something to observe it, causing the superposition to “collapse.” Must the observer be human? Can AI Save Schrödinger’s Cat?

A bribery experiment involving people from 18 countries reveals that the phenomenon is largely subject to circumstance […] The bad news is that even those who consider themselves immune to corruption can easily become corrupt

This paper argues that unusual coincidences, particularly those involving historical events, can be viewed as design patterns, suggesting an intelligent influence over the course of events. A compelling case examined in detail using probability theory concerns the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) and John F. Kennedy (1917–1963). This and other coincidences involving historical figures disfavor the materialistic perspective and point to the presence of an intelligent agent acting on a global scale, beyond the arrow of time, influencing human lives and the course of history.

Happiness should be the outcome of doing things you love, not the primary goal.

As scientists of language, the Grimms compiled a massive survey of mythology, edited epic poems, launched a historical dictionary—and collected old stories. As cultural detectives, they cast a wide net, creating a history for a nation that did not yet exist. The idea of one Germany was itself a fairy tale, a political construct shopping for an origin myth, and neither brother lived to see Otto von Bismarck’s triumphant unification of Germany in 1871. […] No German authors have been more translated, not even Goethe.

Russian State TV Airs Melania Trump’s Nudes on Prime Time

North Korean soldiers hooked on porn after getting internet access for first time while helping Russia fight Ukraine

Men’s Perceptions of Female Genitals

On average, people in relationships had higher life satisfaction than singles. Singles, even involuntary ones, had higher life satisfaction than people in bad relationships.

This scientist treated her own cancer with viruses she grew in the lab

How ChatGPT Brought Down an Online Education Giant — Chegg’s stock is down 99%, and students looking for homework help are defecting to ChatGPT

FBI says hackers are sending fraudulent police data requests to tech giants to steal people’s private information

DataBreach.com Emerges as Alternative to HaveIBeenPwned

We’re attempting to get a collection of humans to say every digit of the newly-discovered (and currently largest-known prime number) Mersenne prime M136279841

screenshots { Brian De Palma, The Fury, 1978 }

Swiss scientists have successfully grown lip cells in a dish, which will allow new treatments for lip injuries and infections to be trialed in the lab

Novel way to beat dengue: Deaf mosquitoes stop having sex — Mosquitoes have sex while flying in mid-air and the males rely on hearing to chase down a female, based on her attractive wingbeats. The researchers did an experiment, altering a genetic pathway that male mosquitoes use for this hearing. Female mosquitoes are the ones that spread diseases to people, and so trying to prevent them having babies would help reduce overall numbers.

Researchers are trying to “inoculate” people against misinformation by giving them small doses ahead of time — First, warn people they may be manipulated. Second, expose them to a weakened form of the misinformation, just enough to intrigue but not persuade anyone.

The Banality of Online Recommendation Culture A recent surge of human-curated guidance is both a reaction against and an extension of the tyranny of algorithmic recommendations.

We don’t understand color vision as well as you’d think from decades of academic study. We have classic theories of how red, green, blue, yellow, bright, and dark encode in the brain. […] “That’s still the theory you get in textbooks. But it’s a very naive theory,” he said. “There’s a whole mystery of how the brain really represents color.” […] In a pivotal study from 2009, their team at the University of Washington cured color blindness in monkeys […] Most color deficiencies come from anomalies in the cones, but one form called “dichromatism” is a genetic condition where one cone is entirely missing. The Neitzes treated dichromat monkeys with this categorically severe version of color blindness. And not only did they replace the missing type of cone with a first-of-its-kind gene therapy, they did this in adult monkeys, raising entirely new questions about sensory plasticity. I’m not getting this treatment anytime soon. The therapy is far from approval and, more importantly, I’m not so deficient that I want an eye injection that temporarily detaches the retina.

researchers report developing ultrasensitive, nanoscale sensors that in small-scale tests distinguished a key change in the chemistry of the breath of people with lung cancer. […] People breathe out many gases, such as water vapor and carbon dioxide, as well as other airborne compounds. Researchers have determined that declines in one exhaled chemical — isoprene — can indicate the presence of lung cancer.

22 pesticides consistently linked with the incidence of prostate cancer in the US

Plans by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to build an AI data centre in the US that runs on nuclear power were thwarted in part because a rare species of bee was discovered on land earmarked for the project [Financial Times]

We found that in most of the countries analyzed, right-wing (conservative) individuals have, on average, more children and grandchildren than left-wing (liberal) individuals. We also found that the proportion of right-wing individuals increases from generation to generation. to some extent, demography may explain longer-term political trends.

Trading for a Chinese software company, whose name, “Chuan Da Zhi Sheng,” can be literally translated as “Trump Big Wisdom Win,” was halted after its Shenzhen-listed shares rose 10%.

An Observer investigation has found that dating apps are increasingly pushing users to buy extras that have been likened to “gambling products” and can cost hundreds of pounds a year.

Roblox: Inflated Key Metrics For Wall Street And A Pedophile Hellscape For Kids — Registered as a child, we were also able to access games like “Escape to Epstein Island” and “Diddy Party”. We found over 600 “Diddy” games, including “Survive Diddy” and “Run From Diddy Simulator”.

Spending time alone is a virtually inevitable part of daily life that can promote or undermine well-being.

Here, we explore how the language used to describe time alone—such as “me-time” “solitude,” or “isolation”—influences how it is perceived and experienced […]

linguistic framing affected what people thought about, but not what they did, while alone […]

simple linguistic shifts may enhance subjective experiences of time alone

{ PsyArXiv | Continue reading }

Hydro panels technology ’sucks’ liquid out of the air, providing drinking water for remote NSW town

Experts say the time changes are detrimental to health and safety, but agree that the answer isn’t permanent daylight saving time

Facial recognition website PimEyes has become a hit among digital ‘creeps’ and others eager to investigate strangers. Researchers fear there’s no way to prevent it from being abused.

AI-driven 0-day detection is here

Agentic AI is the top strategic technology trend for 2025, #4 is Postquantum Cryptography (data protection that resists quantum computing decryption risks), #5 is Ambient Invisible Intelligence (enabled by ultra-low-cost smart tags and sensors that deliver large-scale affordable tracking and sensing)

Research has shown an association between agreeableness and sweet taste preferences

Scientists found a clear link between red meat and cancer

Nobody knows when kissing emerged among humans. But the practice of plopping one’s mouth on another human, whether in friendship or love, is not universal; which suggests culture, rather than instinct, may be at play. […] “Grooming consists of picking through the fur/hair of others to remove parasites, dead skin, and debris” […] as we lost our fur, and spent less time grooming each other, we may have retained some vestigial remnant of the ritual. One of these remnants is what Lameira terms the “groomer’s final kiss”. Although combing through a partner’s fur to remove detritus and parasites would have become less necessary, each grooming session would have included – or ended with – the latching of the lips onto the groomee’s body to extract stubborn detritus.

Jaywalking legalized in New York City

Viral ’subway surfing’ trend has led to deaths of six youths in New York

Las Vegas Ruined this man entire life

When Does Instagram Decide a Nipple Becomes Female? — For the past two years an algorithmic artist who goes by Ada Ada Ada has been testing the boundaries of human and automated moderation systems on various social media platforms by documenting her own transition.

A collection of one-off actions that improve your life continuously — however marginally

Canadian Journal of Zombie Science

The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type any given text, including the complete works of William Shakespeare. Two Australian mathematicians found that the time it would take for a typing monkey to replicate Shakespeare’s plays, sonnets and poems would be longer than the lifespan of our universe. […] There would be a 5% chance that a single chimp would successfully type the word “bananas” in its own lifetime. Previously in unrealistic assertions: From the moment the impending storm is announced (Genesis 6:7, 13, 17) and Jehovah sets forth the design and dimensions of the ark (Genesis 6:14-16), problems start appearing.

What’s so special about the human brain?

A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones

AI scam bots are trying to “recover” your Gmail account

The discovery of the Parshall Oil Field in 2006 set off a multi-billion dollar energy boom in North Dakota’s Bakken Oil Patch.

Burning Man is urgently calling for millions more in donations amid faltering ticket sales and staff layoffs.

Elon Musk Could Have US Citizenship Revoked If He Lied on Immigration Forms

Fentanyl test kits sold by Overdrive Defense include tiny orange spoons for scooping samples of drugs to be checked […] Since introducing Starface in 2019, the two have moved into contraceptive pills (the brand Julie Care), moisturizer (Futurewise) and smoking-cessation products (Blip). Overdrive, founded by Mr. Bordainick with Ms. Schott as an adviser, is their latest venture. [NYT]

He has previously approached me a couple of times offering me a job opportunity — a project he claimed was a perfect fit for my background. I accepted his invitation. […] I went briefly to the bathroom that night during our meeting and when I came back I took a few sips of the drink before he stepped outside to make a call. The waitress then rushed over to alert me that my drink has been spiked.

Researchers say an AI-powered transcription tool used in hospitals invents things no one ever said

Leaked Training Shows How Doctors in New York’s Biggest Hospital System Are Using AI

How AI could transform the patient journey in health care [audio]

This study systematically assesses expert beliefs about the probability of a nuclear catastrophe by 2045. We define a nuclear catastrophe as an event where nuclear weapons cause the death of at least 10 million people. Experts assigned a median 5% probability of a nuclear catastrophe by 2045, while expert forecasters put the probability at 1%. [PDF]

All animals do things that prevent them from surviving, reproducing, being safe, or being happy. All animals get things wrong. Life makes mistakes.

A 2022 study, using a sample of 953 people in the US who meditated regularly, showed that over 10 percent of participants experienced adverse effects which had a significant negative impact on their everyday life and lasted for at least one month. […] the most common adverse effects are anxiety and depression

As a child, he was kicked out of one of Macao’s finest hotels. Today, he’s the owner.

What It’s Like Being a Billionaire’s Personal Assistant

3-in-1 Drink Spike Defense Test Kit, the first and only test that detects all three of the most common date-rape drugs: GHB, Rohypnol (aka roofies), and ketamine.

The gothic style was meant to be heavenly and transcendent — so how did it become the vision of a haunted house?

Google Street View Is Showing Strange “Businesses” in the Middle of the Ocean

These companies are creating food out of thin air — Some 25 companies worldwide have already taken up the challenge, hoping to turn abundant carbon dioxide into nutritious “air protein.”

we estimate that wildfire smoke accounts for 18% of ambient PM2.5 concentrations, 0.42% of deaths, and 0.69% of emergency room visits among adults aged 65 and over

study finds cancer-causing chemicals in black plastic food-contact items sold in the U.S. Highest levels of toxic flame retardants found in a spatula, sushi tray, and beaded necklace—likely the result of dirty plastic recycling

Conspicuous logos and clothing colors influence perceptions of men’s mating priorities and attractiveness — Men who owned shirts with large logos were perceived as more likely to pursue short-term sexual relationships and use dominance to gain social status, often through intimidation. In contrast, men who wore shirts with smaller or no logos were rated as more likely to invest in long-term relationships and parental effort, using prestige (cooperation and skill) to gain status.

around 25% of men and 14% of women admit to sexual unfaithfulness

Before you buy a domain name, first check to see if it’s haunted

Apollo astronauts first started by putting on highly absorbent underwear. They wore these under their suits in case there was an unanticipated bathroom accident. In addition, they had a urine collection device. This was essentially a heavy, rubber condom attached to a long tube that emptied into a rubberized reservoir. […] The next layer was a liquid cooling garment (LCG). This is a water-cooled nylon undergarment that looked like long underwear with clear plastic tubes running through it. Attached to the LCG was a biobelt. Biobelts were constructed of a cotton duck base, a fabric similar to an artist’s canvas, with Teflon-coated, Beta-cloth pockets.

A memo circulating in Donald Trump’s orbit says that if elected he should use private firms to check appointees’ backgrounds and give them immediate access to classified secrets after taking office. It is not clear whether Mr. Trump has seen the proposal or whether he is inclined to adopt it if he takes office. The proposal is being promoted by a small group including Boris Epshteyn, a top legal adviser to Mr. Trump. It is not clear whether Mr. Trump has seen the proposal or whether he is inclined to adopt it if he takes office. But it would allow him to quickly install loyalists in major positions without subjecting them to the risk of long-running and intrusive F.B.I. background checks, potentially increasing the risks of people with problematic histories or ties to other nations being given influential White House roles. Such checks hung up clearances for a number of aides during Mr. Trump’s presidency, including Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Mr. Epshteyn himself. The proposal suggests using private-sector investigators and researchers to perform background checks on Mr. Trump’s intended appointees during the transition, cutting out the role traditionally played by F.B.I. agents, the three people said. Once Mr. Trump took the oath, he would then summarily approve a large group for access to classified secrets, they said. [NY Times]

The Journal International de Médecine carried a startling article in 1987: “Mise en Évidence Expérimentale d’une Organisation Tomatotopique chez la Soprano,” or “Experimental Demonstration of the Tomatotopic Organization in the Soprano (Cantatrix sopranica L.).” In it, author Georges Perec notes that throwing tomatoes at sopranos seems to induce a “yelling reaction” and sets out to understand why

The Beguiling, Bizarre World of Midcentury Self-Help Records
— An album from hypnotist and pioneer in “hypo-anesthesia” Emile Franchel, REDUCE TENSIONS AND SLEEP DEEPLY was listed for a pricey $9.50 on its release in 1958. Buyers received a “highest ‘Hi-Fi’ quality” record, “pressed from virgin, vinylite under several exclusive, superior patents.” What’s more, it was pressed on translucent red vinyl! The notes urge the listener to “use the recording often. Learn to relax, to sleep at will, to feel better in mind, spirit and body, and to release the hidden forces within you.”

New Zealand airport puts time limits on hugs

Five elephants in a Colorado zoo could someday sue for their freedom, if the state’s Supreme Court sides with an animal rights group and declares them “persons” under the law.

Scientists Grow Crops in Near-Total Darkness Thanks to New ‘Electro-Agriculture’ Technique

Human brain can process certain sentences in ‘blink of an eye’. Findings differ from previous theories that words are understood one by one

Anyone Can Learn Echolocation in Just 10 Weeks—And It Remodels Your Brain

Why ghosts wear clothes or white sheets instead of appearing in the nude

Can You Photograph a Ghost?

What did we lose when we stopped writing letters?

Redditors Are Trying to Poison Google’s AI to Keep Tourists Out of the Good Restaurants

Meet the Italian ‘Fruit Detective’ Who Investigates Centuries-Old Paintings for Clues About Produce That Has Disappeared From the Kitchen Table

What makes a person seem wise?

An effortless way to improve your memory Just dim the lights, sit back, and enjoy 10-15 minutes of quiet contemplation, and you’ll find that your memory of the facts you have just learnt is far better than if you had attempted to use that moment more productively.

findings suggest that women are, on average, happier in singlehood than men

How fast is quantum entanglement? Scientists investigate it at the attosecond scale

Suchir Balaji spent nearly four years as an artificial intelligence researcher at OpenAI. Among other projects, he helped gather and organize the enormous amounts of internet data the company used to build its online chatbot, ChatGPT. […] He came to the conclusion that OpenAI’s use of copyrighted data violated the law and that technologies like ChatGPT were damaging the internet. In August, he left OpenAI because he no longer wanted to contribute to technologies that he believed would bring society more harm than benefit. [NY Times]

Rockefeller didn’t make his money through innovation. He didn’t invent gasoline, cars, natural gas, processing methods, shipping, or anything else that would justify his wealth. Rockefeller basically stole his wealth through unfair business practices designed to gouge consumers, robbing them through economic force. He was a Robber Baron. A late 18th century businessman who used monopoly, dirty politics, bribes, and unscrupulous practices to rob the unfortunate of their money. […] I’m on a phone call with four employees from Apple. […] they wanted me to make “just one change” to my webserver Mongrel to support some crazy feature in OSX. […] these 4 lines would require hours and hours of work to implement. […] I was hoping that Apple would offer to hire me to make this change they needed. […] But, they did no such thing. […] There was a pleading, begging, hands clasped together, with all these reasons why I should do it for them. […] I believe we are in the era of the Beggar Barons. Just like the Robber Barons before, these are fabulously wealthy companies that built their empires by (directly or indirectly) begging for free labor from open source developers.

In addition to the soft-serve swirled poop replica, the desk in the middle of the National Mall near 3rd Street NW also held a rendering of an office phone and a nameplate with Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s name on it. “This memorial honors the brave men and women who broke into the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021 to loot, urinate and defecate throughout those hallowed halls in order to overturn an election,” a plaque reads on a pedestal below the desk.

You may have heard the insane tale of a $660 million memecoin called Goatseus Maximus, which was shilled to the world by a shitposting AI called Terminal of Truths More: Truth Terminal is the most fascinating narrative I’ve seen emerge around Crypto and AI this year. It is a semi-autonomous AI agent that has created its own religion (The Goatse Gospel).

North West stunned fans after gifting her mother Kim Kardashian a luxury necklace with the words ‘Skibidi Toilet’ engraved in diamonds

Can you think without words? Neuroscientist explains why language isn’t required for deep thinking […] Language and thought are distinct entities, operating in separate parts of the brain

US startup charging couples to ‘screen embryos for IQ’ […] $50,000 to test 100 embryos

ChatGPT-like AI model can diagnose cancer, guide treatment choice, predict survival across multiple cancer types

Archetype AI’s Newton model learns physics from raw data—without any help from humans

ByteDance intern fired for planting malicious code in AI models. Sabotage supposedly cost tens of millions, but TikTok owner ByteDance denies it.

Solar-powered desalination system requires no extra batteries, could provide communities with drinking water at low costs

an estimated 20,000 whales are killed every year, and many more injured, after being struck by ships

Blue whale skeleton at New Bedford museum still oozing oil, even though the whale has been dead for more than two decades

During wakefulness our thoughts transition between different contents. Alongside, there are moments devoid of specific reportable content, known as mind blanking (MB). Currently, it remains unclear what these blanks refer to […] we hold that ongoing thinking comes at degrees of richness and that allegedly contentless experiences are distinct mental states with their own diversity, therefore challenging the view of the mind as a content-oriented operator.

Afraid of spiders? Heights? Public speaking? They activate different parts of the brain

Some researchers argue that modern diets, especially those of the Western world, have skewed our immune responses in ways that have undermined immune resilience. More optimistically, others say that diet could also help to treat a range of health problems, such as cancers and chronic immune disorders such as lupus. Your diet can change your immune system — here’s how

38% of women have at least one tattoo, compared with 27% of men. This includes 56% of women ages 18 to 29 and 53% of women ages 30 to 49.

Anyone Can Turn You Into an AI Chatbot. There’s Little You Can Do to Stop Them

Startup focused on AI detection has developed a tool to verify human participants in video calls and catch fraudsters using AI deepfakes for scams

The only permanent bipeds of the animal kingdom alongside humans, birds have an extraordinary sense of balance. How do these direct descendants of the dinosaurs maintain this stability, especially when sleeping?

the company announced on social media that its merchandise had been hijacked, that they had no idea this kind of cargo theft was even a thing. […] Last year cargo thieves stole a $50,000 shipment of refrigerated yogurt headed for Florida and demanded a $40,000 ransom. How a small outdoor footwear company lost 5,000 pairs of shoes and found itself entangled in an international crime saga

We praise canonical authors for their boundless imagination. Then why do all their plots feel the same?

“Different matters are arranged in my head,” said Napoleon, “as in drawers. I open one drawer and close another as I wish. I have never been kept awake by an involuntary pre-occupation of the mind. If I desire repose I shut up all the drawers, and sleep. I have always slept when I wanted rest, and almost always at will.”

Officials at TikTok discovered that there was “a high” number of underage streamers receiving a “gift” or “coin” in exchange for stripping — real money converted into a digital currency […] TikTok quantified the precise amount of viewing it takes for someone to form a habit: 260 videos […] TikTok videos can be just a few seconds long. Thus, in under 35 minutes, an average user is likely to become addicted to the platform. […] TikTok’s algorithm prioritizes beautiful people […] 95% of smartphone users under 17 use TikTok

His daughter was murdered nearly two decades ago. Earlier this month, he discovered that her name and image had been used to create an AI chatbot.

Spotify criticized for letting fake albums appear on real artist pages

Reflections on Palantir […] I left last year, but never wrote publicly about what I learned there.

Triphallia, a rare congenital anomaly describing the presence of three distinct penile shafts, has been reported only once in the literature. This case report describes the serendipitous discovery during cadaveric dissection of the second reported human case of triphallia