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☆ DNA reveals surprises trapped in teeth of ‘Tsavo man-eater’ lions
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-11 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Thomas Gnoske, a collections manager at the museum, first spotted thousands of hairs trapped within the lions’ teeth when he examined their skulls in the 1990s. “Our analysis showed that the historic Tsavo lions preyed on giraffe, human, oryx, waterbuck, wildebeest, and zebra, and we also identified hairs that originated from lions. The Tsavo lions were maneless, like this adult male lion. The combined efforts opened a treasure trove of data about the lions’ prey as well as about the predators themselves. “It suggests that the Tsavo lions may have either traveled farther than previously believed, or that wildebeest were present in the Tsavo region during that time,” de Flamingh said.

Persons: John Henry Patterson, Patterson, Thomas Gnoske, ”, Alida de Flamingh, Gnoske, Julian Kerbis Peterhans, Kerbis Peterhans, David Sewell, Kerbis, Nduhiu, de Flamingh, Ripan, Andrew Wasike, Flamingh, ” de Flamingh, “ Patterson, John Warburton, Lee, Aditya Dicky Singh, Malhi, Love Dalén, Dalén, wasn’t, ” Gnoske Organizations: CNN, Uganda Railway, Chicago’s Field, Field Museum, University of Illinois, Field, The, Roosevelt University, Alamy, National Museums of, University of Nairobi, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Stockholm University, “ Locations: Kenya, Uganda, University of Illinois Urbana, Champaign, Chicago, Samburu, National Museums of Kenya, Tsavo, Cape, Africa

Two American scientists were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology on Monday for their groundbreaking work on how genes behave. Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun discovered microRNA, which the Nobel Assembly describes as "a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated." The tiny microRNA molecules play a crucial role in determining how different cells — which have the same chromosomes, essentially their instruction manual — have different characteristics. "The answer lies in gene regulation, which allows each cell to select only the relevant instructions," the Nobel announcement said. But subsequent work, including the discovery of another microRNA in 2000, proved that there are more than a thousand genes for different microRNAs in humans.

Persons: Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun, Ruvkin, Silverman, Worcester , Massachusetts Ruvkun Organizations: Medicine, Nobel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Natural Science, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Harvard University, Harvard Medical School Locations: Hanover , New Hampshire, Worcester , Massachusetts, Berkeley , California

☆ Nobel Prize in medicine 2024 awarded for work on the discovery of microRNA to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-07 | by ( Christian Edwards | Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —This year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their work on the discovery of microRNA, a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated. Their research revealed how genes give rise to different cells within the human body, a process known as gene regulation. The Nobel Prize committee announced the prestigious honor, seen as the pinnacle of scientific achievement, in Sweden on Monday. Ruvkun conducted his research at Massachusetts General Hospital, and is a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School. Nobel Committee Secretary General Thomas Perlmann speaks to the media in front of a picture of this year's laureates Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkum during the announcement of the Nobel Prize in medicine winners on Monday.

Persons: Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun, Ambros, ’, “, Ruvkun, General Thomas Perlmann, Gary Ruvkum, Jonathan Nackstrand, ”, Olle Kämpe, David Pendlebury, ” Pendlebury, Katalin Karikó, Drew Weissman Organizations: CNN, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Getty, Clarivate’s Institute for Scientific Locations: Sweden, Massachusetts, AFP, Covid

☆ Elusive orca group hunts dolphins off Chile, new images reveal
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-26 | by ( Mindy Weisberger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The scientists had previously documented orcas (Orcinus orca) in the region chasing both dusky dolphins and long-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus capensis). Dusky dolphins measure about 7 feet (2 meters) long and weigh up to 187 pounds (85 kilograms). The Humboldt Current orcas weren’t eating dolphins exclusively; they hunted leatherback sea turtles, South American fur seals and Humboldt penguins, according to the study. But Humboldt Current orcas have a smaller white eye patch than known Type A orcas. A similar interaction was previously documented in Australia between an orca and a diver, but had never been observed in the Humboldt Current.

Persons: orcas, Luis Aguilar, CETALAB, Sarah Teman, ”, Teman, “, Ana Maria García Cegarra, Alexander von Humboldt, García Cegarra, ‘, García, ” Teman, Mindy Weisberger Organizations: CNN, Northern, Southern Hemisphere, Marine Science, Humboldt, of, Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Alexander von Humboldt Institute of Natural Sciences, Chile’s University of Antofagasta, Research, Humboldt Penguin National Reserve, Hemisphere, International Union for, Chile’s Ministry of, Scientific Locations: Chile, South America, South, Antarctica, North America, Strait, Gibraltar, Scotland, Humboldt, Seattle, orcas, California, Argentina, New Zealand, Washington, British Columbia, Canada, American, Chilean Patagonia, Australia

☆ Swallowed eels escape via predator fish’s gills
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-13 | by ( Mindy Weisberger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Dark sleeper fish (Odontobutis obscura) can gulp down young Japanese eels (Anguilla japonica) whole, but the swallowed eels can wriggle back up through the digestive tract and out of the stomach, swimming to freedom through the bigger fish’s gills, scientists recently discovered. “Witnessing the eels’ desperate escape from the predator’s stomach to the gills was truly astonishing for us.”A Japanese eel exhibits circling behavior along a predator's stomach wall in this X-ray video footage. But while they observed swallowed eels wriggling tailfirst from dark sleepers’ gills, “we had no understanding of their escape routes and behavioral patterns during the escape because it occurred inside the predator’s body,” Hasegawa said via email. Once a predator swallowed an eel, the sated fish was quickly moved to a special tank where the X-ray video camera was ready to roll. On average, it took about 3 ½ minutes for a swallowed eel to reappear and swim away.

Persons: ”, Yuha Hasegawa, Yuuki Kawabata, ichthyologist Kory Evans, “, ” Evans, ’ Hasegawa, Kazuki Yokouchi, Nagasaki University —, ” Hasegawa, Prosanta, Mindy Weisberger Organizations: CNN, Graduate School of Fisheries, Environmental Sciences, Japan’s Nagasaki University, “, biosciences, Rice University, Japan Fisheries Research, Education Agency, Nagasaki University, Louisiana State University, LSU Museum of Natural Science, Scientific Locations: Anguilla, Houston

CAIRO — The splendor of the Queen of the Nile is the star not of any Egyptian museum, but of the Neues Museum in the German capital, Berlin, where thousands admire the 3,400-year-old bust of Nefertiti every day in a domed hall. Therefore, the home of the bust should be the Grand Egyptian Museum. The Nefertiti bust on display at the Neues Museum in Berlin. The Neues Museum did not respond to a request for comment. In July, the New York Museum of Metropolitan Museum of Art returned more than a dozen Cambodian artifacts.

Persons: Nefertiti, Zahi Hawass, ” Hawass, Hawass, Michael Sohn, Pharaoh Akhenaten, Akhenaten, — Hawass, Hitler, “, Mona Lisa, ’, Rosetta Stone, ”, Napoleon, Charlene Gubash, Mithil Organizations: Neues Museum, Egyptian Museum, “, El, Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, Associated Press, New York Museum of Metropolitan Museum of Art, British Museum Locations: CAIRO, Berlin, Germany, Egypt, Tell, Cairo, Nefertiti's, “ Egypt, London, Alexandria, Louvre, Paris, Hong Kong

☆ A teacher caught students using ChatGPT on their first assignment to introduce themselves. Her post about it started a debate.
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-08 | by ( Jaures Yip | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Yet many of the students enrolled in her ethics and technology course decided to introduce themselves with ChatGPT. AdvertisementSecond week of the semester and I've already had students use (and own up to using) ChatGPT to write their first assignment: "briefly introduce yourself and say what you're hoping to get out of this class". AdvertisementThe calculator argument — why ChatGPT is not just another problem-solving toolMany of the commenters who defended using AI likened ChatGPT for writing to using a calculator for math problems. OpenAI even partnered with Arizona State University to offer students and faculty full access to ChatGPT Enterprise for tutoring, coursework, research, and more. A professor in another post that received over 600 upvotes said that ChatGPT was "ruining" their love of teaching.

Persons: —, Megan Fritts, Fritts, I've, they're, clued, ChatGPT, they've, Charles Harvey, Harvey, I'm, They're, Curby Alexander, Anna Cunningham, Joel Nishimura, OpenAI, upvotes Organizations: Service, Business, University of Arkansas, University of Central, EdWeek Research, Texas Christian University, Arizona State University, ChatGPT Enterprise Locations: Little, University of Central Arkansas, Arizona

☆ Mike Lynch, man once dubbed 'Britain's Bill Gates,' dies at age 59
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-22 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Mike Lynch, 59, is the founder of enterprise software firm Autonomy. Dominic Lipinski | PA Images | Getty ImagesDuring the course of the trial, Lynch took the stand in his own defense. He became a key voice supporting the U.K. technology industry, backing key names like cybersecurity firm Darktrace and legal tech firm Luminance. Mike Lynch, founder of software firm Autonomy, at the company's headquarters in, Cambridge, U.K., Aug. 24, 2000. Bryn Colton | Hulton Archive | Getty Images"I keep rare breeds," Lynch told LeadersIn in a 2016 interview.

Persons: Mike Lynch, Hewlett Packard, Chris Ratcliffe, Lynch, —, Angela Bacares —, Bacares, Hannah, Bill Gates, Graham Barclay, David Tabizel, Richard Gaunt, Thomas Bayes, Dominic Lipinski, Autonomy's, Stephen Chamberlain, Sushovan Hussain, Hussain, Thoma, Bryn, LeadersIn Organizations: Autonomy, Hewlett, Bloomberg, Getty, LONDON, CNBC, Sky News, Bancroft's, British Industry, University of Cambridge, Lynett Systems, Cambridge, South Yorkshire Police, Cambridge Neurodynamics, HP, U.S, Packard, Prosecutors, Capital Management, Thoma Bravo, BBC, Council for Science, Technology, Forbes, East Anglian Times, The Times Locations: Sicily, U.S, Porticello, Palermo, Italy, Ilford, East London, Chelmsford, English, Essex, Woodford Green, London, Cambridge, Britain, Suffolk, Bryn Colton, England

☆ 'Britain's Bill Gates': Who is Mike Lynch, the UK tech entrepreneur missing after superyacht sinks?
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-20 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Mike Lynch, 59, is the founder of enterprise software firm Autonomy. Lynch, 59, is the founder of enterprise software firm Autonomy. During the trial, Lynch took the stand in his own defense, denying wrongdoing and telling jurors that HP botched Autonomy's integration. "I keep rare breeds," Lynch told LeadersIn during an interview. Weeks before he was reported missing, Lynch told The Times newspaper of how he feared dying in prison if found guilty over the HP allegations.

Persons: Mike Lynch, Hewlett Packard, Chris Ratcliffe, Lynch —, Bill Gates, —, Lynch's, Angela Bacares, Hannah —, Morgan, Jonathan Bloomer, Judy, Clifford Chance, Chris Morvillo, Neda, Stephen Chamberlain, Chamberlain's, Lynch, Autonomy's, Chamberlain, Sushovan Hussain, Hussain, David Tabizel, Richard Gaunt, Thoma, LeadersIn, Weeks Organizations: Autonomy, Hewlett, Bloomberg, Getty, LONDON, U.K, Morgan Stanley, Reuters, HP, U.S, Prosecutors, University of Cambridge, Lynett Systems, Cambridge, South Yorkshire Police, Cambridge Neurodynamics, BBC, Council for Science, Technology, Capital Management, Thoma Bravo, Forbes, East Anglian Times, The Times Locations: Sicily, Porticello, Palermo, Italy, Cambridgeshire, England, Britain, U.S, Ilford, East London, Chelmsford, English, Essex, U.K, British, Suffolk

☆ Meet Lokiceratops, the rock star cousin of Triceratops
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-22 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. The Triceratops fossil emerged first as it eroded from the rock of the Hell Creek Formation in 2006. Across the universeAn artist's illustration shows a supermassive black hole as it wakes up at the center of a faraway galaxy. M. Kornmesser/ESOAstronomers are watching a supermassive black hole awakening in the middle of a distant galaxy for the first time. Sign up here to receive in your inbox the next edition of Wonder Theory, brought to you by CNN Space and Science writers Ashley Strickland and Katie Hunt.

Persons: dino, rex, Mark Eatman, ”, Eatman, Sergey Krasovskiy, Lokiceratops rangiformis, Lokiceratops, Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams, won’t, Stephen Hawking, Robert Erwan Fordyce, Benjamin Kear, Martin Bernetti, Fernando Trujillo, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, NASA, International Space Station, Boeing, ESO, University of Otago, Southern Hemisphere, Uppsala University’s Museum, Evolution, Getty, CNN Space, Science Locations: what’s, Montana, Raleigh, what's, Maribo, Denmark, British, New Zealand, Pangea, Uppsala, Sweden, Nui, Chile, AFP, Easter, Rapa, Colombian

☆ Newly discovered dinosaur’s horns look ‘like something a heavy metal rocker would wear’
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Jacopo Prisco | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

“It’s an area that’s known for producing horned dinosaurs. In fact, there are four other species of horned dinosaurs known from this particular region,” Sertich said. Fossils of the four other species of similar horned dinosaurs with which it shared its habitat were discovered in the same area. Different types of horned dinosaurs have distinct horns along the edge of that frill. “The bodies of these horned dinosaurs are very similar, yet their heads are adorned with some wild head gear.”Similar appendages are found on the heads of horned lizards, Lyson added, except in these horned dinosaurs, they are attached to multiton bodies.

Persons: ”, Joseph Sertich, “, ” Sertich, Lokiceratops, Mark Eatman, ” Eatman, don’t, They’re, it’s, Loki, Sertich, Brock Sisson, Ben Meredith, Mark Loewen, Steve Brusatte, ” Brusatte, David Norman, ” Norman, Tyler Lyson, “ I’m, “ It’s Organizations: CNN, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Colorado State University, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Museum, of Evolution, telltale, of Utah, University of Edinburgh, University of Cambridge, Denver Museum of Nature & Science Locations: Maribo, Denmark, Montana, Canada, North America, Raleigh, Lokiceratops, Salt Lake City, United Kingdom

☆ Saudi Arabia's Neom is looking to fill 262 job vacancies. The roles show just how futuristic the megacity could be.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-12 | by ( Polly Thompson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Saudi Arabia's sprawling megacity, Neom, is billed as a chance to live in the "new future." AdvertisementOfficials say Neom will be a "cognitive city." The chosen candidate will control and operate the fish laboratory, ensuring high standards of fish welfare and supporting surveillance and investigation activities into fish health and disease control. Developers have said they want the island resort Sindalah to act as an "exclusive gateway to the stunning Red Sea." An image showing a nighttime view of mountains in the region in northwest Saudi Arabia where planners say Neom will be built.

Persons: —, Neom, Prince Mohammed bin Salman's, Neom's Organizations: Service, Tech, NEOM Community School Locations: Saudi, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Sindalah, Gulf, Aqaba, Neom, Oxagon

☆ His Skull Was Taken From Congo as a War Trophy. Will Belgium Finally Return It?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-05 | by ( Monika Pronczuk | Koba Ryckewaert | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Once a powerful local Congolese leader, Lusinga Iwa Ng’ombe fought back against Belgian colonial invaders in the late 19th century. He was such a thorn in their side that Émile Storms, who commanded Belgian troops in the region, predicted his head would “eventually end up in Brussels with a little label — it would not be out of place in a museum.”That is exactly what happened. Troops of Mr. Storms killed and decapitated Mr. Lusinga in 1884, and his skull ended up in a box in the Brussels-based Institute for Natural Sciences, along with over 500 human remains taken from former Belgian colonies. His descendants are struggling to have his remains returned, their efforts unfolding against the backdrop of a larger debate about Europe’s responsibility for the colonial atrocities, reparations and restitution of plundered heritage.

Persons: Iwa Ng’ombe, “, Storms, Mr, Lusinga Organizations: Iwa, Belgian, Natural Sciences Locations: Congolese, Belgian, Brussels

☆ Zhang Yongzhen: Chinese virologist shared crucial Covid-19 data. Then his research hit hurdles
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | Yong Xiong | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The ordeal is just the latest hindrance to Zhang’s research since 2020, according to a colleague who has been in contact with the Chinese scientist in recent years. The “institute always respects … and supports scientific researchers and students in carrying out normal research work,” the statement said. The earlier post by Zhang’s students said the two days originally allocated by the center for them to move their scientific work was insufficient. Following the release of the data, Zhang’s lab had limitations placed on it, which barred it from isolating the Covid virus, Holmes said. That included imposing restrictions by April 2020 on the publication of academic research on the origins of the novel coronavirus.

Persons: Zhang Yongzhen’s, Zhang, ”, hadn’t, Hector Retamal, Edward Holmes, Holmes, ” Holmes, “, He’s, Zhang Yongzhen, ” Zhang, “ He’s, It’s, virologist Organizations: Hong Kong CNN —, Shanghai, Health, Weibo, Zhang’s, Chinese Center for Disease Control, CNN, Fudan University, Health Clinical, Getty, World Health Organization, Nature, University, Sydney, CDC, China’s National Health Commission, Oxford University Press, Shanghai Public Health Center, Natural Science Foundation of China Locations: China, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Wuhan, AFP, Beijing

☆ Investors are fearful. They shouldn’t be
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The economy has been extraordinarily resilient for the past few years — consistently proving the naysayers wrong, he says. For all of the market gloom last week, stocks are still near all-time highs, and this earnings season has been strong. Investors have been worrying about the Federal Reserve keeping rates higher for longer. I speak with many institutional investors, and I don’t see them folding in fear. Residual lubricant reduced the retention of the pad to the pedal,” the NHTSA wrote in the recall document.

Persons: ”, Philipp Carlsson, there’s, Carlsson, Szlezak, they’re, I’m, it’s, I’ve, we’re, TikTok, Brian Fung, Joe Biden, Tesla, Chris Isidore, Peter Valdes Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, Federal Reserve, Boston Consulting, ByteDance, NHTSA Locations: New York, Europe, Ukraine, Israel, Washington

☆ I went to school in Texas and Saudi Arabia. The differences between the 2 systems actually set me up better for the future.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-15 | by ( Leena Al-Ali | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But life at an American school was only a part-time gig for me. Related storiesIn Texas, a good education meant moving into the "good" neighborhoods to be zoned for the "good" schools. In Saudi, it meant succumbing to private school tuition, as only international private schools taught in English. My schedule was packed in Saudi ArabiaMy backpack was jam-packed with thick books from the sheer number of subjects we had to juggle in Saudi schools. I missed the posters stapled on tops of posters with dangling flyers that colored the walls of my American schools.

Persons: —, didn't Organizations: Service, West University, Houston, Business, Saudi Locations: Texas, Saudi Arabia, Houston, Cowboy, Saudi

☆ Peculiar fossil reveals oldest toothless bird from 120 million years ago
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —A peculiar fossil has helped scientists discover an unusual bird that lived among the dinosaurs 120 million years ago, and the find is changing the way researchers think about avian evolution. Enantiornithines are known as “opposite birds” because they had a shoulder joint feature that greatly differs from the ones modern birds have. “Before Imparavis, toothlessness in this group of birds was known to occur around 70 million years ago,” Clark said. When Jingmai O’Connor, the Field Museum’s associate curator of fossil reptiles, visited the Shandong museum’s collections a few years ago, the fossil caught her attention. While modern birds have fused forelimb digits, enantiornithines still had independent movement in the “little fingers” on their wings.

Persons: Sir David Attenborough, ”, Alex Clark, Imparavis, ” Clark, Jingmai O’Connor, O’Connor, Clark, “, enantiornithines, ” O’Connor, ” Attenborough Organizations: CNN, University of Chicago, Field Locations: China, China’s Toudaoyingzi, Shandong

Neri Oxman , a former MIT professor and celebrity within the world of academia, stole sentences and whole paragraphs from Wikipedia, other scholars, and technical documents in her academic writing, Business Insider has found. AdvertisementNeri Oxman directly copied from Wikipedia in her Ph.D. dissertationOn page 81 of her dissertation, "Material-based Design Computation," Oxman published two sentences without attribution that had previously appeared on Wikipedia. Business InsiderThe Wikipedia article for "Weaving" featured virtually identical sentences in April 2010 , when Oxman's dissertation was submitted. Business InsiderOxman's cribbing from the "Weaving" article was one of 15 examples that BI found Oxman plagiarizing from a Wikipedia article in her dissertation. The bulk of the plagiarism BI found was in her dissertation, which runs more than 300 pages.

Persons: Neri Oxman, Oxman, Bill Ackman, Ackman, Claudine Gay, Gay, Claudine Gay's, It's, Rick Norwood, silkworms, Wolfram MathWorld, M.Y . Zhou, Bruno Zevi, Sally Kornbluth Organizations: MIT, Pershing, Capital Management, Washington Free Beacon, Business, Creative, East Tennessee State University, MIT Media, Rhino, BI, Da Capo Press, MIT Corporation, Eastern Tennessee State University Locations: Gaza

A new global assessment has found that 41% of amphibian species that scientists have studied are threatened with extinction, meaning they are either vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. “Amphibians are the world's most threatened animals,” said Duke University's Junjie Yao, a frog researcher who was not involved in the study. But a growing percentage of amphibian species are now also pushed to the brink by novel diseases and climate change, the study found. The study identified the greatest concentrations of threatened amphibian species in several biodiversity hotspots, including the Caribbean islands, the tropical Andes, Madagascar and Sri Lanka. Other locations with large numbers of threatened amphibians include Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, southern China and the southeastern United States.

Persons: ”, Duke University's Junjie Yao, Michael Ryan, Patricia Burrowes, Juan Manuel Guayasamin, Guayasamin Organizations: University of Texas, National Museum of Natural Sciences, Northern, University San Francisco, Associated Press Health, Science Department, Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science, Educational Media Group, AP Locations: Madrid, Quito, Ecuador, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Forest, China, United States

The company has also begun offering retired workers meals at the canteen so they can share knowledge of recently re-started lines producing Soviet-era ammunition for Ukraine, he added. Jiri Hynek, president and executive director of the Defence and Security Industry Association (DSIA) of the Czech Republic, told Reuters a lack of workers could push production out of central Europe. The association, which represents more than 160 companies, said exports accounted for around 90 percent of the industry's production of weapons and military-related supplies. Of that, Hynek estimated that supplies of military equipment to Ukraine accounted for 40% of exports. PITCHING PATRIOTISMOther sectors in Poland – emerging Europe's biggest economy – and the Czech Republic have struggled in recent years to find workers: a situation that has driven up labor costs and dampened growth.

Persons: David Hac, Hac, Jiri Hynek, Hynek, Lukas Visingr, Artur Zaborek, Zaborek, Michael Kahn, Anna Koper, Daniel Flynn Organizations: Europe's, STV, Reuters, European Union, Defence and Security Industry Association, WB Group, Central, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Thomson Locations: PRAGUE, WARSAW, Europe, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Policka, Prague, Czech, Central Europe, Stockholm, Poland's

☆ Ancient whale from Peru may be most massive animal ever on Earth
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Giovanni Bianucci/Handout via REUTERSAug 2 (Reuters) - Move over, blue whale. The biggest-known blue whale weighed around 190 tons, though it was longer than Perucetus at 110 feet (33.5 meters). Its skeletal mass alone was estimated at between 5 and 8 tons, at least twice that of the blue whale. The researchers suspect Perucetus lived like sirenians - not an active predator but an animal that fed near the bottom of shallow coastal waters. The researchers said it was unlikely Perucetus was a filter-feeder like today's baleen whales including the blue whale.

Persons: Giovanni Bianucci, Perucetus, Bianucci, Olivier Lambert of, Will Dunham, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: REUTERS, University of Pisa, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Thomson Locations: Peru, Handout, Italy, Argentina, sirenians, Brussels, hoofed, Washington

☆ Anthropocene: Scientists say they’ve found a site that marks a new chapter in Earth’s history
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

CNN —Scientists have identified the geological site that they say best reflects a proposed new epoch called the Anthropocene — a major step toward changing the official timeline of Earth’s history. “We’ve moved into this new Earth state and that should be defined by a new geological epoch,” Waters added. On Tuesday, the scientists announced the geological site — Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada — that best captures the geological impact of the Anthropocene, according to their research. Annual sediment samples from the Crawford Lake site have revealed geochemical traces of nuclear bomb testing, researchers have confirmed. The alpha spectrometry output shown on the screen indicates the presence of plutonium in a Crawford Lake drill core sample.

Persons: ”, Colin Waters, “ We’ve, Waters, eon, James St, Andrew Knoll, “, ” Knoll, Crawford, AWG, Crawford Lake, Francine McCarthy, Andrew Cundy, Stan Finney, it’s, Paul Crutzen —, Finney, It’s, stratigraphers, ” Waters, they’re, Andrew Mathews, We’ve, ’ ” Organizations: CNN —, Environment School, University of Leicester, Geologists, Wales, Harvard University, University, Southampton, Brock University, UK’s University of Southampton, International, International Union of Geological Sciences, Geological Congress, California State University, University of Southampton “, University of California Locations: Crawford Lake, Ontario, Canada, Flinders, South Australia, Jura, Crawford, Southampton Crawford, Sudeten, Lake, California, Baltic, Japan, China, Australia, Gulf of Mexico, Busan, South Korea, Long, Santa Cruz

☆ People are more likely to believe AI-generated tweets than ones written by humans, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

People may be more susceptible to misinformation if it's written by AI, a study has found. The study found respondents couldn't tell the difference between tweets created by GPT-3 and humans. People may be more susceptible to misinformation if it's written by AI, a study has found. Not only could the majority of participants not tell the real tweets from the ones generated by AI, but they generally found the AI's tweets more convincing. They then asked respondents to identify if the tweets were true or false, which participants had an easier time doing with the AI-generated ones.

Persons: OpenAI, ChatGPT Locations: Australia, Canada, Ireland

☆ The Terror of Threes in the Heavens and on Earth
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( William J. Broad | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But they also cite a number of three-body lessons from nature — starting with Newton’s — that illuminate the issue and suggest possible ways forward. “We have a conceptual problem,” said Ernest J. Moniz, a physicist who as the secretary of energy in the Obama administration oversaw the U.S. nuclear arsenal. “Anything that helps in understanding that is great.”Security-minded hawks want to expand the American arsenal in response to China’s nuclear rise and the threat of Beijing’s closing ranks with Moscow. Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, argued that the American response should focus less on the quantity of the nation’s nuclear arms than on their quality. To deter attacks successfully, he said in a speech, the American military has no need for arms that “outnumber the combined total of our competitors.”

Persons: Newton’s, Newton, “, ”, Ernest J, Moniz, Obama, “ We’ve, Biden, Jake Sullivan Organizations: U.S, National Science Foundation, ” Locations: ” France, Moscow, Washington

☆ Rare North American dinosaur named for two-faced Roman god
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Mindy Weisberger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Investigating a new speciesThe newfound species, named Iani (YAH-nee) smithi, is the first early ornithopod from this part of the Cretaceous to be discovered in North America. Terry Gates and Lindsay Zanno excavated the bones of Iani smithi from the Cedar Mountain Formation in Utah in 2014. The braincase of Iani smithi was recovered during excavations. Drawers of Iani smithi bones can be seen in the collections at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. “Perhaps ornithopod species evolved a certain way or adopted certain behaviors to succeed,” she said.

Persons: —, ornithopods, Ornithopods, Darla Zelenitsky, Terry Gates, Lindsay Zanno, Matt Zeher, ” Zelenitsky, Janus, Zanno, ” Zanno, smithi, Mark Thiessen, Becky Hale, Zelenitsky, ” Organizations: CNN, geoscience, University of Calgary, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, North Carolina State University, Geographic Locations: Utah, North America, Canada, Raleigh, Europe, Australia

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