The debate around AI-generated art has largely focused on whether these programs will kill jobs

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 1, 2023--

Scientists have worked out how close a neutron star collision would have to be to threaten all life on Earth, in a not-remotely-terrifying new study. The event, known as a kilonova, is among the most powerful and explosive in the known universe. It’s not quite as bright as a supernova – but we should still keep our distance. Haille Perkins, team leader and a scientist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, told Space.com: “We found that if a neutron star merger were to occur within around 36 light-years of Earth, the resulting radiation could cause an extinction-level event.” That’s about 212 trillion miles – which seems like quite a large danger zone. But we need not worry, apparently. Kilonovae are extremely rare and difficult to spot, because they happen so quickly. Scientists, including those from the University of Warwick, recently managed to observe one by using the James Webb telescope. The explosion first produces a blast of gamma rays which lasts for just seconds. If we got caught in one of those, it would fry us all rather quickly. That’s pretty unlikely because they go in two thin lines out from the centre of the blast. They also cause an afterglow of X-ray emissions in the surrounding dust and particles. If we’re within 16.3 light years of those, we’d be in trouble. But the worst bit is the cosmic rays (of course!) – energetic charged particles spreading out from the explosion in a bubble. If these hit Earth, they would strip the ozone layer and leave us vulnerable to ultraviolet rays for several thousand years. That would be a bummer because, again, we’d all die. Fortunately, kilonovae are so rare that we’re more likely to get hit by an asteroid, added Perkins. She said: “There are several other more common events like solar flares, asteroid impacts, and supernova explosions that have a better chance of being harmful.” That’s good then. New kilonova discoveries In the most recent kilonova, it was the gamma rays that alerted the astronomers to the fact something big was going down. Then, they got in touch with various telescopes and detectors to ask them to focus on the bit of the sky where the burst had come from, and bingo: kilonova. Here's what it looked like on the JWT's feed. One of the major discoveries from this one is that kilonovae produce an element called tellurium, a relatively rare element on Earth. They also worked out where the two neutron stars came from: a spiral galaxy about 120,000 light years away from the location of the final explosion. That’s about the diameter of the Milky Way, and just a little further away than the mere 36 light year danger zone, then. But it’s food for thought nonetheless, eh? How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Fortnite Jack Skellington release date is Monday, Oct. 23, at 8 p.m. ET. The Nightmare Before Christmas star will be available to purchase in the Item Shop.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission brought enforcement actions against three decentralized finance firms and signaled that more

A growing number of media outlets are blocking a webpage-scanning tool used by ChatGPT creator OpenAI to improve...

PISCATAWAY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 14, 2023--

BELLINGHAM, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 1, 2023--

X, the Elon Musk-owned social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has a significant fake

The trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 will be arriving for the whole world to see on December 5th after more than 10 years of fans waiting for the next installment of the incredibly popular gaming series. The game's developer Rockstar Games announced on December 1st that the trailer would be arriving on Tuesday and even before the announcement, fans were pouring over every possible detail they could find. Some believe they've already pinpointed where the game will be set, the size of the map which is expected to be humungous and just how "beautiful" the graphics will be. Ahead of the trailer Rockstar Games released a single image for the trailer which is of a sunset against palm trees and three seagulls. Nothing too special and worth reading into? Think again. Over on Reddit, fans have theorised that the three birds could signify that the game will again have three playable characters again just like there were in GTA 5. One Reddit user wrote: "I was wondering if the three birds were significant, like maybe we’re getting three characters again." IGN reports that people think the birds signify what songs could be included in the game with popular suggestions being 'Three Little Birds' by Bob Marley and The Wailers or 'Free Bird' by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Whether the birds mean anything remains to be seen but fans won't have to wait long to find out but there is no date on when the game will actually be released with some fearing that it could still be years. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

There are, roughly speaking, two Silicon Valleys. One resembles the kind of pickup soccer game,

FC 24 Trailblazers has been leaked as the next major promotion in Ultimate Team seemingly replacing Rulebreakers in this new era for EA Sports.