List of All Articles with Tag 'tech'

Scientists have discovered an ancient skull in China, like no other they've seen before. The 300,000-year-old child skull was first discovered in Hualongdong back in 2019 alongside other fossil remains. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have struggled to match them to a known lineage. The discovery left researchers baffled as it did not resemble Neanderthals or Denisovans, according to Science Alert. It led them to believe we are either missing a branch from the human family tree or need to add to it. While the skull had similarities to early modern humans, there is a lack of chin and was likened to an extinct species of human in Asia known as a Denisovan. This shape has "never been recorded in late Middle Pleistocene hominin fossil assemblages in East Asia," scientists said in a recent analysis. They believe the remains, known in the science world as HDL 6, could possibly be a combination of modern human and unknown hominin that existed in China, according to the outlet. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter In other scientific news, archaeologists are too afraid to open the tomb of Qin Shu Huang, who ruled from 221 BC to 210 BC. The tomb is guarded by a terracotta army of soldiers and horses and was found by farmers back in 1974 in the Shaanxi province of China. Not only do archaeologists believe it will cause damage, but there are rumours of deathly booby traps that could kill curious intruders, according to IFL Science. Writings by Chinese historian Sima Qian 100 years after Qin Shu Huang's death claim "Palaces and scenic towers for a hundred officials were constructed and the tomb was filled with rare artifacts and wonderful treasure." He continued: "Craftsmen were ordered to make crossbows and arrows primed to shoot at anyone who enters the tomb. Mercury was used to simulate the hundred rivers, the Yangtze and Yellow River, and the great sea, and set to flow mechanically." 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.

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Adobe's $20 billion bid for cloud-based designer platform Figma may reduce competition in global

Apple is expected to release its next-generation iPhone 15 smartphone on 22 September despite rumoured shortages, according to reports. The release date will follow an unveiling event for the iPhone 15 on 12 September or 13 September, Bloomberg reported, which will also see other Apple hardware announced. A separate report from 9to5Mac suggests the launch will take place on Wednesday, 13 September, as mobile carriers have requested that workers not to take that day off due to a major smartphone announcement. Most iPhone launches typically take place on the second Tuesday of September, with the official release taking place later in the month, however last year the unveiling took place on a Wednesday. The switch came amid significant supply disruptions that forced Apple to delay sales of its iPhone 14 Plus to October. Previous rumours surrounding Apple’s 2023 iPhone event suggested at least one of the iPhone 15 models will be delayed due to “severe shortages”. The supply issues relate to a new screen design that is expected to be introduced on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, according to The Information. The premium models will feature a much narrower bezel – the border around the device’s screen – but require a new manufacturing process that Apple has struggled with. Other updates expected for the iPhone 15 include a mysterious button on its side, which could function as a customisable ‘action button’ to allow owners to programme it to perform a variety of tasks. The possible customisations will be camera, flashlight, focus, magnifier, translate, accessibility, shortcuts, silent mode and voice memos, according to Macrumours. Sales of iPhones have dipped this year, Apple’s latest financial results revealed, with analysts blaming “waning growth in the smartphone market”. The Independent has reached out to Apple for comment on the latest reports, though the US tech giant does not typically comment on leaks and rumours relating to unreleased products. Read More Apple iPhone 15 rumours: Pro and Pro Max release date, price, cameras, specs and more

Scientists have achieved a net energy gain in nuclear fusion for the second time, marking major progress towards realising the potential of the near-limitless energy source. A team at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, who first achieved the feat last December, claimed to have passed a new milestone with fusion ignition by producing even greater energy output than the original experiment. The nuclear fusion process has been described as the “holy grail” of clean energy, as it requires no fossil fuels and leaves behind no hazardous waste. Instead it mimics the natural reactions that occur within the Sun, though harnessing its potential has puzzled scientists since the 1950s. Achieving nuclear fusion ignition is a crucial step towards building commercial power stations, though the technology needs to be significantly scaled up from the current experiments for it to be a viable energy source. The first ever successful fusion energy gain experiment on 5 December, 2022, used lasers to fuse two light atoms into a single one, releasing 3.15 megajoules of energy from 2.05 megajoules of input. Researchers described the milestone as “one of the most significant scientific challenges ever undertaken by humanity” that would “enable the next steps toward clean fusion energy for the future”. Scientists that were not involved in the fusion experiments said the advance had profound implications for the future of the planet. “We are witnessing a moment in history: controlling the power source of the stars is the greatest technological challenge humanity has ever undertaken,” said physicist Arthur Turrell. “This experimental result will electrify efforts to eventually power the planet with nuclear fusion – at a time when we’ve never needed a plentiful source of carbon-free energy more.” A spokesperson for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory said the final results of the latest experiment are still being analysed. The lab plans to present the results at upcoming scientific conferences and in peer-reviewed journals. Several companies are already investing heavily in nuclear fusion, with Microsoft making the world’s first purchase agreement earlier this year. The US tech giant made the deal with Helion Energy, which aims to set up a nuclear fusion power plant within the next five years despite the challenges remaining to make it commercially viable. Helion chief executive David Kirtley said at the time: “We still have a lot of work to do, but we are confident in our ability to deliver the world’s first fusion power facility.” Read More Superconductor breakthrough could represent ‘biggest physics discovery of a lifetime’ – but scientists urge caution Microsoft makes world first nuclear fusion energy deal Zuckerberg says he is ‘ready today’ but ‘not holding breath’ for cage fight with Musk Musk pledges to fund legal bills of X users ‘unfairly treated’ by employers for posts Scientists want to hack the planet to cool it down. The consequences could be extreme

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg says he is “ready today” but “not holding his breath” to take on Tesla boss and Twitter owner Elon Musk in a proposed cage fight. In a post on Sunday in Meta’s recently launched social media platform Threads, Mr Zuckerberg said he had proposed 26 August for the bout with the Tesla titan. “I’m ready today. I suggested Aug 26 when he first challenged, but he hasn’t confirmed. Not holding my breath,” the Meta chief said in response to Mr Musk’s post on Twitter, which has been rebranded as X. Earlier on Sunday, the Tesla and SpaceX boss said he was preparing for the fight, “lifting weights throughout the day”. Mr Musk said the fight would be “live-streamed on X” with proceeds from the match up going to charity for veterans. “Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on X....All proceeds will go to charity for veterans,” Mr Musk tweeted on Sunday. The Meta chief quipped that “a more reliable platform” could be used “that can actually raise money for charity” – likely hinting that Facebook and Instagram have a built-in fundraising feature. The cage match proposal started when Mr Musk, responding to a tweet about Twitter rival Threads, took a dig about the world becoming “exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options” to which a Twitter user jokingly warned the Tesla chief of his rival’s jiu jitsu training. “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol,” Mr Musk responded to the user. Replying to another user about the point of the fight with his rival, the Tesla titan said “It’s a civilised form of war”. In the following days, there were several back-and-forths on social media between the two tech rivals, which ended in them agreeing to face each other off in a cage match. In the lead-up to the possible clash, Mr Zuckerberg said he had built an octagon in the garden outside his house, which seems to have not gone well with his wife Priscilla Chan. “I have been working on that grass for two years,” Ms Chan said, according to a screenshot of their conversation shared by the Meta chief. Read More Netflix leaves fans distraught as it announces end of beloved series Jake Paul: Biggest moments from boxer and YouTube star’s Netflix documentary Jake Paul vs Nate Diaz prize money: How much did fighters earn for boxing match? Mark Zuckerberg reveals his 4,000 calorie diet and large McDonald’s order Meta’s Twitter rival Threads sees ‘steep drop in daily users by 80 per cent’ Mark Zuckerberg has lost $40 billion on the Metaverse – and plans to lose more

Square Enix Holdings Co. shares suffered their worst intraday drop in almost three years, erasing a little over

Scientists are trying to work out the source of dark matter. A group want to house a giant international particle detector that would be built 3,000ft underground in a working mine in Boulby, North Yorkshire to find the cause of the mysterious space matter. “We are entering the last-chance saloon to show that these particles are the cause of dark matter, and we want to make sure Britain is at the heart of that work by building the final generation of these detectors,” physicist Professor Chamkaur Ghag of University College London told the Observer. Scientists know the universe contains more matter than can be seen directly because they can see galaxies held together in clusters when they should be flying apart. Extra mass must be generating more gravity and holding these galaxies together, Most researchers think particles called weakly interacting massive particles – Wimps - are the source of dark matter. But these Wimps are hard to detect so scientists are trying to have a proper stab at it by combining resources and working in one Yorkshire site. “And what we are striving to do in Britain is to get it built at Boulby. Essentially, we want the last-chance saloon for Wimps to be built in the UK,” said Ghag. Dark matter accounts for around 85 per cent of the universe’s mass.There are also mines in South Dakota, and near Rome in Italy that are also hunting for Wimps which could provide answers. 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.

Elon Musk has said X, previously known as Twitter, will fund the legal bills of any user ‘unfairly treated’ by an employer for their activity on the social media platform. Posting on the recently-rebranded site on Sunday, he added there would be ‘no limit,’ encouraging users to ‘please let us know’. Musk has been vocal about his commitment to freedom of speech in the past, once defining himself as a ‘free speech absolutist’. Shortly after acquiring Twitter, he tweeted: “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated”. The post has already received over 18,000 replies to his post, with Musk responding to just one so far from right-wing account ‘Libs of TikTok’. Chaya Raichik, who operates the account, claims US content creator Kara Lynne was fired by her former employer for following her and other right-wing accounts on Twitter. Reaching out to Lynne directly, Musk replied: “Kara, is that accurate?” The billionaire CEO’s interactions with the ‘Libs of TikTok’ account, noted for its anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ content, have been criticised in the past. In December, he was accused of amplifying anti-trans bigotry when he liked a tweet from them. Earlier this week X Corp, Musk’s firm that owns X, launched a lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). The move came after the group published research criticising the platform for an increase in hate speech under Musk’s leadership. X Corp has accused the CCDH “unlawful acts” to “improperly gain access to its data”. The not-for-proft organisation researches and campaigns against online hate, and is often cited by the press. In response to the lawsuit, CCDH founder and CEO Imran Ahmed said: “Elon Musk’s latest legal move is straight out of the authoritarian playbook – he is now showing he will stop at nothing to silence anyone who criticizes him for his own decisions and actions.” “CCDH has no intention of stopping our independent research – Musk will not bully us into silence.” Read More X marks the lawsuit: Elon Musk's social media company sues nonprofit highlighting site's hate speech Flashing ‘X’ sign removed from Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco Meta’s Twitter rival Threads sees steep drop in daily users by 80 per cent, report says Mark Zuckerberg reveals his 4,000 calorie diet and large McDonald’s order Meta’s Twitter rival Threads sees ‘steep drop in daily users by 80 per cent’ Twitter takes down giant ‘X’ sign on roof after a week following city investigation

The crushing demand for AI has also revealed the limits of the global supply chain for powerful chips used to develop and field AI models.

Sex toys may seem harmless, but many have not been assessed for health risks and could have terrible effects. According to experts, our body may absorb the chemicals in the toys and recent experiments at Duke University found that four different sex toys, including anal toys, beads, dual vibrators, and external vibrators, shed nanoplastic fragments when mechanically rubbed and scraped. What's more, all these sex toys were found to contain phthalates; a group of chemicals that that can damage the liver, kidneys, lungs, and the reproductive system, at high enough concentrations. More research needs to be done to see if adults can absorb these chemicals when using sex toys on permeable tissues but it doesn't sound great. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Especially as the United Kingdom lacks specific chemical regulations for sex toys. "Some of the phthalates identified in our experiments have been observed concurrently with serious fertility complications or loss of fertility in rodents at high concentrations," the authors of the study wrote, "though causation may not have been demonstrated, the correlation is concerning enough to warrant further investigation." So next time you think about spicing up your life in the bedroom, take care. 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.

Self-conscious people may suck in their stomachs - but doing so can be unhealthy. Adam Taylor, Professor and Director of the Clinical Anatomy Learning Centre, Lancaster University, has explained that the habit can create abdominal imbalance and all sorts of problems. In an article, he explained: "This can lead to a condition called 'hourglass syndrome; – a detrimental change in the structure of the abdominal wall, which may cause a visible crease to form in the mid-abdomen. Not only that, but this change can also have a knock-on effect on the internal organs and other parts of the body if left untreated." He added: "When we suck our stomach in it causes our rectus abdominis (commonly referred to as our "six-pack" muscles) to contract. But since we tend to store more fat tissue in our lower abdomen, the muscles at the top of the stomach tend to be more active. This creates a fold or crease in the abdomen over a long period, with the belly button being pulled upwards. "Sucking the stomach in places greater pressure on the lower back and neck. This is because they now have to compensate for changes in core stability." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter He also said it may lead to changes in breathing capacity, though said more research needs to be done, and said sucking in the abdomen also puts strain on the pelvic floor which could cause incontinence. Fortunately, hourglass syndrome is reversible through exercises that strengthen core muscles like planks or bridges, he explained. And he also said the condition develops over weeks of consistently sucking in the stomach. "So occasionally sucking the stomach muscles in is not likely to cause problems," he said. Who knew it could have so many bad effects? 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.

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -Alex Mashinsky, the founder and former chief of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network,