Scientists have discovered how many T-Rex ever existed
If you’re anything like us, you were probably absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs as a child. However, did you ever stop to think about the sheer number of dinos that were wandering around the planet before they met their untimely end at the hands of an asteroid? A new study has been published which states that a whopping 1.7 billion T-Rex roamed the Earth in total across the Late Cretaceous period. It comes after researchers calculated their average lifespan, which measured up to a whopping 40 feet in length and 12 feet in height. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter They cross referenced this with the number of eggs which survived and the sexual maturity of the animals to come up with the figure. It’s a huge number, but it’s actually far less than previously thought. A previous study from 2021 estimated that there were 800 million more of them that existed between about 90 to 66 million years ago. The research was published in Palaeontology, and evolutionary ecologist Eva Griebeler from the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in Germany wrote about the findings. "Unlike my model, the generation time as well as life expectancies, gross reproduction rates, and reproductive values of individuals calculated from the previous model all strongly contradicted our current understanding of the biology of T. rex and of other theropods,” she said. "Their values also disagreed with those of large extant reptiles, birds, and mammals. All of these shortcomings of the previous model favor the assessment of individual and population characteristics of T. rex and of other extinct species using my model." Griebeler also explained how the findings suggest a lower T-Rex survival rate, as well as fewer generations of the animal and less egg laying. "All of these shortcomings of the previous model favor the assessment of individual and population characteristics of T. rex and other extinct species using my model," she wrote. 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.
2023-05-23 18:58
ChatGPT creator says AI ‘superintelligence’ is impossible to stop
OpenAI, the AI firm behind ChatGPT, has warned that the arrival of artificial intelligence that surpasses humans is unavoidable. Artificial general intelligence, also known as superintelligence, has been theorised by philosophers and academics for decades, though rapid advances in recent years mean we may now be on the cusp of it, senior figures within OpenAI warned. In a blog post published on Wednesday, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and Ilya Sutskever said that AI superintelligence will be unprecedented in its power – both positive and negative. “Given the picture as we see it now, it’s conceivable that within the next ten years, AI systems will exceed expert skill level in most domains, and carry out as much productive activity as one of today’s largest corporations,” the post stated. “In terms of both potential upsides and downsides, superintelligence will be more powerful than other technologies humanity has had to contend with in the past.” OpenAI laid out three ways humanity can navigate the arrival of superintelligence, though warned lawmakers and regulators against trying to stop it. “We believe it would unintuitively risky and difficult to stop the creation of superintelligence,” the post warned. “Because the upsides are so tremendous, the cost to build it decreases each year, the number of actors building it is rapidly increasing, and it’s inherently part of the technological path we are on, stopping it would require something like a global surveillance regime, and even that isn’t guaranteed to work. So we have to get it right.” Mr Altman appeared before a congressional hearing last week to face questions from US senators about the risks that advanced artificial intelligence poses. The 38-year-old told the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law that he believed AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT were a “significant area of concern” and required rules and guidelines to prevent misuse. “There’s no way to put this genie in the bottle. Globally, this is exploding,” Democratic Senator Cory Booker acknowledged. One potential way to prevent AI harms like election manipulation would be by introducing licensing and testing requirements for the development of AI, Mr Altman said. One possibility, according to OpenAI, is through the creation of a US licensing agency for AI called the Office for AI Safety and Infrastructure Security (Oasis). Read More 10 ways AI will change the world – from curing cancer to wiping out humanity
2023-05-23 18:50
EU seeks top court backing in $14 billion tax fight against Apple
By Foo Yun Chee LUXEMBOURG EU competition regulators appealed to the bloc's highest court on Tuesday to override
2023-05-23 18:49
Alibaba’s Cloud Arm to Cut 7% of Staff in Overhaul, Sources Say
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s cloud division has begun a round of job cuts that could reduce its staff
2023-05-23 18:47
TikTok CEO Chew: Montana's ban on the app 'unconstitutional'
DOHA TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said on Tuesday the state of Montana's ban of the app was
2023-05-23 18:17
EU antitrust regulators drop probe into tech group's video licensing policy
BRUSSELS EU antitrust regulators have closed their investigation into the Alliance for Open Media's (AOM), video licensing policy,
2023-05-23 17:28
London-Based Startup Builder.ai Raises $250 Million
Builder.ai, an artificial intelligence company based in London, has raised $250 million in a funding round led by
2023-05-23 17:26
Car seats and baby formula are regulated. Is social media next?
The U_S_ Surgeon General is warning there is not enough evidence to show that social media is safe for young people — and is calling on tech companies, parents and caregivers to take “immediate action to protect kids now.”
2023-05-23 17:20
China Blasts Japan Over Export Curbs on Chipmaking Technology
China lashed out at Japan over Tokyo’s new export restrictions on some chipmaking technology and said it would
2023-05-23 17:16
Factbox-Governments race to regulate AI tools
Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT are complicating governments' efforts to agree laws
2023-05-23 16:49
These museums showcase the future, not the past
Museums are increasingly embracing technology, featuring everything from flying metallic penguins, to robotic tins of Spam.
2023-05-23 16:45
TikTok ban: App sues Montana over new law to block users
TikTok has filed a lawsuit challenging Montana’s recently announced ban of the video sharing app. The social media firm argued that the new law, which is set to come into effect on 1 January next year, is an unconstitutional violation of free speech. The company, which is owned by China-based ByteDance, said the attempt to block users from accessing TikTok is based on “unfounded speculation” that the Chinese government could access their data. The lawsuit by TikTok itself follows one filed last week by five content creators who made the same arguments, including that the state of Montana has no authority to take action on matters of national security. Both lawsuits were filed in federal court in Missoula. Republican Govenor Greg Gianforte signed the bill last Wednesday and the content creators’ lawsuit was filed hours later. TikTok has not shared and would not share US user data with the Chinese government and has taken measures to protect the privacy and security of its users, including storing all US user data in the United States, the company stated in its complaint. Some lawmakers, the FBI and officials at other agencies are concerned that the video-sharing app could be used to allow the Chinese government to access information on US citizens or push pro-Beijing misinformation that could influence the public. Chinese law compels Chinese companies to share data with the government for whatever purposes it deems to involve national security. TikTok says this has never happened. “TikTok is spying on Americans. Period,” Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, whose office drafted the bill, told a legislative committee in March. Knudsen’s office has said they expected lawsuits and were prepared to defend the new law. The federal government and about half the US states, including Montana, have banned TikTok from government-owned devices. Montana’s new law prohibits downloads of TikTok in the state. It would fine any “entity” – an app store or TikTok – $10,000 per day for each time someone “is offered the ability” to access the social media platform or download the app. The penalties would not apply to users. Even if the law comes into force in 2024, security experts have warned that it would be nearly impossible to prevent TikTok users from accessing the app. Oded Vanunu, head of products vulnerability research at the cyber security firm Check Point, said last week that it would be difficult for any single state to ban the app, as easily available technologies like virtual private networks (VPNs) would allow users to bypass any geolocation blocks. Additional reporting from agencies Read More TikTok ban in numbers: Charting the controversial rise of the world’s most popular app Schoolboy almost dies from swallowing magnets for TikTok challenge Woman shares honest review of New York City apartment TikTok mom slammed after making 5-year-old son run in 104 degree heat
2023-05-23 16:22