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Prince William, Kate Middleton could seek ‘gentleman’s agreement’ to protect Prince George at Eton: experts
Prince William and Kate Middleton are reportedly weighing a “gentleman’s agreement” with Eton College to safeguard Prince George’s privacy when he starts at the prestigious school this autumn, according to Vanity Fair. Experts cited by the outlet say such an arrangement would echo past media agreements shielding young royals, but note it faces a tougher…
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AI Is Dead. Organoids Are Alive
A growing number of biologists are moving beyond artificial intelligence to work directly with “brain organoids” – lab-grown clumps of human neurons cultivated from cells such as skin samples. These living tissues, which can produce brain-wave-like oscillations, are being used for far more than traditional drug and toxin testing: researchers are having them guide robots…
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OpenAI gives Daybreak partners access to a more powerful cybersecurity model
OpenAI is expanding its Daybreak cybersecurity programme, adding partners including Accenture, IBM, CrowdStrike, Cisco, Sophos and Cloudflare, and giving some members access to a new, more powerful model that is less likely to refuse higher-risk security tasks. The firms involved will use the models to help protect their own customers, as OpenAI positions itself as…
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AI ‘will do more to boost fossil fuel production than green energy’
A new study is the first to quantify AI’s climate impact across the entire power sector, finding that productivity gains AI delivers to fossil fuel extraction outweigh the emissions savings it enables in renewables. Researchers modelled 64 scenarios and concluded that net carbon pollution would rise, undercutting claims that AI is primarily a boon for…
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How to buy a bike: expert tips for finding the right budget, frame and fit
This Guardian guide offers practical advice for buying a bicycle, aimed at demystifying what can be an overwhelming purchase involving lots of jargon and options. Cycling journalist Paddy Maddison consults two industry experts, David Arthur of Just Ride Bikes and Stephen Roche of the Bike Tailor, to help readers work out what they actually need…
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Virtue and a Sledgehammer – take a literal hammer to your past
A new video game, Virtue and a Sledgehammer, sees players return to a robot-populated version of their home town armed with a sledgehammer and their dead mother’s corpse, smashing through buildings to uncover fragments of a family story. Developed by Spanish studio Deconstructeam alongside collaborator Selkie Harbour, the game reworks an earlier, more conventional transhumanism…
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AI Is Helping Solve the Intricate Genetic Puzzle of Schizophrenia
A study published in Nature Genetics has used AI-based computational models to map how genes interact in the brain to contribute to schizophrenia risk, identifying 766 associated genes, 641 of which had not appeared in previous transcriptomic analyses. Rather than a single faulty gene, schizophrenia appears to stem from hundreds of genetic variants working together…
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After 10 years of No Man’s Sky updates, Sean Murray says “if people keep playing it, I could work on this forever”
Sean Murray, head of Hello Games, has reflected on a decade of updates to No Man’s Sky, saying he is willing to keep supporting the space exploration game indefinitely as long as players remain engaged. The comments underline how thoroughly the title has turned around since its troubled 2016 launch, when it was criticised for…
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Heathrow says need for expansion ‘clear’ as it loses title of Europe’s busiest airport
Heathrow has lost its long-held title of Europe’s busiest airport to Istanbul, prompting the west London hub to renew its argument that a third runway is urgently needed. The airport said the shift underlines that it is “operating at capacity” and that expansion is essential for the UK to remain competitive, deliver economic growth and…
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Shipping ore between the asteroid mining stations of Profits 2617 would be much easier if it weren’t for the darn space bug infestation
After a 90-second electrical fault left me stuck for two hours at Wilmslow station this weekend, I could be fooled into thinking trains are delicate fickle things. However, PROFITS 2167: Planetary Resource Optimization & Freight Infrastructure Technician Simulator is here to set me straight. The game puts you in the driver’s seat on a train…