All posts tagged: Breaking

Claude Lalanne’s Mirrors Sell for .5 M., Breaking Auction Records

Claude Lalanne’s Mirrors Sell for $33.5 M., Breaking Auction Records

Published by Jenni Sidey

A bespoke ensemble of 15 mirrors by Claude Lalanne sold at Sotheby’s New York today for $33.5 million, breaking the artist’s secondary-market record and becoming the most valuable design work ever to leave the auction block.   Collectively titled Important and Unique Ensemble of Fifteen Mirrors for Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, the piece sold for more than double its pre-sale high estimate ($10 million–15 million), surpassing a functioning bar in the shape of a hippopotamus by François-Xavier Lalanne—the husband and longtime collaborator of Claude Lalanne—which fetched $31.4 million at Sotheby’s in December 2025.  Related Articles The gilt-bronze mirrors exemplify Claude’s whimsical flair. Each is framed by a delicate vine of electroplated leaves sourced from the artist’s own garden—“a magnum opus of [Claude Lalanne’s] early artistic imagination,” according to Sotheby’s. As the wry title suggests, the mirrors were a 1974 commission installed in the famously aesthetic “Salon de Musique” of the Paris residence of couture designer Yves Saint Laurent. The mirrors were in the possession of Jean and Terry de Gunzburg, a pair of powerhouse …

The power grid is breaking. Can it fix itself?

The power grid is breaking. Can it fix itself?

Published by Jenni Sidey

A week before Christmas, nearly 50,000 people living along Colorado’s Front Range lost power for multiple days. The outage was deliberate. Xcel Energy, the region’s utility, had implemented a “public safety power shutoff” out of fear that high winds would down power lines and spark fires. The danger wasn’t hypothetical. Conditions were warm and dry, with wind gusts exceeding 100 miles per hour. In 2021, a similar windstorm had led to the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history: the Marshall Fire, which destroyed 1,084 homes in the region.  Given the risk, the December 2025 outage may have been justified, but a grid that must be shut down for multiple days because of high winds — disrupting the lives of tens of thousands of people in the process — points to a deeper problem: America’s power grid is at a breaking point. To avoid a future plagued by more frequent blackouts, researchers are shifting some of the responsibility for keeping the lights on from utilities to the grid itself with “self-healing” technologies that can detect disruptions, …

Biochar could help clean up PFAS pollution through breaking down chemical elements

Biochar could help clean up PFAS pollution through breaking down chemical elements

Published by skeptic

A study has reviewed the potential of biochar to remediate PFAS pollution through adsorption and helping break down elements of the forever chemicals. New research from Shenyang Agricultural University suggests that biochar could be part of the solution for tackling the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, widely known as PFAS or “forever chemicals” in the environment. The strong carbon-flourine bonds in PFAS mean they do not degrade easily and can migrate through air, water, and soil. Their resulting presence in the food chain and natural environments is doubly concerning when they have been associated with a range of negative health risks, from embryo development to accelerated ageing. Biochar is a low-cost and environmentally-friendly adsorbent Biochar is a form of modified charcoal derived from any organic material exposed to high temperatures in the presence of little or no oxygen. The review study found that PFAS contaminents attach to the surface of biochar, through mechanisms such as pore filling, hydrogen bonding, electrostatic attraction and hydrophobic interactions. These mechanisms allow biochar to effectively capture PFAS molecules from …

Breaking Free From Alex Jones

Breaking Free From Alex Jones

Published by José Betancourt

Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube In this episode of Galaxy Brain, Charlie Warzel speaks with Josh Owens, a videographer and the author of a memoir about his years working for Infowars, the media company of the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Owens traces his journey from a film-school student who stumbled onto Jones’s radio show to an insider who spent four years filming, editing, and traveling for the organization. Owens describes how Jones’s conspiracy machine works, as well as how his own moral compass was scrambled by Jones’s manipulative management. The conversation explores radicalization, the conspiratorial media ecosystem Jones helped create, and how Owens was able to pull himself out. The following is a transcript of the episode: Josh Owens: Jones was not sitting there telling us to lie about things. He was making us question our own minds. After years in that environment, you stop even believing the fire alarms that are going off in your brain saying, like, This is insane. This is crazy. This is wrong. And you think, Maybe …

Republicans edge toward a breaking point on Trump

Republicans edge toward a breaking point on Trump

Published by Sam Flores

Donald Trump’s world is on fire, but not according to him. He believes he lives in a universe where he is lord and savior. “If I weren’t president, the world would be torn to pieces,” he told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on Tuesday. If you believe otherwise, you’re not alone. Many believe that Trump has jumped the shark and is beyond delusional. In two Truth Social posts in successive weeks, Trump threatened to destroy the entire Iranian civilization while claiming to be the president of peace. Then he compared himself to Jesus and got into a fight with the pope. Whoever had “Trump threatens a WWE Pope Leo smackdown” on their bingo card is the winner. The rest of us are still trying to figure out how Trump can claim the Strait of Hormuz is open, or can be easily opened, or can easily be opened with the help of our allies, or isn’t open but we don’t care, or will magically open, or Iran has closed it and we’ve blockaded it. On Wednesday he posted …

Sky News halted for breaking alert and it’s terrible for Brits travelling abroad | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

Sky News halted for breaking alert and it’s terrible for Brits travelling abroad | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

Published by Sam Flores

Sky News ground to a halt this afternoon for a breaking announcement – and it could be very bad news for British people wanting to travel abroad this summer. As the breaking news banner flashed across the bottom of the screen, the show’s presenter began: “Breaking news to bring you now. This is from the International Energy Agency Chief Fatih Birol, saying that Europe may have six weeks or so of jet fuel left, warning of possible flight cancellations.” He added: “We, of course, heard similar warnings from the boss of Europe’s biggest airline, Ryanair, in previous weeks as well, talking about potential disruption through the course of the early summer. As we approach mid-April, that would align with about June, according to these warnings from Fatih Birol.” The Sky News host said he was sure the markets would be watching the outcomes of any potential talks between the US and Iran very closely. He added: “For the moment, looking at maritime tracking data right now live, it is showing a pretty bleak scene across …

80 years later, scholarship is breaking silence on women’s suffering and strength at Treblinka – including their role in its uprising

80 years later, scholarship is breaking silence on women’s suffering and strength at Treblinka – including their role in its uprising

Published by Sam Flores

(The Conversation) — Adek Stein – a Holocaust survivor from Bialystok, Poland – looked anxiously about the room, struggling with the question he’d just been asked. As his eyes searched his small audience, it was clear he was nervous. That itself wasn’t new. But the interviewer had asked about sexual violence during the Holocaust, and Stein’s face seemed to betray a pain and worry he had lived with for years. The USC Shoah Foundation, which filmed its interview with Stein at his home in Australia in 1995, tries to interview survivors one-on-one, without distraction. But that day, several young women, presumably members of Stein’s family, stayed in the room as he gave testimony – including his experiences as a forced laborer at the Treblinka extermination camp, where more than 900,000 Jews were murdered. Then it came time to talk about how some Germans had taken Jewish women, in his words, “to make fun.” He stopped and looked at each of those present. Speaking to his interviewer, Stein said he did not want to go on, …

Man Punished for Breaking Into Moo Deng’s Zoo Enclosure

Man Punished for Breaking Into Moo Deng’s Zoo Enclosure

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech The maniac who broke into Moo Deng’s crib finally got his due. The BBC reports that a Thai court fined a man 10,000 baht, or around $300, after he was caught entering the zoo enclosure of the baby pygmy hippo, which became an internet sensation in 2024. Authorities arrested the intruder last month. Security footage released by local media and widely shared online shows a man wearing a beanie, tank top, shorts, and sandals hopping into the enclosure at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo. As he films Moo Deng with a tablet, the man circles the young creature and comes within just several feet of her.  According to reports, the man was inside the enclosure for one or two minutes before staff noticed him, and made no attempt to flee when they called the police. Moo Deng was “startled” by the encounter, the staff said, but unharmed. Now, Narongwit Chodchoy, who runs the zoo, says that a local …

Euphoria fans compare new season to Breaking Bad after first glimpse

Euphoria fans compare new season to Breaking Bad after first glimpse

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter HBO has released the first five minutes of its highly anticipated third season of Euphoria, shocking fans with a tonal shift that some feel resembles the acclaimed New Mexico-set drug drama Breaking Bad. In the clip shared Friday, ahead of the Sunday premiere, Zendaya’s drug addicted protagonist, Rue, is seen speeding through Mexico’s Chihuahuan Desert in a dusty SUV. As she approaches the U.S. border, she pays a motorcyclist to set up a makeshift platform so she can drive across. However, after she makes her way up, the car gets stuck at the top. She tries to reverse the car and shift the weight to help free it, but neither attempt works. Instead, she climbs out and continues her journey on foot. The brief teaser has been celebrated by eager fans, many of whom noted that the scene feels like a …

Your router has a hidden setting that’s breaking all your smart home devices

Your router has a hidden setting that’s breaking all your smart home devices

Published by skeptic

A lot of us have dozens of smart home devices around our houses. But if they’ve been more of a source of stress rather than convenience, you’re not alone. A bulb that worked fine yesterday might show up as unresponsive the next day, plugs sometimes stop responding mid-automation, and sometimes it takes ages for a brightness command to take effect. I’ve restarted devices, uninstalled and reinstalled apps, factory reset bulbs, blamed myself for buying lesser-known or cheaper brands, and more. Turns out, the source of the problem wasn’t my smart home devices; it was my network. And all it took to fix these issues was a simple router setting—one I didn’t even know was active. Related I separated my 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands and I should have done it sooner A simple router setting was holding back my home network’s full potential, and I wish I’d made this change sooner. This helpful setting is breaking your smart home Band steering causes more problems than it solves Most modern routers, especially dual-band ones, come with a …