All posts tagged: Direction

Sperm loses its sense of direction in space

Sperm loses its sense of direction in space

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletterđź’ˇ Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Some of the world’s wealthiest and most influential people remain deadset on leaving Earth behind for a new life in outer space. But despite what they may think, life among the stars is not simply a matter of developing the technology and logistics to get us there. Humans have uniquely evolved over millions of years to thrive on Earth—alter any of those conditions even slightly, and it’s liable to cause all sorts of problems. Among the many potential issues, life in space may wreck our kidneys, increase the risk for numerous diseases including cancer, and even fundamentally alter our DNA. Now, a team at Australia’s Adelaide University have found another possible roadblock. Humans in space may have trouble simply making new humans. “This is the first time we have been able to show that gravity is an important factor in sperm’s ability to navigate through a channel like the reproductive tract,” said Nicole McPherson, a biomedical researcher and co-author …

A New Direction for the Trans Novel

A New Direction for the Trans Novel

Published by José Betancourt

In a decrepit Manhattan apartment, Barbara Rosenberg, the elderly Jewish narrator of Jordy Rosenberg’s new novel, Night Night Fawn, is dying from a “notoriously lethal illness.” Thanks to the effect of OxyContin, she’s flickering through memories of her life, composing (possibly only in her head) her uncensored autobiography. She’s periodically attended by her estranged child, J., whom she calls “the bird” and describes as a large, feathered creature with a beak that retracts into a normal nose “like a flaccid penis.” Something other than drugs is obscuring her vision of the person J. has grown up to be. As she faces death, this one topic looms over all others: the frustration and contempt that she feels over her trans kid’s refusal to be the daughter she wanted. The book, animated by Barbara’s reflections, is a striking, darkly comic portrait of a mind narrowed by disappointment. For Barbara, the blows begin early: As an aspiring actor, she attends NYU to study drama—but unlike her trust-fund-supported peers, who reside on campus, she lives at home in distant …

Midlife workouts could push brain aging in a younger direction

Midlife workouts could push brain aging in a younger direction

Published by Jenni Sidey

A year can feel like a long time when you worry about your future memory. It can also pass in a blur of work, family, and stress. New research suggests that what you do with that year may leave a mark on your brain. Scientists at the AdventHealth Research Institute report that a steady aerobic exercise routine helped healthy adults end the year with brains that looked biologically younger on MRI scans. The work adds fresh evidence that midlife habits may shape how your brain ages. The study focused on “brain age,” an MRI-based biomarker that estimates how old your brain appears compared with your actual age. The researchers tracked “brain-predicted age difference,” also called brain-PAD. A higher brain-PAD means an older-appearing brain, and prior research has linked higher brain-PAD with poorer physical and cognitive function and a higher risk of death. A One-Year Test of a Simple Routine The clinical trial enrolled 130 healthy adults ages 26 to 58. Researchers randomly assigned them to one of two groups. One group followed a moderate-to-vigorous aerobic …

Why Elon Musk Took Sam Altman to Court over OpenAI Direction

Why Elon Musk Took Sam Altman to Court over OpenAI Direction

Published by skeptic

What happens when two of the most influential figures in tech find themselves on opposite sides of a legal battle? Below, Matthew Berman breaks down how Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman has ignited a firestorm of debate over the future of artificial intelligence. Musk, a founding force behind OpenAI, claims that Altman’s leadership betrayed the organization’s original mission by shifting it from a nonprofit to a for-profit entity. Recently unsealed documents, filled with emails, text messages, and even diary entries, paint a vivid picture of the tensions, ethical dilemmas, and power struggles that have defined OpenAI’s journey. This isn’t just a lawsuit; it’s a clash of visions for how AI should serve humanity, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. In this overview, you’ll uncover the hidden drama behind OpenAI’s rise, from Musk’s early influence and strategic partnerships to Altman’s controversial leadership decisions. What led Musk to step away from the organization he helped create? And how did Altman’s pivot to profitability spark such a profound rift? These revelations go beyond personal grievances, raising critical …

A Realistic Direction for Artificial General Intelligence Today

A Realistic Direction for Artificial General Intelligence Today

Published by Jenni Sidey

In November 2024, OpenAI’s Sam Altman said that ChatGPT would achieve the holy grail of artificial general intelligence (AGI) in 2025. AGI is admittedly a fuzzy goal. Most agree that it involves an ability to perform any intellectual task as well as or better than humans. But which humans? An average human? A Nobel laureate? All Nobel laureates put together? When GPT-5 was released a few weeks ago, it seemed that a version of AGI had been achieved, on time, when Altman boasted that “it really feels like talking to an expert in any topic, like a PhD-level expert.” Alas, Altman had again overpromised and underdelivered. It immediately became clear that GPT-5 is not a PhD-level expert (see, for example, here, here, and here.) The fundamental problem remains; large language models (LLMs) like GPT-5 are hobbled by their inherent inability to relate the text they input and output to the real world. No amount of scaling will change that. Tens of thousands of human trainers can patch billions of blunders but (a) an LLM following …

The beauty direction for Collina Strada’s NYFW show, ‘Shade,’ was all about contrasts

The beauty direction for Collina Strada’s NYFW show, ‘Shade,’ was all about contrasts

Published by Sam Flores

At golden hour on the first day of New York Fashion Week, Collina Strada debuted its spring/summer 2026 collection, called “Shade,” on a Brooklyn Bridge pier overlooking the water. In the days leading up to the show, the brand’s Instagram hinted at the collection’s theme by teasing videos of animal-like silhouettes and their shadows. The sustainable fashion brand helmed by designer Hillary Taymour is known for blending the natural world and fashion, in as many iterations as one can sum up. This time, the animalistic elements were explored through the unruly, concealed parts within human nature. With 23 pastel-colored looks all accompanied by black renditions (46 looks total), Collina Strada’s SS26 collection referenced Jungian psychology, diving beneath the surface to reflect the shadow self that lives within each of us. Backstage, Collina Strada’s glam teams, led by key hairstylist Mustafa Yanaz and key makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench, brought this vision together by centering contrasts in hair and makeup. There on Pier 6, underneath bright white canopies, the two beauty artists known for their avant-garde creations …