All posts tagged: large

Tunas became large, warm-blooded predators long after the dinosaur extinction

Tunas became large, warm-blooded predators long after the dinosaur extinction

Published by Jenni Sidey

Tunas did not become large, fast and warm-blooded simply because an asteroid cleared the oceans of competing predators. Their defining traits appeared separately over tens of millions of years, complicating a familiar story about life after mass extinction. The asteroid impact 66 million years ago erased non-avian dinosaurs and many large marine predators. One long-held explanation proposed that tunas and other powerful fishes quickly expanded into the empty ecological roles. A new analysis from Yale University challenges that idea. By combining genetic evidence with fossils, researchers built the most complete time-calibrated evolutionary tree yet for Scombridae, the family that includes tunas, mackerels, bonitos and related fishes. The tree places the family’s origin near the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction. Yet the traits that make modern tunas exceptional did not appear together or immediately afterward. Three independent origins of endothermy in Scombridae. Time-calibrated phylogeny of Scombridae estimated using a Bayesian node-dating approach, with branches coloured according to an ancestral state reconstruction of endothermy. (CREDIT: Proceedings of the Royal Society B) “Our results demonstrate the K-Pg extinction did not trigger …

US Embassy Offers Large Cash Sums For Groups In Lebanon To Promote America’s Image

US Embassy Offers Large Cash Sums For Groups In Lebanon To Promote America’s Image

Published by Jenni Sidey

Via The Libertarian Institute The US Embassy in Lebanon announced that the State Department is offering grants of up to $250,000 to groups that help promote American propaganda.  “The US Embassy in Beirut is opening a new Notice of Funding Opportunity for 2026,” a statement published this week explained. “We’re looking for partners to implement programs that strengthen ties between the US and Lebanon, with a focus on highlighting US-led peace and stabilization efforts, and advancing digital literacy to help people identify and push back on false, adversarial narratives.“ American Embassy in Beirut. The State Department website says the program is expected to award $500,000 to at least two groups to promote US propaganda in Lebanon. It adds that the program’s goal is to “strengthen local public understanding of US-led peace and stabilization efforts, and its role as a partner committed to security, economic opportunity, and responsible regional leadership.” Washington is attempting to broker a peace agreement between Tel Aviv and Beirut. However, Israel is at war with Hezbollah, a non-state military that operates outside of the control …

The Large Hadron Collider is being upgraded so that it can unlock the secrets of the Higgs boson

The Large Hadron Collider is being upgraded so that it can unlock the secrets of the Higgs boson

Published by skeptic

Deep beneath the French-Swiss border, the world’s largest scientific instrument has fallen silent. After years of smashing proton particles together at nearly the speed of light, Cern’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has stopped operations and entered a long shutdown. While no particle collisions are taking place at the LHC, thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians are dismantling parts of the machine, installing new technologies and preparing one of the most ambitious upgrades ever attempted in experimental physics. When it switches on again, around 2030, it will become the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC), capable of delivering roughly seven times more data than the collider that discovered the Higgs boson. For me, this shutdown marks another milestone in a project that has shaped much of my scientific life. I first became involved in the High-Luminosity collider long before the Higgs boson particle was discovered in 2012. Over nearly two decades I have had the privilege of contributing to the programme on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States, I served as upgrade coordinator for …

Guggenheim AI Survey Finds Adoption Surging Across Large IT Enterprises As Mass Layoff Fears Fall Flat

Guggenheim AI Survey Finds Adoption Surging Across Large IT Enterprises As Mass Layoff Fears Fall Flat

Published by Jenni Sidey

Building on Goldman’s estimate that AI adoption across corporate America currently stands at roughly 20.6% and could rise to 24% by year-end, a Guggenheim Securities survey of 150 large-enterprise IT professionals found that 81% of respondents have already deployed AI agents. Anthropic and OpenAI are leading adoption among AI-native platforms, reinforcing the view that the enterprise chatbot and frontier-model battle is increasingly becoming a two-pony race. The survey found that enterprise adoption of AI is quickly accelerating, with 81% of respondents already deploying chatbots. About 42% of employees actively use AI for roughly 22% of the workday, resulting in an estimated 18% productivity gain. According to respondents, AI accounts for an average of roughly 19% of corporate IT budgets, with spending concentrated in software development, data analytics, and IT operations. About half of respondents expect AI to become a separate budget line, while 37% of those firms plan to fund it in part through incremental spending beyond existing IT allocations. The survey also provided more evidence of token cost concerns among respondents: On average, respondents …

New Jersey Lawmakers Pass Bill To Establish Large Load Data Center Tariff

New Jersey Lawmakers Pass Bill To Establish Large Load Data Center Tariff

Published by Jenni Sidey

By Zachary Skidmore of DataCenterDynamics New Jersey lawmakers have passed a bill that will direct the state’s Board of Public Utilities (PUC) to establish a dedicated data center tariff for facilities with a capacity of 50MW or more, in an attempt to shield other ratepayers from cost increases tied to new builds. A similar bill was originally proposed in June of last year by Democratic assemblymen Dave Bailey and Joe Danielsen. However, that initial bill was pocket-vetoed by then-governor Phil Murphy, who did not sign it before his term ended. CoreSite’s NY3 data center is located in Secaucus and offers more than 138,000 square feet of capacity.CoreSite Following the veto, the bill was replaced with S731, which proposed broader protections than the previous bill. It will now head to Democratic governor Mikie Sherrill for final approval. Assemblyman David Bailey Jr. said Sherrill’s office was involved in drafting the latest version and expressed optimism she would sign it. The new bill is broader than the previously vetoed bill, applying to both existing and new facilities, and …

Farewell, atom-smashing Large Hadron Collider

Farewell, atom-smashing Large Hadron Collider

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. It’s difficult to overstate just how much the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has helped advance our understanding of the universe. Since its debut in 2008, the 16.7-mile-wide subatomic smasher buried underneath Switzerland proved the existence of the Higgs boson particle (aka the God particle), highlighted the perplexing nature of muons, and even measured antimatter. Apocalyptic conspiracy theories to the contrary, it expanded on key concepts in quantum physics, while charting a path forward for researchers around the world. Still, all good things must come to an end. On June 29, CERN announced that the LHC had officially entered “Long Shutdown 3,” thus ceasing operations after 18 years of remarkable work. But in keeping with some of the most mindbending quantum physics concepts, the …

Large Hadron Collider enters Long Shutdown 3 to prepare for next era of particle physics

Large Hadron Collider enters Long Shutdown 3 to prepare for next era of particle physics

Published by skeptic

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has completed its latest physics run and officially entered Long Shutdown 3 (LS3), marking the beginning of the most extensive upgrade programme undertaken at CERN since the collider was originally built. The shutdown will focus on maintaining, modernising and expanding CERN’s accelerator complex in preparation for the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HiLumi LHC), which is scheduled to begin operations in 2030. The upgraded machine is expected to deliver significantly higher collision rates, allowing scientists to gather much larger datasets and perform more precise investigations into the fundamental structure of the Universe. Although particle beams have now stopped circulating, scientific research at CERN will continue throughout Long Shutdown 3, with thousands of researchers analysing existing experimental data while engineers and technicians transform the accelerator and its detectors for the next generation of discoveries. A remarkable legacy for the Large Hadron Collider Since first circulating proton beams in September 2008, the Large Hadron Collider has established itself as the world’s most powerful particle accelerator and one of the most sophisticated scientific instruments …

Gunman at large after shooting two people near South Los Angeles bar

Gunman at large after shooting two people near South Los Angeles bar

Published by Sam Flores

Two people were injured Thursday night after a man shot them near a bar in South Los Angeles, according to authorities. The Los Angeles Police Department responded to a shooting at El Diamante Sports Bar on Figueroa Street around 10:30 p.m. Thursday, according to the LAPD. A man and a woman suffered injuries in the shooting and were taken to local hospitals in stable condition, according to the LAPD. The gunman fled in an unknown vehicle and remains at large, the LAPD said. The investigation is ongoing and the motive is unknown at this time. No further information is available. People were at the bar to watch the World Cup game, according to ABC7. Source link

Asteroid as large as 5 cruise ships will soar past Earth this weekend

Asteroid as large as 5 cruise ships will soar past Earth this weekend

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. An asteroid as large as five cruise ships is barreling towards Earth at 5.6 miles per second. Civilization thankfully isn’t in any imminent danger, but the cosmic debris will still come close enough to possibly spot using only a pair of strong binoculars. The asteroid (152637) 1997 NC1 will pass closest on June 27 at around 7:15 a.m. EDT. It , when it will only be about 1.59 million miles away—over six times the distance between Earth and the moon. Discovered nearly two decades ago, (152637) 1997 NC1 likely measures somewhere between 820 and 1,800 yards-wide based on its reflective sunlight, although astronomers say it may be a bit smaller.  Stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere will be able to see the space rock …

2023 Eastern Division Presidential Address: Does Thought Require Sensory Grounding? From Pure Thinkers to Large Language Models

2023 Eastern Division Presidential Address: Does Thought Require Sensory Grounding? From Pure Thinkers to Large Language Models

Published by Jenni Sidey

Below is the audio recording of David Chalmers’s presidential address, “Does Thought Require Sensory Grounding? From Pure Thinkers to Large Language Models,” given at the 2023 Eastern Division Meeting. The full text is available on the APA website (member sign-in is required). The audio of the lecture is available here: “Does Thought Require Sensory Grounding? From Pure Thinkers to Large Language Models” by David Chalmers David Chalmers is University Professor of Philosophy and Neural Science at New York University, where he is also co-director of the center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness. He is also Honorary Professor of Philosophy at the Australian National University and co-director of the PhilPapers Foundation. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy and cognitive science from Indiana University. Prior to joining the faculty at NYU, he taught at Australian National University, the University of Arizona, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. His research interests include the philosophy of mind, philosophy of cognitive science, philosophy of language, metaphysics, and epistemology. He has authored three books and many articles on consciousness, meaning, …