All posts tagged: previously

A Previously Banned Apple Watch Health Feature May Soon Make a Comeback

A Previously Banned Apple Watch Health Feature May Soon Make a Comeback

Published by skeptic

The Apple Watch‘s blood oxygen sensor has been at the center of what feels like a never-ending tennis match of legal back-and-forth. In 2020, the Apple Watch Series 6 launched with the sensor that measures your blood’s oxygen saturation (SpO2), which is how much oxygen red blood cells pick up from your lungs and transport to the rest of your body. That same year, global medical technology company Masimo filed a lawsuit claiming that Apple’s sensor infringed its patents. In 2023, the US International Trade Commission sided with Masimo and imposed an import ban on Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 models. However, on Friday, the ITC declined Masimo’s request for another import ban on the Apple Watch and said it wouldn’t review a preliminary ruling finding that the redesigned Apple Watch doesn’t infringe Masimo’s patents. This is a major win for Apple.  Unless Masimo decides to appeal the decision, Apple can bring blood oxygen monitoring back to its devices.  But based on the history of this case, it may not be the end …

Native Americans Used Dice Earlier Than Previously Known, Study Shows

Native Americans Used Dice Earlier Than Previously Known, Study Shows

Published by José Betancourt

Native Americans were using dice for gaming long before Bronze Age societies in the Old World, according to a new Colorado State University study. Research published in the journal American Antiquity by Robert J. Madden, a PhD student at CSU, presents evidence that dice were made by hunter-gatherers on the western Great Plains more than 12,000 years ago. Dice games are considered humanity’s earliest structured engagement with the idea of randomness, the intellectual precursor to probabilistic thinking. Until now, dice games were thought to have originated in the complex societies of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley beginning around 5,500 years ago. Related Articles Aware that Native Americans have a long history of dice games, Madden created a checklist of specific attributes of historic Native American dice to reclassify older artifacts. “We had a body of literature that carried [the use of dice] all the way back to about 2,000 years before the present,” Madden told CSU’s The Audit podcast, “but it broke down at that point. That got me interested in seeing what I could do to trace this back. How …

Sinners director Ryan Coogler developing new adaptation of best-selling book series that previously inspired cult TV show

Sinners director Ryan Coogler developing new adaptation of best-selling book series that previously inspired cult TV show

Published by Daniella Wilson

Ryan Coogler is lining up his next major TV project, with a new adaptation of the hugely popular Animorphs novels in early development at Disney+. The acclaimed filmmaker – fresh from Oscar success for Sinners – will executive produce the series, with writer Bayan Wolcott attached to pen the project, Variety reports. Based on the best-selling book series by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant, Animorphs follows a group of teenagers who discover a secret alien invasion and gain the ability to morph into animals in order to fight back. The series blends sci-fi action with coming-of-age drama, as the characters balance high school life with a covert war for Earth’s survival. First published in 1996, the franchise became a global phenomenon, spanning 54 main books and selling more than 35 million copies worldwide. This won’t be the first time the series has been adapted for the screen. A live-action Animorphs show aired on Nickelodeon between 1998 and 2000, running for two seasons and later gaining a cult following among fans of the books. Want to …

Young people more open to ditching meat than previously thought – new study

Young people more open to ditching meat than previously thought – new study

Published by skeptic

Eating meat and other animal products can have negative effects on our health, the environment and animal welfare. Eating a more plant-based diet rich in wholefoods could prevent 27% of human deaths worldwide, according to the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy, sustainable, and just food systems. It could also spare the lives of more than 80 billion animals a year and cause 75% less environmental damage. While some European governments, such as Denmark, are introducing legislation that incentivises citizens to buy and eat plant-based food, progress is slow. That is partly due to the difficulty in changing adults’ minds about meat. However, our new study shows that young people might be more open to ditching meat. We asked more than 1,000 young adults in the UK (with an average age of 23) whether they had thought about stopping eating meat when they were still at school. Half of our participants (48.5%) said they had thought about this. Surprisingly, 50.4% of those participants actually did stop eating meat for some period of time. This finding opens a …

Iran fires missiles at remote U.K.-U.S. base, claiming long-range capabilities it previously denied

Iran fires missiles at remote U.K.-U.S. base, claiming long-range capabilities it previously denied

Published by Sam Flores

LONDON — Iran has fired missiles at the joint U.K.-U.S. Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean, claiming the strike shows it is capable of longer-distance attacks than previously known. “Iran’s reckless attacks, lashing out across the region and holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz, are a threat to British interests and British allies,” a spokesperson for the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense said Saturday, confirming the unsuccessful strike. Tehran fired two intermediate-range ballistic missiles at the base in the Chagos Islands, a remote British overseas territory located more than 2,000 miles from Tehran, Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency reported on Saturday. Neither missile hit the base, it added, though neither Iran nor the U.K. specified how close the missiles came to Diego Garcia. The distance of the attempted strike could indicate that Iran has capabilities for long-distance attacks that it has previously denied, with the base the same distance from Iran as much of central Europe. It is unclear, however, if the missiles carried a payload or how far such an attack could truly …

Quantum spin study reveals a previously unknown state of matter

Quantum spin study reveals a previously unknown state of matter

Published by Jenni Sidey

At temperatures approaching absolute zero, most magnetic materials settle into tidy patterns. Their tiny magnetic moments, or spins, align in one of two ways: all pointing in the same direction in ferromagnetic order, or alternating neatly in an antiferromagnetic pattern. But a compound of cerium, magnesium, aluminum, and oxygen — CeMgAl₁₁O₁₉ — refuses to follow those rules. For decades, scientists assumed it was a quantum spin liquid, a rare state where spins remain disordered even in extreme cold. New experiments reveal that assumption was wrong, uncovering a previously unknown state of matter. “This material had been classified as a quantum spin liquid due to two properties: observation of a continuum of states and lack of magnetic ordering,” said Bin Gao, co-first author and research scientist at Rice University. “But closer observation of the material showed that the underlying cause of these observations wasn’t a quantum spin liquid phase.” Rice University Professor Pengcheng Dai. (CREDIT: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University) Unlike quantum spin liquids, where spins fluctuate between many low-energy states because of quantum mechanics, CeMgAl₁₁O₁₉ shows similar …

Data Centers in Space Are Even More Cursed Than Previously Believed

Data Centers in Space Are Even More Cursed Than Previously Believed

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Elon Musk and other AI leaders have repeatedly insisted that the solution to the industry’s extremely costly and energy-intensive data centers is to launch them into space, taking advantage of unfettered access to solar energy and virtually limitless real estate. Late last month, SpaceX — now merged with xAI — filed a patent for an orbital data center constellation with the Federal Communications Commission. The idea is to have up to one million satellites circle the Earth at altitudes between 310 and 1,200 miles at a Sun-synchronous orbit to maximize the amount of solar energy captured. The application didn’t elaborate on any of the specifics, suggesting SpaceX had only begun to ponder the idea. That’s despite Musk promising that space-based data centers could overtake their Earthbound counterparts as the most affordable way to power AI within just three years — likely yet another one of his characteristically overambitious timelines. Many experts remain highly skeptical, questioning the financial feasibility …

Harper Beckham is a mini pop star in previously unseen family photo with brother Cruz

Harper Beckham is a mini pop star in previously unseen family photo with brother Cruz

Published by Daniella Wilson

Harper Beckham was no doubt the apple of her elder brother’s eyes while growing up – and this adorable family photo proves it. In honour of Cruz Beckham’s 21st birthday, his parents, David and Victoria, shared an adorable video montage of the budding musician, which featured a sweet, previously unseen photograph of Cruz and Harper. Sure to include a young Harper in his early years practising music, one moment in the video shows the sibling duo performing together, Cruz on the guitar and Harper singing.  Tiny Harper looked every inch the mini-popstar standing next to her beaming brother. Other sweet moments that featured the little girl saw Cruz helping Harper as they skateboarded along the road. Little Cruz held an even tinier Harper’s hand, with Harper also rocking a fabulous pink helmet. The now 14-year-old shared her own gushing tribute to her big brother, writing on Instagram, “Happy birthday Cruz, I love you so so much, and words can not even describe how much I care for you, growing up with you has been one …

Fish use more energy to stay still than previously thought

Fish use more energy to stay still than previously thought

Published by skeptic

Many fish appear to hang effortlessly in the water while they wait for prey, defend a nest or pause between bursts of activity. But our research shows that this quiet stillness is anything but effortless. Hovering, the behaviour that allows a fish to remain suspended in one place, is far more energetically demanding than scientists once believed. In a comparative study of 13 near neutrally buoyant species, we found that metabolic rates during hovering were almost twice as high as during rest (when the fish supports its weight with the bottom of the tank). In some cases, they were even greater. These findings challenge the long standing assumption that fish can remain motionless in the water column at little physiological cost. Most bony fishes possess a swim bladder, which allows them to regulate buoyancy and avoid sinking or floating. This ability has encouraged the idea that once a fish reaches neutral buoyancy it can stay at its chosen depth with minimal effort. Our results show that the story is more complex. A fish that hovers …