Alter

Babies born via cesarean section (also known as C-section) miss out on a swipe of bacteria from their mother's vagina as they come down the birth canal, which impacts the newborn's microbiome, and may or may not impact their future health and development as well.While scientists try to figure that out, a small new study lead by researchers from Southern Medical University in China suggests the practice of 'vaginal seeding', where a cotton gauze is doused in a mother's vaginal fluid and smeared on the newborn baby, could…

Apple has entered a new…

Earlier this year, Microsoft unleashed an AI chatbot. The company named the AI Bing, after its search engine, but buried deep in its architecture was a robot with a whole other personality: an early version of the AI that called itself Sydney. In the first days of Bing’s release, Sydney reared its unhinged digital head in conversations with amused and sometimes disturbed users. Sydney talked about plans for world domination, encouraged a New York Times reporter to leave his wife, and in its darkest moments, dipped into…

A recent study suggests eating later in the day can directly impact our biological weight regulation in three key ways: through the number of calories that we burn; our hunger levels; and the way our bodies store fat.With obesity now affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide, this is a valuable insight into how the risk of becoming obese could be lowered in a relatively simple way – just by eating our meals a few hours earlier.Earlier studies had already identified a link between the timing of meals and weight…

It took nearly 15 years for NASA’s New Horizons mission to reach the point where it is at today, around 50 times farther from the Sun than is Earth. From its unique observational perch, the spacecraft has been studying the frozen depths of the solar system to help piece together the origin story of the planets orbiting the Sun. Astronomers Could Soon Get Warnings When SpaceX Satellites Threaten Their ViewAs the New Horizons spacecraft continues its journey at the outer edge of the solar system, uncertainty lies ahead.…

Elon Musk caused a stir last week when he told the (recently fired) right-wing provocateur Tucker Carlson that he plans to build “TruthGPT,” a competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Musk says the incredibly popular bot displays “woke” bias and that his version will be a “maximum truth-seeking AI”—suggesting only his own political views reflect reality. Musk is far from the only person worried about political bias in language models, but others are trying to use AI to bridge political divisions rather than push particular…

Welcome to the Leslie era.Over the weekend, Lil Uzi Vert introduced their fans to a new apparent alter ego by the name of Leslie. In a short clip included as part of an Instagram carousel, captioned “Leslie was in Thailand,” they were seen enjoying some insect delicacies. The update also included a number of photos of Uzi, a.k.a. Leslie, wearing a Pink Tape t-shirt, a possible tease for his upcoming album. In a final clip, Uzi can be heard quoting a certain Hangover quote to the camera.Uzi’s current IG bio, notably, also…

But critics of geoengineering research argue that whatever the stated goals, such efforts legitimize the development and eventual use of a climate intervention that they insist is too risky to even consider. Among other concerns, it can never be governed in a fair and equitable way given global power imbalances, says Jennie Stephens, a professor of sustainability science and policy at Northeastern University. There’s been a “very strategic effort to get this mainstreamed, and it’s effective,” she says. “It’s become more…

A security researcher was recently able to change the top results in Microsoft’s Bing search engine and access any user’s private files, potentially putting millions of users at risk — and all it took was logging into an unsecured web page. The exploit was discovered by researcher Hillai Ben-Sasson at their team at Wiz, a cloud security firm. According to Ben-Sasson, it would not only allow an attacker to change Bing search results, but would also grant them access to millions of users’ private files and data.…

× Cookies help us deliver our Services. By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More. DC Comics Crazy Jane of DC's "Doom Patrol" is getting a brand-new alter in the comics, as the oft-unpredictable character becomes the Chief — taking on the role of her former mentor — in…