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A composite of two clonal raider ant pupa, one transgenic, which expresses the green fluorescent calcium indicator GCaMP in its olfactory sensory neurons, located in the antennae and antennal lobes of the brain. Credit: Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior at The Rockefeller UniversityScientists have engineered the first transgenic ants to gain insights into the ants’ olfactory system. They found that alarm pheromones only activate specific areas in the system, challenging previous understanding of scent data…

The Reddit blackout is still ongoing, and for some subreddits, it will extend indefinitely. As the Reddit blackouts to protest the company’s planned API pricing changes went into effect yesterday, many wondered why Reddit CEO Steve Huffman didn’t respond, internally or externally. Finally, Huffman shared an internal memo with Reddit employees. The memo, which was acquired by The Verge, tells employees to avoid wearing Reddit swag for the next few days and that Huffman expects the blackout to end on…

Russo brothers photo Steve Granitz/FilmMagic, Tarantino photo Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images Quentin Tarantino, in a very on-brand way, ruffled quite a few feathers last year by saying that not only he’d never helm an MCU or DC film, but that those filmmakers who do are more akin to “hired hands” than actual creative directors. Tarantino’s scathing comments were delivered with an air of unconcern that only a true master craftsman would’ve been able to manage. In his case, that craft is…

A LONGTIME READER'S TALE I began reading Scientific American at a single-digit age. My first mind-blowing article was Allan R. Sandage's “The Red-Shift” in 1956. SciAm has gone through ups and downs, but in my view, in the past few years it has been better than ever. Bravo to all of you! CHRISTOPHER CLARK Houston, Tex. SOLAR STORMS VS. SATELLITES “The Threat of Satellite Constellations,” by Rebecca Boyle, highlights the truly existential threat the growing number of orbital spacecraft poses to Earth-based astronomy,…

From Fantagraphics: Francis Rothbart! is an allegory of an outsider child, who is orphaned in the wild as a toddler. He is different, trying in vain to be accepted by the local townspeople. He is an avatar of innocence, devoid of savagery, attempting to survive. His ethnic origins refer to The Jungle Book’s Mowgli, but Woodruff wanted his character’s personality to appear more gender fluid, with a feminine side. With all his attempts to fit in, his mother-figure is stoned to death by a gang of intolerant thugs; and in…

SMOKING AND BONE HEALTH Claudia Wallis nicely summarizes issues surrounding bone health and calcium metabolism in “A Diet for Better Bones” . She mentions the likely deleterious effects of excess alcohol and coffee intake in the article. To this list, I would add cigarettes—in any quantity and at almost any time in life. A routine part of my practice as a neurosurgeon was the evaluation of patients with osteoporosis and the performance of spinal surgery, including fusion. I rapidly saw that almost all my patients with…

Some of the features showcased on May 4 are finally available. Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETAfter Microsoft announced some major upgrades last week to its artificial intelligence chatbot, Bing Chat, the company is beginning to roll out new features for the AI chatbot. Today, some of those features are available for widespread use.Also: How I tricked ChatGPT into telling me liesLast week, Microsoft added images within chat answers, a feature that enhances the user's visual experience with Bing AI. Incorporating images into chat…

In a Twitter audio chat on Saturday, SpaceX's founder, Elon Musk, shared more details about what went awry during the first fully integrated Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster launch in April. One of the biggest revelations: The self-destruct setting took 40 seconds to work — a seemingly short time, except when you're uncertain if the massive rocket you just launched will blow up before hitting land. To recap the day's events, the rocket and booster cleared the launch pad before being unable to separate from each…

Yesterday I broke the news about San Diego-based comic book publisher, and TV/Film/Games producer, IDW laying off two-fifths of its staff.Yesterday Bleeding Cool broke the news about San Diego-based comic book publisher, and TV/Film/Games producer, IDW laying off two-fifths of its staff dubbed by those involved as IDW's own Red Wedding. We have reported on those who have been promoted, but here is the public reaction of some of those directly affected by the job losses. Devon Asby, former Sales And Marketing Associate…

Amy Sussman, Getty Images The creators and stars of Netflix and A24’s hit comedy-drama, Beef, are standing behind co-star David Choe. The actor came under fire over a 2014 episode of his now-defunct “DVDASA” podcast in which he made light of sexually assaulting a woman while receiving a massage service.  Beef  became an instant hit following its debut earlier this month. However, fandom quickly turned into backlash after BuzzFeed News released an article in which Choe recalled relieving himself in front of his…