The PlayStation 5 not only packs some notable gaming hardware, but also a ton of features – so many, in fact, that many players don’t realize they exist.
One automotive pillar isn’t a car itself, but an engine: the Ford 300 cubic-inch inline six-cylinder. The model is well-regarded and for good reasons.
Researchers who grew a brain cell culture in a lab claim that they taught the cells to play a version of Pong. Scientists from a biotech startup called Cortical Labs say it’s the first demonstrated example of a so-called “mini-brain” being taught to carry out goal-directed tasks. ”It is able to take in information from an external source, process it and then respond to it in real time,” Dr. Brett Kagan, lead author of a paper on the research that was published in Neuron, told the BBC.
The culture of 800,000 brain cells is known as DishBrain. The scientists placed mouse cells (derived from embryonic brains) and human cells taken from stem cells on top of an electrode array that was hooked up to Pong, as The Age notes. Electrical pulses sent to the neurons indicated the position of the ball in the game. The array then moved the paddle up and down based on signals from the neurons. DishBrain received a strong and consistent feedback signal (effectively a form of stimulus) when the paddle hit the ball and a short, random pulse when it missed.
The researchers, who believe the culture is too primitive to be conscious, noted that DishBrain showed signs of “apparent learning within five minutes of real-time gameplay not observed in control conditions.” After playing Pong for 20 minutes, the culture got better at the game. The scientists say that indicates the cells were reorganizing, developing networks and learning.
“They changed their activity in a way that is very consistent with them actually behaving as a dynamic system,” Kagan said. “For example, the neurons’ ability to change and adapt their activity as a result of experience increases over time, consistent with what we see with the cells’ learning rate.”
Future research into DishBrain will involve looking at how medicines and alcohol affect the culture’s ability to play Pong, to test whether it can effectively be treated as a stand-in for a human brain. Kagan expressed hope that DishBrain (or perhaps future versions of it) can be used to test treatments for diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Meanwhile, researchers at Stanford University cultivated stem cells into human brain tissue, which they transplanted into newborn rats. These so-called brain organoids integrated with the rodents’ own brains. After a few months, the scientists found that the organoids accounted for around a third of the rats’ brain hemispheres and that they were engaging with the rodents’ brain circuits. As Wired notes, these organoids could be used to study neurodegenerative disorders or to test drugs designed to treat neuropsychiatric diseases. Scientists may also look at how genetic defects in organoids can affect animal behavior.
Kansas City, Missouri police charged the Las Vegas Raiders receiver after he shoved a photographer to the ground following a loss on Monday.
Finally, the Rock has made his long-awaited debut in the DC Universe as Black Adam. Promising that the hierarchy of power will change, Dwayne Johnson suits up (costumes now available) to deliver a bolt of lightning to revive the state of the DC slate. If it worked seems to depend on who you ask.
A lawsuit accusing Meta of conspiring with OnlyFans is now known to include some serious allegations against top executives. Thanks to an accidentally unredacted court document, Gizmodo has learned that adult entertainers accused Meta global affairs President Nick Clegg, VP Nicola Mendelsohn and European safety director Cristian Perrella of taking bribes to give OnlyFans an unfair advantage over rivals. To support the allegations, the plaintiffs shared anonymously supplied wire transfers that were supposedly sent to execs through an OnlyFans subsidiary. The authenticity of the transfers hasn’t been verified.
The adult stars maintain that OnlyFans sought to hinder competitors by placing content on a terrorist database, leading to a major drop in traffic. A lawsuit from FanCentro, an alternative to OnlyFans, made similar claims.
In a statement, a spokesperson told Engadget the bribery accusations were “baseless.” You can read the full response below. The Facebook and Instagram owner already filed a motion to dismiss the suit over a lack of plausibility, and argued that it can’t be held liable even if the plaintiffs succeed. Content decisions like these are protected by both First Amendment free speech rights and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, Meta said in its motion.
OnlyFans noted in a follow-up filing that it “inadvertently” left the Meta leaders’ names unredacted. It asked the court to delete the relevant document. This comes more than a little late, of course. While the lawsuit certainly isn’t guaranteed to survive close scrutiny, it’s now clear just how serious the allegations really are.
“As we make clear in our motion to dismiss, we deny these allegations as they lack facts, merit, or anything that would make them plausible. The allegations are baseless.”
Microsoft has been gradually updating its Seeing AI app since its launch in 2017, expanding language support and general functionality over the years. Today, the company is announcing a new feature that would let Seeing AI read out detailed information when users scan the barcodes of products by healthcare company Haleon. The feature is rolling out today for US and UK users on the free app, which is only available on iOS. The company says an Android version will be available “in the future.”
In a press release, Microsoft and Haleon said “With today’s launch in honor of World Sight Day, people can now hear packaging information through the Microsoft Seeing AI app by scanning the barcode of Haleon products.” Users who are blind, have trouble reading or have low literacy can use the app to scan more than 1,500 Haleon products like Advil, Excedrin, Theraflu, Emergen-C and more, and their device will read out product information, instructions, ingredients “and other crucial details.”
The press release also noted that “The Seeing AI collaboration with Microsoft is one of Haleon’s first new initiatives to champion health inclusivity.” We may be seeing more from the healthcare company in future, but for now, it’s nice to see that people with visual impairments or low literacy can more easily and independently learn about the drugs they are considering or consuming. That is, at least, if they use iOS.
The British actor shared she thinks the finale “would be great” if she were bestowed creative control.
Elizabeth Warren and six other Democratic senators are pressing Texas’ energy regulator on whether the crypto mining industry is putting additional strain on the state’s grid, and its impact on climate change.
In a letter to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the senators note that “cryptomining companies are flooding into states like Texas,” and raise questions about the industry’s impact on the state’s grid, which is already in a precarious position during major storms and other periods of high demand. “The Texas grid is particularly vulnerable given that it is the only independent state grid in the country, and does not interconnect to other states – meaning it has no buffer if there is a shortfall in supply,” the letter notes.
The senators also take issue with the payments mining companies receive from ERCOT at times of high demand. “In simple terms, the Bitcoin miners make money from mining that produces major strains on the electric grid: and during peak demand when the profitability of continuing to mine decreases, they then collect subsidies in the form of demand response payments when they shut off their mining operations and do nothing,” the letter says. “These subsidies to cryptominers also feed back into the worsening climate crisis. The energy used to mine Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2021 resulted in almost 80 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.”
The letter asks for details on the amount of energy consumption used by crypto mining companies over the last five years, as well if residential electricity rate hikes have coincided with crypto miners’ arrival in the state.
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