If you frequently play mobile games‚ you’re probably unfazed by introductory offers. That said‚ Rowan in AFK Journey is an enticing deal‚ especially if you’re coming from AFK Arena. If you’re undecided‚ let me try to answer the question: Should you buy Rowan in AFK Journey? What is the special offer to get Rowan in AFK Journey? As a new player‚ you can get Rowan with your first purchase of any item in the shop. The cheapest pack in the store is roughly a dollar (20 Dragon Stones)‚ so you can get this high-rarity hero at a reasonably low cost. Everyone has a different opinion on how much is worth spending on a mobile game. Some are happy spending hundreds every month‚ and some won’t spend anything at all. There’s no ‘right’ amount to spend‚ although based on the previous title‚ it’s unlikely that deals like this will be commonplace. Is Rowan good in AFK Journey? Screenshot: PC Invasion Rowan is one of the best support her...

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a game of consequences and choices. What you decide or fail to do will lock you into a line of events. Well‚ unless you exploit death to receive the benefits of both lines of events. You can get double rewards in Dragon’s Dogma 2 if you don’t mind doing the unthinkable YouTuber Elvis The Alien shared a hilarious clip of his Dragon’s Dogma 2 gameplay where he stumbled into both endings for the notorious Prey for the Pack quest. the weirdest thing ever happened to me in Dragon's Dogma 2 pic.twitter.com/sYDOLArv3U— Elvis The Alien (@ElvisTheAlienTV) March 28‚ 2024 Upon managing to successfully save Rodge‚ his impatience made him think to carry Rodge all the way to Checkpoint Rest Town. Funnily enough‚ Rodge did not appreciate this‚ and began fighting him when he struggled free. His Pawns immediately jumped to the defence of their master. Despite his best attempts to defuse the situation‚ one of his Pawns slaughtered th...

NYPD Tells City Council to Stay Away From Slain Officer's Funeral

EW: POTATUS Doing Some Voter Outreach‚ Fancy Fundraising With Obama‚ Queen Latifah and...Wait - Lizzo?

As if we needed any more evidence of the wonder of dogs‚ new research is showing that some service pups may be able to add a new skill to their resumes. As well as those that sniff out serious conditions like cancer and Parkinson’s disease‚ some proficient pooches may be able to detect symptoms such as oncoming flashbacks in people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).PTSD is an often debilitating mental health condition that arises after exposure to a traumatic event‚ such as violence witnessed during military service. People with PTSD can re-experience their trauma over and over again in the form of flashbacks‚ nightmares‚ or distressing sensations‚ which can make daily life difficult to manage. There’s a wealth of anecdotal evidence from people with PTSD that the companionship of a service dog can be life-changing – but it’s only comparatively recently that research has begun to explore this scientifically. Dogs can be trained to learn when their handlers are experiencing difficult symptoms and to interrupt them‚ but scientists behind a recent paper wondered whether this could be taken to the next level. Could dogs be trained‚ not just to assist people during episodes‚ but to predict when an episode might happen?The multidisciplinary research team suspected the key could lie in the profile of scent compounds (called volatile organic compounds or VOCs) that all of us emit in our sweat and other secretions. VOC profiles differ according to age‚ genetic factors‚ and other variables like stress. Since dogs’ impressive noses seem to be able to sniff out these changes‚ could they also be able to smell the stress that precedes the onset of PTSD symptoms like flashbacks?Twenty-six people volunteered to take part in an experiment‚ of whom all had experienced trauma‚ and 54 percent met the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis. They wore disposable face masks to collect two breath samples‚ one while they were in a calm environment and another while they were being asked to recall their trauma.Then it was time to bring in the dogs. Of the 25 pet dogs who were trialed‚ only two extremely good girls made the grade; Ivy‚ a 5-6-year-old Red Golden Retriever; and Callie‚ a 3-4-year-old German Shepherd/Belgian Malinois mix.Ivy hard at work detecting scents.Image credit: Kiiroja et al‚ Frontiers in Allergy 2024 (CC BY 4.0)“Both Ivy and Callie found this work inherently motivating‚” explained first author Laura Kiiroja in a statement. “Their limitless appetite for delicious treats was also an asset. In fact‚ it was much harder to convince them to take a break than to commence work. Callie in particular made sure there was no dilly-dallying.”Having only two dogs was fine for the purposes of this proof-of-concept study‚ which was just to try and figure out if using dogs to detect VOCs related to PTSD symptoms was even possible. Over a period of four months for Ivy and five months for Callie‚ during which they worked for 13 and 17 days respectively‚ the dogs were trained to detect and signal the presence of VOCs associated with stress. They managed 90 percent accuracy in choosing between a stress and a non-stress sample. When presented with samples one at a time‚ they both detected the stress samples with a high level of accuracy: 74 percent for Ivy and 81 percent for Callie.Callie signals to her handler that the sample is stress-negative.Image credit: Kiiroja et al‚ Frontiers in Allergy 2024 (CC BY 4.0)“Although both dogs performed at very high accuracy‚ they seemed to have a slightly different idea of what they considered a 'stressed' breath sample‚” Kiiroja said. “We speculated that Ivy was attuned to sympathetic-adreno-medullar axis hormones (like adrenaline) and Callie was oriented to the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis hormones (like cortisol). This is important knowledge for training service dogs‚ as alerting to early-onset PTSD symptoms requires sensitivity to sympathetic-adreno-medullar axis hormones.”With this proof-of-concept in the bag‚ the team plans further research to confirm which hormones are involved‚ and to try out the test with larger sample sizes. It's still a way off‚ but in the future‚ these protocols could be embedded into the training for PTSD service dogs‚ enhancing their already considerable abilities.We just hope Callie and Ivy got extra treats after that performance!The study is published in the journal Frontiers in Allergy. 

News of Japan's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon's (SLIM) demise are greatly exaggerated. SLIM landed on the Moon in late January‚ demonstrating high precision landing on another world – unfortunately‚ it landed a little wonky which complicated the whole operation. Still‚ the tech was clearly strong enough to survive the dramatic drop in temperature experienced during the unforgiving lunar night – not once but twice!When SLIM landed on January 19‚ its compromised position meant that it couldn’t use its solar panels to power up. While the position was unfortunate‚ at least SLIM was leaning in the right direction. As the Moon rotated around the Earth‚ the Sun began shining on the inclined surface where the solar panels were‚ providing needed juice.In late February‚ the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) reported that SLIM managed to survive its first lunar night. And now they report that the sturdy slanted lander has done it again – although its future is still uncertain.“Last night‚ we received a response from #SLIM‚ confirming that the spacecraft made it through the lunar night for the second time! Since the sun was still high and the equipment was still hot‚ we only took some shots of the usual scenery with the navigation camera‚” JAXA reported on the SLIM Twitter account.“According to the acquired data‚ some temperature sensors and unused battery cells are starting to malfunction‚ but the majority of functions that survived the first lunar night was maintained even after the second lunar night!”  IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.All good things come in threes‚ so we can hope that SLIM will survive for a third night‚ but whether it does or not‚ it has far exceeded expectations. SLIM stands for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon. Its goal was to demonstrate that it is possible to land on another world with incredible precision. The objective was to soft-land within just 100 meters (330 feet) of a specific target area. Based on the current dataset‚ it appears to have landed just 55 meters (180 feet) from the target area.This lunar night might have spared SLIM but it claimed Odysseus‚ which also landed on its side. This is not a new fad that all the cool lunar landers are doing. It just shows how difficult it is to soft-land even on a place as close as the Moon. Odysseus was the first US lander in 50 years to land on the Moon and the first private lander to not crash-land on the lunar surface. Its owner‚ Intuitive Machines‚ confirmed that it did not wake up a few days ago.

Indigenous leaders from across the Pacific have officially ratified the He Whakaputanga Moana (Declaration for the Ocean)‚ a document that calls for whales to have legal personhood and all the rights that come with it."The sound of our ancestor's song has grown weaker‚ and her habitat is under threat‚ which is why we must act now‚" said KÄ«ngi Theitia Ptatau Te Wherowhero VII‚ the King of New Zealand’s Indigenous M&;amacr;ori people‚ in a statement about the declaration seen by AFP.The He Whakaputanga Moana aims to act by taking a step up from previous conservation attempts by giving whales the same rights as people. There's an existing precedent for this‚ particularly in New Zealand‚ where that status has already been given to the Whanganui River; it has the same rights as a human‚ which means that if the river is harmed‚ legally‚ that's the same as harming a human. The same goes for a Spanish lagoon that's been granted personhood‚ which (or who maybe?) can even sue polluters.Legal personhood for whales could be the same (imagine a whale in a courtroom)‚ also including “the right to freedom of movement‚ a healthy environment‚ and the ability to thrive alongside humanity‚” wrote Mere Takoko for Atmos. Takoko is the vice president of Conservation International Aotearoa (New Zealand) and established its Hinemoana Halo Ocean Initiative‚ which aims to bring people together to create marine protected areas.Alongside KÄ«ngi Theitia‚ Indigenous leaders from the Cook Islands‚ Tonga‚ Tahiti‚ Hawai'i‚ and Rapanui all signed the He Whakaputanga Moana to support giving whales legal personhood‚ as well as the establishment of a Hinemoana Halo Ocean Protection Fund to provide the resources to achieve the declaration’s outlined goals.The declaration is also focused on collaboration‚ and not just between the Indigenous leaders who ratified the document – though there’s a strong emphasis on ensuring the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge. “To succeed‚ we need collaboration on a grand scale‚” wrote Takoko. “With the support of Conservation International‚ Indigenous leaders‚ and coastal communities‚ we are extending our hand of friendship to scientists‚ policymakers‚ and all those who call the Pacific home. Every person can make an impact‚ too‚ regardless of occupation.”Though recent years have seen increased conservation efforts‚ six out of the 13 great whale species are still currently classed as endangered‚ including North Atlantic right whales‚ humpbacks‚ and of course‚ the mighty blue whale. Boat strikes‚ entanglement in fishing nets‚ and an increasingly noisy and polluted ocean continue to threaten whales.It’s hoped that by taking the "more holistic approach" outlined in the declarations‚ whale populations will be better protected."We can no longer turn a blind eye‚" high chief of the Cook Islands‚ Travel Tou Ariki‚ said in a statement. "Whales play a vital role in the health of our entire ocean ecosystem. Their decline disrupts the delicate balance that sustains all life in Te Moana (the sea).""We must act with urgency to protect these magnificent creatures before it's too late."If whales are granted legal personhood‚ they'd be joining the likes of animals including Pablo Escobar's cocaine hippos and an elderly orangutan who was freed from captivity thanks to her new status. And who knows‚ we might even be seeing them at a polling booth sometime soon.

We know by now that the deep ocean is full of frankly bizarre-looking animals like Barbie pigs and funky things with tentacles‚ and we love it. Now deep-sea sea cucumbers are getting in on the act‚ with three new species discovered in the South China Sea.Five scientific expeditions from 2018-2023 were taken using the crewed submersible vehicle Shenhaiyongshi. The submersible went to depths of between 1‚340 and 3‚806 meters (4‚396-12‚487 feet)‚ where it carefully scooped up specimens of yellowish white and orange spiky-looking creatures.The new species of sea cucumbers have been named Oneirophanta idsseica‚ O. brunneannulata‚ and O. lucerna and can be told apart from each other by the number of tube feet on their bodies‚ of which they have quite a few. The species O. idsseica is given the common name the IDSSE sea cucumber after the Chinese research center the Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering (IDSSE)‚ of which both study authors are members. New species: Oneirophanta idsseica.Image credit: Yunlu Xiao and Haibin Zhang‚ ZooKeys 2024 (CC BY 4.0)The team also saw a known species‚ O. mutabilis mutabilis‚ for the first time in an area known as the Mariana fore-arc and they managed to spot Deima validum validum for only the second time in the South China Sea.Over the course of these expeditions 11 specimens were collected‚ which all belong to the genus Oneirophanta. These 11 represent three new species‚ bringing the total number of species in the genus up to six. To come to this conclusion the team took careful images of these animals and examined them with a scanning electron microscope‚ and performed DNA analysis. One thing these three new species have in common is tube feet. Tube feet can be used for everything from locomotion to feeding and even to attach themselves to substrate on the sea floor. O. idsseica has between 40 and 50 pairs of tube feet in the middle of its body‚ while O. brunneannulata has 37 pairs and O. lucerna has only 11-14 pairs of tube feet on each body side. Oneirophanta brunneannulata – 37 pairs of tube feet might be overkill?Image credit: Yunlu Xiao and Haibin Zhang‚ ZooKeys 2024 (CC BY 4.0)The team think that there may be even more species in the Pacific Zone and that more research is needed to explore the species diversity and distribution of these unusual animals. The study is published in ZooKeys.

Taking cannabidiol (CBD) for chronic pain is unlikely to have much of an effect‚ but it may at least relieve you of some of the weight in your wallet‚ a new study has found. After analyzing the results of existing clinical trials involving CBD‚ researchers found that there is simply no evidence that the compound actually alleviates pain in chronic patients.As a non-psychoactive cannabinoid‚ CBD is currently the only component of the cannabis plant that can legally be sold in many countries. Pharmaceutical-grade CBD is also sometimes prescribed for certain types of epilepsy‚ multiple sclerosis‚ and chemotherapy-related nausea.For those without a script‚ however‚ non-medical CBD is freely available – not to mention highly popular‚ despite its hefty price tag. According to the authors of the new study‚ around half of all consumers are thought to use the cannabinoid for pain relief.Such a statistic is remarkable when one considers that in 2021‚ the International Association for the Study of Pain found that there were no high-quality clinical trials showing the efficacy of CBD in treating chronic pain. At the time‚ they concluded that the low-quality studies out there showed little evidence that the compound has analgesic (pain-relieving) effects‚ as opposed to evidence of CBD having no analgesic effects.By 2023‚ however‚ 16 clinical trials involving actual pain patients had been conducted. These studies varied wildly in their design and looked at a total of 12 distinct types of pain‚ using different CBD dosages and routes of administration.In 15 of these 16 trials‚ CBD was no more effective than a placebo at alleviating chronic pain‚ suggesting the buzz surrounding the cannabinoid may be baseless. The one exception was a study on patients with thumb arthritis‚ in which all participants experienced significant reductions in pain after two weeks of treatment with CBD.“CBD presents consumers with a big problem‚” explained study author Professor Chris Eccleston in a statement. “It’s touted as a cure for all pain but there’s a complete lack of quality evidence that it has any positive effects.”Despite this‚ surveys have indicated that 26 percent of adults under 65 in the US currently use the cannabinoid‚ as do 16 percent of those in Canada. “Most used CBD for a chronic condition‚ often spending more than $140 a month‚” write the researchers.“For too many people with chronic pain‚ there’s no medicine that manages their pain‚” added study author Dr Andrew Moore. “Chronic pain can be awful‚ so people are very motivated to find pain relief by any means. This makes them vulnerable to the wild promises made about CBD‚” he said.Unfortunately‚ many companies that supply non-medical CBD are all too eager to cash in on this desperation‚ often making unfounded claims as to the compound’s analgesic effects. In many cases‚ these assertions are based on data from preclinical studies showing potential mechanisms by which CBD may alleviate pain in animals.However‚ as the results of the new analysis highlight‚ such findings don’t always translate into actual effects in humans‚ and jumping on a health craze bandwagon before proper clinical trials have been conducted is never a smart idea. On this point‚ the researchers lament that “marketing is leading without the benefits and harms of CBD being known.”To make matters worse‚ the study authors also found that a lack of market regulation or quality control has severely compromised the safety of many CBD products. For example‚ only one in four of the 105 products sampled in one study actually contained the amount of CBD listed on the label‚ with true contents varying “from almost nothing to very large amounts.”Around 35 percent of products tested also contained the psychoactive cannabinoid tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)‚ despite being advertised as “CBD only”. Some were even found to contain synthetic cannabinoids instead of actual CBD‚ including one product that was linked to a series of poisonings in Utah.The authors therefore conclude that “there is no good reason for thinking that CBD relieves pain‚ but there are good reasons for doubting the contents of CBD products in terms of CBD content and purity.”“Current evidence is that CBD for pain is expensive‚ ineffective‚ and possibly harmful‚” they add.The study has been published in The Journal of Pain.

Adding to the growing list of UFO encounters‚ a retired Japanese fighter pilot has come forward with his own extraordinary experience. Mamoru Sato‚ who served as an Air Defense Force Base Commander and boasts a distinguished 34-year career‚ shares a harrowing tale from the skies above Japan. During what was supposed to be a standard training exercise at Matsushima Air Base‚ a trainee pilot reported a baffling sight—a cigar-shaped object stationary in the sky. This sighting was corroborated by the pilot in the front seat‚ while the instructor in the rear seat remained oblivious to the phenomenon. The incident escalated when the aircraft began to malfunction in a manner not typical of standard mechanical issues—no warning lights‚ no usual indicators. The pilot struggled with the controls‚ finding it nearly impossible to steer. Then‚ as suddenly as it had appeared‚ the UFO disappeared‚ and the aircraft’s controls returned to normal. However‚ the mystery deepened when the UFO made a second appearance as the pilot attempted to land. This time‚ the control issues resurfaced‚ and even the previously skeptical instructor witnessed the UFO‚ validating the trainee’s initial report. Mamoru Sato‚ Retired veteran Japanese fighter pilot and Air Defense Force Base Commander with 34 years of service‚ gives one account of an incident with a UFO in Japanese skies. I have added English subtitles.His self introduction is in reply tweet.#ufotwitter #UAPtwitter pic.twitter.com/exKUQnkzvb — Nathan Laing (@NathanL01084789) March 20‚ 2024 This account joins a series of similar experiences shared by American fighter jet pilots and others‚ suggesting that the phenomenon of UFOs is not limited by geography. As the search for answers continues‚ the experiences of pilots like Mamoru Sato provide valuable insights into the ongoing enigma of UFOs. What lies behind these mysterious sightings in our skies? The question remains open‚ inviting both skepticism and wonder in equal measure. The post Retired Japanese fighter pilot saw a UFO that did what his plane couldn’t do appeared first on Anomalien.com.