At the Birmingham Botanical Gardens (BBG)‚ a plant that most people will never see flower has sprouted its azure blooms for the first time in over 10 years. This incredibly rare event has turned the plant‚ a bromeliad called Puya alpestris into a “sapphire tower.” Native to the Chilean Andes at altitudes above 6‚000 feet‚ P. alpestris is […] The post Hand Pollination of ‘Sapphire Tower’ Helps Rare Plant Survive–Only Blooming Every 20 Years appeared first on Good News Network.

A 1-year-old boy dies from severe injuries after being attacked by three dogs in North Texas on Monday‚ April 15.

Protesters Are Not Anti-War‚ but Anti-Israel

The best chance to find life on another planet is not to seek out a pale blue dot‚ nor worlds of forest green‚ a new paper argues. Instead‚ we need to be looking out for purple planets‚ the argument goes‚ because that is the shade life is likely to show for the longest time.If asked to think of a planet supporting life‚ most people will probably imagine a world like our own‚ with oceans‚ forests‚ and grasslands. However‚ even though life has been present on Earth for most of the time since it formed‚ the jungles and savannahs are new. For around three-quarters of Earth’s history‚ life existed in the form of single-celled organisms. If biology exists on planets in our patch of the galaxy‚ the odds are it’s in this form.With rare exceptions‚ the chlorophyll in plants gives their leaves the familiar green color. Many phytoplankton have a similar shade. However‚ in environments that are low on oxygen‚ the dominant lifeforms can be purple bacteria‚ and according to Cornell University’s Dr L&;iacute;gia Fonseca Coelho‚ this is the most likely environment on an alien planet.“Purple bacteria can thrive under a wide range of conditions‚ making it one of the primary contenders for life that could dominate a variety of worlds‚” Coelho said in a statement. Bacterial samples from Cornell's Space Sciences Building include some that are a familiar green‚ but others that are purple‚ which may be more common for planets around red dwarfs.Image Credit: Ryan Young/Cornell UniversityIt will be a long time before we can see planets beyond our Solar System clearly enough to make out a purple disk. Considerably sooner‚ however‚ we may be able to detect what Coelho calls a “light fingerprint” in the spectrum we detect‚ showing the planet is brightest at certain wavelengths.“We need to create a database for signs of life to make sure our telescopes don’t miss life if it happens not to look exactly like what we encounter around us every day‚” Professor Lisa Kaltenegger added.Purple bacteria can survive and thrive under such a variety of conditions that it is easy to imagine that on many different worlds‚ purple may just be the new green.Professor Lisa KalteneggerTo identify the dominant colors in a low-oxygen world‚ such as existed for most of Earth’s history‚ Coelho and colleagues went hunting for organisms where such conditions persist. This includes deep-sea hydrothermal vents‚ marshes‚ and even a stagnant pond handily located on the Cornell campus. “They already thrive here in certain niches‚” Coelho said. “Just imagine if they were not competing with green plants‚ algae and bacteria: A red sun could give them the most favorable conditions for photosynthesis.” That’s important‚ because so many of the nearby Earth-like planets we have found orbit red dwarfs.The dominant life forms they found are known as “purple bacteria”‚ but actually come in a variety of colors‚ including fetching shades like yellow and red. The two main classes (purple sulfur bacteria and purple non-sulfur bacteria) both favor longer wavelength light than most plants‚ much of it beyond the spectrum we can see.Such diversity appears to offer little chance to distinguish planets with life from those without. However‚ after modeling the likely mix under different conditions‚ the authors found the bacteria’s name is not a misnomer. Although brown is common‚ enough of the bacteria are genuinely purple that this would be the color to look out for – one seldom found in lifeless rocks.It’s a lot easier to get excited about intelligent aliens‚ or even forest worlds filled with strange animals‚ than organisms that require a microscope to see individually. However‚ Kaltenegger‚ who literally wrote the book on the current state of astrobiology‚ argues finding worlds like this is crucial. Detecting purple planets in the near future will still be difficult‚ and if we find even one it will almost certainly mean that life is common. If so‚ the nearest world with more advanced organisms may be too distant to spot just yet‚ but we can be confident it is there to find.“We are just opening our eyes to these fascinating worlds around us‚” Kaltenegger said. “Purple bacteria can survive and thrive under such a variety of conditions that it is easy to imagine that on many different worlds‚ purple may just be the new green.”The study is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Tesla has recalled all Cybertrucks produced between November 13‚ 2023‚ to April 4‚ 2024 due to a fault with the accelerator pedals‚ increasing the risk of a crash.The firm‚ of which Elon Musk is CEO‚ recalled all 3‚878 Cybertrucks sold during this period‚ estimating that 100 percent of these trucks were affected by the defect. The fault‚ which was spotted and flagged up by Cybertruck drivers prior to the recall‚ involved the covering of the accelerator pedal sliding off and lodging itself underneath the interior trim in front of it. After testing‚ Tesla confirmed the fault.&;quot;If the condition is present and the driver attempts to apply the accelerator pedal‚ the driver will detect the condition through immediate compromised performance and operation of the pedal‚&;quot; an official recall report explains‚ adding that applying the brake will still bring the vehicle to a stop. &;quot;In addition‚ if the condition is present when the driver applies the brake pedal‚ the driver will receive an audible and visual alert that both brake and accelerator pedals are being pressed.&;quot;         IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.No accidents have been reported as a result of the fault‚ which is caused by lubricant between the pedal and covering pad.&;quot;An unapproved change introduced lubricant (soap) to aid in the component assembly of the pad onto the accelerator pedal‚&;quot; the report explains. &;quot;Residual lubricant reduced the retention of the pad to the pedal.&;quot;Issuing the recall‚ Tesla said they would replace or rework the affected brake pedals at no cost to customers‚ who will be notified of the recall via letter.

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The most common planets in the Universe are those that always face their star with only one side. On one side of such a world there is an eternal hot day‚ and on the other there is an eternal night‚ where it is much colder. Two completely different sides of such worlds are separated by the terminator line‚ that is‚ the border between light and darkness‚ heat and cold. This is a peculiar region in the form of a line of eternal twilight that encircles the entire planet. Given that it is not too hot and not too cold‚ extraterrestrial life could exist in this twilight zone. “These planets have a permanent day side and a permanent night side‚” Ana Lobo‚ a postdoctoral researcher in the UCI Department of Physics &; Astronomy‚ who led the new work‚ explained in a press statement. “You want a planet that’s in the sweet spot of just the right temperature for having liquid water‚” Lobo explained. “This is a planet where the dayside can be scorching hot‚ well beyond habitability‚ and the night side is going to be freezing‚ potentially covered in ice. You could have large glaciers on the night side.” Although such worlds face many challenges in terms of habitability‚ this does not mean that life cannot exist on them. Such planets receive an endless flow of light and heat on one side‚ without any sources of external heat on the other side. Astronomers are particularly interested in the habitability of such planets because they are incredibly common throughout the universe. The physics behind them is called tidal locking. Thanks to this‚ the Moon always faces the Earth with only one side. But stars can do the same to their planets. For example‚ Mercury is almost tidally locked to the Sun‚ but Jupiter’s gravity causes the small planet to rotate‚ albeit very slowly. Although astronomers suspect there are a trillion or more exoplanets in the Milky Way‚ only a few thousand worlds outside the solar system have been discovered so far. Among them there are rocky planets similar to Earth and most likely they always face one side to their star. Therefore‚ the question of their habitability occupies the first place among astronomers. Although such worlds face many problems in terms of habitability‚ this does not mean that life cannot exist on them. Such planets receive an endless flow of light and heat on one side‚ without any sources of external heat on the other side. If the planet receives too much radiation on the dayside‚ the atmosphere could enter a catastrophic greenhouse cycle‚ which would likely mean the end of any life that has managed to evolve there. On the other hand‚ if it is too cold on the night side‚ the atmosphere simply collapses‚ turning into ice‚ which settles on the surface‚ and this is also not very good for the existence of life. To be habitable planets‚ such one-sided worlds must transfer heat efficiently from the day side to the night side for equilibrium to exist. This can depend on a variety of factors‚ such as the composition of the planet’s atmosphere‚ its distance from its host star‚ and the abundance of water on the surface. Recent research suggests that water-rich worlds have a wide range of habitability‚ both in terms of the conditions in which life can thrive and in terms of what percentage of the planet is favorable to life. Given enough water‚ powerful ocean currents‚ combined with evaporation and freezing of water‚ can effectively transfer heat from the day side to the night side. In some cases‚ the planet may even have a relatively uniform temperature‚ making it completely habitable. But even if the planets don’t have a lot of water‚ they have a chance to become habitable. In this case‚ life can concentrate on the terminator line. The day side will be too hot to support any life‚ but the night side will be too cold. But between these parts of the planet a temperate climate may prevail. But astronomers still don’t know the exact properties of tidally locked planets‚ making them promising targets for further study with the Webb Space Telescope. Perhaps it is on such planets that extraterrestrial life will be discovered for the first time. The post Aliens can exist on ‘one-sided’ planets: what’s special about these worlds appeared first on Anomalien.com.

Gov. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.) saddled up for another fight against CNN host Dana Bash on Sunday’s State of the Union. Two years ago‚ Bash pushed Noem around‚ insisting she support an abortion for a raped 10-year-old girl in Chicago. Noem kept attacking the rapist. On Sunday‚ the combat resumed over the Trump trial in Manhattan. Bash kept pressing Noem about how she couldn’t possibly support Trump if he was convicted‚ and pulled out the usual “No Evidence” fussing when Noem attacked the Bidens. BASH: Prosecutors allege Donald Trump falsified business records to hide hush money payments weeks before the 2016 election. As I mentioned‚ he violated both state‚ tax and federal campaign finance laws. So‚ are you saying that‚ even if that's true‚ he shouldn't have been charged and that he's above the law&;#63; NOEM: What I'm saying is that these prosecutors are using someone as -- whose testimony has been proven to be a liar. Michael Cohen has lied before Congress multiple times. That's their main witness. I would say that he certainly is not someone who can be trusted to do the right thing during this jury trial. They're also using a woman's testimony [Stormy Daniels] who signed a letter saying that this affair did not happen‚ that she has testified in the past that this never occurred. And so now they're going forward with a case built on that and saying that‚ because Donald Trump paid his legal bills‚ that now he can be prosecuted for something that even the person that alleged it happened is saying did not happen. Noem added: &;quot;When I'm walking around this state and talking to people‚ talking to people across the country‚ they don't even know which trial this is. They're like‚ I don't remember which one this isn't about. Is this the one they're coming after him for this or this&;#63;&;quot; Where Bash really got agitated and wouldn't let Noem finish a sentence is when the governor said &;quot;the Democrats and the activists are using this trial to derail him‚ to keep him in court‚ instead of out talking to Americans about what their real concerns are.&;quot; She then interpreted that more narrowly as if only Biden was trying to derail Trump‚ when all the Democrats are‚ including the entire staff of CNN. NOEM:  And their real concerns are their everyday lives. They need a leader in the White House who gets up every day and puts them first and doesn't raise their taxes‚ doesn't overregulate them‚ take away their freedoms and give all our money to other countries‚ instead of making sure that we're taking care of America first and keeping us safe and secure. BASH: I just want to say for the record there's absolutely no evidence that President Biden is involved in this. This is the case that is being brought in the state of New York by the Manhattan DA. NOEM: And that's what I think is remarkable‚ is that‚ if you look at President Biden and what he's done and what his son has done‚ and the fact that... BASH: That has nothing... NOEM: ... they are not being prosecuted for some of their crimes... BASH: That -- OK‚ that has -- that has nothing to do with this. NOEM: ... that they have committed‚ it's really kind of unprecedented. BASH: That has nothing to do with this. Bash finished with this: &;quot;But kind of big picture‚ Governor‚ if Donald Trump is convicted in this trial‚ will you still support him in November&;#63;&;quot; PS: After Noem‚ Bash questioned Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-Ill.) and she was still on a &;quot;no evidence&;quot; kick as she typically pressed the Democrat from the left‚ that Biden was too weak in attacking Trump:  We‚ of course‚ have seen the split screen that we're going to continue to see‚ President Biden campaigning‚ former President Trump in court. Biden is deliberately avoiding talking about Trump's legal issues on the trail because he doesn't want to play into the claims that he's orchestrating the political prosecution‚ which I guess I should say again that there's no evidence of. But just as a political strategic matter‚ do you think ignoring it is a mistake‚ or should Biden be reminding voters at every turn that the Republican nominee is currently on -- involved in a criminal trial&;#63; 

While artificial intelligence represents a significant technological advancement in various fields‚ it's still unclear what role it will play in the future of artistic expression. Some believe AI should be embraced wholesale while others worry that the technology could subvert and overtake human creativity.Many novelists have drawn a line in the sand by suing OpenAI‚ claiming that their copyrighted material has been used to train Large Language Models — deep learning models that allow generative AI to respond to input prompts in human language. One of the most well-known forms of generative AI is OpenAI's ChatGPT.A report published in February stated that a California judge had dismissed four of the six claims made in the lawsuit. Federal judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin tossed claims of vicarious infringement‚ negligence under the unfair competition law‚ unjust enrichment‚ and the claim that OpenAI had removed or altered copyright management information.However‚ the authors' claim of direct infringement remains active.I asked Peter Gietl — the Managing Editor at RETURN — if he believed these creators had a legitimate case against these tech juggernauts. He conceded that no one can know &;quot;how the courts will rule on this issue‚&;quot; adding that he &;quot;wouldn't be surprised by any outcome.&;quot;&;quot;I don't think the novelists have a case unless they can show examples of AI spitting out wholesale cut-and-paste sections of their work‚&;quot; Gietl said.&;quot;Large Language Models are trained on a wide variety of materials to create original works. There's no legal precedent for using copyrighted material to train or study for a project‚ creating something entirely new‚ and then arguing you owe money to the original creator.&;quot;The legalities of tech companies using copyrighted material to train their language models are complex‚ and how judges will rule in these cases remains to be seen. However‚ some experts have speculated about the issue by pointing to previous fair use cases that could be used as an argument to justify using copyrighted material.&;quot;Knowing Congress‚ lawsuits are likely to move fast enough to keep up with the pace of violations. But lawsuits shouldn’t halt AI development completely‚&;quot; James Poulos‚ host of &;quot;Zero Hour with James Poulos&;quot; podcast‚ said.&;quot;There are tradeoffs here‚ and the government and the country owes the people the enforcement of the law as it exists even if those tradeoffs reduce at the margins the outsized advantages AI firms enjoy as they race to establish US dominance in AI. Yet‚ if we want to change the copyright law‚ Congress should be responsive‚ instead of just letting copyright be violated into extinction.&;quot;Others have speculated that the solution to the copyright issue could be companies issuing licensing deals‚ which are widely used in the music industry today. Matthew Butterick‚ a lawyer currently suing companies for scraping data to train AI models‚ suggested in 2022 that &;quot;companies making licensing deals and bringing in content legitimately&;quot; could be the path to peace between creators and tech companies.&;quot;All the stakeholders came to the table and made it work‚ and the idea that a similar thing can’t happen for AI is‚ for me‚ a little catastrophic‚&;quot; Butterick added.Ryan Khurana‚ of Wombo.ai‚ appeared to agree with Butterick‚ saying that &;quot;[m]usic has by far the most complex copyright rules because of the different types of licensing‚ the variety of rights-holders‚ and the various intermediaries involved.&;quot;“Given the nuances [of the legal questions surrounding AI]‚ I think the entire generative field will evolve into having a licensing regime similar to that of music.”Still‚ others have offered a less revolutionary solution to the issue. Dr. Anjana Susarla — the Omura-Saxena Professor in Responsible AI at Michigan State University — noted legal scholars have pointed out that &;quot;nonexpressive&;quot; should be considered fair use.&;quot;In practice‚ that means that the law allowed Google Books to scan books from the collections held by libraries‚ and the scans would ultimately be made available as a full-text searchable database for the public to search through for particular terms‚ with short 'snippets' displayed accompanying the search results‚&;quot; Susarla said.&;quot;It is possible that the courts can allow similar exceptions to Generative AI companies.&;quot;Susarla has also written about what federal legislation might look like if it is to address the &;quot;grey area of what happens when there are unintentional violations of copyright law.&;quot;Artificial intelligence and the future of creativityDespite the ongoing legal battle between artists and tech companies‚ there's a second-order debate about what role AI has to play in the creative process. Some have argued that AI should be used to enhance human creative works‚ while others have expressed pessimism about what AI has to offer art at all.Walter Kirn — novelist and Editor-at-Large of County Highway — posted to X earlier this month‚ writing: &;quot;AI art is not advancing. Taste is regressing. In time the trends will meet.&;quot;Kirn published some of his thoughts about AI art in The Free Press in 2022‚ noting that DALL-E — an AI intelligence application that generates images based on written prompts — is &;quot;a cultural-mining operation with a clever assembly line on top.&;quot; In other words‚ Kirn suggested that these hyper-sophisticated AI technologies cannot create anything original; they can only rearrange pre-existing material imagined and brought into existence by humans.Kirn told Blaze News that AI could serve as a &;quot;synthesizer&;quot; or &;quot;instrument&;quot; for the artist‚ but that it's a mistake to confuse AI as an artist itself. As a novelist‚ Kirn noted that human language — especially as it relates to literature — is far too unique for advanced technologies to emulate.&;quot;[AI] doesn't have to decide what's worth giving power to‚&;quot; Kirn said‚ concerning the process of creating a piece of art. He added that a novelist may take &;quot;a year out of their lives‚ or five or ten because some subject is important to them‚&;quot; but these micro-decisions do not come into play for generative AI.Kirn concluded by comparing a mother with an actress who plays a mother in a film or television show. Just because an actress who portrays a mother on the screen appears like a real-life mother doesn't mean that they are the same thing. The same comparison applies to an artist and technology that mimics what an artist does.However‚ some don't seem to believe human creativity is all that impressive. Berkeley Executive Education stated that human creativity &;quot;is not as elusive and magical as we often make it out to be‚&;quot; adding that &;quot;[c]reative thinking consists largely of intentionally combing patterns‚ ideas‚ and concepts to produce unique creations.&;quot; The institution seemed open to the possibility that human creativity could be made obsolete by AI in the future.Poulos said humans would face a &;quot;dark future&;quot; if all creative output was left up to machines. However‚ he went on to say he isn't confident humans would be &;quot;willing and able to accept a world where bots have replaced all human artists.&;quot;&;quot;It’s not hard to envision a robot ballerina superior in its stamina and moves to a human ballerina. But even if the robot is clad in a hyper-realistic skin suit‚ there’s something profoundly unmoving about watching a machine pretend to be a person relative to watching a person artistically perform‚&;quot; Poulos said.Instead of AI overtaking human creativity‚ it seems more realistic for humans to leverage advanced technologies to sharpen their own artistic vision. Susarla suggested that generative AI could serve as &;quot;another technological tool that artists will use‚ similar to photo editing tools and CGI technologies.&;quot;Lance Weiler — a filmmaker and professor at Columbia University — has been at the forefront of an effort to encourage young artists to &;quot;embrace the machines.&;quot; The New York Times reported in 2023 that Weiler has shown his students &;quot;how computers might become creative partners instead of professional dead ends.&;quot;Weiler made a name for himself after inventing an augmented reality game (ARG) around his 2006 film‚ &;quot;Head Trauma.&;quot; He mentioned that his students don't have a choice but to embrace the cutting-edge technology available to them. And if they refuse‚ they could fall behind other burgeoning artists.“What does it look like to slow down a cycle that is moving as fast as artificial intelligence&;#63;” Weiler asked. “Well‚ nobody is slowing down. We’ve opened Pandora’s box. It’s already out of the box‚ man.”There's certainly a distinction between artists leveraging AI technology to improve their work and allowing AI to make human creativity obsolete.Bella Ross‚ of the San Diego Union-Tribune‚ said she's &;quot;fearful&;quot; of how AI could push artists out of the field &;quot;simply because it will almost always be cheaper and more efficient.&;quot;&;quot;What gets lost in a society that favors robots are the very things artificial intelligence lacks‚ and what makes life beautiful and worth living: artistry and shared humanity.Gietl has expressed a similar pessimism‚ noting that art exclusively generated by machines falls &;quot;into an uncanny valley.&;quot;&;quot;Undoubtedly‚ some artists will be negatively affected by this [AI technology]‚ which is unfortunate. But AI will never be able to replace paintings or the theater.&;quot;&;quot;If you believe that truly powerful and meaningful art comes from the soul‚ an AI will never replace that‚&;quot; Gietl concluded.Like Blaze News&;#63; Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here&;#33;