Comment Um ... (Score 4, Funny) 13
OpenAI is testing a new "Persistent mode" for Codex that would let the agent keep working until explicitly "put to sleep,"
The preferred phrase is, "sent to a farm upstate."
Comment Re:RFK Jr (Score 2) 36
We might want to study that guy.
Especially as the worm ate part of his brain and then *died*. Sure, "correlation does not imply causation" is usually true, and maybe that was natural causes, but we don't actually know in this case, especially given his preferred diet. (Given the chance, he'd probably eat that worm too.)
Comment Re:Content (Score 1) 219
That's what every country does. Al-Jazeera doesn't push content about Brazil.
Too bad, their ratings would be in the brazilians.
'Cause they're Brazilian? It's a prediction *and* a pun... (sigh) nobody gets me.
(Apologies to Rick Sanchez.)
Submission + - Scientists may have figured out why dead brains don't always rot. (smithsonianmag.com)
fahrbot-bot writes: Smithsonian magazine discusses a new study on how, under the right conditions — wet and oxygen-deprived — the same chemical reactions that cause tissue to break down can instead have the opposite effect on brain tissue and preserve it instead.
The brain is one of the first organs to begin decomposing after death. Yet archaeologists have discovered more than 4,400 preserved human brains around the world, some of which have remained intact for the last 12,000 years. In hundreds of cases, the brain was the only soft tissue left among otherwise skeletal remains.
But how and why do brains sometimes persist for millennia while all other types of soft tissue disappear? This preservation paradox has stumped scientists for years. Now, however, a team of researchers say they may have solved the mystery.
If a brain ends up in a wet, oxygen-starved environment, the processes that usually cause decay can have the opposite effect, researchers report in a study published in the August 7 issue of the Journal of Proteome Research.
“Under the right conditions, preservation actually arises from decay itself: The same reactions that degrade tissue can also weld the breakdown products together into something far tougher,” study co-author Alexandra Seviour, a paleobiologist at the University of Oxford in England, tells Live Science’s Victoria Atkinson.
Following experiments on 72 mouse carcasses (described in the article) the scientists think they know why. When oxygen is abundant, it triggers a cascading, chemical chain reaction that causes brain proteins to break down rapidly. This sequence hinges on free radicals, highly reactive, unstable molecules that “steal” electrons from nearby atoms and molecules. The process happens in the brains of living people too, and if left unchecked, can cause health problems.
In low-oxygen environments, however, this chemical sequence appears to play out differently. The researchers’ analyses hint that free radicals instead react and bond with nearby proteins, making the overall tissue tougher and more resistant to decomposition, Seviour tells Chemical and Engineering News’ Anirban Mukhopadhyay.
The findings show that “decay is not the opposite of preservation but, under specific chemical constraints, one of its mechanisms,” the researchers write in the paper.
The brain is one of the first organs to begin decomposing after death. Yet archaeologists have discovered more than 4,400 preserved human brains around the world, some of which have remained intact for the last 12,000 years. In hundreds of cases, the brain was the only soft tissue left among otherwise skeletal remains.
But how and why do brains sometimes persist for millennia while all other types of soft tissue disappear? This preservation paradox has stumped scientists for years. Now, however, a team of researchers say they may have solved the mystery.
If a brain ends up in a wet, oxygen-starved environment, the processes that usually cause decay can have the opposite effect, researchers report in a study published in the August 7 issue of the Journal of Proteome Research.
“Under the right conditions, preservation actually arises from decay itself: The same reactions that degrade tissue can also weld the breakdown products together into something far tougher,” study co-author Alexandra Seviour, a paleobiologist at the University of Oxford in England, tells Live Science’s Victoria Atkinson.
Following experiments on 72 mouse carcasses (described in the article) the scientists think they know why. When oxygen is abundant, it triggers a cascading, chemical chain reaction that causes brain proteins to break down rapidly. This sequence hinges on free radicals, highly reactive, unstable molecules that “steal” electrons from nearby atoms and molecules. The process happens in the brains of living people too, and if left unchecked, can cause health problems.
In low-oxygen environments, however, this chemical sequence appears to play out differently. The researchers’ analyses hint that free radicals instead react and bond with nearby proteins, making the overall tissue tougher and more resistant to decomposition, Seviour tells Chemical and Engineering News’ Anirban Mukhopadhyay.
The findings show that “decay is not the opposite of preservation but, under specific chemical constraints, one of its mechanisms,” the researchers write in the paper.
Comment Re:No the only issue (Score 1) 245
Next issue is how long will it be supported ?
7 years after last manufacture, so 8 years total if each year is a new model ?
I have a 2001 Honda Civic Ex and 2002 CR-V Ex, both 5spd manuals with 136k and 62k miles respectively. They're both in great condition. They don't have any of the modern electronic crap and I have trouble imagining that all this stuff will be supported on newer vehicles for 25+ years - or at least not inexpensively.
Comment We're all basically Jerry now. (Score 2) 41
President Curtis: At first it was fun spending all day watching whatever YouTube autoplays after the last one autoplayed, but a man can only watch so many ads for Grammarly.
Comment Re:Doesn't it support it? (Score 4, Insightful) 98
Granted it's in a different discipline, but the instructor having to use AI to write backs up the claim that people are forgetting things by using AI. It's a bit ironic for other reasons, but still supports the point.
On the other hand, she was born in Bulgaria, so English is probably a second language, so getting help writing a piece to be published doesn't seem unreasonable. I imagine she also had other people review a more completed revision before submission.
Comment Re:Calc 101 (Score 1) 98
You're going to jump into Calculus 101 without 3 years of algebra? I probably would but I'm sure I would do terribly.
Someday, you'll make a fine overly confident, but incompetent, initially beloved by some, then hated by most President - or replacement South Carolina Senator.
Comment To be fair to the professor ... (Score 2) 98
To be fair, she's a Math teacher, not an English or writing teacher - Wilipedia says born in Bulgaria, so I'm guessing English is a second language - so her getting help from AI with the writing part is different than if it had helped her with any math in the article, which I couldn't tell from TFA as it's paywalled, and it's different than her math students getting help or answers from AI on math assignments - the thing they're there to learn. To round this out, students getting help from AI explaining and/or expanding on answers they've already solved themselves seems okay.
Comment Re:Just another grift (Score 3, Interesting) 153
99.44% chance that this is about sending more tax money to ol' musky.
Or just more business to 5G broadband from cell companies which is about 100-300 Mbps. I'm guessing cell companies prefer that as they don't have to install and maintain cabling to homes and businesses.
Comment Note to self (Score 1) 53
The service aims to quickly deliver packages of up to 5 pounds or less
Always order at least 6 pounds of stuff.
I wonder if they'll use these in places with military air bases. I'm a few miles from a Navy master jet base, with an Air Force base a bit farther away, and I doubt they'd be thrilled at having to track these things.
Comment Re:Different responses (Score 0) 217
Don't forget about getting a pardon via autopen!
In case you're serious, or for those that don't know, that's allowed. In fact, The Constitution doesn't even require that pardons be written.
Why Trump Can’t ‘Void’ Biden’s Pardons Because of Autopen (full article)
Comment Meanwhile, in the Navy ... (Score 4, Funny) 53
Sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln get to be NPCs in GTA VI for four days, which is a step-up from current living conditions there.
Comment Different responses (Score 5, Insightful) 217
It's unclear why X seems to serve ragebait to Democrats more often than Republicans. 404 Media speculates that it may be because there's more rightwing content on X overall or that Democrats tend to engage with posts they disagree with more often.
Republicans instead storm The Capital, assault police and threaten to hang the Vice President - then get pardoned by a Republican. Or conspire to kidnap governors... Yes, I'm painting Republicans with a broad brush, but a LOT of them aren't denouncing those people and keep supporting the party.
Comment Re:Beneficial use of the EM spectrum (Score 4, Interesting) 136
Spewing non-stop lies over the airwaves is not that use.
Probably why they chose to *not* air Trump's speech. MSNOW often states this as a reason for not airing Trump speeches live and/or in their entirety -- too many lies, misrepresentations and bullshit from Trump and those in his administration.
