A toxin from one of the world’s most venomous animals could one day help treat diabetes and endocrine disorders. The toxin in snails called consomatin is similar to somatostatin in humans, a peptide hormone that regulates blood sugar. In cone snail venom, consomatin’s specific and long-lasting effects help the animal hunt its prey, but it could also lead to the development of better drugs for sometimes fatal diseases–if we can understand how it works. The findings are detailed in a study published August 20 in the journal Nature Communications.

Fine-tuned venoms

Scientists have previously experimented with using cone snail venoms for creating less addictive opioid alternatives and new diabetes treatments. In 2016, scientists unlocked the structure of a fast-acting insulin that the snails use to stun their prey; a similar structure could be used to create an insulin that works faster in humans. In the new study, consomatin also exhibited enough precision to target single types of molecules. Researchers hope that drugs could be developed with the same amount of precision.

“Venomous animals have, through evolution, fine-tuned venom components to hit a particular target in the prey and disrupt it,” study co-author and University of Utah biochemist Helena Safavi said in a statement. “If you take one individual component out of the venom mixture and look at how it disrupts normal physiology, that pathway is often really relevant in disease.” 

[Related: What is a toxin?]

The team looked at the human hormone somatostatin that prevents the levels of blood sugar in the body from rising to dangerously high levels. The cone snail toxin consomatin also keeps blood sugar levels from increasing, but uses that as a way to stun and kill its prey. However, the team found that consomatin is more chemically stable and longer-lasting than the human hormone. This makes it a particularly promising blueprint for new drugs and treatment. 

In the study, the team looked at one of the most toxic marine cone snail–the geography cone. They are found along reefs in the Pacific and Indo-Pacific, where the snails stun and eat small fish. The team measured how the cone snail’s consomatin interacts with somatostatin’s targets in human cells in a dish. They found that consomatin mingles with one of the same proteins that somatostatin does. While human somatostatin directly interacts with several proteins, consomatin only works with one. This fine-tuned targeting means that the cone snail toxin can affect blood sugar levels and hormones, but not hit the other molecules around it.

According to the team, the cone snail toxin can hit its targets even more precisely than most specific synthetic drugs designed to regulate hormone levels. However, in its current form, the consomatin’s effects on blood sugar could make it dangerous to use to treat diabetes in humans. Studying its structure could help researchers design drugs for endocrine disorders that have fewer side effects in the future.

Earth’s chemists

Consomatin and somatostatin share an evolutionary history. Over millions of years, the cone snail turned its own hormone into a weapon. Importantly, consomatin doesn’t work alone. A 2022 study found that cone snail venom also includes another toxin which resembles insulin. This lowers blood sugar levels so quickly that the cone snail’s prey becomes unresponsive. Consomatin will then keep blood sugar levels from recovering, and the prey will ultimately die. 

[Related: This cone snail’s deadly venom could hold the key to better pain meds.]

“Cone snails are just really good chemists,” study co-author and University of Utah postdoctoral researcher Ho Yan Yeung said in a statement. “We think the cone snail developed this highly selective toxin to work together with the insulin-like toxin to bring down blood glucose to a really low level.”

Since several parts of the cone snail’s venom target blood sugar regulation, the venom may have other molecules with similar functions, including regulating glucose properties. A better understanding of the process at the molecular level could then be used to design better medications. 

The post Precise, lethal sea snail toxin could one day lead to better medicines appeared first on Popular Science.

Among the numerous snakes on planet Earth, pythons are well known for their incredible ability to swallow their prey whole. Some python species have been spotted taking down deer, cows, and even alligators, but they don’t generally eat every single day the way that most animals do. While scientists have observed their eating patterns for decades, less is known about how this affects their hearts. It turns out that to eat this way, pythons rapidly increase their heart rate, body mass, and energy output just for a meal. 

A study published August 19 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) found that python hearts appear to become less stiff, even while the blood pumping muscle is doing the work required to eat such a large meal. With more research, understanding how the python heart does this could be applied to heart diseases in humans one day. 

Feasting and fasting

In the wild, pythons must often go for months at a time without eating due to food scarcity. When they do eventually find food, they will really go for it and often eat a meal that can equal their body mass.

[Related: Scientists propose eating more python.]

“It [is] crucial to their survival to be able to have long fasting periods that are not harmful to them and to be able to consume these large meals intermittently,” study co-author and University of Colorado biologist Leslie Leinwand tells Popular Science. “One adaptive response to such a lifestyle is that almost all of the organs in their body get much larger in the first week after such meal consumption and after the meal is consumed, their organs shrink back to a little bigger than their fasting size.”

To learn more about the effects that their feeding style has on their bodies, Leinwand and the team compared the hearts of ball pythons (Python regius). One group of pythons had fasted for 28 days. The other group ate a meal of whole rats that were equivalent to a quarter of the snake’s body mass. 

Compared with the hearts of pythons who hadn’t eaten, the fed pythons increased their own mass by close to 25 percent after eating. The general structure of the heart was mostly unchanged after meals. 

In the fed pythons, the cardiac myofibrils–individual units in cardiac muscle cells that help the heart contract–had generated more force to eat. The cardiac myofibrils also relaxed more slowly and were less tense than myofibrils in the hearts of fasted pythons. The chromatin in the heart muscle cells that alters how genes respond to physiological stress in the fed pythons was also less condensed in the fed pythons compared to fasted pythons.

The cardiac ventricle tissues that help the heart pump blood were also less stiff in the fed pythons than the fasted ones. According to the study, it only took 24 hours after eating a large meal for the python heart to become much less stiff.

[Related: Stressed rattlesnakes just need a little help from their friends.]

Future applications for ‘stiff’ hearts

Stiffness in the heart can be troublesome in animal hearts because it can prevent blood from flowing properly. In humans, cardiac amyloidosis or “stiff heart syndrome” can lead to abnormal heartbeats and faulty heart signals. For pythons, their hearts appear to be avoiding the pitfalls of a stiff heart. Their hearts become much more stretchy while still producing the immense forces required to eat their prey. 

“We have shown that this organ size increase is what we call physiological–or healthy,” says Leinwend. “In the heart, such an increase is what is seen in highly conditioned athletes.”

However, there is still more research needed to determine how this can be used to help human hearts.

“If we could apply the biology of pythons that do this healthy thing in their hearts, it could be very helpful to people with heart disease,” says Leinwend. “There is a lot of fascinating biology in the world that can lead to better understanding and treatment of disease.”

The post How pythons can eat such giant meals appeared first on Popular Science.

The dodo is one of the most iconic—and misunderstood—extinct animals. Four hundred years after its extinction, the popular narrative remains that the flightless bird was simply too dumb, slow, and ungainly to withstand modern society’s arrival to its native island of Mauritius. But researchers are seeking justice for the unfairly maligned dodo and its extinct relative, the solitaire, by synthesizing centuries of scientific literature, historical accounts, and biological information into a single work providing clarification and revised taxonomic records.

In a study published in the August 2024 issue of Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, a team collaborating between the University of Southampton, Oxford University, and the Natural History Museum attempted to correct the record for Raphus cucullatus. According to an accompanying August 16 announcement, the paper represents “the most comprehensive review of the taxonomy of the Dodo and its closest relative, the Rodriguez Island Solitaire.” Neil Gostling, the study’s supervising author and University of Southampton professor of evolution and paleobiology, argues that most people’s idea of the dodo isn’t simply inaccurate—it ignores the larger issues behind its extinction.

“If you picture the dodo, you picture… this dumpy, slightly stupid bird that kind of deserved to go extinct. That’s not the case,” Gostling says in a university video profile. “It was neither fat nor stupid, it was adapted to the ecosystem in the isle of Mauritius that it had been living in for millions of years.”

What the dodo and its sister species, the Rodrigues solitaire, were not adapted for, however, was the violent, colonizing force of modern society. Dutch sailors first encountered the dodo in 1598 after arriving on the island, located roughly 705 miles east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Having evolved without any significant predators, the birds had no instinctual wariness of humans, making them easy prey for both hungry ship crews and international trade. In less than a century, the dodo was wiped out—but not due to their popularity on menus or in zoos.

The dodo’s main enemies weren’t humans themselves, but everything they brought with them while establishing a provisioning port for the Dutch East India Company on Mauritius. Livestock such as pigs trampled the ground birds’ nests, while rats devoured their eggs and small chicks. Meanwhile, dogs, cats, and other invasive animals preyed on the birds themselves while also competing for the island’s limited food sources. By 1662, the dodo was done. Barely a century later, the Rodrigues solitaire followed it into extinction. And with just 64 years of human documentation of the former, it didn’t take long before bird fact blended with bird fiction.

“The dodo was the first living thing that was recorded as being present and then disappeared,” Gostling said, adding that before their extinction, “it hadn’t been thought possible” that human beings could exert so much influence on the environment.

By the early 19th century, some circles even considered both the dodo and the solitaire “mythological beasts,” added Mark Young, a University of Southampton professor specializing in human transport and paper lead author. During the 1800’s, however, Victorian scientists finally proved both bird species did once exist. But over time, the dodo’s image transitioned largely from an emblem of humanity’s often disastrous environmental impact, to an inaccurate, misunderstood example of “survival of the fittest.” 

[Related: Dodos were actually not that dumb.]

Meanwhile, more than 400 years of subsequent taxonomic confusion led experts to debate just how many dodo and solitaire species originally existed—some biologists argued in favor of three separate variations, while others contended as many as five once roamed the region. These possibilities included the Nazarene Dodo, the White Dodo, and the White Solitaire, among others.

But after a painstaking review of four centuries’ worth of scientific writings and physical remains—including the only surviving dodo soft tissue—Gostling, Young, and their teammates believe they have some answers. Most notably, there were only ever the two species, dodo and solitaire, and they belonged to the columbid family along with pigeons and doves.

As for its “dumpy” reputation, a closer look at its anatomy indicates the dodo was far from a clumsy, slow-moving bird. Skeletal remains studied by the team show that the dodo possessed a tendon in its leg almost the same diameter as the bone itself. This feature can be found today in other avian species known for their speed and climbing agility, indicating the dodo was actually an incredibly fast and active animal.

“Even four centuries later, we have so much to learn about these remarkable birds,” Young said. “The few written accounts of live Dodos say it was a fast-moving animal that loved the forest.”

​​[Related: Is de-extinction only a pipette dream?]

Researchers believe that further reevaluations of the dodo and the solitaire will not only help dispel inaccurate myths, but refocus their legacies. Ultimately, their extinction isn’t the result of any evolutionary failings, but rather the effects of humans when we are at our most environmentally reckless. 

“Dodos held an integral place in their ecosystems. If we understand them, we might be able to support ecosystem recovery in Mauritius, perhaps starting to undo the damage that began with the arrival of humans nearly half a millennium ago,” Gostling explained, adding that, “There are no other birds alive today like these two species of giant ground dove.”

The post The dodo was faster and smarter than you think appeared first on Popular Science.

As the insect sentinels of summer, fireflies use their glowing bellies to communicate to other fireflies. Males from the species Abscondita terminalis use multi-pulse flashes with both of their lanterns to attract females. The females use single-pulse flashes with their one lantern. However, a new study found that some spiders may have decoded this signal and are using it to its advantage. This mimicry is detailed in a study published August 19 in the journal Current Biology.

When orb-weaving spiders (Araneus ventricosus) trap male fireflies in their webs, they manipulate the flashing signals to mimic the typical flashes made by female fireflies. These feigned flashes then lure other males into the web where they become the spider’s next meal. However, we still don’t know if the spider’s venom or a bite itself is manipulating the firefly’s signal. 

[Related: A new theory on why fireflies glow—and why they need help.]

The discovery arose after Xinhua Fu, a study co-author and entomologist at Huazhong Agricultural University in China observed several male fireflies entangled in orb-weaving spider webs while working in the field. He rarely saw a female firefly trapped in a web and additional field trips revealed this sexually skewed pattern. Fu hypothesized that the spiders may be somehow manipulating the fireflies’ behavior to attract others. 

To test this hypothesis that the spiders are manipulating the firefly’s signal, he recruited behavioral ecologists Daiqin Li and Shichang Zhang from Hubei University. The team conducted field experiments where they observed the firefly signals and spider behavior. The observations showed that the spider’s web captured male fireflies more often when the spider was there, compared to when it was away from the web. 

After further analysis, they found that the signals created by male fireflies in webs with spiders present looked more like the signals made by free flying females. The trapped males used single-pulse signals that use only one lantern and not both. 

Interestingly, the ensnared male fireflies very rarely lured other males when they were alone in the web and the spider was not around. This suggests that the males were not altering their flashes as a kind of distress signal. The team believes that the spiders are altering the firefly’s signal.

“While the eyes of orb-web spiders typically support limited spatial acuity, they rely more on temporal acuity rather than spatial acuity for discriminating flash signals,” Li said in a statement. “Upon detecting the bioluminescent signals of ensnared male fireflies, the spider deploys a specialized prey-handling procedure involving repeated wrap-bite attacks.”

[Related: Spider glue might evolve faster than the spiders themselves.]

According to the team, the experiment reveals that some animals are capable of using indirect yet dynamic signaling to go after a very specific category of prey in nature. The team also believes that there could be many other undescribed examples of this kind of mimicry in nature waiting to be uncovered. Predators could be using sound, pheromones, or other means, and not just visual signals to fool their prey. This deceptive ability is not exclusive to the animal kingdom either. The South African daisy appears to trick flies into mating with it and depositing pollen. 

“We propose that in response to seeing the ensnared male fireflies’ bioluminescent signals, the spider deployed a specialized-prey handling procedure based on repeated wrap bite attacks,” the team wrote in the study. “We also hypothesize that the male firefly’s neurotransmitters may generate a female-like flashing pattern.”

However, additional study is needed to determine what exactly is changing in the trapped firefly’s flashing pattern.

The post Spiders may be hacking firefly signals to trap dinner appeared first on Popular Science.

Source

The Xbox release for Seed of Life might have taken a little longer than expected, but it's now ready for you to jump into.

The post Seed of Life is Ready to Bloom on Xbox appeared first on TheXboxHub.

Chatty gun game High on Life is set to be turned into an animated TV series, with Curb Your Own Enthusiasm's JB Smoove signed on as producer.

Smoove starred in High on Life game as Gus, one of the game's talking fish/guns, and Deadline reports there's a "good chance" he'll reprise the role in the upcoming animated series as well as producing the project.

High on Life launched in December 2022 for PC and Xbox and was the year's biggest launch on Xbox Game Pass, but proved controversial even before release, after it emerged the game included AI art and voice acting.

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… damning given the fact that Ricky says he is most like Tony than any of his previous characters. He is being honest; I recognise Tony, even dating back to the XFM days…. “After Life” is a show that teeters on the edge of reality, presenting a distorted reflection of life that is both intriguing […]

The post After Life’s “Tony” is Rick Gervais’ Worst Character appeared first on 360fov.net.

A Puzzling Port…

Seed of Life is a adventure/puzzle game developed by Madlight and originally released on PC. Working on the console ports was NXY Digital LTD, which is the release I’m currently having a look at on Nintendo Switch. Set in a dystopian world, in which our protagonist Cora must save the planet. Will ‘Seed Of Life’ germinate into something beautiful or should it be left as bird feed? Let’s find out!We launch into the world of Lumia, which is a dying planet. To make things worse a looming dying star dominates the atmosphere, think more giant blue-fiery spacehopper, less famous Zelda scenario. We meet our protagonist of the piece: Cora as she is monologuing about the poor condition of her home planet. Cora also refers to her rather unhelpful Grandpa who “doesn’t tell me things” (her words, not mine). Despite the lack of ‘things’ Cora has been told, she has seen ‘The Seed’ which she believes can bring back life and cure the quarrelsome inconvenience of her dying planet and sun.

With the ‘save the world’ plot laid out and the speech over, we take control of Cora and walk her outside her quaint looking medieval cottage into the wasting away Lumia. Thrust out into adventure we begin to explore our surroundings; exploration is very much the name of the game here. In the introductory area you a met by a number of interact-able objects marked with a helpful red ring; upon interacting, Cora will dive into soliloquy to add extra flavour to what seem rather bland surroundings. A nearby lantern that Cora began tapping on after a contextual button press, produced a pop up that felt suspiciously like a budget game achievement (Very much confirmed viewing Steam Achievements). Wandering shortly past the area directly outside Cora’s house you’re greeted by a bandstand like gazebo known as a pedestal. Pedestals act as the in game checkpoint system and will also refill Cora’s health and resources. The boundaries of the pedestal’s locale are blocked by a purple barrier. Disabling the barrier requires Cora to find what I can only describe as a terminal that gives Cora a ‘Petal’ and disables the barrier.

At this point approximately 4 minutes into the game I ran into a giant roadblock. I had no clue where to go and found myself aimlessly wandering for significantly longer than necessary. The game at the start at least does not hold your hand in the slightest, the only suggestion given to you is an objective to cross the river; no map, objective marker or magic breadcrumb trail. Usually I am a fan of games with no maps forcing you have to learn yourself picking up clues from the detailed environment or riddles by estranged NPC’s. The environments sadly do not provide the detail needed for any self driven adventure. Moving onto the graphics, If you are old like me, you think back to the good old days playing deathmatch on Gridlock in Gears Of War. The first couple of seconds may come to mind. To the uninitiated or frightfully young, the first moments of a match the textures are loading in. Thus making an otherwise great looking game momentarily look like play dough. I bring this up as the entirety of this port of ‘Seed Of Life’ looks like textureless plasticine. The mountains and hills are brown and orange lumps of nothingness. Foliage is reduced to extra low pixel count sprites, which could be passable if it wasn’t populating a 3D world. Cora herself has a model that would have been heavily criticised anytime post PS2 era, with no real detail to enunciate who she is as a character. The E-Shop blurb of this game claims “Triple-A Quality Graphics”. That quote must be a copy and paste job from the PC synopsis, as I failed to find the blockbuster visuals.

The poor graphics make traversal of this land a lot harder than it should be. Passages within the mountainous terrain just seem to blend into the bland scenery. During my playtime I missed many routes, unable to make out they even existed until I started wall hugging as a last resort. After tedious and poor first impressions of this game I crossed the river which I was initially tasked. Cora suddenly dives for cover as alien ships are seen flying over the skies above. Drones drop from the craft making Cora want to investigate.  The path further travelled reveals the drones, insta-kill guardians to the first power up the world has to offer. Surrounding the drones is a huge red circle of vision, goodnight Cora if she steps within. I don’t want to use the term stealth mechanic, as it was a ‘don’t go in the red circle’ and nothing more. Navigating past the circles of doom Cora picks up the Talisman. This shows in numerical form Cora’s health, Lumium (energy) and objective marker compass on her back. It screams of an earlier time in game development when UI elements were desperately trying to be hidden. Somewhat confusing considering the games interface already has two icons displaying health and Lumium in a stylised manner that looks infinitely better. The Talisman also gives Cora the ability to push away the killer drones, if she has the Lumium to do so.

Luckily more power ups are available to Cora to help traverse Lumia. They are acquired from larger pedestals that Cora can interact with; upon doing so, a small alignment puzzle presents itself. These puzzles felt quite basic considering the genre of game; after a quick circle spin, you can use your petals previously collected. When the power-up pedestal is satisfied with the amount of petals offered, the power up is yours for the taking. The first of which allows Cora to see invisible platforms in the world at a hefty cost of Lumium. A larger maximum pool of this resource can be extracted from Lumium plants dotted through out the land; more Lumium allows Cora to use her power ups for longer, unlock various doors and landmarks. However rather unexpectedly it introduces a souls-like mechanic, where if Cora fails to make it back to a pedestal alive she will lose her newly extracted maximum capacity of Lumium, forcing you to go hunt the plants once again; luckily they are stationary and visible with Cora’s vision ability. 

I suffered the most from my least favourite mechanic in the game, the corruption. Areas with corruption will slowly chip away at Cora’s health until she succumbs to the sweet release of death. The major issue with this is not all corrupted areas have a visual style suggesting they are dangerous, resulting in health decreasing seemingly at random. The corruption can be staved away using a regeneration power or standing by a Lumium plant. This should regenerate Cora’s health if it hasn’t recently been extracted. In my case the Lumium plants didn’t always offer the restorative qualities promised to me and Cora would pass away in what should have been a safe zone. The corruption just adds a ticking time bomb to you which in more open areas just adds stress rather than enjoyable exploration. It felt like a padding mechanic as I never had time to plan my route of traversal, making me use the tactic of running Cora in a random direction trying desperately to memorise anything of value. Open areas of ‘Seed Of Life’ are where the cracks of this port really start to show. Lets get this straight, none of what I played had a particularly great frame rate, but it was at least playable, however in the larger environments the frame rate can dip quite harshly. If an enemy, object or invisible platform is in one of these areas, the frame rate can plummet into single digits. If you have the displeasure of being in a platforming section when this happens, the game feels totally unresponsive and you will end up sending Cora to her gravity based demise. The combination of the time bomb styled corruption, formless graphics and technological shortcomings was enough for me; I had to stop playing this game.

‘Seed Of Life’ was released previously on PC so I opted to look at video footage to vicariously experience more. A lava biome with more involved platforming and puzzles looked like a promising slice of gameplay. Performance on PC was significantly better with more detailed visuals, at least from what I was seeing; which lead me to the question was the port poorly optimised, or is the Nintendo Switch showing it’s age?

The post Review – Seed Of Life (Nintendo Switch) appeared first on GameHype.

IREM game collections for me to collect ⊟

Tozai Games, who memorably brought me Spelunker HD, has announced five volumes of collected IREM games for Xbox, PS5, PS4, and Switch, with big ol’ physical versions coming from Strictly Limited.

This first release comprises Image Fights 1 and 2, and X Multiply, three shmups that I definitely haven’t played and definitely want to. I also, in general, support the release of collections from this very cool, very defunct publisher!

Finally, hi, I haven’t been writing many posts recently. But my 10 year olds are at a coffee shop having a graphic design coworking session, so I’m entertaining myself by sitting in a big fancy coffee shop chair and flailing textually at old games. Life is pretty weird!

JOIN CLUB TINY AND OUR DISCORD Support Tiny Cartridge!

And let me tell you, what I really love about Virtual Fishing is the bait situation. With Small bait, you can't lose! It only costs 0.1 L$, and the smallest fish you catch is also worth 0.1 L$. It's a perfect match every time. In other games, if you use bait that costs, say, 0.24 L$, sometimes you reel in a fish worth only 0.083 L$. That's losing money, folks. You're losing money on every cast unless you hit those rare multiplier events.

Now, Virtual Fishing does have multiplier events too, but get this: even without them, you're still making a good chunk of Linden Dollars. You can fish anywhere, anytime, and still come out ahead compared to those other games.

Now, I'm not saying don't diversify. Of course, you want to play all the fishing games. If one doesn't have a multiplier event going on, switch over to another one that does. You've got to be smart about it. It's about maximizing your profits, folks. That's what it's all about.

So, in conclusion, Virtual Fishing in Second Life is the way to go. It's simple, it's profitable, and you don't have to worry about losing money on bait. It's a winner, just like me.

In this anniversary episode – the big 4-0-0! – Brad covers the usual smattering of new games, but closes the show with a series of questions from the listeners spanning everything from games to parenting to music… and more!

Games covered in episode 400:

Dungeons of Hinterberg
Mists of Noyah
Aero the Acro-Bat
The Lullaby of Life
Punch Club 2: Fast Forward

…And more!

You can also hear the show on iTunes and Spotify!

Please send feedback and mailbag questions to SoVideogamesPODCAST (at) gmail (dot) com, or post them in the comments section below. Thanks!

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An animated series based on Squanch Games’ High on Life is reportedly in the works with Curb Your Enthusiasm's J.B. Smoove attached as a producer.

These first details on the video-game-to-show adaptation come from Deadline, which says that Smoove will produce the project via his Alternate Side Productions …

As Hamlet requested of Horatio, it is time to once again absent myself from felicity awhile, and in this harsh world draw my breath in pain to tell you that the Half-Life 3 speculators are at it again. Over the weekend, the discovery of a mystery Valve project called "White Sands" on a voice actor's portfolio has set tongues and fingers wagging about potential Half-Life news in the offing.

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As Hamlet requested of Horatio, it is time to once again absent myself from felicity awhile, and in this harsh world draw my breath in pain to tell you that the Half-Life 3 speculators are at it again. Over the weekend, the discovery of a mystery Valve project called "White Sands" on a voice actor's portfolio has set tongues and fingers wagging about potential Half-Life news in the offing.

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There’s growing evidence, via datamining and voice actor leaks, that Valve is working on a brand new, yet-to-be-announced Half-Life video game. And before you go running to tell folks that, finally, Half-Life 3 is confirmed, keep in mind that we don’t know if that’s true.

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Podle zvěstí, které kolují po internetu, se v současné době pracuje na projektu souvisejícím se sérií Half-Life pod názvem White Sands.

Jak oznámil známý leaker společnosti Valve Tyler McVicker, na základě dataminovaných informací získaných ze zdrojů 2 her jako Dota 2 a Counter-Strike 2 se aktivně vyvíjí nový projekt související s touto sérií a s kódovým označením HLX. Zdá se, že tento projekt White Sands je v tuto chvíli projektem určeným pouze pro PC, má prvky série Half-Life, jako je například zástrčka pro nabíjení obleku HEV, a nebude projektem pro VR jako Alyx. Únik spekuluje o tom, že tento projekt, na kterém se již nějakou dobu pracuje, by mohl být Half-Life 3, ačkoli v tuto chvíli neexistují žádné důkazy, které by to potvrzovaly.

Nejnovějším příspěvkem do série je již zmíněný Half-Life Alyx, hra pro virtuální realitu, kterou lze hrát i bez náhlavní soupravy díky neuvěřitelnému módu NoVR, který zachovává i některé interakce ve virtuální realitě a poskytuje hráčům přesný zážitek i na ploché obrazovce.

Přestože se na projektu Half-Life White Sands již nějakou dobu pracuje, může chvíli trvat, než se o něm dozvíme více. Budeme vás informovat, jakmile to bude možné, takže zůstaňte naladěni na všechny nejnovější zprávy.

Článek Společnost Valve má pracovat na projektu Half-Life „White Sands se nejdříve objevil na GAME PRESS.

Valve dataminer Tyler McVicker has discovered hints that some Half-Life may be in active development at Valve. While we're not quite at the "Half-Life 3 confirmed!" stage of proceedings, things are looking bright for a new non-VR game in the series, for the first time in a while.

Back in 2021, we saw the release of Half-Life: Alyx. Despite launching to critical acclaim, it was a VR exclusive, meaning those without headsets were left unable to experience the latest iteration in Valve's long-running series. Still, it was a positive sign that Valve is willing to revisit its iconic franchise, offering hope that a Half-Life 3 could finally be on the way. 2007's Half-Life 2: Episode Two is the last time we saw a non-VR Half-Life, so it's a wait that could realistically span two decades before anything is released by the studio.

In a video posted to his YouTube channel, McVicker confirmed numerous reasons he believes Half-Life 3 is likely in development at Valve. Datamining has led him to find strings in updates for Source 2 titles Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2, hinting at a game codenamed HLX, where the playable character wears a HEV suit. Sound familiar? This protagonist goes to a location named "Offworld," with references to "Xengorrilla" and "Xenjellyfish" NPCs. It couldn't sound any more Half-Life.

According to McVicker, these strings have come from different updates to the previously mentioned titles. He has compiled evidence over time to confirm his suspicions that development on this project is ongoing. His speculation continues further, connecting the dots here to the resume of actress Natasha Chandel. She recently revealed the existence of a Valve project codenamed Project White Sands via her resume, before it was swiftly taken down.

So, it seems like Valve could be working on a single-player Half-Life game featuring an HEV suit-wearing protagonist. But is it actually Half-Life 3? Answering the question about his belief based on current findings, McVicker said, "I gotta be very careful when answering that question... But yes."

Although it's impossible to confirm whether this is the case, it offers a glimmer of hope to those who have waited almost two decades for something new. In the meantime, keep replaying Black Mesa and dreaming of what could be.

The post Several leaks are re-igniting hopes for a Half-Life 3 appeared first on Destructoid.

BitLife's Love Isle challenge tests your ability to find love for your character while enjoying the sun and getting up to some mischief. While there are some shenanigans here and there, you'll mostly need time, determination, and a bit of luck. Here's how to complete the Love Isle challenge in BitLife.

BitLife Love Isle challenge guide

BitLife's Love Isle challenge has five objectives to complete:

• Be born in Aruba
• Hook up with 10+ people before age 30
• Undergo plastic surgery 3+ times
• Develop a gambling addiction
• Only hook up with partners who have 50+ Looks

Don't worry; you won't need any special career packs for this challenge. Instead, Love Isle is about quickly getting things done, especially with its second task. However, you'll also want to watch your bank balance, as you'll have to spend a few thousand on plastic surgery operations and casino visits. In other words, be prepared to make and lose a whole lot of money.

Be born in Aruba

The first task of this challenge is the easiest, as it simply requires you to be born in Aruba. It doesn't matter what your starting gender or city is as long as Aruba is your birth country. It also doesn't matter what your starting stats are, as you can still pick up partners with 50 percent or higher looks stats even if your character's isn't very high.

Hook up with people with 50 or more Looks before age 30

Once your character turns 18, they can pursue partners for fun nights. To do this, head into Activities, Love, and Hook Up. You'll find out the person's age, sexuality, and looks.

Generally speaking, your goal is to find people whose Looks bar is higher than halfway across the screen. Since it doesn't tell you the exact percentage, make sure it's well past the halfway mark or even near the 75 percent mark to ensure you complete the fifth task.

From here, it's just a matter of doing this ten times before moving on to the next set of objectives. Make sure that at no point during the entire challenge do you accept advances from someone with low looks stats, as that'll instantly eliminate any possibility of completing it unless you have the Time Machine feature.

Undergo plastic surgery

The next part of the Love Isle challenge is getting your character plastic surgery. Like before, you'll head into the Activities menu before picking Plastic Surgery. From here, it's up to you which you pick, but sticking to safer or cheaper options works fine for the purpose of this challenge. Once you have three successful procedures, you'll finish the third task.

Develop a gambling addiction

The hardest part of this challenge is developing a gambling addiction for your BitLife character. This requires repeatedly visiting the casino, which you can find again through the Activities menu. From here, you'll place a bet before starting a round of Blackjack.

The main idea of BitLife's version of Blackjack is to have your cards add up to 21 or as close to it as possible. If you pass this, you'll lose the hand, and the dealer will win the round. Choosing "Hit me" gives you a random card, while "Stand" begins the dealer's process of taking cards. It's always safe to choose hit if your sum is 11 or less, while anything above this gets into risky territory.

With that said, your BitLife character doesn't have to win each round to develop a gambling addiction. As long as you visit frequently every year, you'll eventually gain one and wrap up the Love Isle challenge.

The post How to complete the Love Isle challenge in BitLife appeared first on Destructoid.

Netflix shows rarely get a second season, so mercurial is the streamer with its big-budget gambles. So it’s a rare treat to learn that not only is Squid Game’s second season now set to hit screens of all sizes this holiday season, but a third (and final) season will be released in 2025.

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Penguins can’t fly. And while their wings may seem to be purely decorative, these appendages actually play a larger role in their evolutionary history. A fossil penguin species named Pakudyptes hakataramea bridges a gap between penguins that have gone extinct and those living today. Some of its bones show how these wings evolved to help penguins become such speedy swimmers. The findings are described in a study published July 31 in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 

Pakudyptes lived in present-day New Zealand’s South Island about 24 million years ago. It was very small, roughly the same size as the little blue penguin–or kororā living today. At only 9.8 inches tall and 2.2 pounds, Pakudyptes are among the smallest known penguin species to ever live on Earth. 

[Related: This human-sized penguin isn’t even the largest ancient penguin we know about.]

Interestingly, Pakudyptes did have the physical adaptations that allowed them to dive into the water, despite being such an early penguin species. In the study, a team of scientists from the University of Otago in New Zealand, and Japan’s Ashoro Museum of Paleontology, Okayama University of Science, and Osaka University examined three bones. The humerus, femur, and ulna were discovered during several field trips in 1987 by the late paleontologist Ewan Fordyce in the Hakataramea Valley, in the Canterbury region of the South Island. 

They found that Pakudyptes fills in a morphological gap between modern and fossil penguins who are now extinct.

“In particular, the shape of the wing bones differed greatly, and the process by which penguin wings came to have their present form and function remained unclear,” study co-author and Ashoro Museum of Paleontology paleontologist Tatsuro Ando said in a statement. 

The humerus and ulna bones show how the penguins’ wings have evolved. 

“Surprisingly, while the shoulder joints of the wing of Pakudyptes were very close to the condition of the present-day penguin, the elbow joints were very similar to those of older types of fossil penguins,” said Ando. “Pakudyptes is the first fossil penguin ever found with this combination, and it is the ‘key’ fossil to unlocking the evolution of penguin wings.”

Otago’s Faculty of Dentistry analyzed the fossil’s internal bone structure alongside data on living penguins from the Okayama University of Science. They found that Pakudyptes had microanatomical features that suggest they could dive. Modern penguins are well known for their excellent swimming abilities. Their bullet-like swimming skills are largely due to the dense, thick bones that add to their buoyancy during diving.

In Pakudyptes, the bone cortex was reasonably thick. However, the medullary cavity–which contains bone marrow–was open. This is similar to the living little blue penguin, which usually swims in shallow waters. 

Pakudyptes’ diving and swimming likely comes down to the distinctive combination of its bones. The humerus and ulna show spots for attachment of muscles and ligaments, which reveal how the wings were used to swim and move underwater. 

[Related: Poop stains reveal four previously unknown Emperor penguin colonies.]

While no longer living, fossil penguins were usually large. Some could reach about 4.5 feet or even 6 feet tall, compared to today’s Emperor penguins that clock in at about three to four feet.

“Penguins evolved rapidly from the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene and Pakudyptes is an important fossil from this period,” study co-author Carolina Loch from Otago’s Faculty of Dentistry said in a statement. “Its small size and unique combination of bones may have contributed to the ecological diversity of modern penguins.”

The post Tiny fossil reveals when penguins evolved their surprisingly useful wings appeared first on Popular Science.