Top 20 80s Anime with Complex Relationships and Tragic Romance The 1980s was a golden […]

Play could help with natural selection.

Your pet may not be able to tell you that they are experiencing night terrors, but they will show you.

Last week, Bethesda released a remastered edition of Doom and Doom II on Steam, with lots of extra episodes and improvements. One of these new features is a built-in browser for mods, and support for many existing mods that previously required a different version of the game. Basically, lots of good fan-made mods are now playable on the Steam version of ye olde Doom. That's neat! Ah, but there is some demon excrement on the health pack, so to speak. The mod browser lacks moderation and lets people upload the work of others with their own name pinned as the author. That's prompted one level designer to call it "a massive breach of trust and violation of norms the Doom community has done its best to hold to for those 30 years."

Read more

Last week, Bethesda released a remastered edition of Doom and Doom II on Steam, with lots of extra episodes and improvements. One of these new features is a built-in browser for mods, and support for many existing mods that previously required a different version of the game. Basically, lots of good fan-made mods are now playable on the Steam version of ye olde Doom. That's neat! Ah, but there is some demon excrement on the health pack, so to speak. The mod browser lacks moderation and lets people upload the work of others with their own name pinned as the author. That's prompted one level designer to call it "a massive breach of trust and violation of norms the Doom community has done its best to hold to for those 30 years."

Read more

"People are killing many types of sharks at unsustainable rates, mainly through overfishing."

"These recent Icelandic eruptions have garnered attention from Earth scientists."

The 2024 Summer Olympics go for green as organizers try to slash their carbon footprint.

A professor in the University of Chicago's department of geophysical sciences "believes that by intentionally releasing sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, it would be possible to lower temperatures worldwide," reports the New York Times. He's not the only one promoting the idea. "Harvard University has a solar geoengineering program that has received grants from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. It's being studied by the Environmental Defense Fund along with the World Climate Research Program.... But many scientists and environmentalists fear that it could result in unpredictable calamities." Because it would be used in the stratosphere and not limited to a particular area, solar geoengineering could affect the whole world, possibly scrambling natural systems, like creating rain in one arid region while drying out the monsoon season elsewhere. Opponents worry it would distract from the urgent work of transitioning away from fossil fuels. They object to intentionally releasing sulfur dioxide, a pollutant that would eventually move from the stratosphere to ground level, where it can irritate the skin, eyes, nose and throat and can cause respiratory problems. And they fear that once begun, a solar geoengineering program would be difficult to stop... Keith, a professor in the University of Chicago's department of geophysical sciences, countered that the risks posed by solar geoengineering are well understood, not as severe as portrayed by critics and dwarfed by the potential benefits. If the technique slowed the warming of the planet by even just 1 degree Celsius, or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, over the next century, Keith said, it could help prevent millions of heat-related deaths each decade... Opponents of solar geoengineering cite several main risks. They say it could create a "moral hazard," mistakenly giving people the impression that it is not necessary to rapidly reduce fossil fuel emissions. The second main concern has to do with unintended consequences. "This is a really dangerous path to go down," said Beatrice Rindevall, the chair of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, which opposed the experiment. "It could shock the climate system, could alter hydrological cycles and could exacerbate extreme weather and climate instability." And once solar geoengineering began to cool the planet, stopping the effort abruptly could result in a sudden rise in temperatures, a phenomenon known as "termination shock." The planet could experience "potentially massive temperature rise in an unprepared world over a matter of five to 10 years, hitting the Earth's climate with something that it probably hasn't seen since the dinosaur-killing impactor," Pierrehumbert said. On top of all this, there are fears about rogue actors using solar geoengineering and concerns that the technology could be weaponized. Not to mention the fact that sulfur dioxide can harm human health. Keith is adamant that those fears are overblown. And while there would be some additional air pollution, he claims the risk is negligible compared to the benefits. The opposition is making it hard to even conduct tests, according to the article — like when Keith "wanted to release a few pounds of mineral dust at an altitude of roughly 20 kilometers and track how the dust behaved as it floated across the sky." The experiment was called off after opposition from numerous groups — including Greta Thunberg and an organization representing Indigenous people who felt the experiment was disrespecting nature.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Critically endangered since 2020, the manjuarí fish, or Cuban Gar, faces two threats, the African Walking Catfish and humans.

Rock art created by prehistoric Native American cultures exists all across the U.S., being most prevalent in the Southwest. Tracking down rock art sites in the Grand Canyon, however, can be a real challenge.

"At least 94 living organisms produce their own light through a chemical reaction inside their bodies – an ability called bioluminescence."

Elephants use specific sounds to identify each other and respond to recordings of their names.

From ancient cliffside monasteries to serene churches in picturesque valleys, explore the rich cultural heritage and profound spiritual legacy of Montenegro's sacred sites.

How do elephants communicate with one another? Understanding the large mammals is complex and requires context.

Female giraffes drove the evolution of long giraffe necks in order to feed on the most nutritious leaves.

Vermont has become the first state to enact a law requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a share of the damage caused by climate change after the state suffered catastrophic summer flooding and damage from other extreme weather. From a report: Republican Gov. Phil Scott allowed the bill to become law without his signature late Thursday, saying he is very concerned about the costs and outcome of the small state taking on "Big Oil" alone in what will likely be a grueling legal fight. But he acknowledged that he understands something has to be done to address the toll of climate change. "I understand the desire to seek funding to mitigate the effects of climate change that has hurt our state in so many ways," Scott, a moderate Republican in the largely blue state of Vermont, wrote in a letter to lawmakers. Scott, a popular governor who recently announced that he's running for reelection to a fifth two-year term, has been at odds with the Democrat-controlled Legislature, which he has called out of balance. He was expected by environmental advocates to veto the bill but then allowed it to be enacted. Scott wrote to lawmakers that he was comforted that the Agency of Natural Resources is required to report back to the Legislature on the feasibility of the effort. Last July's flooding from torrential rains inundated Vermont's capital city of Montpelier, the nearby city Barre, some southern Vermont communities and ripped through homes and washed away roads around the rural state. Some saw it as the state's worst natural disaster since a 1927 flood that killed dozens of people and caused widespread destruction. It took months for businesses -- from restaurants to shops -- to rebuild, losing out on their summer and even fall seasons. Several have just recently reopened while scores of homeowners were left with flood-ravaged homes heading into the cold season.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Study that pitted smaller-brained mammals against larger brained primates to compete in fruit-finding efficiency finds no differences.

Thanks to clashing air masses and a jet stream sweeping storms along between them, this spring has brought a rash of destructive tornadoes.

The views from space reveal how devastating, long-lasting thunderstorm winds left many thousands of people without power.

May's incredible displays may have been among the strongest in 500 years. Now, the responsible sunspot region is rotating back toward us.

Scientists used sophisticated techniques to visually investigate complexities and intricacies of the primate’s vocalizations.

Despite their fearsome-sounding name and venomous bite, these desert-dwelling lizards – the largest in the United States – have evolved in unique ways to thrive in an arid climate.

How loud will the cicada emergence get? Learn why the cicadas will be so loud this year and ways to deal with sound sensitivities during this time.

The Washington Post reports that America took "one of its biggest steps yet to keep fossil fuels in the ground," announcing Thursday that it will end new coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, "which produces nearly half the coal in the United States... "It could prevent billions of tons of coal from being extracted from more than 13 million acres across Montana and Wyoming, with major implications for U.S. climate goals." A significant share of the nation's fossil fuels come from federal lands and waters. The extraction and combustion of these fuels accounted for nearly a quarter of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions between 2005 and 2014, according to a study by the U.S. Geological Survey. In a final environmental impact statement released Thursday, Interior's Bureau of Land Management found that continued coal leasing in the Powder River Basin would harm the climate and public health. The bureau determined that no future coal leasing should happen in the basin, and it estimated that coal mining in the Wyoming portion of the region would end by 2041. Last year, the Powder River Basin generated 251.9 million tons of coal, accounting for nearly 44 percent of all coal produced in the United States. Under the bureau's determination, the 14 active coal mines in the Powder River Basin can continue operating on lands they have leased, but they cannot expand onto other public lands in the region... "This means that billions of tons of coal won't be burned, compared to business as usual," said Shiloh Hernandez, a senior attorney at the environmental law firm Earthjustice. "It's good news, and it's really the only defensible decision the BLM could have made, given the current climate crisis...." The United States is moving away from coal, which has struggled to compete economically with cheaper gas and renewable energy. U.S. coal output tumbled 36 percent from 2015 to 2023, according to the Energy Information Administration. The Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign estimates that 382 coal-fired power plants have closed down or proposed to retire, with 148 remaining. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized an ambitious set of rules in April aimed at slashing air pollution, water pollution and planet-warming emissions spewing from the nation's power plants. One of the most significant rules will push all existing coal plants by 2039 to either close or capture 90 percent of their carbon dioxide emissions at the smokestack. "The nation's electricity generation needs are being met increasingly by wind, solar and natural gas," said Tom Sanzillo, director of financial analysis at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, an energy think tank. "The nation doesn't need any increase in the amount of coal under lease out of the Powder River Basin."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Back in April 2024, Cover promised the 0.7.0 Hololive Holoearth update in May 2024 would add lifestyle updates like avatar customization, and Hololive CEO Motoaki “Yagoo” Tanigo took to social media to show these elements off. He highlighted his avatar, other players’ characters, and the customization feature.

The first photo from Tanigo’s visit to Alternative City involved a picture of him posing with four other players.

https://twitter.com/tanigox/status/1791337449253396676

In the second picture, the Cover CEO showed what happens after a Hololive Holoearth player heads to the Altermode shop to buy and change the clothing and accessories their avatar wears. While he was wearing a black shirt with the experience’s logo and green cargo pants in the first screenshot, he’s wearing glasses and a new top, pants, and shoes in the second.

https://twitter.com/tanigox/status/1791340340009697775

The third picture involved another close-up of his character in Holoearth. It allows someone to see the hairstyle, glasses, and shirt option more closely. Following sharing this screenshot, Motoaki Tanigo changed his official social media avatar to it.

https://twitter.com/tanigox/status/1791342100975599645/

Tanigo is often active in promoting Hololive and Holostars events and activities. In addition to typical activities such as sharing social media announcements and attending events, in the past he also served as a model for products.

There’s no exact release date for Holoearth yet, however the latest roadmap suggested the full version could end up appearing in May 2025. We do know some combat elements will arrive in 0.8.0, which is expected in June 2024. Then a 0.9.0 update will follow that later in 2024. 

The Holoearth Metaverse is in development for PCs, and the beta version is available to download.

The post Hololive CEO Motoaki ‘Yagoo’ Tanigo Shows Holoearth Avatar Customization appeared first on Siliconera.

An anonymous reader shared this report from CNN: The "world's largest" plant designed to suck planet-heating pollution out of the atmosphere like a giant vacuum began operating in Iceland on Wednesday. "Mammoth" is the second commercial direct air capture plant opened by Swiss company Climeworks in the country, and is 10 times bigger than its predecessor, Orca, which started running in 2021... Climeworks plans to transport the carbon underground where it will be naturally transformed into stone, locking up the carbon permanently... The whole operation will be powered by Iceland's abundant, clean geothermal energy.... Climeworks started building Mammoth in June 2022, and the company says it is the world's largest such plant. It has a modular design with space for 72 "collector containers" — the vacuum parts of the machine that capture carbon from the air — which can be stacked on top of each other and moved around easily. There are currently 12 of these in place with more due to be added over the next few months. Mammoth will be able to pull 36,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere a year at full capacity, according to Climeworks. That's equivalent to taking around 7,800 gas-powered cars off the road for a year... All the carbon removal equipment in the world is only capable of removing around 0.01 million metric tons of carbon a year, a far cry from the 70 million tons a year needed by 2030 to meet global climate goals, according to the International Energy Agency [7,000x more]... Jan Wurzbacher, the company's co-founder and co-CEO, said Mammoth is just the latest stage in Climeworks' plan to scale up to 1 million tons of carbon removal a year by 2030 and 1 billion tons by 2050. Plans include potential DAC plants in Kenya and the United States.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

"Atmospheric levels of planet-warming carbon dioxide aren't just on their way to yet another record high this year," reports the Washington Post. "They're rising faster than ever, according to the latest in a 66-year-long series of observations." Carbon dioxide levels were 4.7 parts per million higher in March than they were a year earlier, the largest annual leap ever measured at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration laboratory atop a volcano on Hawaii's Big Island. And from January through April, CO2 concentrations increased faster than they have in the first four months of any other year... For decades, CO2 concentrations at Mauna Loa in the month of May have broken previous records. But the recent acceleration in atmospheric CO2, surpassing a record-setting increase observed in 2016, is perhaps a more ominous signal of failing efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and the damage they cause to Earth's climate. "Not only is CO2 still rising in the atmosphere — it's increasing faster and faster," said Arlyn Andrews, a climate scientist at NOAA's Global Monitoring Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. A historically strong El Niño climate pattern that developed last year is a big reason for the spike. But the weather pattern only punctuated an existing trend in which global carbon emissions are rising even as U.S. emissions have declined and the growth in global emissions has slowed. The spike is "not surprising," said Ralph Keeling, director of the CO2 Program at Scripps Institution, "because we're also burning more fossil fuel than ever...." El Niño-linked droughts in tropical areas including Indonesia and northern South America mean less carbon storage within plants, Keeling said. Land-based ecosystems around the world tend to give off more carbon dioxide during El Niño because of the changes in precipitation and temperature the weather pattern brings, Andrews added. And for CO2 concentrations to fall back below 400 parts per million, it would take more than two centuries even if emissions dropped close to zero by the end of this century, she added. This year's reading "is more than 50 percent above preindustrial levels and the highest in at least 4.3 million years, according to NOAA."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Longtime Slashdot reader davidwr shares a report from Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC): On Thursday, May 9, 2024, the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center issued a Severe (G4) Geomagnetic Storm Watch. At least five earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were observed and expected to arrive as early as midday Friday, May 10, 2024, and persist through Sunday, May 12, 2024. Several strong flares have been observed over the past few days and were associated with a large and magnetically complex sunspot cluster (NOAA region 3664), which is 16 times the diameter of Earth. [The agency notes this is the first time it's issued a G4 watch since January, 2005.] "Geomagnetic storms can impact infrastructure in near-Earth orbit and on Earth's surface, potentially disrupting communications, the electric power grid, navigation, radio and satellite operations," NOAA said. "[The Space Weather Prediction Center] has notified the operators of these systems so they can take protective action." The agency said it will continue to monitor the ongoing storm and "provide additional warnings as necessary." A visual byproduct of the storm will be "spectacular displays of aurora," also known as the Northern Lights, that could be seen for much of the northern half of the country "as far south as Alabama to northern California," said the NOAA. "Northern Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the majority of North Dakota appear to have the best chances to see it," reports Axios, citing the SWPC's aurora viewline. "Forecast models Friday showed the activity will likely be the strongest from Friday night to Saturday morning Eastern time." UPDATE 6:54 P.M. EDT: G5 conditions have been observed -- the first time since 2003, says Broadcast Meteorologist James Spann. This is a developing story. More information is available at spaceweather.gov, Google News, and the NOAA.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Learn why the researchers discovered the lampreys far from their supposed home.

Salt journeys around the planet, leaving its mark at every step — before it's ultimately deposited into the ocean. Here's how the process works, and why the ocean's salt content may be more important than you think.

Protect bird migrations in honor of Global Big Day.

These marine mammals are known for building unique cultures within their social groups.

More than a trillion cicadas are about to surface in parts of the southeast and midwestern United States, but experts say they don't pose a threat to humans. Here’s why their emergence is likely unavoidable - and how to best prepare for it.

This month we'll take a tour of the Cascade Range volcanoes, all located along the western edge of North America. Some will be very familiar but others are hidden gems (and dangers) of the Pacific Northwest.

Humans and animals have formed bonds with one another for thousands of years. Learn more about why we have exotic pets and how to best care for them.

Cleanliness is next to godliness for many animals, no matter their size. Find out more about some of the animals that, despite their reputations, clean up after themselves.

The 2024 cicada emergence will be loud, but it will also bring some strange behavior from these insects.

What are the risks of transmitting diseases from humans to pets? Here's the science behind reverse zoonoses.

Researchers suggests this bumblebee strategy may be an important way to limit infection in bee nests.

The fractal chair is like a steampunk version of memory foam, giving you the (almost) perfect seat to take a load off.

The post A Perfect Fit: The Fractal Vice Chair appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.

Forget four-wheel-drive, this electric vehicle speeds over all-terrain with 18 powered wheels.

The post All-Electric 18WD Off-Roading appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.

An anonymous reader shared this report from CNN: On a slice of the ocean front in west Singapore, a startup is building a plant to turn carbon dioxide from air and seawater into the same material as seashells, in a process that will also produce "green" hydrogen — a much-hyped clean fuel. The cluster of low-slung buildings starting to take shape in Tuas will become the "world's largest" ocean-based carbon dioxide removal plant when completed later this year, according to Equatic, the startup behind it that was spun out of the University of California at Los Angeles. The idea is that the plant will pull water from the ocean, zap it with an electric current and run air through it to produce a series of chemical reactions to trap and store carbon dioxide as minerals, which can be put back in the sea or used on land... The $20 million facility will be fully operational by the end of the year and able to remove 3,650 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, said Edward Sanders, chief operating officer of Equatic, which has partnered with Singapore's National Water Agency to construct the plant. That amount is equivalent to taking roughly 870 average passenger cars off the road. The ambition is to scale up to 100,000 metric tons of CO2 removal a year by the end of 2026, and from there to millions of metric tons over the next few decades, Sanders told CNN. The plant can be replicated pretty much anywhere, he said, stacked up in modules "like lego blocks...." The upfront costs are high but the company says it plans to make money by selling carbon credits to polluters to offset their pollution, as well as selling the hydrogen produced during the process. Equatic has already signed a deal with Boeing to sell it 2,100 metric tons of hydrogen, which it plans to use to create green fuel, and to fund the removal of 62,000 metric tons of CO2. There's other projects around the world attempting ocean-based carbon renewal, CNN notes. "Other projects include sprinkling iron particles into the ocean to stimulate CO2-absorbing phytoplankton, sinking seaweed into the depths to lock up carbon and spraying particles into marine clouds to reflect away some of the sun's energy." But carbon-removal projects are controversial, criticized for being expensive, unproven at scale and a distraction from policies to cut fossil fuels. And when they involve the oceans — complex ecosystems already under huge strain from global warming — criticisms can get even louder. There are "big knowledge gaps" when it comes to ocean geoengineering generally, said Jean-Pierre Gatusso, an ocean scientist at the Sorbonne University in France. "I am very concerned with the fact that science lags behind the industry," he told CNN.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The fractal chair is like a steampunk version of memory foam, giving you the (almost) perfect seat to take a load off.

The post A Perfect Fit: The Fractal Vice Chair appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.

Forget four-wheel-drive, this electric vehicle speeds over all-terrain with 18 powered wheels.

The post All-Electric 18WD Off-Roading appeared first on Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers.

Humans have left evidence of their passing through America’s great rift for more than 10 millennia.

Explore the enchanting world of orcas, where stunning beauty meets remarkable intelligence through unique adaptations and complex social behaviors.

It has been a while since we've had a giant explosive volcanic eruption, but Ruang off the coast of Indonesia's Sulawesi appears to have changed that.

There’s a common conception that where dolphins roam, you won’t see sharks swimming. How accurate is the idea that sharks fear dolphins? Here’s what you should know.

South America's Amazon River has reached its lowest level since measurements began, according to the Washington Post, while temperatures "hovered above 110 degrees Fahrenheit" for nearly a week as April began in the capital of Mali. "Nights offered little relief, with temperatures often staying above 90 degrees..." "An overtaxed electrical grid sputtered and shut down," they add, and "dehydration and heat stroke became epidemic... At the city's main hospital, doctors recorded a month's worth of deaths in just four days. Local cemeteries were overwhelmed." The historic heat wave that besieged Mali and other parts of West Africa this month — which scientists say would have been "virtually impossible" in a world without human-caused climate change — is just the latest manifestation of a sudden and worrying surge in global temperatures. Fueled by decades of uncontrolled fossil fuel burning and an El Niño climate pattern that emerged last June, the planet this year breached a feared warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Nearly 19,000 weather stations have notched record high temperatures since January 1. Each of the last ten months has been the hottest of its kind. The scale and intensity of this hot streak is extraordinary even considering the unprecedented amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, researchers say. Scientists are still struggling to explain how the planet could have exceeded previous temperature records by as much as half a degree Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) last fall. What happens in the next few months, said Gavin Schmidt, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, could indicate whether Earth's climate has undergone a fundamental shift — a quantum leap in warming that is confounding climate models and stoking ever more dangerous weather extremes. But even if the world returns to a more predictable warming trajectory, it will only be a temporary reprieve from the conditions that humanity must soon confront, Schmidt said. "Global warming continues apace." Will this summer's La Niña cool things off? More atmospheric research is underway, and "Schmidt says it's too soon to know how worried the world should be," according to the article. But he does raise this possibility. "What if the statistical connections that we are basing our predictions on are no longer valid?" "It's niggling at the back of my brain that it could be that the past is no longer a guide to the future."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.