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Submission + - Leopards ate our ancient human ancestors' faces, AI analysis reveals (livescience.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: The team conducted a preliminary examination of the OH 7 and OH 65 specimens, identifying carnivore tooth marks on the upper jaw of the adult and the lower jaw of the juvenile, that had not been documented before. The team then applied AI tools to analyze these tooth marks.

Using computer vision — an AI technique for identifying items through images — the researchers trained deep learning models on hundreds of examples of bone markings produced by modern carnivores such as hyenas, crocodiles and leopards. In blind tests, the best of these models was more than 90% accurate in correctly identifying which animal produced the marks, according to Domínguez-Rodrigo.

Applying this system to analyze the OH 7 and OH 65 remains revealed, with a high degree of confidence, that the bite marks had been made by leopards, the study reported.

Comment The 22nd Amendment (Score 1) 224

by alternative_right (#65708876) Attached to: CBS News Was Just Taken Over By a Substack

Just for kicks, here's the vital part of the 22nd amendment:

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

I don't see a way around that one. "No person shall be elected to the office of President more than twice" clobbers any future Trump term, and "no person who has...acted as President...shall be elected to the office of the President more than once" cuts him out from anything but inheriting the office.

Submission + - Black holes might hold the key to a 60-year cosmic mystery (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Scientists may have finally uncovered the mystery behind ultra-high-energy cosmic rays — the most powerful particles known in the universe. A team from NTNU suggests that colossal winds from supermassive black holes could be accelerating these particles to unimaginable speeds. These winds, moving at half the speed of light, might not only shape entire galaxies but also fling atomic nuclei across the cosmos with incredible energy.

Submission + - Your Fresh Vegetables Could Be Sucking Up Plastic Right From The Soil (sciencealert.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: A team of scientists from the University of Plymouth in the UK placed radishes into a hydroponic (water-based) system containing polystyrene nanoparticles.

After five days, almost 5 percent of the nanoplastics had made their way into the radish roots. A quarter of those were in the edible, fleshy roots, while a tenth had traveled up to the higher leafy shoots, despite anatomical features within the plants that typically screen harmful material from the soil.

Submission + - Mitochondria Dump Their Rubbish DNA, And It Could Be Costing Us Our Health (sciencealert.com) 1

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: The discovery centers on the unique strands of DNA contained within our mitochondria, the power stations of our cells. By banishing their 'mtDNA' into the surrounding cytoplasm, mitochondria can cause inflammation. Yet just how or why this happens has never been well understood.

In this study, researchers led by a team from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Germany analyzed tissue samples from humans and test animals, using mice genetically engineered to be models of aging and disease.

They found that when mtDNA can't find enough DNA building blocks (deoxyribonucleotides) for replication, it picks up RNA building blocks (ribonucleotides) instead. This mistake in construction causes instability in the mtDNA, which leads to it being ejected from the organelle.

Submission + - Doctors stunned by a cheap drug's power against colon cancer (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: So how does aspirin reduce the risk of recurrence of colon and rectal cancer? The researchers believe that the effect is likely due to aspirin acting through several parallel mechanisms — it reduces inflammation, inhibits platelet function and tumor growth. This combination makes the environment less favorable for cancer.

Submission + - Scam GPT GenAI and the Automation of Fraud (datasociety.net)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Scams are not a new phenomenon. But generative AI is making scamming even easier, faster, and more accessible, fueling a surge in scams and misinformation at a global scale. This primer maps what we currently know about generative AI’s role in scams, the communities most at risk, and the broader economic and cultural shifts that are making people more willing to take risks, more vulnerable to deception, and more likely to either perpetuate scams or fall victim to them.

AI-enhanced scams are not merely financial or technological crimes; they also exploit social vulnerabilities — whether short-term, like travel, or structural, like precarious employment. This means they require social solutions in addition to technical ones. By examining how scammers are changing and accelerating their methods, we hope to show that defending against them will require a constellation of cultural shifts, corporate interventions, and effective legislation.

Submission + - Cops: Accused Vandal Confessed To ChatGPT (thesmokinggun.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Minutes after vandalizing 17 cars in a Missouri college parking lot, a 19-year-old sophomore had a lengthy ChatGPT conversation during which he confessed to the crime, asked about the possibility of getting caught, and wondered, “is there any way they could know it was me,” according to a police probable cause statement.

Ryan Schaefer was arrested yesterday and charged with felony property damage for a rampage early Sunday at a Missouri State University parking lot. Investigators allege that Schaefer shattered car windows, ripped off side mirrors, dented hoods, and broke windshield wipers during the 3 AM spree.

When confronted with surveillance footage and other evidence, Schaefer said that he could see the resemblance between the suspect and himself. At that point, Schaefer reportedly consented to a search of his iPhone.

A subsequent review of the device revealed location data placing Schaefer “at or near the scene of the crime,” as well as a “troubling dialogue exchange this defendant seems to have had with artificial intelligence software installed on his phone,” prosecutors reported.

Submission + - Hundreds of celebrities relaunch a McCarthy-era committee to defend free speech (npr.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: On Wednesday, over 550 celebrities relaunched a group first organized during the post-World War II Red Scare: the Committee for the First Amendment. Their intent is to stand up in what they call a "defense of our constitutional rights," adding: "The federal government is once again engaged in a coordinated campaign to silence critics in the government, the media, the judiciary, academia, and the entertainment industry."

Submission + - A Bullet Crashed the Internet in Texas (404media.co) 2

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: The outage hit cities all across the state, including Dallas, Irving, Plano, Arlington, Austin, and San Antonio. The outage affected Spectrum customers and took down their phone lines and TV services as well as the internet.

“The outage stemmed from a fiber optic cable that was damaged by a stray bullet,” Spectrum told 404 Media. “Our teams worked quickly to make the necessary repairs and get customers back online. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Spectrum told 404 Media that it didn’t have any further details to share about the incident so we have no idea how the company learned a bullet hit its equipment, where the bullet was found, and if the police are involved.

Submission + - Curiosity drives viewers to ignore trigger warnings (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: A new Flinders University study has found that nearly 90% of young people who saw a trigger warning still chose to view the content, saying that they did so out of curiosity, rather than because they felt emotionally prepared or protected.

The findings published in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry aligned with a growing body of lab-based research suggesting that trigger warnings rarely lead to the avoidance of potentially distressing material.

Submission + - Working Egg Cells Made Using DNA From Human Skin in World First (sciencealert.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Scientists have created egg-like cells capable of fertilization using DNA from ordinary skin cells in what could be a major breakthrough for infertility research.

Using a newly developed technique to remove excess chromosomes, a team led by clinical biologist Nuria Marti-Gutierrez of Oregon Health & Science University has created human eggs that can undergo successful fertilization and start to develop into zygotes.

A clinical application for this technique is still at least 10 to 15 years away, the authors speculate, and some key challenges and ethical obstacles remain, but it's a proof of concept that may offer hope for future cases of infertility.

Submission + - Reddit Mods Sued by YouTuber Ethan Klein Fight Efforts to Unmask Them (404media.co)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Critics of YouTuber Ethan Klein are pushing back on subpoenas that would reveal their identities as part of an ongoing legal fight between Klein and his detractors. Klein is a popular content creator whose YouTube channel has more than 2 million subscribers. He’s also involved in a labyrinthine personal and legal beef with three other content creators and the moderators of a subreddit that criticises his work. Klein filed a legal motion to compel Discord and Reddit

to reveal the identities of those moderators, a move their lawyers say would put them in harm’s way and stifle free speech on the internet forever.

Klein is most famous for his H3 Podcast and collaborations with Hasan Piker and Trisha Paytas which he produced through his company Ted Entertainment Inc. Following a public falling out with Piker, Klein released a longform video essay critiquing his former podcast partner. As often happens with long video essays about YouTube drama, other content creators filmed themselves watching Klein’s essay.

Submission + - Streaming is overtaking theaters for movie watchers, an AP-NORC poll finds (apnews.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: About three-quarters of U.S. adults said they watched a new movie on streaming instead of in the theater at least once in the past year, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, including about 3 in 10 who watched new movies on streaming at least once a month.

Meanwhile, about two-thirds of Americans said that they’ve watched a recently released movie in a theater in the past year, and only 16% said they went at least once a month.

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