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Maggie Smith: ‘A National Treasure’
Viola Davis commended Smith for “defying the expectations of age” in a touching tribute. “The end of an era of the sheer definition of what it means to be an actor. You created characters that clung to us, moved us, entertained us……made us look within,” she wrote in part. “You were read more

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Procreate announced that it will not incorporate generative AI into its popular iPad illustration app. The decision comes in response to an ongoing backlash from some parts of the art community, which has raised concerns about the ethical implications and potential consequences of AI use in creative industries.

“Generative read more

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New method turns banana waste into green textiles, energy
Scientists estimate that the banana agricultural waste in Pakistan could yield 57,488 million cubic meters of syngas.

Scientists from Northumbria University collaborated with academics from the UK and Pakistan to tackle agricultural waste rising from producing bananas and other foods. They developed a new technology to read more

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Endless Honking of Waymo’s Driverless Taxis Wakes a Neighborhood
In late July, Waymo rented a parking lot outside two San Francisco apartment buildings for its vehicles to idle in. Then came the noise.

The driverless vehicles, made by the California-based company Waymo, began to appear in a lot near Ms. Tung’s apartment building in late July. Waymo had rented it for the read more

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Mathematicians Clear Hurdle in Quest to Decode Primes
Paul Nelson has solved the subconvexity problem, bringing mathematicians one step closer to understanding the Riemann hypothesis and the distribution of prime numbers.

It’s been 162 years since Bernhard Riemann posed a seminal question about the distribution of prime numbers. Despite their best read more

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Edinburgh brothers look to make history with Pacific Ocean row
A trio of brothers from Edinburgh are set to take on their biggest challenge yet by attempting to become the first team to row the entire Pacific Ocean non-stop and unsupported.

The MacLean brothers are hoping to raise £1million as well as breaking two world records when they set off early read more

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CNN — Former President Donald Trump was wounded Saturday evening while speaking onstage at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in an incident that’s being investigated as an assassination attempt from a shooter on a roof near the rally site.

Trump was in the middle of delivering his rally speech – turned toward the right with his hands on his lectern – when the sound read more

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Music industry giants allege mass copyright violation by AI firms
Universal Music Group, Sony Music, and Warner Records have sued AI music-synthesis companies Udio and Suno for allegedly committing mass copyright infringement by using recordings owned by the labels to train music-generating AI models, reports Reuters. Udio and Suno can generate read more

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A Tesla driver using the vehicle’s self-driving mode crashed into a police car Thursday morning in Fullerton, almost hitting an officer who was investigating another crash, according to authorities. The officer was managing traffic at the time and emergency flares had been placed on the road.

The officer was read more

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Karamea Walking Tree Wins 2024 Tree of the Year New Zealand
The New Zealand Arboricultural Association (NZ Arb) is delighted to announce The Walking Tree as the winner of the 2024 Tree of the Year New Zealand award.

This extraordinary northern rātā (Metrosideros robusta), located near the Karamea Cemetery, captivated the hearts and imaginations of New Zealanders read more

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Scarlett Johansson Says She Was ‘Shocked’ and ‘Angered’ Over OpenAI’s Use of a Voice That Was ‘Eerily Similar to Mine’
Actor Scarlett Johansson said she turned down OpenAI‘s request for her to lend her voice to a conversational ChatGPT system — and that she was “shocked” and “angered” that the company went ahead and used read more

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Developers Offered a Texas Family Millions for Their Land. They Chose to Make It a Park Instead.
Daniel Kozmetsky wades through a sea of lemon-yellow wildflowers growing along a ridge and looks over a wide valley that stretches in front of him, part of the sprawling RGK Ranch his grandparents founded half a century ago. “This is the spot,” he says, sweeping read more

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Northern Lights stun UK in spectacular display
The Northern Lights have made a rare appearance across the UK, delighting sky watchers up and down the country. They could be seen after one of the strongest geomagnetic storms for years hit Earth, with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issuing a rare solar storm warning.

The extreme geomagnetic storm that happened on Friday was classed read more

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The Champs-Élysées will be covered in an enormous picnic blanket, and everyone lucky enough to attend will get a free picnic basket of local delicacies
There’s something quite chic about a picnic, and Paris certainly has plenty of spots to throw down a blanket and tear apart some baguette – we even have a guide to the best shops for picnic read more

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Step into the heart of eastern Oregon, where the night sky unveils a spectacle so mesmerizing that it’s officially been crowned the world’s largest International Dark Sky Sanctuary.
Imagine a canvas stretching over 2.5 million acres in Lake County, twinkling with stars, a wilderness so vast it’s just the beginning of a dream to shield 11.4 million acres from the ever-encroaching glow read more