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Interview with Michiharu Hyogo, Citizen Scientist and First Author of a New Scientific Paper
Wed, 19 Mar 2025 13:30:00 +0000
Peer-reviewed scientific journal articles are the bedrock of science. Each one represents the culmination of a substantial project, impartially checked for accuracy and relevance – a proud accomplishment for any science team. The person who takes responsibility for writing the paper must inevitably and repeatedly write, edit, and rewrite its content as they receive comments […]
Match ID: 0 Score: 10.00 source: science.nasa.gov age: 0 days
qualifiers: 10.00 school
Columbia Apologized to Mahmoud Khalil in May 2024 for One-Day Suspension
Wed, 19 Mar 2025 09:00:00 +0000
Marco Rubio justified Khalil’s arrest using the same protest-related charges Columbia brought against him — but dismissed a day later.
The post Columbia Apologized to Mahmoud Khalil in May 2024 for One-Day Suspension appeared first on The Intercept.
Conservative critics of “cancel culture” were quick to defend Trump’s attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil over his political speech.
The post The Right Loves Free Speech — Unless It’s Pro-Palestine Speech appeared first on The Intercept.
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Imagine a world in which you can do transactions and many other things without having to give your personal information. A world in which you don’t need to rely on banks or governments anymore. Sounds amazing, right? That’s exactly what blockchain technology allows us to do.
It’s like your computer’s hard drive. blockchain is a technology that lets you store data in digital blocks, which are connected together like links in a chain.
Blockchain technology was originally invented in 1991 by two mathematicians, Stuart Haber and W. Scot Stornetta. They first proposed the system to ensure that timestamps could not be tampered with.
A few years later, in 1998, software developer Nick Szabo proposed using a similar kind of technology to secure a digital payments system he called “Bit Gold.” However, this innovation was not adopted until Satoshi Nakamoto claimed to have invented the first Blockchain and Bitcoin.
A blockchain is a distributed database shared between the nodes of a computer network. It saves information in digital format. Many people first heard of blockchain technology when they started to look up information about bitcoin.
Blockchain is used in cryptocurrency systems to ensure secure, decentralized records of transactions.
Blockchain allowed people to guarantee the fidelity and security of a record of data without the need for a third party to ensure accuracy.
To understand how a blockchain works, Consider these basic steps:
Let’s get to know more about the blockchain.
Blockchain records digital information and distributes it across the network without changing it. The information is distributed among many users and stored in an immutable, permanent ledger that can't be changed or destroyed. That's why blockchain is also called "Distributed Ledger Technology" or DLT.
Here’s how it works:
And that’s the beauty of it! The process may seem complicated, but it’s done in minutes with modern technology. And because technology is advancing rapidly, I expect things to move even more quickly than ever.
Even though blockchain is integral to cryptocurrency, it has other applications. For example, blockchain can be used for storing reliable data about transactions. Many people confuse blockchain with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.
Blockchain already being adopted by some big-name companies, such as Walmart, AIG, Siemens, Pfizer, and Unilever. For example, IBM's Food Trust uses blockchain to track food's journey before reaching its final destination.
Although some of you may consider this practice excessive, food suppliers and manufacturers adhere to the policy of tracing their products because bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella have been found in packaged foods. In addition, there have been isolated cases where dangerous allergens such as peanuts have accidentally been introduced into certain products.
Tracing and identifying the sources of an outbreak is a challenging task that can take months or years. Thanks to the Blockchain, however, companies now know exactly where their food has been—so they can trace its location and prevent future outbreaks.
Blockchain technology allows systems to react much faster in the event of a hazard. It also has many other uses in the modern world.
Blockchain technology is safe, even if it’s public. People can access the technology using an internet connection.
Have you ever been in a situation where you had all your data stored at one place and that one secure place got compromised? Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to prevent your data from leaking out even when the security of your storage systems is compromised?
Blockchain technology provides a way of avoiding this situation by using multiple computers at different locations to store information about transactions. If one computer experiences problems with a transaction, it will not affect the other nodes.
Instead, other nodes will use the correct information to cross-reference your incorrect node. This is called “Decentralization,” meaning all the information is stored in multiple places.
Blockchain guarantees your data's authenticity—not just its accuracy, but also its irreversibility. It can also be used to store data that are difficult to register, like legal contracts, state identifications, or a company's product inventory.
Blockchain has many advantages and disadvantages.
I’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about blockchain in this section.
Blockchain is not a cryptocurrency but a technology that makes cryptocurrencies possible. It's a digital ledger that records every transaction seamlessly.
Yes, blockchain can be theoretically hacked, but it is a complicated task to be achieved. A network of users constantly reviews it, which makes hacking the blockchain difficult.
Coinbase Global is currently the biggest blockchain company in the world. The company runs a commendable infrastructure, services, and technology for the digital currency economy.
Blockchain is a decentralized technology. It’s a chain of distributed ledgers connected with nodes. Each node can be any electronic device. Thus, one owns blockhain.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is powered by Blockchain technology while Blockchain is a distributed ledger of cryptocurrency
Generally a database is a collection of data which can be stored and organized using a database management system. The people who have access to the database can view or edit the information stored there. The client-server network architecture is used to implement databases. whereas a blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, stored in a distributed system. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, timestamp and transaction information. Modification of data is not allowed due to the design of the blockchain. The technology allows decentralized control and eliminates risks of data modification by other parties.
Blockchain has a wide spectrum of applications and, over the next 5-10 years, we will likely see it being integrated into all sorts of industries. From finance to healthcare, blockchain could revolutionize the way we store and share data. Although there is some hesitation to adopt blockchain systems right now, that won't be the case in 2022-2023 (and even less so in 2026). Once people become more comfortable with the technology and understand how it can work for them, owners, CEOs and entrepreneurs alike will be quick to leverage blockchain technology for their own gain. Hope you like this article if you have any question let me know in the comments section
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Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the most popular digital assets today, capturing the attention of cryptocurrency investors, whales and people from around the world. People find it amazing that some users spend thousands or millions of dollars on a single NFT-based image of a monkey or other token, but you can simply take a screenshot for free. So here we share some freuently asked question about NFTs.
NFT stands for non-fungible token, which is a cryptographic token on a blockchain with unique identification codes that distinguish it from other tokens. NFTs are unique and not interchangeable, which means no two NFTs are the same. NFTs can be a unique artwork, GIF, Images, videos, Audio album. in-game items, collectibles etc.
A blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that allows for the secure storage of data. By recording any kind of information—such as bank account transactions, the ownership of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), or Decentralized Finance (DeFi) smart contracts—in one place, and distributing it to many different computers, blockchains ensure that data can’t be manipulated without everyone in the system being aware.
The value of an NFT comes from its ability to be traded freely and securely on the blockchain, which is not possible with other current digital ownership solutionsThe NFT points to its location on the blockchain, but doesn’t necessarily contain the digital property. For example, if you replace one bitcoin with another, you will still have the same thing. If you buy a non-fungible item, such as a movie ticket, it is impossible to replace it with any other movie ticket because each ticket is unique to a specific time and place.
One of the unique characteristics of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is that they can be tokenised to create a digital certificate of ownership that can be bought, sold and traded on the blockchain.
As with crypto-currency, records of who owns what are stored on a ledger that is maintained by thousands of computers around the world. These records can’t be forged because the whole system operates on an open-source network.
NFTs also contain smart contracts—small computer programs that run on the blockchain—that give the artist, for example, a cut of any future sale of the token.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) aren't cryptocurrencies, but they do use blockchain technology. Many NFTs are based on Ethereum, where the blockchain serves as a ledger for all the transactions related to said NFT and the properties it represents.5) How to make an NFT?
Anyone can create an NFT. All you need is a digital wallet, some ethereum tokens and a connection to an NFT marketplace where you’ll be able to upload and sell your creations
When you purchase a stock in NFT, that purchase is recorded on the blockchain—the bitcoin ledger of transactions—and that entry acts as your proof of ownership.
The value of an NFT varies a lot based on the digital asset up for grabs. People use NFTs to trade and sell digital art, so when creating an NFT, you should consider the popularity of your digital artwork along with historical statistics.
In the year 2021, a digital artist called Pak created an artwork called The Merge. It was sold on the Nifty Gateway NFT market for $91.8 million.
Non-fungible tokens can be used in investment opportunities. One can purchase an NFT and resell it at a profit. Certain NFT marketplaces let sellers of NFTs keep a percentage of the profits from sales of the assets they create.
Many people want to buy NFTs because it lets them support the arts and own something cool from their favorite musicians, brands, and celebrities. NFTs also give artists an opportunity to program in continual royalties if someone buys their work. Galleries see this as a way to reach new buyers interested in art.
There are many places to buy digital assets, like opensea and their policies vary. On top shot, for instance, you sign up for a waitlist that can be thousands of people long. When a digital asset goes on sale, you are occasionally chosen to purchase it.
To mint an NFT token, you must pay some amount of gas fee to process the transaction on the Etherum blockchain, but you can mint your NFT on a different blockchain called Polygon to avoid paying gas fees. This option is available on OpenSea and this simply denotes that your NFT will only be able to trade using Polygon's blockchain and not Etherum's blockchain. Mintable allows you to mint NFTs for free without paying any gas fees.
The answer is no. Non-Fungible Tokens are minted on the blockchain using cryptocurrencies such as Etherum, Solana, Polygon, and so on. Once a Non-Fungible Token is minted, the transaction is recorded on the blockchain and the contract or license is awarded to whoever has that Non-Fungible Token in their wallet.
You can sell your work and creations by attaching a license to it on the blockchain, where its ownership can be transferred. This lets you get exposure without losing full ownership of your work. Some of the most successful projects include Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yatch Club NFTs, SandBox, World of Women and so on. These NFT projects have gained popularity globally and are owned by celebrities and other successful entrepreneurs. Owning one of these NFTs gives you an automatic ticket to exclusive business meetings and life-changing connections.
That’s a wrap. Hope you guys found this article enlightening. I just answer some question with my limited knowledge about NFTs. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comment section below. Also I have a question for you, Is bitcoin an NFTs? let me know in The comment section below
In the rapidly advancing landscape of AI technology and innovation, LimeWire emerges as a unique platform in the realm of generative AI tools. This platform not only stands out from the multitude of existing AI tools but also brings a fresh approach to content generation. LimeWire not only empowers users to create AI content but also provides creators with creative ways to share and monetize their creations.
As we explore LimeWire, our aim is to uncover its features, benefits for creators, and the exciting possibilities it offers for AI content generation. This platform presents an opportunity for users to harness the power of AI in image creation, all while enjoying the advantages of a free and accessible service.
Let's unravel the distinctive features that set LimeWire apart in the dynamic landscape of AI-powered tools, understanding how creators can leverage its capabilities to craft unique and engaging AI-generated images.
This revamped LimeWire invites users to register and unleash their creativity by crafting original AI content, which can then be shared and showcased on the LimeWire Studio. Notably, even acclaimed artists and musicians, such as Deadmau5, Soulja Boy, and Sean Kingston, have embraced this platform to publish their content in the form of NFT music, videos, and images.
Beyond providing a space for content creation and sharing, LimeWire introduces monetization models to empower users to earn revenue from their creations. This includes avenues such as earning ad revenue and participating in the burgeoning market of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). As we delve further, we'll explore these monetization strategies in more detail to provide a comprehensive understanding of LimeWire's innovative approach to content creation and distribution.
LimeWire Studio welcomes content creators into its fold, providing a space to craft personalized AI-focused content for sharing with fans and followers. Within this creative hub, every piece of content generated becomes not just a creation but a unique asset—ownable and tradable. Fans have the opportunity to subscribe to creators' pages, immersing themselves in the creative journey and gaining ownership of digital collectibles that hold tradeable value within the LimeWire community. Notably, creators earn a 2.5% royalty each time their content is traded, adding a rewarding element to the creative process.
The platform's flexibility is evident in its content publication options. Creators can choose to share their work freely with the public or opt for a premium subscription model, granting exclusive access to specialized content for subscribers.
As of the present moment, LimeWire focuses on AI Image Generation, offering a spectrum of creative possibilities to its user base. The platform, however, has ambitious plans on the horizon, aiming to broaden its offerings by introducing AI music and video generation tools in the near future. This strategic expansion promises creators even more avenues for expression and engagement with their audience, positioning LimeWire Studio as a dynamic and evolving platform within the realm of AI-powered content creation.
The LimeWire AI image generation tool presents a versatile platform for both the creation and editing of images. Supporting advanced models such as Stable Diffusion 2.1, Stable Diffusion XL, and DALL-E 2, LimeWire offers a sophisticated toolkit for users to delve into the realm of generative AI art.
Much like other tools in the generative AI landscape, LimeWire provides a range of options catering to various levels of complexity in image creation. Users can initiate the creative process with prompts as simple as a few words or opt for more intricate instructions, tailoring the output to their artistic vision.
What sets LimeWire apart is its seamless integration of different AI models and design styles. Users have the flexibility to effortlessly switch between various AI models, exploring diverse design styles such as cinematic, digital art, pixel art, anime, analog film, and more. Each style imparts a distinctive visual identity to the generated AI art, enabling users to explore a broad spectrum of creative possibilities.
The platform also offers additional features, including samplers, allowing users to fine-tune the quality and detail levels of their creations. Customization options and prompt guidance further enhance the user experience, providing a user-friendly interface for both novice and experienced creators.
Excitingly, LimeWire is actively developing its proprietary AI model, signaling ongoing innovation and enhancements to its image generation capabilities. This upcoming addition holds the promise of further expanding the creative horizons for LimeWire users, making it an evolving and dynamic platform within the landscape of AI-driven art and image creation.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
Upon completing your creative endeavor on LimeWire, the platform allows you the option to publish your content. An intriguing feature follows this step: LimeWire automates the process of minting your creation as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT), utilizing either the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. This transformative step imbues your artwork with a unique digital signature, securing its authenticity and ownership in the decentralized realm.
Creators on LimeWire hold the power to decide the accessibility of their NFT creations. By opting for a public release, the content becomes discoverable by anyone, fostering a space for engagement and interaction. Furthermore, this choice opens the avenue for enthusiasts to trade the NFTs, adding a layer of community involvement to the artistic journey.
Alternatively, LimeWire acknowledges the importance of exclusivity. Creators can choose to share their posts exclusively with their premium subscribers. In doing so, the content remains a special offering solely for dedicated fans, creating an intimate and personalized experience within the LimeWire community. This flexibility in sharing options emphasizes LimeWire's commitment to empowering creators with choices in how they connect with their audience and distribute their digital creations.
After creating your content, you can choose to publish the content. It will automatically mint your creation as an NFT on the Polygon or Algorand blockchain. You can also choose whether to make it public or subscriber-only.
If you make it public, anyone can discover your content and even trade the NFTs. If you choose to share the post only with your premium subscribers, it will be exclusive only to your fans.
Additionally, you can earn ad revenue from your content creations as well.
When you publish content on LimeWire, you will receive 70% of all ad revenue from other users who view your images, music, and videos on the platform.
This revenue model will be much more beneficial to designers. You can experiment with the AI image and content generation tools and share your creations while earning a small income on the side.
The revenue you earn from your creations will come in the form of LMWR tokens, LimeWire’s own cryptocurrency.
Your earnings will be paid every month in LMWR, which you can then trade on many popular crypto exchange platforms like Kraken, ByBit, and UniSwap.
You can also use your LMWR tokens to pay for prompts when using LimeWire generative AI tools.
You can sign up to LimeWire to use its AI tools for free. You will receive 10 credits to use and generate up to 20 AI images per day. You will also receive 50% of the ad revenue share. However, you will get more benefits with premium plans.
For $9.99 per month, you will get 1,000 credits per month, up to 2 ,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 50% ad revenue share
For $29 per month, you will get 3750 credits per month, up to 7500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 60% ad revenue share
For $49 per month, you will get 5,000 credits per month, up to 10,000 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
For $99 per month, you will get 11,250 credits per month, up to 2 2,500 image generations, early access to new AI models, and 70% ad revenue share
With all premium plans, you will receive a Pro profile badge, full creation history, faster image generation, and no ads.
Sign Up Now To Get Free Credits
In conclusion, LimeWire emerges as a democratizing force in the creative landscape, providing an inclusive platform where anyone can unleash their artistic potential and effortlessly share their work. With the integration of AI, LimeWire eliminates traditional barriers, empowering designers, musicians, and artists to publish their creations and earn revenue with just a few clicks.
The ongoing commitment of LimeWire to innovation is evident in its plans to enhance generative AI tools with new features and models. The upcoming expansion to include music and video generation tools holds the promise of unlocking even more possibilities for creators. It sparks anticipation about the diverse and innovative ways in which artists will leverage these tools to produce and publish their own unique creations.
For those eager to explore, LimeWire's AI tools are readily accessible for free, providing an opportunity to experiment and delve into the world of generative art. As LimeWire continues to evolve, creators are encouraged to stay tuned for the launch of its forthcoming AI music and video generation tools, promising a future brimming with creative potential and endless artistic exploration
Across the opening 15 minutes of this World Cup qualifier, the Socceroos looked like they were being swept away by Indonesia. Any suggestions of the eventual 5-1 scoreline would have been laughable. Travelling supporters and the local Indonesian diaspora made a mockery of any home advantage, as a sea of red surrounded the Sydney Football Stadium pitch before kick-off, auguring a tide of furious pressure and intent upon the opening whistle.
In just the fifth minute, a free-kick swung in from the right by Calvin Verdonk beat the outstretched head of Cameron Burgess and found Jay Idzes, whose resulting header forced Mat Ryan into a diving save. The roar from the stands felt like it shook the foundations. Two minutes later, a ball lofted over the top of the defensive line fell for Rafael Struick, who was clipped by Kye Rowles for a penalty.
Continue reading...The run-up to 2016 shows ‘common sense’ isn’t enough. Even ignorant, reactionary arguments must be properly countered
Kemi Badenoch’s speech on climate this week was not interesting of itself: she said net zero couldn’t be achieved by 2050 “without a serious drop in our living standards or by bankrupting us”. She has no expertise in climate science, no background in renewables or apparent familiarity with the advances made in their technology, no qualification in economics – just about the only bit of that sentence she knows anything about is bankrupting us.
Yet even if Badenoch can take its particulars and shove them, the fact of its existence is interesting for a number of reasons. First, this attack on net zero has been predicted, not secretly by new-Conservative fellow travellers, though conceivably them too, but by progressives – and for years. Among the first was the Cambridge academic David Runciman, who predicted a backlash against action on the climate crisis as the new galvanising issue on the radical right after it had moved on from Brexit. On his Talking Politics podcast, he was in conversation with Ed Miliband, who took that point but said he hoped Runciman was wrong. He was not wrong.
Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...The island is easy to reach by ferry and explore by bus, following in the footsteps of everyone from a Victorian poet to a 60s rock star
The green tidal mudflats are noisy with gulls and lapwings as the ferry sails towards Yarmouth. Far out on sparkling water, a white sail stands out against misty downs. The Victorian poet laureate Alfred, Lord Tennyson regularly tramped over those chalky hills, declaring “the air is worth ‘sixpence a pint’”. There is no need to drive for a holiday on the Isle of Wight. Regular ferries connect with mainland trains and the island has a good network of buses.
I am travelling as a foot passenger on the 40-minute Wightlink ferry from Lymington Pier, where the train arrives along an embankment with yachts, plovers and redshanks outside the window. Once on the island, the Summer Links bus service, running from April to late September, stops at the entrance to Tapnell Farm, where I’m staying for a couple of nights in a well-equipped cabin with a hot tub that looks out towards Tennyson Down.
Continue reading...Peter Reynolds, 79, and wife, Barbie, 75, expected to appear in Kabul on Thursday after detention last month
A British couple in their 70s imprisoned by the Taliban are due in court in Kabul on Thursday but have not been informed of the charges, their family has said.
Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife, Barbie, 75, who run a training business in Afghanistan, were detained last month when they travelled to their home in Bamiyan province.
Continue reading...Having scoured the eastern Med and Balkans for the definitive take on this delectable stuffed filo snack, our resident perfectionist unveils her ultimate recipe
“Few dishes,” according to food writer Zeynep Betul, “embody the spirit of Turkish cuisine as perfectly as börek”. This family of crunchy, flaky pastries in various shapes and fillings are “immensely popular” throughout the country, says award-winning author Özlem Warren: “Even the fussiest child,” she assures readers of her book Özlem’s Turkish Table, “will … ask for seconds.”
So foundational do börek seem to be to Turkish life that a conservative female politician made headlines a few years ago for a tweet claiming that, if a woman didn’t know how to make them, “her family is doomed to disintegration”. In reality, as others were quick to point out, though börek aren’t difficult to prepare (and, with practice, perfect), many Turkish women, as well as men, choose to buy them instead, without obvious domestic repercussions. As journalist Belgin Akaltan puts it: “You can make börek for your own pleasure, for your own pastime. Just for fun. For your kids, for your husband, for your friends, for your guests, for your lesbian partner, but do not put it in the middle of your life as an objective, unless you are a professional cook.” They are indeed fun to make – but, I must concede, even more fun to eat.
Continue reading...The arrest of a midwife for allegedly providing illegal abortions is the latest attack on reproductive care.
The post Texas Starts Arresting Abortion Providers appeared first on The Intercept.
National Park Service workers who care for the White House were exempt from a wave of mass firings that gutted the agency.
The post Trump Fired Park Rangers — But Not the Ones Who Tend to the White House appeared first on The Intercept.
Peter Reynolds, who runs a business in Afghanistan, was held along with his wife last month and needs heart pills, says his daughter
The life of a 79-year-old British man imprisoned along with his wife by the Taliban is in serious danger, his family have warned.
Peter Reynolds and his wife, Barbie, 75, who run a training business in Afghanistan, were detained last month when they travelled to their home in Bamiyan province.
Continue reading...A revived and expanded Muslim ban is stoking fears that U.S. residents with “hostile attitudes” toward the country will be targeted.
The post Trump’s New Muslim Ban Poised to Sweep Up Immigrants Already in the U.S. appeared first on The Intercept.
Baloch Liberation Army claims to have killed 30 military personnel after blowing up tracks in Balochistan region
A separatist militant group in Pakistan’s south-western Balochistan province says it has taken 214 hostages including military personnel after hijacking a train, as the country’s security situation continues to decline sharply.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) blew up the tracks and fired on the Jaffar Express train as it travelled through a tunnel in a remote and mountainous area, bringing the train to a halt.
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A group of volunteers is spending two months lying in bed—with their feet up and one shoulder always touching the mattress—even while eating, showering, and using the toilet. But why? This extreme bedrest study is helping scientists understand how space travel affects the human body and how to keep astronauts healthy on long missions.
Microgravity causes muscle and bone loss, fluid shifts, and other physiological changes similar to those experienced by bedridden patients on Earth. By studying volunteers here on Earth, researchers can develop better countermeasures for astronauts and even improve treatments for medical conditions like osteoporosis.
In this study, participants are divided into three groups: one stays in bed with no exercise, another cycles in bed to mimic astronaut workouts, and a third cycles while being spun in a centrifuge to simulate artificial gravity. Scientists hope artificial gravity could become a key tool in protecting astronauts during deep-space missions.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors.
You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays.
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Europe’s human spaceflight ambitions are reaching new heights, and ESA’s Astronaut Reserve is a key part of this journey. Selected in 2022, these talented individuals are undergoing Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) to ensure they are ready for future missions.
Among these remarkable women from across Europe are Meganne Christian, a materials scientist from the UK, Anthea Comellini, an aerospace engineer from Italy, and Carmen Possnig, a medical doctor from Austria, who recently completed their first ART training block at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany.
Their diverse scientific backgrounds reflect the wide-ranging expertise needed for human spaceflight, whether as part of ESA’s astronaut class, mission planners, or scientists shaping the future of space exploration. Beyond their work with ESA, they are also driving innovation, advancing research, and strengthening the broader space sector. Women play key roles across ESA and beyond, contributing as leaders and experts in these areas.
Meganne, Anthea and Carmen recently completed their first ART training block at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. In this image, they are pictured inside a mockup of the Columbus module, Europe’s permanent laboratory on the International Space Station.
The training covered key areas such as human behaviour and performance to develop teamwork and decision-making skills in high-pressure environments. They also received physical fitness training, scuba certification in ESA’s Neutral Buoyancy Facility, and media training to effectively communicate the importance of space exploration to the public.
In addition to technical and operational skills, they explored fundamental science, including biology experiments conducted on the International Space Station. Their training also includes insights into space policy, mission operations, and the latest advancements in space technology.
While members of the Astronaut Reserve are not yet assigned to specific missions, their training ensures that they are prepared for potential future opportunities through commercial spaceflight
The journey continues in the second half of 2025, when the members of ESA’s Astronaut Reserve will return to EAC for the next phase of ART, further building on the skills and knowledge they have gained.
Recent Four Nations competition, which excluded Russia, clearly got beneath the skin of hockey-loving strongman
Amid the somewhat murky details emerging from Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin’s call on Tuesday – the two leaders discussed a halt on attacking energy infrastructure, then Russia immediately bombed Ukraine’s energy infrastructure – one deal, at least, was clear: the US and Russia would resume playing ice hockey.
Although benign enough on the face of it, the idea of organised games in the US and Russia, between players of both countries, was yet another concession to Putin from Trump. Unlike the US president’s previous gifts – pre-emptively allowing Russia to keep the territory it has illegally invaded, refusing to give any security guarantees to Ukraine, and strongly hinting US sanctions would soon be lifted – this was soft power, wrapped in a pair of skate laces.
Continue reading...Gaza health officials say hundreds have been killed since Israeli bombing shattered the ceasefire. Plus, Trump and Zelenskyy share call over partial Ukraine ceasefire
Good morning.
Israeli strikes have killed at least 58 people overnight in Gaza, according to three hospitals, with the Associated Press reporting that airstrikes hit homes in the middle of the night – killing men, women and children as they slept.
What has Israel said about the airstrikes? The Israeli government argues that Hamas has broken the ceasefire by refusing new hostage releases. Meanwhile, Hamas says Israel has broken the deal by reneging on its earlier commitment to move to the scheduled second phase.
Are the renewed attacks related to legal troubles of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu? That’s what some observers suggest. Netanyahu is on trial for corruption. If found guilty, he could face prison. On Tuesday, a court approved his request not to appear at a hearing “due to the renewal of the war”, Israeli media reported.
This is a developing story. Follow our live coverage here.
What does this mean for the ceasefire? Trump, on Truth Social, said the partial ceasefire would apply to “energy and infrastructure.” Previously, Ukrainian and US negotiating teams had agreed on a full ceasefire, but Putin turned that down, suggesting instead pausing mutual strikes on energy infrastructure and a ceasefire in the Black Sea.
What about Putin’s motives? There remains no indication that Putin has abandoned any of his most hardline objectives, according to Kommersant, a well-connected Russian newspaper. It reported that Putin told a meeting of senior business leaders on Tuesday that he intends to continue the fighting until he gets full control of the four regions Moscow annexed in 2022.
Continue reading...For speaking up for Palestine, I have been targeted – and have seen colleagues and students face arrest and sanctions
The Trump administration’s attempted deportation of the Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent legal resident of the US, is sparking outrage and nationwide protests. But as shocking as his arrest may have seemed to the world, it was sadly unsurprising to those of us on the frontlines of the war at home over Gaza. Here in the US, a building fury of anti-Palestinian hatred, especially since the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, is giving Donald Trump cover to cleanse the country of “undesirables” and undermine free speech and academic freedom.
“If you love Hamas so much why not pack up and move to south Gaza,” an infuriated reader wrote to me last spring, after the LA Times published my opinion article criticising my own university, the University of Southern California (USC), for calling in riot police to arrest peaceful protesters. “Then, there’d be hope that in a future bombing raid your name will be on one of the projectiles.” A few months later came the blast of robo-emails, an estimated 4,000 of them, which all began “Deeply hateful Sandy Tolan,” after my satirical piece lampooning the lockdown of our campus. And who can forget (I can’t) the angry, shouting Texans who objected to my speech outlining evidence for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, just last week?
Sandy Tolan is a professor at the Annenberg school for communication and journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and author of two books on the history of Israel and Palestine, including the international bestseller The Lemon Tree
Continue reading...European leaders are gathering in Brussels this morning to discuss Ukraine, defence and the Middle East
Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the progress made on Ukraine, but was growing frustrated with Russia’s “ifs and buts” on ceasefire, adding it was up to Moscow to “prove it” that it is serious about ending the conflict.
He also pointed to later talks in the UK with army chiefs and planners as an important part of discussions on how Europe can support any future peace agreement.
Continue reading...Artists might cancel shows, donors withdraw and audiences flee. It all plays into the hands of his authoritarian project
In Washington, Donald Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center – the US’s imposing national centre for the performing arts – presents a bizarre, unnerving and, at times, bleakly comical spectacle. Last month, he announced himself its new chair, replaced 13 board members, and inserted a new interim president, foreign policy adviser Richard Grenell. On Monday this week, the president’s motorcade disgorged him at the building – which contains an opera house, theatre, concert hall and a plethora of smaller venues off its towering, chandelier-hung foyers. By this point, his and Melania Trump’s portraits, alongside those of vice-president JD Vance and his wife Usha, had been screwed to the wall beside the concert hall stage door.
Trump and his new trustees – who include Usha Vance and Fox presenter Laura Ingraham – then discussed changes to the Kennedy Center Honors, founded in the 1970s to recognise the greatest figures in American cultural life. Trump called previous honorees, who have ranged from Fred Astaire to Francis Ford Coppola, “radical left lunatics”. Men such as singer Andrea Bocelli, who has performed at Mar-a-Lago, and Sylvester Stallone, who recently called Trump a “second George Washington”, were floated for future honours. With the truculence of a slighted schoolboy, Trump opined that he had never much cared for Hamilton – this, after the news that the musical has withdrawn from a 2026 run at the centre. He also complained about an infestation of mice. All this, the day before he was due to speak to Russian president Vladimir Putin to haggle over Ukraine’s future. It is enough to give you a political-cultural attack of the bends.
Charlotte Higgins is the Guardian’s chief culture writer
Continue reading...Britain, France and Germany are closing ranks to bolster Nato as the unreliable US president marches to his own drum
An Atlantic alliance without the United States? It sounds like a contradiction in terms – Hamlet without the prince. Yet this is the improbable, disjunctive world we now inhabit. It is the one in which our children and grandchildren will live their lives. Like it or not, the systemic shock launched by Donald Trump is our new reality. Absolutely nothing about Trump’s latest phone call with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday has changed that.
Europe’s scramble to respond to Trump’s return to power was driven initially by the urgency of maintaining support for Ukraine. Most of the focus was diplomatic: keeping US military aid and intelligence flowing, shoring up damaged channels between Washington and Kyiv, engaging quietly with both Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy to both encourage and deter, while moving very publicly to take up more of the security burden.
Continue reading...Trump’s bid for regime change in Yemen should be anathema to both America Firsters and Democrats, but will anyone speak out?
The post Trump Reasserts U.S. as the World’s Policeman With Massive Yemen Escalation appeared first on The Intercept.
Order challenged by Democratic state attorneys general as NAACP says it is a ‘dark day for millions of American children’
Big tech giants Apple, Meta, Google, Amazon and Elon Musk’s X have lodged a formal complaint urging the Trump administration to target “coercive and discriminatory” Australian media laws.
The members of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) responded to a request by the Office of the United States Trade Representative for “comments to assist in reviewing and identifying unfair trade practices and initiating all necessary actions to investigate harm from non-reciprocal trade arrangements”.
Continue reading...Dan Ives warns company is in ‘brand tornado crisis moment’ as protests are planned at car showrooms
Tesla and Elon Musk are embroiled in a “brand tornado crisis moment” and the electric carmaker’s chief executive needs to cut back on his work for Donald Trump to stem the damage, one of the company’s biggest supporters has said.
The warning came as Tesla announced a recall of 46,000 Cybertrucks in the US on Thursday to fix an exterior panel that could detach while driving.
Continue reading...As Trump threatens to acquire the Danish island territory, residents of a small town are worried about an Australian mining company’s plans
Isolated among icebergs, fjords and mountains in remote southern Greenland, Narsaq is a town that does not worry too much about what the outside world thinks, says Ane Egede.
In her home town of about 1,300 people, there is not much in the way of shops, but there are plentiful opportunities to hunt, fish, and pick berries and herbs. “We are very close to the nature,” she says. “The town is clean and a beautiful place to live in. We live a little bit old fashioned. We’re not so materialistically minded.”
The town of Narsaq with the Kvanefjeld plateau in the background. Kvanefjeld is part of the Ilímaussaq complex in southern Greenland and is the second-largest rare earth deposit and the sixth-largest uranium deposit in the world. It is the subject of a legal dispute between mining-license holder Energy Transition Minerals, an Australian mining company, and Denmark and Greenland. The mining license was withdrawn after the 2021 election, when Greenland banned uranium mining.
Continue reading...Comments by chipmaker’s boss Jensen Huang are a sign Trump’s ‘America First’ policy is affecting investment
The boss of the world’s biggest computer chipmaker, Nvidia, has promised the company will shell out “several hundred billion” dollars to make semiconductors and other electronics in the US over the next four years.
The comments from Jensen Huang illustrate how the California-headquartered AI chipmaker is remodelling its supply chain away from Asia amid unpredictable tariff threats by Donald Trump.
Continue reading...A groundbreaking vote by outgoing MPs has given the chancellor-elect, Friedrich Merz, the chance to renew mainstream politics
The first “grand coalition” government in Germany’s postwar history was formed in 1966 to address an unexpected economic downturn, amid concerns over a nascent neo-Nazi far right. Nearly six decades later, as the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic party (SPD) prepare to join forces across the right-left divide for the fifth time, following February’s snap election, the circumstances are superficially similar. The scale of the challenges, however – and the sense of jeopardy – are of a different order.
As geopolitical events have undermined its trade‑led business model, the German economy has been undergoing the most prolonged period of stagnation since the second world war. Not unrelatedly, the extreme-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party – elements of which are judged a threat to the democratic constitutional order by security services – has risen in the polls to become the second-biggest party in the EU’s most powerful member state. At the same time, a Putin-sympathetic Donald Trump is dismantling the transatlantic security guarantees on which Germany has relied in the postwar era.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...If there’s any lesson so far in Trump’s second term, it’s that playing nice isn’t just bad optics — it’s a losing strategy.
The post Appeasement Is Failing: Why Fighting Back Against Trump Is the Only Option appeared first on The Intercept.
Nigel Huddleston says local elections ‘will be difficult’ for Conservatives after the ‘high-water mark’ of 2021
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has defended politicians who get involved in entertainment TV.
In an article for the Daily Telegraph, he hit back at Kemi Farage, who used an interview with the paper earlier this week to dismisses Farage as just a reality TV phenomenon.
Having appeal doesn’t mean that people want you running their lives. That’s one of the things that we need to make sure that we remind people.
This isn’t I’m A Celebrity or Strictly Come Dancing. You don’t vote for the person that you’re enjoying watching and then switch off when the show’s over.
Anyway, it’s not as though I’m the first politician to have been prominent in the media. Ronald Reagan combined his early political activities with a film and TV career for 20 years, until the 1960s. When he announced in the 1970s that he wanted to become the US President, everybody said he was a B-Movie actor who stood no chance. These days, American conservatives look back on this two-term leader with a slight sense of awe in terms of his achievements.
And what about Donald Trump? He was a well-known New York property developer from the 1970s onwards but it was his massive success with the reality to show The Apprentice from 2004 that put him in a position where he could win the nomination for the Republican Party.
Kemi Badenoch has a problem. Most members of the public have no opinion of her. Even fewer know what she stands for. I have an idea for her. She could appear on a reality TV show herself. A spell in the I’m a Celebrity… jungle would be perfect. I’ll gladly give her some tips if she wants to sign up for the next series.
Continue reading...Israeli military says it is conducting ground activities in northern Gaza strip after 58 people killed by Israeli attacks overnight
The resumption of airstrikes has sent Palestinian residents again fleeing for their lives from homes they had begun to reinhabit among the ruins of the devastated territory.
Some Palestinians who tried to use the Salahuddin road said they saw cars come under fire from Israeli troops advancing towards Netzarim, reports Reuters. The fate of the passengers in the vehicles was unknown.
Continue reading...At least 58 people die overnight but toll expected to rise – with timing of strikes blamed for high number of women and children killed
At least 58 Palestinians have been killed and many more injured in a third successive night of Israeli strikes across Gaza, according to medical officials at hospitals in the strip.
The death toll is expected to rise as further casualties are dug from rubble in the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis and the northern town of Beit Lahiya.
Continue reading...‘Extraordinary fear’ takes hold at universities as Trump campaign threatens investigations or loss of federal funds
The Trump administration’s unprecedented pressure campaign on American higher education – which is forcing major universities to bow to its demands or risk investigations and the loss of millions of dollars in federal money – is so far facing little pushback from the schools affected.
That campaign escalated earlier this month, when the US government cancelled $400m in federal contracts and grants to Columbia University. In a subsequent letter, representatives of three federal agencies said they would reconsider that freeze only if Columbia agreed to conditions including more aggressively disciplining students who engage in pro-Palestinian disruptions, planning “comprehensive” reform of the school’s admissions policies, and placing one of school’s area studies departments under “academic receivership” – meaning under the control of an outside chair.
Continue reading...Experts warn new memo could deter families from accessing food assistance, despite no changes to eligibility rules
The Trump administration is now using popular anti-hunger programs, including food assistance and school lunch, as part of its attack against immigrants in the US – a move many say will prevent large numbers of families, especially children, from getting the food benefits they’re eligible for.
In a recent memo, agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins told senior staff at the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS): “It is essential to use all available legal authority to end any incentives in FNS benefit programs that encourage illegal immigration.”
Continue reading...Exclusive: Penny Wong says diplomats are consulting US government and ‘engaging with countries in our region’ to determine need for additional support
The Australian government is consulting Pacific nations to assess the “devastating consequences” of the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid and considering what additional support it can provide ahead of next week’s federal budget.
In a letter to a Liberal MP concerned the freeze could cause “irreversible” damage to Pacific communities, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said Australian diplomats were discussing its impact with US government officials.
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Continue reading...Detained after taking a leading role in pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University, the graduate has called himself a political prisoner. Chris McGreal reports
This month Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate who had worked with human rights groups and even the UK government, was detained in New York. His wife, who is eight months pregnant, said her husband was not told why he was being detained and that officers assumed he was on a visa – but actually he has a green card, allowing him to stay in the US and protecting his constitutional rights.
Khalil says his detention is part of a crackdown on dissent – and to deter others from protesting. During pro-Palestine protests on the Columbia campus last year he acted as a mediator between the university and the demonstrators, and, unlike many students, left his face uncovered. Then Donald Trump was elected US president and promised to clamp down on student protests.
Continue reading...Brother of Francisco Javier García Casique spotted him in a video showing scores of Venezuelan prisoners being taken to notorious El Salvador prison
Donald Trump’s White House has described the Venezuelan migrants deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador as “heinous monsters” and terrorists who “rape, maim and murder for sport”.
But relatives of Francisco Javier García Casique, a 24-year-old from the city of Maracay, say he was a hairdresser, not a crook.
Continue reading...The Columbia graduate and green-card holder, held in Louisiana by immigration agents, dictated this letter to family and friends
My name is Mahmoud Khalil and I am a political prisoner. I am writing to you from a detention facility in Louisiana where I wake to cold mornings and spend long days bearing witness to the quiet injustices under way against a great many people precluded from the protections of the law.
Who has the right to have rights? It is certainly not the humans crowded into the cells here. It isn’t the Senegalese man I met who has been deprived of his liberty for a year, his legal situation in limbo and his family an ocean away. It isn’t the 21-year-old detainee I met who stepped foot in this country at age nine, only to be deported without so much as a hearing.
Continue reading...Press secretary says judge who weighed legality of Trump deportation order ‘does not have that authority’
The White House on Wednesday labeled the federal judge challenging the Trump administration on whether it defied his court order to halt flights deporting migrants without a hearing “a Democrat activist”.
The press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, singled out by name at a White House press briefing federal judge James Boasberg, who weighed the legality of Donald Trump’s deportation of suspected Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, and is now evaluating the government’s compliance.
Continue reading...As Israeli airstrikes resume and new evacuation orders are issued, Palestinians are once again fleeing their homes
Across Gaza, ordinary Palestinians – men and women, old and young, ill and healthy – have described their fear, despair and confusion after Israel’s return to violence in the past two days.
“Our hopes rose but now we are back to square one,” Osama, a 40-year-old aid worker living in al-Mawasi, a coastal area designated as a “humanitarian zone” early in the conflict, which has since become known for severe overcrowding and poor sanitation.
Continue reading...The page went dark as Columbia caved to the Trump administration’s anti-Palestinian and anti-immigrant attacks.
The post Columbia Admissions Guidance for Undocumented Immigrants Vanishes From Site appeared first on The Intercept.
UN calls for investigation after staff member among 20 people reportedly killed in renewed airstrikes
Israeli forces have launched a “limited ground operation” to retake the Netzarim corridor, a newly widened road protected by fortified bunkers that divides Gaza and is seen as essential to controlling the devastated Palestinian territory.
The move is a significant escalation of Israel’s new offensive in Gaza and came less than 36 hours after a massive wave of airstrikes that killed more than 400, including 183 children and 94 women, the health ministry there said.
Continue reading...Will the international community hold accountable those who financed and were complicit in Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody, state-sanctioned killing campaign?
The post Trump and Biden Financed Duterte’s Crimes. They Too Should Pay for It. appeared first on The Intercept.
Long before this week’s deadly strikes, Israel failed to abide by the terms of its ceasefire deal with Hamas.
The post Israel Violated the Gaza Ceasefire From the Start. Why Won’t the Media Tell You That? appeared first on The Intercept.
Employees at the federal tech unit 18F say that their role in preventing overspending put a Musk-sized target on their back.
The post Musk Is Firing Federal Workers Who Prevent Bloated Tech Contracts appeared first on The Intercept.
Marco Rubio justified Khalil’s arrest using the same protest-related charges Columbia brought against him — but dismissed a day later.
The post Columbia Apologized to Mahmoud Khalil in May 2024 for One-Day Suspension appeared first on The Intercept.
The potential layoffs listed in documents reviewed by Democrats are part of the White House'’s broader push to shrink the federal government
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to eliminate its scientific research office and could fire more than 1,000 scientists and other employees who help provide the scientific foundation for rules safeguarding human health and ecosystems from environmental pollutants.
As many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists – 75% of the research programme’s staff – could be laid off, according to documents reviewed by Democratic staff on the house committee on science, space and technology.
Continue reading...The DEA ignored the internal alarm about its mass phone data collection program, according to newly revealed details in a government report.
The post DEA Insiders Warned About Legality of Phone Tracking Program. Their Concerns Were Kept Secret. appeared first on The Intercept.
Ana Toni also criticises the UK’s plans to slash overseas aid to fund defence spending
Countries looking to boost their national security through rearmament or increased defence spending must also bolster their climate efforts or face more wars in the future, one of the leaders of the next UN climate summit has warned.
Some countries could decide to include climate spending in their defence budgets, suggested Ana Toni, Brazil’s chief executive of the Cop30 summit.
Continue reading...Global Times hails US president’s order to strip back government funding to news organisations he deems ‘radical’
Chinese state media has reacted gleefully to the Trump administration’s decision to slash government funding to media organisations such as Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Voice of America (VOA).
The Global Times, a daily English-language tabloid and Chinese Communist party mouthpiece, celebrated the cuts to the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees broadcasters such as VOA and RFA.
Continue reading...National Park Service workers who care for the White House were exempt from a wave of mass firings that gutted the agency.
The post Trump Fired Park Rangers — But Not the Ones Who Tend to the White House appeared first on The Intercept.
Christian organizations helped create Pepfar, credited with preventing 25m early deaths, particularly in Africa
Christian evangelical organizations instrumental in creating the US program that has saved millions of lives from HIV/Aids are pressing the Trump administration to rescue the scheme from crushing cuts to foreign assistance.
The state department has said that the two-decade-old President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar), which is estimated to have prevented 25m early deaths, is exempt from the cancellation of most US overseas aid. But the program is heavily reliant on logistical support from the US Agency for International Development (USAid), which has seen most of its projects killed off.
Continue reading...Police records obtained by The Intercept show Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests and other constitutionally protected speech.
The post LAPD Surveilled Gaza Protests Using This Social Media Tool appeared first on The Intercept.
Intelligence reports suggest Călin Georgescu benefited from suspected Russian interference, but the annulment of his first-round win has left many angry and confused
There have been four presidents of Romania since the 1989 revolution that terminated the brutal 20-year rule – and, indeed, the life – of the communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. Constantin listed them all.
“Iliescu, Constantinescu, Iliescu again,” the retired security guard said, counting on his fingers. “Băsescu, then Iohannis. And for what, exactly? Nothing has changed. Nothing, in 35 years. Pay and pensions are too low. Food and fuel cost too much. Something’s got to give.”
Continue reading...A pod of dolphins were seen swimming near a SpaceX capsule after it splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico carrying US astronauts Butch Wilmore, Suni Williams and Nicholas Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov. Wilmore and Williams had been stuck aboard the International Space Station for nine months due to an issue with a new Boeing capsule
Continue reading...In Sudan, fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group, appear to have filmed and posted online videos of themselves glorifying the burning of homes and the torture of prisoners. These videos could be used by international courts to pursue war crime prosecutions.
Kaamil Ahmed explains how the international legal system is adapting to social media, finding a way to use the digital material shared online to corroborate accounts of war crimes being committed in countries ranging from Ukraine to Sudan
Continue reading...Trump says the Alien Enemies Act gives him power to deport people he alleges are linked to the Tren de Aragua prison gang.
The post Trump Rushes Deportations Using a Wartime Law With a Shameful History appeared first on The Intercept.
US secretary of state accuses Ebrahim Rasool of being a ‘race-baiting politician who hates America’ and Donald Trump
The US is expelling South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, with the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, accusing the envoy of hating the US and Donald Trump.
“South Africa’s ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country,” Rubio posted on X on Friday.
Continue reading...If Senate Democrats oppose Trump’s budget, why are they considering providing Republicans with the needed votes to invoke cloture?
The post Senate Dems Look to Give Trump Everything He Wants After a “Fake Fight” on Spending Bill appeared first on The Intercept.
Dark energy, the mysterious force powering the expansion of the universe, appears to be weakening over time, according to a major cosmological survey that has thrown the laws of modern physics into doubt. Ian Sample tells Madeleine Finlay how this new finding could shed light on the ultimate fate of the cosmos, and Saul Perlmutter, who won a Nobel prize for his work proving the universe is expanding, describes how the new development could upend assumptions about how this mysterious force operates
Dark energy: mysterious cosmic force appears to be weakening, say scientists
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Continue reading...New universes may emerge in due course, says scientist at Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument in Arizona
Since the big bang, a cosmic battle has been under way between matter (both dark matter and ordinary) and dark energy.
The gravitational force that draws massive objects such as galaxies towards each other works against the expansion of the universe. But astronomical observations show that the universe’s expansion has, oddly, been speeding up. This led scientists to conclude that dark energy, a mysterious force acting as a sort of anti-gravity, permeates the entirety of space. And dark energy appeared to be at a significant advantage in the cosmic tug of war.
Continue reading...Non-profit, which will appeal decision, says lawsuits like this are aimed at ‘destroying the right to peaceful protest’
A jury in North Dakota has decided that the environmental group Greenpeace must pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the pipeline company Energy Transfer and is liable for defamation and other claims over protests in the state nearly a decade ago.
Energy Transfer Partners, a Dallas-based oil and gas company worth almost $70bn, had sued Greenpeace, alleging defamation and orchestrating criminal behavior by protesters at the Dakota Access pipeline in 2016 and 2017, claiming the organization “incited” people to protest by using a “misinformation campaign”.
Continue reading...Government lawyers would be happy to avoid a legal precedent set in the case of Ravi Ragbir during the first Trump administration.
The post Why Trump Is So Desperate to Keep Mahmoud Khalil in Louisiana appeared first on The Intercept.
US and Israel reportedly contacted officials in Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland
Sudanese officials say they have rejected a request from the US to discuss taking in Palestinians displaced from Gaza under Donald Trump’s plan to turn the territory into a “Riviera on the Mediterranean”.
According to an Associated Press report, the US and Israel contacted officials in Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland about resettling uprooted Palestinians. The contacts suggested both countries are determined to press ahead with Trump’s proposal despite international outrage and massive practical difficulties – or at least use the plan to force other actors in the region to come up with their own ideas for Gaza when hostilities finally end.
Continue reading...Conservative critics of “cancel culture” were quick to defend Trump’s attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil over his political speech.
The post The Right Loves Free Speech — Unless It’s Pro-Palestine Speech appeared first on The Intercept.
A revived and expanded Muslim ban is stoking fears that U.S. residents with “hostile attitudes” toward the country will be targeted.
The post Trump’s New Muslim Ban Poised to Sweep Up Immigrants Already in the U.S. appeared first on The Intercept.
Civil rights attorney Edward Ahmed Mitchell and journalist Meghnad Bose discuss the profound implications Khalil’s case raises for free speech and due process.
The post The Disappearance of Mahmoud Khalil appeared first on The Intercept.
Lawyers trying to free the Columbia University activist point to a legal exception undermining the Trump administration’s argument.
The post The Legal Argument That Could Set Mahmoud Khalil Free appeared first on The Intercept.
In a bid to boost Elon Musk’s car company, Trump did a live White House ad and threatened Tesla protesters would “go through hell.”
The post If Protesting Tesla Is Domestic Terrorism, Then What Demonstration Against Musk Isn’t appeared first on The Intercept.
Former CISA Director Jen Easterly writes about a new international intelligence sharing co-op:
Historically, China, Russia, Iran & North Korea have cooperated to some extent on military and intelligence matters, but differences in language, culture, politics & technological sophistication have hindered deeper collaboration, including in cyber. Shifting geopolitical dynamics, however, could drive these states toward a more formalized intell-sharing partnership. Such a “Four Eyes” alliance would be motivated by common adversaries and strategic interests, including an enhanced capacity to resist economic sanctions and support proxy conflicts...
No immediate details of what led to release of backpacker Olivier Grondeau were given, and reasons for his detention remain unclear
A French citizen imprisoned in Iran for more than 880 days has been freed, as France and the rest of Europe try to pursue negotiations with Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, wrote online that Olivier Grondeau had been freed, but offered no immediate details of what led to the release, though it came on Nowruz, the Persian new year, when Iran has released prisoners in the past.
Continue reading...From nuclear power plants to Aids protests, the photographer has spent half a century capturing her activist community
Continue reading...A bagpipe and drum band:
SQUID transforms traditional Bagpipe and Drum Band entertainment into a multi-sensory rush of excitement, featuring high energy bagpipes, pop music influences and visually stunning percussion!
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.
We want to hear the impact on your cost of living from rises to the energy price cap and council tax rates
Millions of homes will see their bills rising from April, as increases kick in for the energy price cap and council tax rates.
Energy regulator Ofgem said the price cap on gas and electricity charges will rise by £111 from April to an average of £1,849-a-year for a typical household.
Continue reading...From claiming Ukraine was responsible for the war to incorrect numbers about aid received from the US and Europe, Donald Trump made a number of inaccurate statements while praising the progress made in US-Russia talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Guardian has had a look at his claims
Continue reading...Russia's foreign minister has dismissed the prospect of a place for Europe at talks between the US and Russia to end the fighting in Ukraine. Speaking at a press conference alongside his Serbian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov said: 'If they are going to weasel out some cunning ideas about freezing the conflict, while actually intending – as is their custom, nature and habit – to continue the war, then why should we invite them at all?'
European leaders have been unnerved by the willingness of Donald Trump, the US president, to engage the Kremlin directly over Ukraine and have been attempting to find a place for themselves in the talks
Continue reading...Lots of interesting details in the story:
The US Department of Justice on Wednesday announced the indictment of 12 Chinese individuals accused of more than a decade of hacker intrusions around the world, including eight staffers for the contractor i-Soon, two officials at China’s Ministry of Public Security who allegedly worked with them, and two other alleged hackers who are said to be part of the Chinese hacker group APT27, or Silk Typhoon, which prosecutors say was involved in the US Treasury breach late last year.
[…]
According to prosecutors, the group as a whole has targeted US state and federal agencies, foreign ministries of countries across Asia, Chinese dissidents, US-based media outlets that have criticized the Chinese government, and most recently the US Treasury, which was breached between September and December of last year. An internal Treasury report ...
“I expect the Department of Justice to work within the confines of the law,” one House Democrat said.
The post Dems for Some Reason Expect Trump to Follow the Law on Detention of Mahmoud Khalil appeared first on The Intercept.
Donald Trump said he will label violence against Tesla dealerships domestic terrorism as he appeared with Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO, to show support amid recent anti-Tesla protests and the slump in the company's stock price. Several Tesla vehicles were parked in the driveway of the White House for the US president to pick from, accompanied by Musk and his young son.
Continue reading...The shape of the Trump 2.0 White House has spurred serious concerns about public health and reproductive rights, and left military leaders 'stunned' and former intelligence experts 'appalled'. From a vaccine skeptic in charge of running the department of health, to a wrestling mogul in charge of the country's education, and even a ‘deep state conspiracy theorist’ becoming head of the FBI, the Guardian US live news editor Chris Michael takes us through the six most controversial members, and what their appointments could mean for the country
Continue reading...Stock markets tumbled on Monday as Donald Trump announced tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1.8% and the S&P fell 2.1%
Continue reading...The US president, Donald Trump, denied calling the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a dictator, despite calling him one on his social media platform, Truth Social. Trump was asked by a reporter if he still held that view in a press conference alongside the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, and he replied: 'Did I say that? I can't believe I said that'
Continue reading...
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Europe’s human spaceflight ambitions are reaching new heights, and ESA’s Astronaut Reserve is a key part of this journey. Selected in 2022, these talented individuals are undergoing Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) to ensure they are ready for future missions.
Among these remarkable women from across Europe are Meganne Christian, a materials scientist from the UK, Anthea Comellini, an aerospace engineer from Italy, and Carmen Possnig, a medical doctor from Austria, who recently completed their first ART training block at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany.
Their diverse scientific backgrounds reflect the wide-ranging expertise needed for human spaceflight, whether as part of ESA’s astronaut class, mission planners, or scientists shaping the future of space exploration. Beyond their work with ESA, they are also driving innovation, advancing research, and strengthening the broader space sector. Women play key roles across ESA and beyond, contributing as leaders and experts in these areas.
Meganne, Anthea and Carmen recently completed their first ART training block at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. In this image, they are pictured inside a mockup of the Columbus module, Europe’s permanent laboratory on the International Space Station.
The training covered key areas such as human behaviour and performance to develop teamwork and decision-making skills in high-pressure environments. They also received physical fitness training, scuba certification in ESA’s Neutral Buoyancy Facility, and media training to effectively communicate the importance of space exploration to the public.
In addition to technical and operational skills, they explored fundamental science, including biology experiments conducted on the International Space Station. Their training also includes insights into space policy, mission operations, and the latest advancements in space technology.
While members of the Astronaut Reserve are not yet assigned to specific missions, their training ensures that they are prepared for potential future opportunities through commercial spaceflight
The journey continues in the second half of 2025, when the members of ESA’s Astronaut Reserve will return to EAC for the next phase of ART, further building on the skills and knowledge they have gained.
ESA’s second group of Astronaut Reserve members has successfully completed the first block of their intensive Astronaut Reserve Training (ART) programme. Starting in January 2025, four members of the European Astronaut Reserve—Meganne Christian from the UK, Anthea Comellini from Italy, John McFall from the UK and Carmen Possnig from Austria— tarted their two months training programme at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, honing essential skills required for future space exploration and scientific research.
The parents of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny joined hundreds of mourners at their son's grave on Sunday to mark the anniversary of his death. Navalny died aged 47 on 16 February last year while being held in a jail about 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle, where he had been sentenced to 19 years under a ‘special regime’
Continue reading...As Guardian writers continue to share their go-to comfort films, we asked for your picks, which range from a ghostly sports drama to a Hitchcock thriller
My parents’ favorite, too. So much so they allowed me to watch it on a school night. I loved the arch dialogue (Deborah Kerr), especially the request for “pink champagne” that I used for years to torture my younger sister whenever she wanted to know what I was doing. Why, drinking pink champagne, of course! It’s on Netflix again so am enjoying it for the umpteenth time in all its glorious technicolor. Deepavali70
Continue reading...Nigel Huddleston says local elections ‘will be difficult’ for Conservatives after the ‘high-water mark’ of 2021
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has defended politicians who get involved in entertainment TV.
In an article for the Daily Telegraph, he hit back at Kemi Farage, who used an interview with the paper earlier this week to dismisses Farage as just a reality TV phenomenon.
Having appeal doesn’t mean that people want you running their lives. That’s one of the things that we need to make sure that we remind people.
This isn’t I’m A Celebrity or Strictly Come Dancing. You don’t vote for the person that you’re enjoying watching and then switch off when the show’s over.
Anyway, it’s not as though I’m the first politician to have been prominent in the media. Ronald Reagan combined his early political activities with a film and TV career for 20 years, until the 1960s. When he announced in the 1970s that he wanted to become the US President, everybody said he was a B-Movie actor who stood no chance. These days, American conservatives look back on this two-term leader with a slight sense of awe in terms of his achievements.
And what about Donald Trump? He was a well-known New York property developer from the 1970s onwards but it was his massive success with the reality to show The Apprentice from 2004 that put him in a position where he could win the nomination for the Republican Party.
Kemi Badenoch has a problem. Most members of the public have no opinion of her. Even fewer know what she stands for. I have an idea for her. She could appear on a reality TV show herself. A spell in the I’m a Celebrity… jungle would be perfect. I’ll gladly give her some tips if she wants to sign up for the next series.
Continue reading...About 70 pages of director’s handwritten notes for the New Wave classic were found after more than 60 years
The only known script for Jean-Luc Godard’s seminal New Wave film Breathless (À Bout de Souffle) will be auctioned later this year after coming to light for the first time in more than 60 years.
About 70 pages of Godard’s handwritten notes and synopses of some of the most famous scenes, including the movie’s dramatic opening, were discovered in the estate of the celebrated producer Georges de Beauregard.
Continue reading...With tiresome pseudo-progressive additions that tie the whole thing in knots, this is a waste of estimable entertainers like Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot
That title is a description of the page on which new Hollywood ideas get written. Here is a pointless new live-action musical version of the Snow White myth, a kind of un-Wicked approach to the story and a merch-enabling money machine. Where other movies are playfully reimagining the backstories of famous villains, this one plays it straight, but with carefully curated revisionist tweaks. These are all too obviously agonising and backlash-second-guessing, but knowing that at some basic level the brand identity has to be kept pristine. This is particularly evident in the costume design, with which the wicked witch gets a pointy dark crown and skull-hugging black balaclava and Snow White is lumbered with a supermarket-retail tweenie outfit with puffy-sleeved shoulders. Those otherwise estimable performers Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot are now forced to go through the motions, and they give the dullest performances of their lives.
Traditionally, the heroine’s name refers to her skin, with lips red as blood and hair dark as ebony; now it refers to the snowstorm that accompanied her birth. Zegler’s Snow White had loving parents in the King and Queen but after her mother’s death her father becomes infatuated with a witchy new noblewoman at court; Gadot’s lips are at all times seductively and contemptuously pursed. But later the King simply vanishes from the story and the script ties itself into a few pretzels explaining what is supposed to have happened to him and when. The stepmom-witch keeps Snow White in Cinderella-style serfdom below stairs where the poor child wanly sympathises with the population’s poverty. As Snow White grows up, the magic mirror breaks the bad news about a change in the prettiness-ranking; Snow White is then forced to flee to the forest and stay there once the huntsman has lied to the witch about killing her. And then she meets her seven new best friends …
Continue reading...
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the most popular digital assets today, capturing the attention of cryptocurrency investors, whales and people from around the world. People find it amazing that some users spend thousands or millions of dollars on a single NFT-based image of a monkey or other token, but you can simply take a screenshot for free. So here we share some freuently asked question about NFTs.
NFT stands for non-fungible token, which is a cryptographic token on a blockchain with unique identification codes that distinguish it from other tokens. NFTs are unique and not interchangeable, which means no two NFTs are the same. NFTs can be a unique artwork, GIF, Images, videos, Audio album. in-game items, collectibles etc.
A blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that allows for the secure storage of data. By recording any kind of information—such as bank account transactions, the ownership of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), or Decentralized Finance (DeFi) smart contracts—in one place, and distributing it to many different computers, blockchains ensure that data can’t be manipulated without everyone in the system being aware.
The value of an NFT comes from its ability to be traded freely and securely on the blockchain, which is not possible with other current digital ownership solutionsThe NFT points to its location on the blockchain, but doesn’t necessarily contain the digital property. For example, if you replace one bitcoin with another, you will still have the same thing. If you buy a non-fungible item, such as a movie ticket, it is impossible to replace it with any other movie ticket because each ticket is unique to a specific time and place.
One of the unique characteristics of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is that they can be tokenised to create a digital certificate of ownership that can be bought, sold and traded on the blockchain.
As with crypto-currency, records of who owns what are stored on a ledger that is maintained by thousands of computers around the world. These records can’t be forged because the whole system operates on an open-source network.
NFTs also contain smart contracts—small computer programs that run on the blockchain—that give the artist, for example, a cut of any future sale of the token.
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) aren't cryptocurrencies, but they do use blockchain technology. Many NFTs are based on Ethereum, where the blockchain serves as a ledger for all the transactions related to said NFT and the properties it represents.5) How to make an NFT?
Anyone can create an NFT. All you need is a digital wallet, some ethereum tokens and a connection to an NFT marketplace where you’ll be able to upload and sell your creations
When you purchase a stock in NFT, that purchase is recorded on the blockchain—the bitcoin ledger of transactions—and that entry acts as your proof of ownership.
The value of an NFT varies a lot based on the digital asset up for grabs. People use NFTs to trade and sell digital art, so when creating an NFT, you should consider the popularity of your digital artwork along with historical statistics.
In the year 2021, a digital artist called Pak created an artwork called The Merge. It was sold on the Nifty Gateway NFT market for $91.8 million.
Non-fungible tokens can be used in investment opportunities. One can purchase an NFT and resell it at a profit. Certain NFT marketplaces let sellers of NFTs keep a percentage of the profits from sales of the assets they create.
Many people want to buy NFTs because it lets them support the arts and own something cool from their favorite musicians, brands, and celebrities. NFTs also give artists an opportunity to program in continual royalties if someone buys their work. Galleries see this as a way to reach new buyers interested in art.
There are many places to buy digital assets, like opensea and their policies vary. On top shot, for instance, you sign up for a waitlist that can be thousands of people long. When a digital asset goes on sale, you are occasionally chosen to purchase it.
To mint an NFT token, you must pay some amount of gas fee to process the transaction on the Etherum blockchain, but you can mint your NFT on a different blockchain called Polygon to avoid paying gas fees. This option is available on OpenSea and this simply denotes that your NFT will only be able to trade using Polygon's blockchain and not Etherum's blockchain. Mintable allows you to mint NFTs for free without paying any gas fees.
The answer is no. Non-Fungible Tokens are minted on the blockchain using cryptocurrencies such as Etherum, Solana, Polygon, and so on. Once a Non-Fungible Token is minted, the transaction is recorded on the blockchain and the contract or license is awarded to whoever has that Non-Fungible Token in their wallet.
You can sell your work and creations by attaching a license to it on the blockchain, where its ownership can be transferred. This lets you get exposure without losing full ownership of your work. Some of the most successful projects include Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yatch Club NFTs, SandBox, World of Women and so on. These NFT projects have gained popularity globally and are owned by celebrities and other successful entrepreneurs. Owning one of these NFTs gives you an automatic ticket to exclusive business meetings and life-changing connections.
That’s a wrap. Hope you guys found this article enlightening. I just answer some question with my limited knowledge about NFTs. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comment section below. Also I have a question for you, Is bitcoin an NFTs? let me know in The comment section below
Dan Ives warns company is in ‘brand tornado crisis moment’ as protests are planned at car showrooms
Tesla and Elon Musk are embroiled in a “brand tornado crisis moment” and the electric carmaker’s chief executive needs to cut back on his work for Donald Trump to stem the damage, one of the company’s biggest supporters has said.
The warning came as Tesla announced a recall of 46,000 Cybertrucks in the US on Thursday to fix an exterior panel that could detach while driving.
Continue reading...Prostate cancer rates are among the world’s highest in Guadeloupe and Martinique, where chlordecone was widely used on plantations for more than 20 years
Tiburce Cléon was just a teenager when he began working in the vast banana plantations of Guadeloupe. For five decades, he toiled long hours in the fields under the Caribbean sun. Then, a few months after retiring in 2021, he was given a diagnosis that many of his colleagues had received before him: prostate cancer.
Guadeloupe and Martinique, two French islands in the Caribbean, have some of the highest rates of prostate cancer in the world. One of the culprits is exposure to an extremely toxic and persistent pesticide called chlordecone. This fine white powder was widely used at banana plantations on the islands from 1972 to 1993 to combat the banana weevil, a pest that ravaged crops.
Continue reading...German coal giant is one of world’s biggest polluters and should contribute to flood defences, says farmer in Peru
A Peruvian farmer’s home is in “concrete danger” from climate change, a court has heard, in the resumption of a decade-long legal battle to get German coal giant RWE to contribute to flood defences in the Andes.
Lawyers for Saúl Luciano Lliuya, who say his home is threatened by rapidly melting glaciers, told the upper regional court in Hamm on Wednesday that the risk of extreme flooding represented a breach of civil law.
Continue reading...‘Manosphere’ influencers profit from pushing sexist ideas alongside more innocuous lifestyle advice
While Andrew Tate has become a household name for his brand of misogyny mixed with get-rich-quick tips, he is far from the only online influencer promoting dangerous ideas alongside more innocuous lifestyle advice.
Gareth Southgate highlighted the role of “callous, manipulative and toxic influencers” in shaping problematic worldviews among young men and in harming their mental health. Here are some of the people he could be referring to.
Continue reading...Sir Gareth Southgate is right to warn that social media is trapping boys in toxic ideals. It’s a crisis demanding real-world solutions
Boys used to be raised by their parents. Now, as they grow up, an increasing number are coming under the influence of toxic online figures who push a hollow, misogynistic version of masculinity. This isn’t helping their character or their relationships. But it does work for a digital world where worth is measured in money, status and appearance. Girls have long seen their mental health suffer from social media comparisons and phone addiction. But that doesn’t make it any less troubling now that boys are being similarly affected.
In his Richard Dimbleby lecture for the BBC, Sir Gareth Southgate made a cogent case that young men are being failed by modern society – not just by absent role models, but by a culture that doesn’t acknowledge failure and vulnerability while exposing them to damaging digital influences. Without real-life guidance, they can withdraw, becoming reluctant to talk or unable to express their emotions. Boys can fall into an unhealthy world of gaming, gambling and pornography.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Continue reading...Exclusive: new group of predominantly male MPs urge party to speak to men directly to tackle toxic masculinity
Dozens of Labour MPs have joined forces in an effort to steer young men away from “toxic influencers” and the manosphere with positive messages about fatherhood and the promise of better paternity rights, the Guardian has learned.
The new group of predominantly male MPs, many with seats in “red wall” constituencies, are urging Labour to speak to men directly, warning that by “leaving a void” they are allowing figures on the right to dominate the discourse around masculinity.
Continue reading...For generations, Black women have been put at risk by a hair care industry that evades regulation. But is change on the way? Plus: the history of Black US postal workers
Hello and welcome to The Long Wave. This week I look into the emerging health hazards associated with styling Black hair, and how for generations Black women have been let down by legislation, social pressure and the forever shifting demands of the beauty industry.
Continue reading...Lying between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lake Kivu has been a silent witness to more than 30 years of conflict between the two countries. The lake, in a region seismically unstable and dotted with active volcanoes, contains high levels of potentially deadly methane and CO2 – but for many of the nearly two million people who live on its shores, daily struggles are the more pressing concern
The potential layoffs listed in documents reviewed by Democrats are part of the White House'’s broader push to shrink the federal government
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to eliminate its scientific research office and could fire more than 1,000 scientists and other employees who help provide the scientific foundation for rules safeguarding human health and ecosystems from environmental pollutants.
As many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists – 75% of the research programme’s staff – could be laid off, according to documents reviewed by Democratic staff on the house committee on science, space and technology.
Continue reading...Ana Toni also criticises the UK’s plans to slash overseas aid to fund defence spending
Countries looking to boost their national security through rearmament or increased defence spending must also bolster their climate efforts or face more wars in the future, one of the leaders of the next UN climate summit has warned.
Some countries could decide to include climate spending in their defence budgets, suggested Ana Toni, Brazil’s chief executive of the Cop30 summit.
Continue reading...This week: how you’re ridding your life of plastic; refillable beauty products; and top chefs on their favourite gadgets
• Don’t get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here
When we asked readers of the Filter to tell us how they use less plastic, it’s fair to say few were quite as dedicated as Helen Mann. “I only buy Clipper teabags [which are plastic-free],” she told us, “and I grow my own nettles, nasturtiums, dandelions and mint, then dehydrate them and use the leaves in organic cotton teabags.
“I have replaced plastic soap dispensers with glass ones, and other household items such as clothes horses with wooden ones. My washing-up bowl is stainless steel. I buy bamboo dish cloths and use wooden brushes to wash up. I use aluminium-free bicarbonate of soda and distilled vinegar to clean the house; fresh lemon juice and bicarb for the floors.
‘It just wasn’t very buttery’: the best (and worst) unsalted butter, tasted and rated
The best steam cleaners and mops for a sparkling home, tested
Everything you need to make great sourdough – and the kit you can do without
A century of chic: the best Chanel-style jackets to rival the real thing
The best rice cookers for gloriously fluffy grains at home: nine tried and tested favourites
Continue reading...Police records obtained by The Intercept show Dataminr tracked Gaza-related protests and other constitutionally protected speech.
The post LAPD Surveilled Gaza Protests Using This Social Media Tool appeared first on The Intercept.
SEMrush and Ahrefs are among
the most popular tools in the SEO industry. Both companies have been in
business for years and have thousands of customers per month.
If you're a professional SEO or trying to do digital
marketing on your own, at some point you'll likely consider using a tool to
help with your efforts. Ahrefs and SEMrush are two names that will likely
appear on your shortlist.
In this guide, I'm going to help you learn more about these SEO tools and how to choose the one that's best for your purposes.
What is SEMrush?
SEMrush is a popular SEO tool with a wide range of
features—it's the leading competitor research service for online marketers.
SEMrush's SEO Keyword Magic tool offers over 20 billion Google-approved
keywords, which are constantly updated and it's the largest keyword database.
The program was developed in 2007 as SeoQuake is a
small Firefox extension
Features
Ahrefs is a leading SEO platform that offers a set of
tools to grow your search traffic, research your competitors, and monitor your
niche. The company was founded in 2010, and it has become a popular choice
among SEO tools. Ahrefs has a keyword index of over 10.3 billion keywords and
offers accurate and extensive backlink data updated every 15-30 minutes and it
is the world's most extensive backlink index database.
Features
Direct Comparisons: Ahrefs vs SEMrush
Now that you know a little more about each tool, let's
take a look at how they compare. I'll analyze each tool to see how they differ
in interfaces, keyword research resources, rank tracking, and competitor
analysis.
User Interface
Ahrefs and SEMrush both offer comprehensive information
and quick metrics regarding your website's SEO performance. However, Ahrefs
takes a bit more of a hands-on approach to getting your account fully set up,
whereas SEMrush's simpler dashboard can give you access to the data you need
quickly.
In this section, we provide a brief overview of the elements
found on each dashboard and highlight the ease with which you can complete
tasks.
AHREFS
The Ahrefs dashboard is less cluttered than that of
SEMrush, and its primary menu is at the very top of the page, with a search bar
designed only for entering URLs.
Additional features of the Ahrefs platform include:
SEMRUSH
When you log into the SEMrush Tool, you will find four
main modules. These include information about your domains, organic keyword
analysis, ad keyword, and site traffic.
You'll also find some other options like
Both Ahrefs and SEMrush have user-friendly dashboards,
but Ahrefs is less cluttered and easier to navigate. On the other hand, SEMrush
offers dozens of extra tools, including access to customer support resources.
When deciding on which dashboard to use, consider what
you value in the user interface, and test out both.
If you're looking to track your website's search engine
ranking, rank tracking features can help. You can also use them to monitor your
competitors.
Let's take a look at Ahrefs vs. SEMrush to see which
tool does a better job.
The Ahrefs Rank Tracker is simpler to use. Just type in
the domain name and keywords you want to analyze, and it spits out a report
showing you the search engine results page (SERP) ranking for each keyword you
enter.
Rank Tracker looks at the ranking performance of
keywords and compares them with the top rankings for those keywords. Ahrefs
also offers:
You'll see metrics that help you understand your
visibility, traffic, average position, and keyword difficulty.
It gives you an idea of whether a keyword would be
profitable to target or not.
SEMRush offers a tool called Position Tracking. This
tool is a project tool—you must set it up as a new project. Below are a few of
the most popular features of the SEMrush Position Tracking tool:
All subscribers are given regular data updates and
mobile search rankings upon subscribing
The platform provides opportunities to track several
SERP features, including Local tracking.
Intuitive reports allow you to track statistics for the
pages on your website, as well as the keywords used in those pages.
Identify pages that may be competing with each other
using the Cannibalization report.
Ahrefs is a more user-friendly option. It takes seconds
to enter a domain name and keywords. From there, you can quickly decide whether
to proceed with that keyword or figure out how to rank better for other
keywords.
SEMrush allows you to check your mobile rankings and
ranking updates daily, which is something Ahrefs does not offer. SEMrush also
offers social media rankings, a tool you won't find within the Ahrefs platform.
Both are good which one do you like let me know in the comment.
Keyword research is closely related to rank tracking,
but it's used for deciding which keywords you plan on using for future content
rather than those you use now.
When it comes to SEO, keyword research is the most
important thing to consider when comparing the two platforms.
The Ahrefs Keyword Explorer provides you with thousands
of keyword ideas and filters search results based on the chosen search engine.
Ahrefs supports several features, including:
SEMrush's Keyword Magic Tool has over 20 billion
keywords for Google. You can type in any keyword you want, and a list of
suggested keywords will appear.
The Keyword Magic Tool also lets you to:
Both of these tools offer keyword research features and
allow users to break down complicated tasks into something that can be
understood by beginners and advanced users alike.
If you're interested in keyword suggestions, SEMrush
appears to have more keyword suggestions than Ahrefs does. It also continues to
add new features, like the Keyword Gap tool and SERP Questions recommendations.
Both platforms offer competitor analysis tools,
eliminating the need to come up with keywords off the top of your head. Each
tool is useful for finding keywords that will be useful for your competition so
you know they will be valuable to you.
Ahrefs' domain comparison tool lets you compare up to five websites (your website and four competitors) side-by-side.it also shows you how your site is ranked against others with metrics such as backlinks, domain ratings, and more.
Use the Competing Domains section to see a list of your
most direct competitors, and explore how many keywords matches your competitors
have.
To find more information about your competitor, you can
look at the Site Explorer and Content Explorer tools and type in their URL
instead of yours.
SEMrush provides a variety of insights into your
competitors' marketing tactics. The platform enables you to research your
competitors effectively. It also offers several resources for competitor
analysis including:
Traffic Analytics helps you identify where your
audience comes from, how they engage with your site, what devices visitors use
to view your site, and how your audiences overlap with other websites.
SEMrush's Organic Research examines your website's
major competitors and shows their organic search rankings, keywords they are
ranking for, and even if they are ranking for any (SERP) features and more.
The Market Explorer search field allows you to type in
a domain and lists websites or articles similar to what you entered. Market
Explorer also allows users to perform in-depth data analytics on These
companies and markets.
SEMrush wins here because it has more tools dedicated to
competitor analysis than Ahrefs. However, Ahrefs offers a lot of functionality
in this area, too. It takes a combination of both tools to gain an advantage
over your competition.
When it comes to keyword data research, you will become
confused about which one to choose.
Consider choosing Ahrefs if you
Consider SEMrush if you:
Both tools are great. Choose the one which meets your
requirements and if you have any experience using either Ahrefs or SEMrush let
me know in the comment section which works well for you.
Experts warn new memo could deter families from accessing food assistance, despite no changes to eligibility rules
The Trump administration is now using popular anti-hunger programs, including food assistance and school lunch, as part of its attack against immigrants in the US – a move many say will prevent large numbers of families, especially children, from getting the food benefits they’re eligible for.
In a recent memo, agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins told senior staff at the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS): “It is essential to use all available legal authority to end any incentives in FNS benefit programs that encourage illegal immigration.”
Continue reading...Prostate cancer rates are among the world’s highest in Guadeloupe and Martinique, where chlordecone was widely used on plantations for more than 20 years
Tiburce Cléon was just a teenager when he began working in the vast banana plantations of Guadeloupe. For five decades, he toiled long hours in the fields under the Caribbean sun. Then, a few months after retiring in 2021, he was given a diagnosis that many of his colleagues had received before him: prostate cancer.
Guadeloupe and Martinique, two French islands in the Caribbean, have some of the highest rates of prostate cancer in the world. One of the culprits is exposure to an extremely toxic and persistent pesticide called chlordecone. This fine white powder was widely used at banana plantations on the islands from 1972 to 1993 to combat the banana weevil, a pest that ravaged crops.
Continue reading...Intelligence reports suggest Călin Georgescu benefited from suspected Russian interference, but the annulment of his first-round win has left many angry and confused
There have been four presidents of Romania since the 1989 revolution that terminated the brutal 20-year rule – and, indeed, the life – of the communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. Constantin listed them all.
“Iliescu, Constantinescu, Iliescu again,” the retired security guard said, counting on his fingers. “Băsescu, then Iohannis. And for what, exactly? Nothing has changed. Nothing, in 35 years. Pay and pensions are too low. Food and fuel cost too much. Something’s got to give.”
Continue reading...Long before this week’s deadly strikes, Israel failed to abide by the terms of its ceasefire deal with Hamas.
The post Israel Violated the Gaza Ceasefire From the Start. Why Won’t the Media Tell You That? appeared first on The Intercept.
Having scoured the eastern Med and Balkans for the definitive take on this delectable stuffed filo snack, our resident perfectionist unveils her ultimate recipe
“Few dishes,” according to food writer Zeynep Betul, “embody the spirit of Turkish cuisine as perfectly as börek”. This family of crunchy, flaky pastries in various shapes and fillings are “immensely popular” throughout the country, says award-winning author Özlem Warren: “Even the fussiest child,” she assures readers of her book Özlem’s Turkish Table, “will … ask for seconds.”
So foundational do börek seem to be to Turkish life that a conservative female politician made headlines a few years ago for a tweet claiming that, if a woman didn’t know how to make them, “her family is doomed to disintegration”. In reality, as others were quick to point out, though börek aren’t difficult to prepare (and, with practice, perfect), many Turkish women, as well as men, choose to buy them instead, without obvious domestic repercussions. As journalist Belgin Akaltan puts it: “You can make börek for your own pleasure, for your own pastime. Just for fun. For your kids, for your husband, for your friends, for your guests, for your lesbian partner, but do not put it in the middle of your life as an objective, unless you are a professional cook.” They are indeed fun to make – but, I must concede, even more fun to eat.
Continue reading...Flying lobsters, cuttlefish ink and stargazy pie … Jon Tonks got on his kayak to spend 18 months photographing the incredible fishing communities around England’s south-west coast
Continue reading...This week: how you’re ridding your life of plastic; refillable beauty products; and top chefs on their favourite gadgets
• Don’t get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here
When we asked readers of the Filter to tell us how they use less plastic, it’s fair to say few were quite as dedicated as Helen Mann. “I only buy Clipper teabags [which are plastic-free],” she told us, “and I grow my own nettles, nasturtiums, dandelions and mint, then dehydrate them and use the leaves in organic cotton teabags.
“I have replaced plastic soap dispensers with glass ones, and other household items such as clothes horses with wooden ones. My washing-up bowl is stainless steel. I buy bamboo dish cloths and use wooden brushes to wash up. I use aluminium-free bicarbonate of soda and distilled vinegar to clean the house; fresh lemon juice and bicarb for the floors.
‘It just wasn’t very buttery’: the best (and worst) unsalted butter, tasted and rated
The best steam cleaners and mops for a sparkling home, tested
Everything you need to make great sourdough – and the kit you can do without
A century of chic: the best Chanel-style jackets to rival the real thing
The best rice cookers for gloriously fluffy grains at home: nine tried and tested favourites
Continue reading...A weekly email from Yotam Ottolenghi, Meera Sodha, Felicity Cloake and Rachel Roddy, featuring the latest recipes and seasonal eating ideas
Each week we’ll send you an exclusive newsletter from our star food writers. We’ll also send you the latest recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi, Nigel Slater, Meera Sodha and all our star cooks, stand-out food features and seasonal eating inspiration, plus restaurant reviews from Grace Dent and Jay Rayner.
Sign up below to start receiving the best of our culinary journalism in one mouth-watering weekly email.
Continue reading...Plastics are everywhere, but their smallest fragments – nanoplastics – are making their way into the deepest parts of our bodies, including our brains and breast milk.
Scientists have now captured the first visual evidence of these particles inside human cells, raising urgent questions about their impact on our health. From the food we eat to the air we breathe, how are nanoplastics infiltrating our systems?
Neelam Tailor looks into the invisible invasion happening inside us all
Continue reading...Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, direct to your inbox every Thursday
Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday
Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you
Continue reading... |
Imagine a world in which you can do transactions and many other things without having to give your personal information. A world in which you don’t need to rely on banks or governments anymore. Sounds amazing, right? That’s exactly what blockchain technology allows us to do.
It’s like your computer’s hard drive. blockchain is a technology that lets you store data in digital blocks, which are connected together like links in a chain.
Blockchain technology was originally invented in 1991 by two mathematicians, Stuart Haber and W. Scot Stornetta. They first proposed the system to ensure that timestamps could not be tampered with.
A few years later, in 1998, software developer Nick Szabo proposed using a similar kind of technology to secure a digital payments system he called “Bit Gold.” However, this innovation was not adopted until Satoshi Nakamoto claimed to have invented the first Blockchain and Bitcoin.
A blockchain is a distributed database shared between the nodes of a computer network. It saves information in digital format. Many people first heard of blockchain technology when they started to look up information about bitcoin.
Blockchain is used in cryptocurrency systems to ensure secure, decentralized records of transactions.
Blockchain allowed people to guarantee the fidelity and security of a record of data without the need for a third party to ensure accuracy.
To understand how a blockchain works, Consider these basic steps:
Let’s get to know more about the blockchain.
Blockchain records digital information and distributes it across the network without changing it. The information is distributed among many users and stored in an immutable, permanent ledger that can't be changed or destroyed. That's why blockchain is also called "Distributed Ledger Technology" or DLT.
Here’s how it works:
And that’s the beauty of it! The process may seem complicated, but it’s done in minutes with modern technology. And because technology is advancing rapidly, I expect things to move even more quickly than ever.
Even though blockchain is integral to cryptocurrency, it has other applications. For example, blockchain can be used for storing reliable data about transactions. Many people confuse blockchain with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum.
Blockchain already being adopted by some big-name companies, such as Walmart, AIG, Siemens, Pfizer, and Unilever. For example, IBM's Food Trust uses blockchain to track food's journey before reaching its final destination.
Although some of you may consider this practice excessive, food suppliers and manufacturers adhere to the policy of tracing their products because bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella have been found in packaged foods. In addition, there have been isolated cases where dangerous allergens such as peanuts have accidentally been introduced into certain products.
Tracing and identifying the sources of an outbreak is a challenging task that can take months or years. Thanks to the Blockchain, however, companies now know exactly where their food has been—so they can trace its location and prevent future outbreaks.
Blockchain technology allows systems to react much faster in the event of a hazard. It also has many other uses in the modern world.
Blockchain technology is safe, even if it’s public. People can access the technology using an internet connection.
Have you ever been in a situation where you had all your data stored at one place and that one secure place got compromised? Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to prevent your data from leaking out even when the security of your storage systems is compromised?
Blockchain technology provides a way of avoiding this situation by using multiple computers at different locations to store information about transactions. If one computer experiences problems with a transaction, it will not affect the other nodes.
Instead, other nodes will use the correct information to cross-reference your incorrect node. This is called “Decentralization,” meaning all the information is stored in multiple places.
Blockchain guarantees your data's authenticity—not just its accuracy, but also its irreversibility. It can also be used to store data that are difficult to register, like legal contracts, state identifications, or a company's product inventory.
Blockchain has many advantages and disadvantages.
I’ll answer the most frequently asked questions about blockchain in this section.
Blockchain is not a cryptocurrency but a technology that makes cryptocurrencies possible. It's a digital ledger that records every transaction seamlessly.
Yes, blockchain can be theoretically hacked, but it is a complicated task to be achieved. A network of users constantly reviews it, which makes hacking the blockchain difficult.
Coinbase Global is currently the biggest blockchain company in the world. The company runs a commendable infrastructure, services, and technology for the digital currency economy.
Blockchain is a decentralized technology. It’s a chain of distributed ledgers connected with nodes. Each node can be any electronic device. Thus, one owns blockhain.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, which is powered by Blockchain technology while Blockchain is a distributed ledger of cryptocurrency
Generally a database is a collection of data which can be stored and organized using a database management system. The people who have access to the database can view or edit the information stored there. The client-server network architecture is used to implement databases. whereas a blockchain is a growing list of records, called blocks, stored in a distributed system. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, timestamp and transaction information. Modification of data is not allowed due to the design of the blockchain. The technology allows decentralized control and eliminates risks of data modification by other parties.
Blockchain has a wide spectrum of applications and, over the next 5-10 years, we will likely see it being integrated into all sorts of industries. From finance to healthcare, blockchain could revolutionize the way we store and share data. Although there is some hesitation to adopt blockchain systems right now, that won't be the case in 2022-2023 (and even less so in 2026). Once people become more comfortable with the technology and understand how it can work for them, owners, CEOs and entrepreneurs alike will be quick to leverage blockchain technology for their own gain. Hope you like this article if you have any question let me know in the comments section
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