Physicists at Rutgers University have discovered a quantum state that doesn't fit into solid, liquid, gas, or plasma states. According to a report in Science Advances, the finding emerged not from a single material but from the boundary where two unusual compounds meet. The study involved combining Eu₂Ir₂O₇ with Dy₂Ti₂O₇. Where Eu₂Ir₂O₇ act as a Weyl semimetal, where electrical conduction occurs through Weyl fermions, an exotic type of particle-like electronic excitation, while Dy₂Ti₂O₇ acts as a magnetic insulator known as spin ice, in which magnetic moments arrange themselves in a pattern similar to how hydrogen atoms form ice. Both compounds are magnetic pyrochlores and have been studied extensively on their own; however, they had never been examined together until this study, done by first author Tsung-Chi Wu, who completed his doctorate at Rutgers in June.<h3>Kondo coupling</h3>The researchers recorded a sixfold pattern in the electrical conductivity of the material at extremely low temperatures and high magnetic fields, with the effect of weakening along six specific directions. They considered the phenomenon to be Kondo coupling, noting that the shift of the magnetic state of the spin ice alters how electrons spread within the Weyl semimetal's surface, also identified as Fermi-arc states. As the magnetic field advances further, that sixfold pattern also collapses into a twofold one, calling it a rotational symmetry breaking, pointing to a many-body state driven by interactions among large numbers of particles as compared to individual ones. Building the atoms-thick heterostructure required a specially designed instrument, the Q-DiP (Quantum Phenomena Discovery Platform), which was developed by Chakhalian's team following four years of prior experimentation. The bulk of the recent measurements were conducted at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida, where extremely low temperatures and powerful magnetic fields enabled the observations to be made. Meanwhile, Jedediah Pixley's theoretical group, which included postdoctoral researcher Yueqing Chang, spent over two years developing models to interpret the experimental findings. The results indicate that interfaces between different materials can give rise to physics not observed in either material individually—a principle that researchers believe could pave the way for new methods of controlling electronic and magnetic properties.

The researchers recorded a sixfold pattern in the electrical conductivity of the material at extremely low temperatures and high magnetic fields, with the effect of weakening along six specific directions.

Physicists at Rutgers University have discovered a quantum state that doesn't fit into solid, liquid, gas, or plasma states. According to a report in Science Advances, the finding emerged not from a single material but from the boundary where two unusual compounds meet. The study involved combining Eu₂Ir₂O₇ with Dy₂Ti₂O₇. Where Eu₂Ir₂O₇ act as a Weyl semimetal, where electrical conduction occurs through Weyl fermions, an exotic type of particle-like electronic excitation, while Dy₂Ti₂O₇ acts as a magnetic insulator known as spin ice, in which magnetic moments arrange themselves in a pattern similar to how hydrogen atoms form ice. Both compounds are magnetic pyrochlores and have been studied extensively on their own; however, they had never been examined together until this study, done by first author Tsung-Chi Wu, who completed his doctorate at Rutgers in June. Kondo coupling The researchers recorded a sixfold pattern in the electrical conductivity of the material at extremely low temperatures and high magnetic fields, with the effect of weakening along six specific directions. They considered the phenomenon to be Kondo coupling, noting that the shift of the magnetic state of the spin ice alters how electrons spread within the Weyl semimetal's surface, also identified as Fermi-arc states. As the magnetic field advances further, that sixfold pattern also collapses into a twofold one, calling it a rotational symmetry breaking, pointing to a many-body state driven by interactions among large numbers of particles as compared to individual ones. Building the atoms-thick heterostructure required a specially designed instrument, the Q-DiP (Quantum Phenomena Discovery Platform), which was developed by Chakhalian's team following four years of prior experimentation. The bulk of the recent measurements were conducted at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida, where extremely low temperatures and powerful magnetic fields enabled the observations to be made. Meanwhile, Jedediah Pixley's theoretical group, which included postdoctoral researcher Yueqing Chang, spent over two years developing models to interpret the experimental findings. The results indicate that interfaces between different materials can give rise to physics not observed in either material individually—a principle that researchers believe could pave the way for new methods of controlling electronic and magnetic properties.

The researchers recorded a sixfold pattern in the electrical conductivity of the material at extremely low temperatures and high magnetic fields, with the effect of weakening along six specific directions.

Beyond solid, liquid, gas: Scientists find new state of matter where two exotic materials meet

Millions across Europe are looking to the skies as the 2026 total solar eclipse creates a spectacular celestial event across parts of the Arctic, Greenland, Iceland and Spain.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves directly between Earth and the Sun, completely blocking the Sun’s disc for observers within the narrow path of totality. The Moon’s shadow temporarily darkens the sky, creating an extraordinary daytime spectacle.

At maximum eclipse, totality is expected to last around 2 minutes and 18 seconds. The rare event has attracted huge crowds, with communities across Europe turning into viewing zones.

The eclipse has also sparked a surge in demand for specialised eclipse glasses, with pharmacies, opticians and retailers reporting strong sales and some locations running out of stock.

Total Solar Eclipse 2026: Europe Witnesses Rare Celestial Spectacle After 20 Years

Scientists are turning to an unlikely ally beneath the ocean surface: sharks.

Researchers at the University of Delaware are fitting sharks with tiny CTD tags that measure temperature, salinity and depth as the animals travel through the Atlantic Ocean.

When the sharks return to the surface, the tags transmit their data to satellites, transforming their natural movements into valuable ocean observations.

Scientists hope these measurements could provide information from parts of the ocean that are difficult and expensive to monitor using conventional methods. The data could eventually help researchers better understand the ocean conditions that influence hurricane development, intensity and movement.

Sharks Become Ocean Sensors | Scientists Explore New Way to Predict Hurricanes Using Shark Movements

Scientists are turning to an unexpected ally in the fight to better understand hurricanes and changing ocean conditions — sharks.

Researchers at the University of Delaware are fitting sharks with tiny CTD tags that measure temperature, salinity and depth as the animals move through the ocean. When the sharks return to the surface, the devices transmit their collected data to satellites, transforming their natural movements into valuable ocean observations.

The research will initially focus on the North Atlantic, where scientists hope highly migratory sharks can reach deep and remote parts of the ocean that are difficult and expensive to monitor using conventional methods.

 Scientists to Turn Sharks into Ocean Sensors & Hurrican Detectors

Superbugs are a big health hazard resulting in 4.95 million deaths on average per year. Now, a superbug named Candida Auris has spread to 23 U.S. states. It has come under lens as it can hide in a person's hair follicles for months without any symptoms.

Superbug That Can Hide in Your Hair Spreads to 23 U.S. States | GRAVITAS 

Artificial intelligence is transforming healthcare, accelerating drug discovery, improving disease detection, and helping develop vaccines faster than ever before. But a groundbreaking new study has revealed another capability that is raising serious questions worldwide.

Scientists have successfully used AI to design virus genomes under tightly controlled laboratory conditions. Researchers say the goal was to improve virus surveillance, vaccine research, and scientific understanding—not to create dangerous pathogens. However, the breakthrough has sparked concerns about biosecurity and the potential misuse of advanced AI in synthetic biology.

AI Designs Viruses? Scientists Reveal Shocking Breakthrough | Medical Revolution or Global Threat?

Scientists have captured the most detailed images ever taken of the Sun's surface, revealing extraordinary patterns and powerful activity hidden from Earth. Using the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, researchers observed rare swirling structures linked to the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability.

The discovery was made while testing the telescope's advanced capabilities, surprising scientists who described the images as unlike anything they had seen before. These observations could help researchers better understand how the Sun works, its changing activity, and its impact on Earth.

Scientists Capture Unprecedented Images of Sun's Surface | Never-Before-Seen Solar Activity Revealed

A groundbreaking archaeological and genetic study has uncovered a previously unknown Himalayan population in Ladakh's Kargil region, offering remarkable new insights into ancient human migration across Asia.

Scientists analyzed DNA from 10 individuals discovered inside the Old Lady Spider Cave, located nearly 4,000 meters above sea level. The remains date back approximately 2,500 years, while researchers believe the population first emerged through the mixing of Tibetan and North Indian ancestry around 2,800 years ago—centuries before the rise of the Tibetan Empire.

The study also identified a third genetic component linked to Inner Asia, although researchers have not yet determined its exact origin.

Ancient DNA Discovery In Ladakh Rewrites Himalayan History | Lost Population Found

Can reducing sugar intake during early childhood lower the risk of dementia later in life?

A new study published in the journal Neurology suggests that limiting sugar consumption during the first two years of life may be linked to a significantly lower risk of developing dementia in adulthood.

Researchers from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology analyzed data from more than 64,000 people in the United Kingdom, comparing those born during and after the era of sugar rationing. The findings indicate that individuals exposed to lower sugar intake early in life had a 21–23% lower risk of dementia, with some cases delayed by an average of 2.6 years.

However, experts caution that this is an observational study, meaning it identifies an association rather than proving that sugar directly causes or prevents dementia.

Can Eating Less Sugar in Childhood Reduce Dementia Risk? New Study Reveals Surprising Link

Could Viagra, the widely used drug for erectile dysfunction, become part of the fight against cancer?

A new study suggests that sildenafil, commonly known by its brand name Viagra, may help slow the spread of cancer by limiting the ability of cancer cells to use cholesterol—an essential component that helps them migrate and form new tumors.

Researchers say the drug's anti-metastatic effects could become even stronger when combined with statins, which reduce cholesterol production. The findings, published in the journal Cancer Research, also indicate that patients taking sildenafil showed improved survival rates.

While the research is promising, scientists emphasize that more clinical studies are needed before Viagra can be recommended as a cancer treatment.

Viagra May Help Fight Cancer Spread? Scientists Discover Promising New Use for Sildenafil

Under the surface of the Pacific Ocean, from Sumatra and Java in the west to Chile in the east, lightning bolts have been seen under the surface. They are not dependent on storms and quickly vanish, just like the lightning in the sky. The phenomenon in the Ring of Fire is known as te lapa, or "the flashing." However, scientists are still trying to figure out what causes them. Experts say that ancient Polynesian wayfinders used these bolts of lightning in the seas to navigate.&nbsp;Cultural anthropologist Marianne George is one of the few to see them in the Ring of Fire at the isolated island of Taumako in the Solomon Islands. She describes them as "a torch that was lit and instantly blown out." Marianne also noticed that they emerged from submerged land, possibly why they used them to locate land.&nbsp;&nbsp;Marianne made multiple trips to Taumako to try to understand the origin of te lapa. She published a study in Time and Mind in 2013, in which she stated that researchers are looking at bioluminescence and electrical/magnetic phenomena to figure out what causes te lapa.<h2>Current technology cannot understand the lightning bolts</h2>Marianne also admits in the study that current scientific tools might not be advanced enough to measure or detect it, or researchers simply don't have access to the gear needed out at sea. Later, she hypothesised that the constant tectonic shifts in the Ring of Fire that cause volcanic eruptions in the belt could trigger electromagnetic emissions from the islands, creating the phantom lights that appear like lightning.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/scientist-blames-dark-matter-at-centre-of-milky-way-for-mass-extinctions-on-earth-1785246607054">Scientist finds a pattern to Earth's mass extinctions, and it's hiding in deep space</a>&nbsp;However, there are certain things that have been ruled out as the source. Stars, satellites, and any other cosmic event are not responsible for this occurrence. St. Elmo’s Fire, the bluish-purple plasma, remained a contender, but soon scientists figured out that it cannot occur underwater. Submersibles detected voltage spikes around hydrothermal vents and volcanoes on the Pacific floor, triggering theories about electrical discharges. But since saltwater is a strong conductor, any electrical charge would not build up.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/scientists-stumbled-upon-four-jet-black-eggs-20-000-feet-below-ocean-they-turned-out-to-be-1752050826299">Scientists stumbled upon four pitch-black eggs 20,000 feet below ocean. They turned out to be…</a><h2>The mystery of lightning in the ocean remains unsolved</h2>For now, experts think that plate tectonics and strange conditions in the deep sea could be causing this lightning in the Pacific. Harvard professor and researcher John Huth said, "There is currently no definitive explanation of the origin of te lapa." He added, "One possibility is that it is the byproduct of fish darting in a patch of sea that is rich in dinoflagellates (microorganisms that glow in the dark), which emit light in response to pressure waves." Further research is required to figure out if they play a role in it. Until then, the flashes of lightning remain a mystery.

Lightning should not occur under the ocean, but this is exactly what happens in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Ancient people used them to navigate in the dark. Scientists have tried to explain them for decades, but have yet to solve the mystery.

Under the surface of the Pacific Ocean, from Sumatra and Java in the west to Chile in the east, lightning bolts have been seen under the surface. They are not dependent on storms and quickly vanish, just like the lightning in the sky. The phenomenon in the Ring of Fire is known as te lapa, or "the flashing." However, scientists are still trying to figure out what causes them. Experts say that ancient Polynesian wayfinders used these bolts of lightning in the seas to navigate. Cultural anthropologist Marianne George is one of the few to see them in the Ring of Fire at the isolated island of Taumako in the Solomon Islands. She describes them as "a torch that was lit and instantly blown out." Marianne also noticed that they emerged from submerged land, possibly why they used them to locate land. Marianne made multiple trips to Taumako to try to understand the origin of te lapa. She published a study in Time and Mind in 2013, in which she stated that researchers are looking at bioluminescence and electrical/magnetic phenomena to figure out what causes te lapa. Current technology cannot understand the lightning bolts Marianne also admits in the study that current scientific tools might not be advanced enough to measure or detect it, or researchers simply don't have access to the gear needed out at sea. Later, she hypothesised that the constant tectonic shifts in the Ring of Fire that cause volcanic eruptions in the belt could trigger electromagnetic emissions from the islands, creating the phantom lights that appear like lightning. Also Read: Scientist finds a pattern to Earth's mass extinctions, and it's hiding in deep space However, there are certain things that have been ruled out as the source. Stars, satellites, and any other cosmic event are not responsible for this occurrence. St. Elmo’s Fire, the bluish-purple plasma, remained a contender, but soon scientists figured out that it cannot occur underwater. Submersibles detected voltage spikes around hydrothermal vents and volcanoes on the Pacific floor, triggering theories about electrical discharges. But since saltwater is a strong conductor, any electrical charge would not build up. Also Read: Scientists stumbled upon four pitch-black eggs 20,000 feet below ocean. They turned out to be… The mystery of lightning in the ocean remains unsolved For now, experts think that plate tectonics and strange conditions in the deep sea could be causing this lightning in the Pacific. Harvard professor and researcher John Huth said, "There is currently no definitive explanation of the origin of te lapa." He added, "One possibility is that it is the byproduct of fish darting in a patch of sea that is rich in dinoflagellates (microorganisms that glow in the dark), which emit light in response to pressure waves." Further research is required to figure out if they play a role in it. Until then, the flashes of lightning remain a mystery.

Lightning should not occur under the ocean, but this is exactly what happens in the Pacific Ring of Fire. Ancient people used them to navigate in the dark. Scientists have tried to explain them for decades, but have yet to solve the mystery.

Underwater lightning bolts in the Pacific Ring of Fire baffle scientists

China may soon be able to launch its own private sun. It's 21 metres long. It weighs as much as nearly 100 African elephants. It must survive temperatures colder than outer space while holding plasma that's 10 times hotter than the Sun's core. And it has to keep doing that for six decades.Beijing, as per reports, has achieved a fusion breakthrough. The nation completed and tested the world's largest superconducting fusion magnet, a critical component designed to create an invisible magnetic cage capable of containing matter at 150 million degrees Celsius. The breakthrough moves Beijing another step closer to its long-term goal of generating commercial fusion power.Here's all you need to know about what may be one of the most extreme engineering projects humanity has ever attempted.&nbsp;<h2>582 tonnes: Why build a magnet this enormous?</h2>At first glance, it looks like a giant steel ring. In reality, it's a 21-metre-long, 12-metre-wide, D-shaped superconducting magnet weighing 582 tonnes. That's heavier than a fully loaded Boeing 747.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/scary-rogue-ai-on-the-loose-openai-agent-hit-another-tech-firm-s-customer-suggests-report-1785292505727">'Scary' Rogue AI on the loose? OpenAI agent hit another tech firm's customer, suggests report</a>Its job isn't to produce electricity. Its job is to do something arguably even harder: stop the hottest material ever created on Earth from touching anything.Inside a fusion reactor, hydrogen is heated until it becomes plasma, a superheated soup of charged particles. If that plasma touches the reactor walls for even an instant, it cools rapidly, damages the reactor, and the fusion reaction ends.The only way to prevent that is to suspend the plasma in mid-air using immensely powerful magnetic fields, creating what scientists often call an "invisible magnetic cage."<h2>150 million°C: Ten times hotter than the Sun's core</h2>Here's the number that may surprise most people. The Sun's core reaches roughly 15 million°C. China's fusion reactor aims to operate at around 150 million°C.That isn't because scientists are trying to outdo the Sun. The Sun's enormous gravity naturally squeezes hydrogen atoms together, allowing fusion to happen at relatively lower temperatures. On Earth, there's no such crushing pressure.Scientists have compensated by making the plasma dramatically hotter so hydrogen nuclei collide and fuse often enough to release energy.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/india-s-next-terror-threat-may-not-cross-the-border-it-may-enter-through-your-phone-wion-decodes-1784346117443">India's next terror threat may not cross the border. It may enter through your phone | WION Decodes</a><h2>Minus 269°C: Hotter than the Sun, colder than space... at the same time</h2>The engineering challenge becomes even more astonishing. While the plasma burns at 150 million°C, the magnet surrounding it must remain at around minus 269°C, just four degrees above absolute zero.Only at those ultra-low temperatures can superconductors carry enormous electrical currents without resistance.So, inside a single machine, temperatures differ by nearly 150 million degrees over a relatively short distance. Very few technologies in the world operate across such an extreme thermal range.100,000 amps: Enough electricity to power a cityThe magnet doesn't just need to be cold. It also needs to carry more than 100,000 amperes of current while wasting virtually no energy.To achieve that, engineers reduced the electrical resistance at critical joints to nearly zero, allowing electricity to flow continuously through superconducting coils.Without that, sustaining fusion for long periods would be impossible.<h2>60 years: Built to outlive generations</h2>Most cutting-edge scientific instruments need to be upgraded every few years. However, China claims this magnet has been engineered to operate reliably for around 60 years.During that time, it must repeatedly withstand intense radiation, powerful magnetic forces and enormous mechanical stresses without losing performance.Designing a machine to survive six decades under those conditions may prove just as difficult as achieving fusion itself.<h2>Why the world is chasing fusion</h2>Nuclear fusion has long been regarded as the ultimate energy prize because it promises electricity without burning fossil fuels. Unlike today's nuclear reactors, which split heavy atoms, fusion combines light hydrogen atoms to release enormous amounts of energy.The potential rewards are enormous:<ul><li>Fuel derived largely from hydrogen found in seawater</li><li>No carbon dioxide emissions during power generation</li><li>No risk of a runaway nuclear meltdown</li><li>Far less long-lived radioactive waste than conventional nuclear fission</li></ul>That promise has sparked a global race involving China, the United States, Europe, Japan and several private companies investing billions of dollars in fusion research.<h2>When will China's artificial sun be up?</h2>While China hopes to begin fusion power generation around 2030, many experts believe commercial deployment could still take decades.

What weighs as much as 100 elephants, runs at temperatures colder than space and is built to contain a miniature star? China's 'Artificial Sun' could change the future of energy. All you need to know.

China may soon be able to launch its own private sun. It's 21 metres long. It weighs as much as nearly 100 African elephants. It must survive temperatures colder than outer space while holding plasma that's 10 times hotter than the Sun's core. And it has to keep doing that for six decades. Beijing, as per reports, has achieved a fusion breakthrough. The nation completed and tested the world's largest superconducting fusion magnet, a critical component designed to create an invisible magnetic cage capable of containing matter at 150 million degrees Celsius. The breakthrough moves Beijing another step closer to its long-term goal of generating commercial fusion power. Here's all you need to know about what may be one of the most extreme engineering projects humanity has ever attempted. 582 tonnes: Why build a magnet this enormous? At first glance, it looks like a giant steel ring. In reality, it's a 21-metre-long, 12-metre-wide, D-shaped superconducting magnet weighing 582 tonnes. That's heavier than a fully loaded Boeing 747. Also read | 'Scary' Rogue AI on the loose? OpenAI agent hit another tech firm's customer, suggests report Its job isn't to produce electricity. Its job is to do something arguably even harder: stop the hottest material ever created on Earth from touching anything. Inside a fusion reactor, hydrogen is heated until it becomes plasma, a superheated soup of charged particles. If that plasma touches the reactor walls for even an instant, it cools rapidly, damages the reactor, and the fusion reaction ends. The only way to prevent that is to suspend the plasma in mid-air using immensely powerful magnetic fields, creating what scientists often call an "invisible magnetic cage." 150 million°C: Ten times hotter than the Sun's core Here's the number that may surprise most people. The Sun's core reaches roughly 15 million°C. China's fusion reactor aims to operate at around 150 million°C. That isn't because scientists are trying to outdo the Sun. The Sun's enormous gravity naturally squeezes hydrogen atoms together, allowing fusion to happen at relatively lower temperatures. On Earth, there's no such crushing pressure. Scientists have compensated by making the plasma dramatically hotter so hydrogen nuclei collide and fuse often enough to release energy. Also read | India's next terror threat may not cross the border. It may enter through your phone | WION Decodes Minus 269°C: Hotter than the Sun, colder than space... at the same time The engineering challenge becomes even more astonishing. While the plasma burns at 150 million°C, the magnet surrounding it must remain at around minus 269°C, just four degrees above absolute zero. Only at those ultra-low temperatures can superconductors carry enormous electrical currents without resistance. So, inside a single machine, temperatures differ by nearly 150 million degrees over a relatively short distance. Very few technologies in the world operate across such an extreme thermal range. 100,000 amps: Enough electricity to power a city The magnet doesn't just need to be cold. It also needs to carry more than 100,000 amperes of current while wasting virtually no energy. To achieve that, engineers reduced the electrical resistance at critical joints to nearly zero, allowing electricity to flow continuously through superconducting coils. Without that, sustaining fusion for long periods would be impossible. 60 years: Built to outlive generations Most cutting-edge scientific instruments need to be upgraded every few years. However, China claims this magnet has been engineered to operate reliably for around 60 years. During that time, it must repeatedly withstand intense radiation, powerful magnetic forces and enormous mechanical stresses without losing performance. Designing a machine to survive six decades under those conditions may prove just as difficult as achieving fusion itself. Why the world is chasing fusion Nuclear fusion has long been regarded as the ultimate energy prize because it promises electricity without burning fossil fuels. Unlike today's nuclear reactors, which split heavy atoms, fusion combines light hydrogen atoms to release enormous amounts of energy. The potential rewards are enormous: Fuel derived largely from hydrogen found in seawater No carbon dioxide emissions during power generation No risk of a runaway nuclear meltdown Far less long-lived radioactive waste than conventional nuclear fission That promise has sparked a global race involving China, the United States, Europe, Japan and several private companies investing billions of dollars in fusion research. When will China's artificial sun be up? While China hopes to begin fusion power generation around 2030, many experts believe commercial deployment could still take decades.

What weighs as much as 100 elephants, runs at temperatures colder than space and is built to contain a miniature star? China's 'Artificial Sun' could change the future of energy. All you need to know.

582 tonnes, 150 million°C, 60 years: WION Decodes the mind-boggling numbers behind China's 'Artificial Sun'

In a groundbreaking study, it was found that humans may have faced a forgotten era of extraordinary language diversity thousands of years ago, when communities across the planet in different civilisations could have spoken tens of thousands more languages as compared to all the existed today. Researchers found that this lost “linguistic golden age” reached its peak prior to the rise of powerful states, migration and expanding civilisations, which transformed the way humans communicated over time. Nearly 12,000 years ago, during the Early Holocene, Earth housed between 4,500 and 6,200 languages, where the total global population was only about 5 million, limited to distinct communities. This has turned the number of separate languages that could emerge. However, with the rise of agriculture between 10,000 and 3,000 years ago after the rise of agriculture, farmers supported larger populations and encouraged people to establish permanent settlements across valleys, plains, islands, and river basins. This has resulted the speech to gradually diverging after the communities remained separated over generations. The new Science study suggests that agriculture initially acted as a powerful tool for linguistic diversification, causing the number of languages to exponentially rise rather than decline. Researchers suggest that language diversity took place between 1000 BCE and 1000 CE, with the planet potentially home to 20,000 to 75,000 spoken and signed languages, the highest such number in recorded history, shaped by countless communities and their unique environments. The study challenges long-held assumptions about when language loss began, tracing the first major bottleneck to the rise of centralised empires like Rome, Han China, and later Arab-Islamic states between roughly 2,000 years ago and 1500 CE. As official languages became necessary for administration, trade, and law, smaller regional tongues were gradually absorbed or erased. European colonialism, global trade, and standardised education after 1500 CE further accelerated this decline. Today, only about 7,500 languages remain; researchers say empires, not colonialism alone, triggered the first great collapse of linguistic diversity, silencing countless undocumented languages forever.&nbsp;Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/why-are-brands-turning-to-ai-influencers-for-their-marketing-campaigns-explain-1785149334949">Why are brands turning to AI influencers for their marketing campaigns? EXPLAINED</a><h3>How do these languages get lost?</h3>To trace the untold story of human speech, researchers combined computer modelling, population data, and ethnographic records to map out how languages evolved throughout the Holocene, the geological epoch that began roughly 12,000 years ago. Their research indicates that prior to widespread agriculture, humans likely communicated in thousands of distinct languages spread across various regions, with early populations potentially speaking anywhere from 4,500 to 6,200 languages before farming reshaped societal structures. As agricultural practices took hold, communities expanded in size and new social groupings formed, opening up more room for languages to branch out and diversify. However, the eventual drop in linguistic diversity wasn't due to people ceasing to create new languages. Rather, researchers attribute it to sweeping societal shifts that gradually diminished the number of independently spoken languages globally. A key driver was the rise of major political powers. As empires expanded, their official languages frequently took precedence in governance, commerce, and education. The growth of the Roman Empire, for instance, spread Latin throughout much of Europe, eventually shaping the emergence of languages such as Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian. Comparable trends unfolded elsewhere as dominant states extended their reach. Wherever a single language became essential for trade, governance, or social mobility, smaller local languages tended to fade. Researchers also link this linguistic spread to wider cultural transformations — when communities stopped teaching a language to the next generation, the traditions tied to it often vanished alongside it.

The new Science study suggests that agriculture initially acted as a powerful tool for linguistic diversification, causing the number of languages to rise exponentially rather than decline.

In a groundbreaking study, it was found that humans may have faced a forgotten era of extraordinary language diversity thousands of years ago, when communities across the planet in different civilisations could have spoken tens of thousands more languages as compared to all the existed today. Researchers found that this lost “linguistic golden age” reached its peak prior to the rise of powerful states, migration and expanding civilisations, which transformed the way humans communicated over time. Nearly 12,000 years ago, during the Early Holocene, Earth housed between 4,500 and 6,200 languages, where the total global population was only about 5 million, limited to distinct communities. This has turned the number of separate languages that could emerge. However, with the rise of agriculture between 10,000 and 3,000 years ago after the rise of agriculture, farmers supported larger populations and encouraged people to establish permanent settlements across valleys, plains, islands, and river basins. This has resulted the speech to gradually diverging after the communities remained separated over generations. The new Science study suggests that agriculture initially acted as a powerful tool for linguistic diversification, causing the number of languages to exponentially rise rather than decline. Researchers suggest that language diversity took place between 1000 BCE and 1000 CE, with the planet potentially home to 20,000 to 75,000 spoken and signed languages, the highest such number in recorded history, shaped by countless communities and their unique environments. The study challenges long-held assumptions about when language loss began, tracing the first major bottleneck to the rise of centralised empires like Rome, Han China, and later Arab-Islamic states between roughly 2,000 years ago and 1500 CE. As official languages became necessary for administration, trade, and law, smaller regional tongues were gradually absorbed or erased. European colonialism, global trade, and standardised education after 1500 CE further accelerated this decline. Today, only about 7,500 languages remain; researchers say empires, not colonialism alone, triggered the first great collapse of linguistic diversity, silencing countless undocumented languages forever. Also read: Why are brands turning to AI influencers for their marketing campaigns? EXPLAINED How do these languages get lost? To trace the untold story of human speech, researchers combined computer modelling, population data, and ethnographic records to map out how languages evolved throughout the Holocene, the geological epoch that began roughly 12,000 years ago. Their research indicates that prior to widespread agriculture, humans likely communicated in thousands of distinct languages spread across various regions, with early populations potentially speaking anywhere from 4,500 to 6,200 languages before farming reshaped societal structures. As agricultural practices took hold, communities expanded in size and new social groupings formed, opening up more room for languages to branch out and diversify. However, the eventual drop in linguistic diversity wasn't due to people ceasing to create new languages. Rather, researchers attribute it to sweeping societal shifts that gradually diminished the number of independently spoken languages globally. A key driver was the rise of major political powers. As empires expanded, their official languages frequently took precedence in governance, commerce, and education. The growth of the Roman Empire, for instance, spread Latin throughout much of Europe, eventually shaping the emergence of languages such as Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian. Comparable trends unfolded elsewhere as dominant states extended their reach. Wherever a single language became essential for trade, governance, or social mobility, smaller local languages tended to fade. Researchers also link this linguistic spread to wider cultural transformations — when communities stopped teaching a language to the next generation, the traditions tied to it often vanished alongside it.

The new Science study suggests that agriculture initially acted as a powerful tool for linguistic diversification, causing the number of languages to rise exponentially rather than decline.

3,000 years ago, humanity spoke thousands of languages — then fell silent. Where did they all go?

Researchers from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom have managed to decode a centuries-old Gujarati navigational chart, revealing how Indian Ocean sailors found their way without modern maps or instruments. For nearly two centuries, the ancient Indian map sat quietly in the archives of Britain's Royal Geographical Society, admired as an unusual old map but never fully understood.Now, researchers have unlocked its hidden language and discovered that the delicate paper scroll wasn't just a map. It was a sophisticated navigation guide that helped Indian sailors cross the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden long before GPS, compasses became widespread, or European-style charts dominated the seas.The scroll, created by Kachchhi or Gujarati seafarers in the late 18th or early 19th century, offers rare evidence that Indian Ocean mariners developed their own highly effective navigation system based on local knowledge, stars and memory.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/india-s-next-terror-threat-may-not-cross-the-border-it-may-enter-through-your-phone-wion-decodes-1784346117443">India's next terror threat may not cross the border. It may enter through your phone | WION Decodes</a><h2>The map that wasn't meant to look like a map</h2>To modern eyes, the chart appears distorted. In it, the Red Sea is angled differently from modern maps, coastlines seem compressed, and there are no obvious latitude-longitude grids. For decades, scholars assumed these were flaws, concluding the chart lacked scientific precision.The new study, however, has revealed that it was an "effective aide memoire". Researchers found that the unusual design was intentional. The scroll, just 25 centimetres wide, was built for use aboard ships. Sailors could unroll only the section they needed while keeping the rest protected from wind and water.Instead of trying to replicate geography perfectly, it prioritised what navigators actually needed, like sailing directions, landmarks, islands, reefs and ports.<h2>Hidden codes finally deciphered</h2>One of the biggest breakthroughs came when researchers successfully translated all 66 Devanagari place names on the chart for the first time.Earlier historians had identified only about half of them. The team also decoded astronomical information that had gone unnoticed for almost 190 years. Rather than lacking latitude data, as previously believed, the scroll actually encoded latitude through stellar navigation, allowing experienced sailors to determine their position at sea.Researchers also found that 29 carefully drawn rhumb lines served multiple purposes, from indicating coastal direction to plotting safe routes across open water and into ports.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/built-to-outlive-us-all-earth-is-getting-an-indestructible-black-box-to-record-the-end-of-human-civilisation-1783747790087">Built to outlive us all: Earth is getting an indestructible ‘black box’ to record the end of human civilisation</a><h2>A guide written for those who already knew the sea</h2>Unlike modern navigation charts designed for anyone to read, this document assumed its users already possessed generations of maritime knowledge.It functioned as what researchers describe as an "aide memoire" — a portable reference that refreshed a navigator's memory rather than teaching someone how to sail.The scroll contains more than 180 islands, reefs, religious buildings, flags and coastal landmarks, helping experienced sailors pinpoint their location while travelling between India, Arabia and the Horn of Africa.Its religious illustrations also hint that its navigator was likely Muslim, while the flags mark important political and trading centres."This is a rich and effective navigational reference work: its stellar information allowed sailors to know their latitude and set sailing directions; its many place names and topographical information enabled them to locate themselves precisely; its religious buildings suggest the navigator’s Muslim faith; and its flags suggesting nodes of political and fiscal action," said Professor John Cooper, from the <a href="https://news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-humanities-arts-and-social-sciences/two-centuries-on-experts-unlock-secrets-of-red-sea-and-gulf-of-aden-sailing-chart/">University of Exeter</a>’s Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, who led the research.<h2>How did the Indian map end up in a British archive?</h2>According to the university, the chart entered British hands in 1835 when explorer Alexander Burnes acquired it from an unnamed sea captain in Kachchh while serving with the East India Company.Burnes recognised it as an extraordinary maritime document and donated it to the Royal Geographical Society, calling it a "form a specimen of naval surveying … unequalled in any of the cabinets of Europe". But even he misunderstood its true purpose.Over the next 180 years, the chart was examined several times (in 1947, 1987, 2002,2012 and 2022), yet scholars continued to overlook its practical role as a working navigational tool.Only now, using fresh linguistic analysis and modern cartographic techniques, have researchers reconstructed the chart's full geographical meaning.<h2>Rewriting Indian Ocean history</h2>The findings challenge long-held assumptions that sophisticated maritime navigation in the Indian Ocean depended primarily on European mapping traditions.Instead, they reveal an indigenous system refined over centuries, one that relied on experience, stellar observation and an intimate understanding of local waters rather than mathematical projections.Far from being an inaccurate map, the scroll was an elegant solution to a sailor's greatest challenge: carrying centuries of navigational knowledge across some of the world's most demanding seas in a document small enough to fit aboard a wooden ship. &nbsp;

Researchers at the University of Exeter have deciphered a centuries-old Gujarati navigational scroll, revealing that Indian Ocean sailors used a sophisticated system based on stars, landmarks and memory to navigate the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden long before modern maps and GPS.

Researchers from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom have managed to decode a centuries-old Gujarati navigational chart, revealing how Indian Ocean sailors found their way without modern maps or instruments. For nearly two centuries, the ancient Indian map sat quietly in the archives of Britain's Royal Geographical Society, admired as an unusual old map but never fully understood. Now, researchers have unlocked its hidden language and discovered that the delicate paper scroll wasn't just a map. It was a sophisticated navigation guide that helped Indian sailors cross the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden long before GPS, compasses became widespread, or European-style charts dominated the seas. The scroll, created by Kachchhi or Gujarati seafarers in the late 18th or early 19th century, offers rare evidence that Indian Ocean mariners developed their own highly effective navigation system based on local knowledge, stars and memory. Also read | India's next terror threat may not cross the border. It may enter through your phone | WION Decodes The map that wasn't meant to look like a map To modern eyes, the chart appears distorted. In it, the Red Sea is angled differently from modern maps, coastlines seem compressed, and there are no obvious latitude-longitude grids. For decades, scholars assumed these were flaws, concluding the chart lacked scientific precision. The new study, however, has revealed that it was an "effective aide memoire". Researchers found that the unusual design was intentional. The scroll, just 25 centimetres wide, was built for use aboard ships. Sailors could unroll only the section they needed while keeping the rest protected from wind and water. Instead of trying to replicate geography perfectly, it prioritised what navigators actually needed, like sailing directions, landmarks, islands, reefs and ports. Hidden codes finally deciphered One of the biggest breakthroughs came when researchers successfully translated all 66 Devanagari place names on the chart for the first time. Earlier historians had identified only about half of them. The team also decoded astronomical information that had gone unnoticed for almost 190 years. Rather than lacking latitude data, as previously believed, the scroll actually encoded latitude through stellar navigation, allowing experienced sailors to determine their position at sea. Researchers also found that 29 carefully drawn rhumb lines served multiple purposes, from indicating coastal direction to plotting safe routes across open water and into ports. Also read | Built to outlive us all: Earth is getting an indestructible ‘black box’ to record the end of human civilisation A guide written for those who already knew the sea Unlike modern navigation charts designed for anyone to read, this document assumed its users already possessed generations of maritime knowledge. It functioned as what researchers describe as an "aide memoire" — a portable reference that refreshed a navigator's memory rather than teaching someone how to sail. The scroll contains more than 180 islands, reefs, religious buildings, flags and coastal landmarks, helping experienced sailors pinpoint their location while travelling between India, Arabia and the Horn of Africa. Its religious illustrations also hint that its navigator was likely Muslim, while the flags mark important political and trading centres. "This is a rich and effective navigational reference work: its stellar information allowed sailors to know their latitude and set sailing directions; its many place names and topographical information enabled them to locate themselves precisely; its religious buildings suggest the navigator’s Muslim faith; and its flags suggesting nodes of political and fiscal action," said Professor John Cooper, from the University of Exeter’s Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, who led the research. How did the Indian map end up in a British archive? According to the university, the chart entered British hands in 1835 when explorer Alexander Burnes acquired it from an unnamed sea captain in Kachchh while serving with the East India Company. Burnes recognised it as an extraordinary maritime document and donated it to the Royal Geographical Society, calling it a "form a specimen of naval surveying … unequalled in any of the cabinets of Europe". But even he misunderstood its true purpose. Over the next 180 years, the chart was examined several times (in 1947, 1987, 2002,2012 and 2022), yet scholars continued to overlook its practical role as a working navigational tool. Only now, using fresh linguistic analysis and modern cartographic techniques, have researchers reconstructed the chart's full geographical meaning. Rewriting Indian Ocean history The findings challenge long-held assumptions that sophisticated maritime navigation in the Indian Ocean depended primarily on European mapping traditions. Instead, they reveal an indigenous system refined over centuries, one that relied on experience, stellar observation and an intimate understanding of local waters rather than mathematical projections. Far from being an inaccurate map, the scroll was an elegant solution to a sailor's greatest challenge: carrying centuries of navigational knowledge across some of the world's most demanding seas in a document small enough to fit aboard a wooden ship.

Researchers at the University of Exeter have deciphered a centuries-old Gujarati navigational scroll, revealing that Indian Ocean sailors used a sophisticated system based on stars, landmarks and memory to navigate the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden long before modern maps and GPS.

Hidden in British archives: Scientists decode 200-year-old Indian scroll that helped sailors cross one of the world's toughest seas

A team of researchers at UCLA have opened an OnlyFans page to raise funds as the Trump administration slashed their funding, severely impacting their work. It sounds strange until you know who is actually featured on this page - marmots. The rodents are the star of the show on the UCLA OnlyFans page, which features exclusive recordings of the animal. On June 17, the &nbsp;Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) Marmot Project announced on Instagram that "the state of funding is so bad we are turning to OnlyFans, or as we like to call it 'OnlyMarms'."&nbsp;RMBL has been studying yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer) at a field station in Colorado since 1962. Daniel Blumstein, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA, said their marmot study is the second oldest continuous study of individually marked mammals in the world. They have "65 years of data on population dynamics, social and anti-predator behaviour, and ask a lot of questions about how animals respond to a changing environment."Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/oh-my-god-orca-deliberately-rams-into-sunfish-so-hard-that-it-exploded-1784811149119">'Oh my god!' Orca deliberately rams into sunfish so hard that it exploded. For food or fun?</a>&nbsp;But now with a lack of funding, the research into yellow-bellied marmots is at risk of hitting a dead end. "Long-term research like ours is both very valuable to understand how and why things change over time, and our project has been very productive," Blumstein told Live Science. But gathering data requires funds, and federal funding has jolted research across the country, and marmots are no exception. The team explored alternate ways to raise funds and found a saviour in OnlyFans.<h2>OnlyFans page for marmots</h2>The researchers have set up a page they like to call OnlyMarms on the platform. Contrary to popular belief, OnlyFans does not just host adult content. Musicians, artists and other celebrities can also use it to reach their audience. The latest addition is marmots. Blumstein said, "We’re trying this out of frustration with an extremely challenging funding environment." He says the page could help raise money for supplies and some expenses. However, federal funding is what they still need to continue with the research.&nbsp;It features routine stuff from marmots, such as "playing, being cute, digging, bringing plants to their burrows." The page has 735 page visits and 44 fans. People are not charged to see the videos because OnlyFans takes 20% and the rest is taxed. So they are relying on tips.&nbsp;

UCLA researchers, in desperate need of funds, have turned to OnlyFans to raise money. But the videos you will see here are not of humans, but of a creature the scientists have been studying for decades and working to protect.

A team of researchers at UCLA have opened an OnlyFans page to raise funds as the Trump administration slashed their funding, severely impacting their work. It sounds strange until you know who is actually featured on this page - marmots. The rodents are the star of the show on the UCLA OnlyFans page, which features exclusive recordings of the animal. On June 17, the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) Marmot Project announced on Instagram that "the state of funding is so bad we are turning to OnlyFans, or as we like to call it 'OnlyMarms'." RMBL has been studying yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer) at a field station in Colorado since 1962. Daniel Blumstein, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA, said their marmot study is the second oldest continuous study of individually marked mammals in the world. They have "65 years of data on population dynamics, social and anti-predator behaviour, and ask a lot of questions about how animals respond to a changing environment." Also Read: 'Oh my god!' Orca deliberately rams into sunfish so hard that it exploded. For food or fun? But now with a lack of funding, the research into yellow-bellied marmots is at risk of hitting a dead end. "Long-term research like ours is both very valuable to understand how and why things change over time, and our project has been very productive," Blumstein told Live Science. But gathering data requires funds, and federal funding has jolted research across the country, and marmots are no exception. The team explored alternate ways to raise funds and found a saviour in OnlyFans. OnlyFans page for marmots The researchers have set up a page they like to call OnlyMarms on the platform. Contrary to popular belief, OnlyFans does not just host adult content. Musicians, artists and other celebrities can also use it to reach their audience. The latest addition is marmots. Blumstein said, "We’re trying this out of frustration with an extremely challenging funding environment." He says the page could help raise money for supplies and some expenses. However, federal funding is what they still need to continue with the research. It features routine stuff from marmots, such as "playing, being cute, digging, bringing plants to their burrows." The page has 735 page visits and 44 fans. People are not charged to see the videos because OnlyFans takes 20% and the rest is taxed. So they are relying on tips.

UCLA researchers, in desperate need of funds, have turned to OnlyFans to raise money. But the videos you will see here are not of humans, but of a creature the scientists have been studying for decades and working to protect.

UCLA researchers turn to OnlyFans to raise funds. You'll be surprised to know the star of the show

A study has determined that the maximum age up to which humans can ever survive is 156 years. A mathematical model suggests this theoretical figure could be achieved if every reversible hallmark of ageing were eliminated, barring one. This marks the first time that researchers have set a firm limit on human longevity based entirely on how much irreversible cell damage accumulates over a lifetime. Even as scientists work to increase human lifespan, the study states that even the most advanced anti-ageing interventions will hit a biological curb. The only way to break through that barrier is to control genomic damage.<h2>How long could humans live?</h2>The limit to human lifespan comes into play because of the tissues that cannot regenerate, that is, the brain and the heart, the authors wrote in the study published in npj Aging. The team used a multistage model in which ageing mechanisms were switched on one after the other. They measured how long a human could live if all of them were cured, except somatic mutations. They found that eliminating all the ageing processes still caps the median lifespan at between 146 and 194 years.&nbsp;“Neurons and cardiomyocytes" acted as "the main limiting factors," co-author Evgeniy Efimov said in a statement. Therapies to reverse certain characteristics of ageing are present today, but there is none that can do the same with somatic mutations. They accumulate in tissues slowly and in tissues that cannot replace their cells. The mathematical model showed that while liver and other renewing organs can withstand thousands of years of mutation accumulation because of continuous cell turnover, brain and heart cells, which do not divide, ultimately give in.&nbsp;The model started off with a hypothetical “non-ageing human” for whom the increasing age is not a factor in mortality. The median lifespan in this case stood at 1,759 years. The addition of somatic mutations led to the lifespan collapsing to 156 years. The researchers say they will soon expand their model to include other hallmarks of ageing.&nbsp; &nbsp;

A study has noted that humans could theoretically live up to 190 years if certain hallmarks of ageing are completely removed. When age is de-linked with mortality, the median age is 1,759 years. However, with somatic mutations, this number comes down to 156 years.

A study has determined that the maximum age up to which humans can ever survive is 156 years. A mathematical model suggests this theoretical figure could be achieved if every reversible hallmark of ageing were eliminated, barring one. This marks the first time that researchers have set a firm limit on human longevity based entirely on how much irreversible cell damage accumulates over a lifetime. Even as scientists work to increase human lifespan, the study states that even the most advanced anti-ageing interventions will hit a biological curb. The only way to break through that barrier is to control genomic damage. How long could humans live? The limit to human lifespan comes into play because of the tissues that cannot regenerate, that is, the brain and the heart, the authors wrote in the study published in npj Aging. The team used a multistage model in which ageing mechanisms were switched on one after the other. They measured how long a human could live if all of them were cured, except somatic mutations. They found that eliminating all the ageing processes still caps the median lifespan at between 146 and 194 years. “Neurons and cardiomyocytes" acted as "the main limiting factors," co-author Evgeniy Efimov said in a statement. Therapies to reverse certain characteristics of ageing are present today, but there is none that can do the same with somatic mutations. They accumulate in tissues slowly and in tissues that cannot replace their cells. The mathematical model showed that while liver and other renewing organs can withstand thousands of years of mutation accumulation because of continuous cell turnover, brain and heart cells, which do not divide, ultimately give in. The model started off with a hypothetical “non-ageing human” for whom the increasing age is not a factor in mortality. The median lifespan in this case stood at 1,759 years. The addition of somatic mutations led to the lifespan collapsing to 156 years. The researchers say they will soon expand their model to include other hallmarks of ageing.

A study has noted that humans could theoretically live up to 190 years if certain hallmarks of ageing are completely removed. When age is de-linked with mortality, the median age is 1,759 years. However, with somatic mutations, this number comes down to 156 years.

Scientists say humans could live to a maximum age of 156 years. Here's how

Nagaland's capital, Kohima, has been placed on high alert after fresh cases of African Swine Fever (ASF) were confirmed. Authorities have declared infected and surveillance zones while banning the movement of pigs, piglets, pork, and pig products to contain the outbreak.
African Swine Fever is a highly contagious viral disease that affects domestic and wild pigs. Although it does not infect humans, it poses a serious threat to the livestock industry and the livelihoods of thousands of pig farmers in Nagaland.

African swine fever outbreak puts Nagaland on high alert | Pig movement banned in Kohima

India has scripted history as Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-1 successfully completed its landmark mission, becoming the country's first privately developed orbital rocket to reach space from Indian soil. Launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, the mission marks a defining moment for India's rapidly expanding private space ecosystem.

Historic moment! India's first private rocket Vikram-1 takes off into space | Skyroot launch

As allegations of rigged decisions being taken by referees rage during the ongoing FIFA World Cup, Korea has done something that shows how humans are biased towards big-name players. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) deployed robot umpires during its 2024 season. They use pitch-tracking sensors and cameras to analyse whether a pitch has crossed the strike zone. The data collected by the Automatic Ball-Strike system (ABS) is given to the human home plate umpire, who then delivers the final decision. Researchers at the University of Michigan (UM) have now analysed the effectiveness of the robots.&nbsp;According to them, human umpires may have been ruling in favour of popular high-status players unknowingly. Their data showed that these hitters performed worse during the 2024 KBO season compared to the previous year in terms of strike-zone judgment. Jimin Song, a UM kinesiologist and study co-author, said in a statement, “Before ABS, when a big-name batter was at bat, umpires may have given more favourable calls on borderline pitches.”<h2>Umpire decisions changed when replaced with robots</h2>In fact, their statistics dropped across multiple plate-focused areas after ABS was deployed. However, the shift in wider-ranging hitting performance was not as noticeable. The researchers believe the player performance did not change, and the change was in the way the umpires made the decisions. However, the same was not true for major-name pitchers since they performed in varied positions or got fewer opportunities.&nbsp;Study co-author and UM kinesiologist Richard Paulsen, said, "Some decisions made by officials, like ball-strike decisions or out-of-bounds calls, are very objective and could be automated easily." Song and Paulsen say the implications of their findings apply to other areas as well, where power dynamics are at play. This includes workplaces and educational institutions.&nbsp;&nbsp;The team says, despite what their findings show, that human judgment remains useful for more subjective decisions, and so they do not see "human officiating to go away completely anytime soon." However, their study shows that there is a need to work towards reducing biases as much as possible through blind performance reviews and evaluations.

FIFA World Cup has witnessed allegations of unfair play by officials who have been accused of delivering decisions in favour of a particular team and a big-name player. A study has now shown that human referees choose to side with such players. 

As allegations of rigged decisions being taken by referees rage during the ongoing FIFA World Cup, Korea has done something that shows how humans are biased towards big-name players. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) deployed robot umpires during its 2024 season. They use pitch-tracking sensors and cameras to analyse whether a pitch has crossed the strike zone. The data collected by the Automatic Ball-Strike system (ABS) is given to the human home plate umpire, who then delivers the final decision. Researchers at the University of Michigan (UM) have now analysed the effectiveness of the robots. According to them, human umpires may have been ruling in favour of popular high-status players unknowingly. Their data showed that these hitters performed worse during the 2024 KBO season compared to the previous year in terms of strike-zone judgment. Jimin Song, a UM kinesiologist and study co-author, said in a statement, “Before ABS, when a big-name batter was at bat, umpires may have given more favourable calls on borderline pitches.” Umpire decisions changed when replaced with robots In fact, their statistics dropped across multiple plate-focused areas after ABS was deployed. However, the shift in wider-ranging hitting performance was not as noticeable. The researchers believe the player performance did not change, and the change was in the way the umpires made the decisions. However, the same was not true for major-name pitchers since they performed in varied positions or got fewer opportunities. Study co-author and UM kinesiologist Richard Paulsen, said, "Some decisions made by officials, like ball-strike decisions or out-of-bounds calls, are very objective and could be automated easily." Song and Paulsen say the implications of their findings apply to other areas as well, where power dynamics are at play. This includes workplaces and educational institutions. The team says, despite what their findings show, that human judgment remains useful for more subjective decisions, and so they do not see "human officiating to go away completely anytime soon." However, their study shows that there is a need to work towards reducing biases as much as possible through blind performance reviews and evaluations.

FIFA World Cup has witnessed allegations of unfair play by officials who have been accused of delivering decisions in favour of a particular team and a big-name player. A study has now shown that human referees choose to side with such players.&nbsp;

Robot umpires in Korea prove World Cup 'mess' is real: Humans are biased towards star players

A Silicon Valley longevity startup called R3 Bio is reportedly working to create nonsentient humanoid life forms whose organs can be grown and harvested for implantation in human bodies. Alice Gilman, the cofounder and chief operating officer, talked about this "biological platform that you can test on and you can map out the cross-organ interactions" in a podcast she sat for last year. She told Skyline Drive, "It’s just pretty much a heart, lungs, and everything that you would find in a body," adding, "it’s not technically alive", and there is no brain either. But the waters turned murky after she reportedly requested a pause on the show, without giving an exact reason.<h2>Bioethical questions triggered concern</h2>Host Mangesh Hattikudur shared that Gilman referred to these meat suits as "organ sacks". She even flagged a major problem: the less sentient they were, the less likely they were to function effectively. The project is too ambitious and unrealistic, and also raises ethical questions, while also being a bit unsettling.&nbsp;&nbsp;Now, Futurism has reported that months after the interview, Gilman requested to keep the entire thing under wraps. Skyline Drive told the outlet that when they reached out to Gilman for a fact check a week before it was scheduled to be aired, she asked for it to be postponed. She denied that R3 Bio was working on the concept “for now" despite talking about it in detail in the interview.&nbsp;The podcast team said that Gilman told them that R3 Bio was a "federal asset", hinting at government involvement. This would basically mean that the government is investing in a program working on creating an "organ sack" from which human organs can be removed and used in other bodies. She further insisted that everything she said in the interview was only theory and opinion.&nbsp;However, R3 Bio said the same thing to Wired as well in March, again calling these beings "organ sacks." Investor Boyang Wang called this imagined "nonsentient, headless bodyoid for a human being a great source of organs", adding that “replacement is probably better than repair.”<h2>Full body replacement claims</h2>However, later reviews showed that the plan goes beyond organ harvesting. According to MIT Technology Review, cofounder John Schloendorn has often talked about “full body replacement” where heads would be transplanted onto a whole new human body. R3 Bio responded by saying that “any allegations of intent or conspiracy to create human clones or human beings with brain damage are categorically false.”&nbsp;The company's website states that it “would be excited by the prospect of full-scale human organ fabrication,” while clarifying that there is "no ongoing work in this area." Why Gilman requested a postponement and what it is working on remain a mystery. However, Hattikudur feels the company is not being transparent, and no one knows &nbsp;what "they’ve actually achieved in the lab."

R3 Bio, a startup that was in the news for claiming to be working on boyoids for organ harvesting, minus the brain, has now said that there were never any such plans. The cofounder had talked about ‘organ sacks’ in an interview but tried to stop the release later on, reports suggest.

A Silicon Valley longevity startup called R3 Bio is reportedly working to create nonsentient humanoid life forms whose organs can be grown and harvested for implantation in human bodies. Alice Gilman, the cofounder and chief operating officer, talked about this "biological platform that you can test on and you can map out the cross-organ interactions" in a podcast she sat for last year. She told Skyline Drive, "It’s just pretty much a heart, lungs, and everything that you would find in a body," adding, "it’s not technically alive", and there is no brain either. But the waters turned murky after she reportedly requested a pause on the show, without giving an exact reason. Bioethical questions triggered concern Host Mangesh Hattikudur shared that Gilman referred to these meat suits as "organ sacks". She even flagged a major problem: the less sentient they were, the less likely they were to function effectively. The project is too ambitious and unrealistic, and also raises ethical questions, while also being a bit unsettling. Now, Futurism has reported that months after the interview, Gilman requested to keep the entire thing under wraps. Skyline Drive told the outlet that when they reached out to Gilman for a fact check a week before it was scheduled to be aired, she asked for it to be postponed. She denied that R3 Bio was working on the concept “for now" despite talking about it in detail in the interview. The podcast team said that Gilman told them that R3 Bio was a "federal asset", hinting at government involvement. This would basically mean that the government is investing in a program working on creating an "organ sack" from which human organs can be removed and used in other bodies. She further insisted that everything she said in the interview was only theory and opinion. However, R3 Bio said the same thing to Wired as well in March, again calling these beings "organ sacks." Investor Boyang Wang called this imagined "nonsentient, headless bodyoid for a human being a great source of organs", adding that “replacement is probably better than repair.” Full body replacement claims However, later reviews showed that the plan goes beyond organ harvesting. According to MIT Technology Review, cofounder John Schloendorn has often talked about “full body replacement” where heads would be transplanted onto a whole new human body. R3 Bio responded by saying that “any allegations of intent or conspiracy to create human clones or human beings with brain damage are categorically false.” The company's website states that it “would be excited by the prospect of full-scale human organ fabrication,” while clarifying that there is "no ongoing work in this area." Why Gilman requested a postponement and what it is working on remain a mystery. However, Hattikudur feels the company is not being transparent, and no one knows what "they’ve actually achieved in the lab."

R3 Bio, a startup that was in the news for claiming to be working on boyoids for organ harvesting, minus the brain, has now said that there were never any such plans. The cofounder had talked about ‘organ sacks’ in an interview but tried to stop the release later on, reports suggest.

Biotech firm that went viral for plans to create 'nonsentient humanoids' for organ harvesting now says it was never true

Life on Earth has an expiry date. The end of life on Earth is usually imagined as a dramatic asteroid strike or a catastrophic climate disaster. However, a new study suggests that the real ending is likely to be far slower and far quieter, and every living being, tree, flower and blade of grass on Earth will just die. The question is when. A new study may have an answer to that question.<h2>When will life on Earth end?</h2>Researchers now estimate that Earth’s plant life could survive for about 1.8 billion more years before the planet becomes too hostile for most vegetation to endure. The main reason is simple, and a little unsettling: the Sun is slowly getting brighter.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/did-nasa-chief-just-confirm-aliens-us-space-agency-s-director-jared-isaacman-reveals-we-have-images-1783665017249">Did NASA chief just confirm aliens? US Space agency's director Jared Isaacman REVEALS: 'We have images...'</a>The study suggests plant life may last almost until Earth begins to lose its oceans and becomes permanently uninhabitable. Long before that, humans and animals were expected to be gone. "Earth's vegetative biosphere could survive up to about 1.8 billion years from now, about the same time that Earth would lose its oceans to space," said researchers.As that heat rises, Earth will become steadily less forgiving. Temperatures will climb, oceans will shrink, and the atmosphere may eventually lose too much carbon dioxide for plants to make food through photosynthesis. In that future, even hardy vegetation would struggle to hang on.<h2>How did scientists calculate this?</h2>The study, from the University of Colorado Boulder and Blue Marble Space in Seattle, published in JGR Atmospheres, used a three-dimensional climate model to simulate what Earth might look like over the next two billion years. Unlike older estimates, this model took into account not just heat, but also clouds, rainfall, oceans and the movement of the atmosphere. That gave the researchers a more complete picture of how the planet may change.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/built-to-outlive-us-all-earth-is-getting-an-indestructible-black-box-to-record-the-end-of-human-civilisation-1783747790087">Built to outlive us all: Earth is getting an indestructible ‘black box’ to record the end of human civilisation</a>They tested two main scenarios. In one, carbon dioxide keeps falling as rocks absorb more of it over time. In the other, carbon dioxide stays roughly steady while the planet keeps warming. In both cases, the conclusion was broadly the same: plant life could survive far longer than many previous models had predicted.The last plants standing would likely be the tough, drought-friendly types, including cacti and others adapted to harsh conditions. Some plants with specialised forms of photosynthesis may also hold out longer than the rest.<h2>Is this "expiry date" final?</h2>No, the study did not factor in how plants might evolve over such vast stretches of time, or how future human technology could change the picture. That leaves room for surprises. The researchers even suggested that plants could one day adapt to hotter conditions, possibly spreading into higher parts of the atmosphere if the environment keeps changing. &nbsp;

Long after humans and larger animals have vanished due to the intense heat, the final flora standing will be incredibly resilient, drought-adapted species like cacti.

Life on Earth has an expiry date. The end of life on Earth is usually imagined as a dramatic asteroid strike or a catastrophic climate disaster. However, a new study suggests that the real ending is likely to be far slower and far quieter, and every living being, tree, flower and blade of grass on Earth will just die. The question is when. A new study may have an answer to that question. When will life on Earth end? Researchers now estimate that Earth’s plant life could survive for about 1.8 billion more years before the planet becomes too hostile for most vegetation to endure. The main reason is simple, and a little unsettling: the Sun is slowly getting brighter. Also read | Did NASA chief just confirm aliens? US Space agency's director Jared Isaacman REVEALS: 'We have images...' The study suggests plant life may last almost until Earth begins to lose its oceans and becomes permanently uninhabitable. Long before that, humans and animals were expected to be gone. "Earth's vegetative biosphere could survive up to about 1.8 billion years from now, about the same time that Earth would lose its oceans to space," said researchers. As that heat rises, Earth will become steadily less forgiving. Temperatures will climb, oceans will shrink, and the atmosphere may eventually lose too much carbon dioxide for plants to make food through photosynthesis. In that future, even hardy vegetation would struggle to hang on. How did scientists calculate this? The study, from the University of Colorado Boulder and Blue Marble Space in Seattle, published in JGR Atmospheres, used a three-dimensional climate model to simulate what Earth might look like over the next two billion years. Unlike older estimates, this model took into account not just heat, but also clouds, rainfall, oceans and the movement of the atmosphere. That gave the researchers a more complete picture of how the planet may change. Also read | Built to outlive us all: Earth is getting an indestructible ‘black box’ to record the end of human civilisation They tested two main scenarios. In one, carbon dioxide keeps falling as rocks absorb more of it over time. In the other, carbon dioxide stays roughly steady while the planet keeps warming. In both cases, the conclusion was broadly the same: plant life could survive far longer than many previous models had predicted. The last plants standing would likely be the tough, drought-friendly types, including cacti and others adapted to harsh conditions. Some plants with specialised forms of photosynthesis may also hold out longer than the rest. Is this "expiry date" final? No, the study did not factor in how plants might evolve over such vast stretches of time, or how future human technology could change the picture. That leaves room for surprises. The researchers even suggested that plants could one day adapt to hotter conditions, possibly spreading into higher parts of the atmosphere if the environment keeps changing.

Long after humans and larger animals have vanished due to the intense heat, the final flora standing will be incredibly resilient, drought-adapted species like cacti.

How long before sun destroys the Earth? Scientists may have discovered the planet's 'expiry date'

The brown huntsman, Heteropoda jugulan, has been identified as the fastest spider on Earth. Clocking at 3.59 metres (12 feet) per second (13km/hr or 8mph), the hairy-legged huntsman is faster than the current world record-holder. A team of German and British scientists studied more than 250 spider species and concluded that the huntsman is faster than the Moroccan flic-flac spider, which tops out at 1.7 m/s (6 km/hr). The spiders were collected from London, the German city of Greifswald, North America, southern Europe and Australia.&nbsp;The brown huntsman is only found in Australia, and is often seen in homes in south-east Queensland. The venomous spiders are as large as a human hand, but rarely bite humans. The spiders used in the study were observed using cameras and ran on gridded paper. The huntsman registered a high speed of 3.59 m/s only for a fraction of a second, and its sustained speed stood at 2 m/s. The paper will be published in a scientific journal, and it also includes other studies about spider speeds.<h2>How spiders move</h2>One such work was done by Dr Christofer Clemente, an evolutionary biomechanist at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. His work, published in 2021, tried to understand how spiders moved. He just grabbed a bunch of spiders from his backyard without really selecting any special creatures. “I am interested in how different animals of different sizes move and whether muscle might limit the speed at which animals can run,” he said.Also Read: <a href="https://www">82-million-year-old fossil reveals Antarctica was home to the largest dinosaurs to ever walk Earth</a>&nbsp;He said that even though the huntsman only peaked at 3.59 m/s for a small time, that is "still really fast". Clemente says spiders use "a combination of muscles to retract their limbs and hydraulic pressure to push them outwards." To run really fast, a creature should have a "sweet spot" between legs and muscles. The legs should be long, but "not so big that you have to support this huge mass". He believed before the study that the huntsman might have the “best spider body type for speed.”<h2>There could be faster spiders than brown huntsman</h2>Dr Jonas Wolff, of the University of Greifswald in Germany, a lead author of the study, said that running speeds can determine the ecological niche of spiders, and how they interact with the environment. He says that the study also revealed that “it was not the largest species that ran the fastest”, and spiders that catch prey in webs are not necessarily slower than huntsmans. Meanwhile, it is possible that there are faster huntsman species that are yet to be analysed. &nbsp;

The brown huntsman spiders found in Australia are the fastest spiders on Earth. A study has found that the Heteropoda jugulan species can run at speeds of 13km/hr. However, there could be much faster spiders out there, scientists said.

The brown huntsman, Heteropoda jugulan, has been identified as the fastest spider on Earth. Clocking at 3.59 metres (12 feet) per second (13km/hr or 8mph), the hairy-legged huntsman is faster than the current world record-holder. A team of German and British scientists studied more than 250 spider species and concluded that the huntsman is faster than the Moroccan flic-flac spider, which tops out at 1.7 m/s (6 km/hr). The spiders were collected from London, the German city of Greifswald, North America, southern Europe and Australia. The brown huntsman is only found in Australia, and is often seen in homes in south-east Queensland. The venomous spiders are as large as a human hand, but rarely bite humans. The spiders used in the study were observed using cameras and ran on gridded paper. The huntsman registered a high speed of 3.59 m/s only for a fraction of a second, and its sustained speed stood at 2 m/s. The paper will be published in a scientific journal, and it also includes other studies about spider speeds. How spiders move One such work was done by Dr Christofer Clemente, an evolutionary biomechanist at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. His work, published in 2021, tried to understand how spiders moved. He just grabbed a bunch of spiders from his backyard without really selecting any special creatures. “I am interested in how different animals of different sizes move and whether muscle might limit the speed at which animals can run,” he said. Also Read: 82-million-year-old fossil reveals Antarctica was home to the largest dinosaurs to ever walk Earth He said that even though the huntsman only peaked at 3.59 m/s for a small time, that is "still really fast". Clemente says spiders use "a combination of muscles to retract their limbs and hydraulic pressure to push them outwards." To run really fast, a creature should have a "sweet spot" between legs and muscles. The legs should be long, but "not so big that you have to support this huge mass". He believed before the study that the huntsman might have the “best spider body type for speed.” There could be faster spiders than brown huntsman Dr Jonas Wolff, of the University of Greifswald in Germany, a lead author of the study, said that running speeds can determine the ecological niche of spiders, and how they interact with the environment. He says that the study also revealed that “it was not the largest species that ran the fastest”, and spiders that catch prey in webs are not necessarily slower than huntsmans. Meanwhile, it is possible that there are faster huntsman species that are yet to be analysed.

The brown huntsman spiders found in Australia are the fastest spiders on Earth. A study has found that the Heteropoda jugulan species can run at speeds of 13km/hr. However, there could be much faster spiders out there, scientists said.

Arachnophobes beware! Fastest spider on Earth, that moves 12 feet in 1 second, has just been identified

A physicist saw time emerge entirely from an isolated system, a mini-universe he created. Giovanni Barontini detailed his experiment in a study published June 11 in the journal Physical Review Research. He aimed to answer the age-old question of where time comes from. Some theories suggest that the universe as a whole is static, and time shouldn't exist at all. Nothing on the outside is affecting it, so how do we experience time? The experimental physicist at the University of Birmingham set out to understand this “problem of time.”<h2>Quantum mini-universe</h2>He tested the idea that time isn't an ingredient of reality, but is the result of how different things inside the universe interact with each other. To test how time could naturally appear without an outside clock, Barontini created his own mini universe in the lab. He used a Bose-Einstein condensate—a unique state of matter that only forms near absolute zero. In these extremely cold conditions, thousands of individual atoms slowed down to a near standstill and behaved as a single quantum “super-particle.”<h2>Simulating Big Bang and Big Crunch</h2>To create the mini universe, the physicist placed the condensate in a trap. He divided it down the middle with a thin sheet of laser light and observed only one half, which he called the "bright sector." Barontini ignored the other part, deliberately deciding not to see it. He noticed that the atoms naturally flowed back and forth across the barrier and occasionally spilt over the barrier. He called the moment they flooded the bright region, the Big Bang, and the Big Crunch, when they flowed back out.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/why-has-the-large-hadron-collider-shut-down-when-will-it-restart-1782998621124">Why has the Large Hadron Collider shut down? When will it restart and other details</a><h2>Entropic time</h2>Instead of using any external laboratory clocks to track the experiment, Barontini wanted to see whether the mini-universe could keep track of its own time. &nbsp;He built an "entropic time" — a clock that measures the disorder or randomness in a system. In this case, it was defined by how much entropy was flowing between the two halves of the system. By tracking this internal change, the physicists could perfectly order the sequence of events without an outside clock.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/new-theory-suggests-billions-of-mini-universes-could-be-scattered-in-our-own-cosmos-1781512244963">New theory suggests billions of 'mini universes' could be scattered in our own cosmos</a><h2>Time stood still</h2>Barontini even saw time speed up, slow down and stop completely. When atoms were moving rapidly across the barrier, time "sped up." When the flow slowed down, time "slowed down." If the atoms stopped moving and became completely still, time effectively stopped. "Time was speeding up or slowing down, or even stopping, depending on what the system was doing," Barontini told Live Science.<h2>Time, the ultimate illusion</h2>He also found that both time itself and its one-way forward direction might stem from the same source: an observer choosing to ignore information. When he deliberately chose not to look at the dark region, Barontini gave up knowledge about that half of the system. This ignorance, measured as entropy, is precisely what created the flow of time in the observable half.&nbsp;The experiment is the first to successfully generate and control a "sense of time" entirely from inside an isolated system. It proves that time is not necessarily a hard-coded rule of the cosmos. It is an illusion that "emerges" from the internal interactions and changing disorder of matter.

Time is not a physical entity but develops from the relationship between what lies in the universe. A physicist created a mini-universe and saw time emerge in front of him. The experiment proves that time is not a physical rule of the cosmos.   

A physicist saw time emerge entirely from an isolated system, a mini-universe he created. Giovanni Barontini detailed his experiment in a study published June 11 in the journal Physical Review Research. He aimed to answer the age-old question of where time comes from. Some theories suggest that the universe as a whole is static, and time shouldn't exist at all. Nothing on the outside is affecting it, so how do we experience time? The experimental physicist at the University of Birmingham set out to understand this “problem of time.” Quantum mini-universe He tested the idea that time isn't an ingredient of reality, but is the result of how different things inside the universe interact with each other. To test how time could naturally appear without an outside clock, Barontini created his own mini universe in the lab. He used a Bose-Einstein condensate—a unique state of matter that only forms near absolute zero. In these extremely cold conditions, thousands of individual atoms slowed down to a near standstill and behaved as a single quantum “super-particle.” Simulating Big Bang and Big Crunch To create the mini universe, the physicist placed the condensate in a trap. He divided it down the middle with a thin sheet of laser light and observed only one half, which he called the "bright sector." Barontini ignored the other part, deliberately deciding not to see it. He noticed that the atoms naturally flowed back and forth across the barrier and occasionally spilt over the barrier. He called the moment they flooded the bright region, the Big Bang, and the Big Crunch, when they flowed back out. Also Read: Why has the Large Hadron Collider shut down? When will it restart and other details Entropic time Instead of using any external laboratory clocks to track the experiment, Barontini wanted to see whether the mini-universe could keep track of its own time. He built an "entropic time" — a clock that measures the disorder or randomness in a system. In this case, it was defined by how much entropy was flowing between the two halves of the system. By tracking this internal change, the physicists could perfectly order the sequence of events without an outside clock. Also Read: New theory suggests billions of 'mini universes' could be scattered in our own cosmos Time stood still Barontini even saw time speed up, slow down and stop completely. When atoms were moving rapidly across the barrier, time "sped up." When the flow slowed down, time "slowed down." If the atoms stopped moving and became completely still, time effectively stopped. "Time was speeding up or slowing down, or even stopping, depending on what the system was doing," Barontini told Live Science. Time, the ultimate illusion He also found that both time itself and its one-way forward direction might stem from the same source: an observer choosing to ignore information. When he deliberately chose not to look at the dark region, Barontini gave up knowledge about that half of the system. This ignorance, measured as entropy, is precisely what created the flow of time in the observable half. The experiment is the first to successfully generate and control a "sense of time" entirely from inside an isolated system. It proves that time is not necessarily a hard-coded rule of the cosmos. It is an illusion that "emerges" from the internal interactions and changing disorder of matter.

Time is not a physical entity but develops from the relationship between what lies in the universe. A physicist created a mini-universe and saw time emerge in front of him. The experiment proves that time is not a physical rule of the cosmos. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Physicist creates 'mini-universe' in lab and proves time is an illusion

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Physicist creates 'mini-universe' in lab and proves time is an illusion