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British artists team up to fight AI image-generating software

theguardian.com

Since the emergence of Midjourney and other image generators, artists have been watching and wondering whether...
Since the emergence of Midjourney and other image generators, artists have been watching and wondering whether AI is a great opportunity or an existential threat. Now, after a list of 16,000 names emerged of artists whose work Midjourney had allegedly used to train its AI – including Bridget Riley, Damien Hirst, Rac...
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Arctic zombie viruses in Siberia could spark terrifying new pandemic, scientists

theguardian.com

Humanity is facing a bizarre new pandemic threat, scientists have warned. Ancient viruses frozen in the...
Humanity is facing a bizarre new pandemic threat, scientists have warned. Ancient viruses frozen in the Arctic permafrost could one day be released by Earth’s warming climate and unleash a major disease outbreak, they say.Strains of these Methuselah microbes – or zombie viruses as they are also known – have already ...
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Nobel laureates call on EU to relax rules on genetic modification

theguardian.com

The EU must “reject the darkness of anti-science fearmongering” before a key vote on gene editing,...
The EU must “reject the darkness of anti-science fearmongering” before a key vote on gene editing, 34 Nobel prize winners have said.In an open letter shared with the Guardian and other European newspapers, the laureates demanded that lawmakers relax strict rules on genetic modification to embrace new techniques that...
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British inventor seeks to take $18B bite out of Apple in bitter patent war

theguardian.com

As a plumbing tycoon, Patrick Racz was used to enduring a deluge. But circumstances led to...
As a plumbing tycoon, Patrick Racz was used to enduring a deluge. But circumstances led to a very different kind of drenching, sitting in his local park in the rain contemplating the demise of his business during the dotcom crash. “I lost everything. I had young children. I was embarrassed, upset that I’d let my fam...
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DPD AI chatbot swears, calls itself 'useless' and criticises delivery firm

theguardian.com

The delivery firm DPD has disabled part of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered online chatbot after...
The delivery firm DPD has disabled part of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered online chatbot after a disgruntled customer was able to make it swear and criticise the company.Musician Ashley Beauchamp, 30, was trying to track down a missing parcel but was having no joy in getting useful information from the cha...
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'What kind of fruit are you?' How to answer the worst job interview questions

theguardian.com

How do you feel your life has worked out for you so far?Don’t answer that. It’s...
How do you feel your life has worked out for you so far?Don’t answer that. It’s not that I don’t care. But Salem Pierce, a 30-year-old graphic designer from Ohio, was actually asked this question in a job interview. Worse, the question invited her to post a two- to five-minute video response.This could be a new low ...

work & careersmoney
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The Vast Extent by Lavinia Greenlaw review – a cabinet of curiosities

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“Exploded essays”, the poet, novelist and memoirist Lavinia Greenlaw calls the 17 pieces of almost-art-critical prose...
“Exploded essays”, the poet, novelist and memoirist Lavinia Greenlaw calls the 17 pieces of almost-art-critical prose in this bright, mournful book. The phrase suggests a bristling diagram or enlarged view, an annotated arc of thought or feeling. But also something violently botched or ruined – don’t all essays wort...

essaysbooksculture
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Retired teacher's pension stopped as provider refuses to believe she is not dead

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Why are Teslas' batteries dying in the cold?

theguardian.com

For nearly a week, frigid temperatures from Chicago to northern Texas have made life painful for...
For nearly a week, frigid temperatures from Chicago to northern Texas have made life painful for electric vehicle owners, with reduced driving range and hours of waiting at charging stations.In Oak Brook, Illinois, near Chicago, on Monday, television reporters found Teslas that were running out of juice while in lon...
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Half of recent US inflation due to high corporate profits, report finds

theguardian.com

A new report claims “resounding evidence” shows that high corporate profits are a main driver of...
A new report claims “resounding evidence” shows that high corporate profits are a main driver of ongoing inflation, and companies continue to keep prices high even as their inflationary costs drop.The report, compiled by the progressive Groundwork Collaborative thinktank, found corporate profits accounted for about ...
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Cerne Abbas giant is Hercules and was army meeting point, say historians

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For centuries, historians and archaeologists have puzzled over the origins of the Cerne Abbas giant, the...
For centuries, historians and archaeologists have puzzled over the origins of the Cerne Abbas giant, the huge, naked, club-wielding figure cut into a chalky hillside in the English West Country. Was he a Celtic god, some sort of ancient fertility symbol, or, perhaps, a more recent lampoon of Oliver Cromwell?Research...
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EU bans 'misleading' environmental claims that rely on offsetting

theguardian.com

Terms such as “climate neutral” or “climate positive” that rely on offsetting will be banned from...
Terms such as “climate neutral” or “climate positive” that rely on offsetting will be banned from the EU by 2026 as part of a crackdown on misleading environmental claims.On Wednesday, members of the European parliament [MEPs] voted to outlaw the use of terms such as “environmentally friendly”, “natural”, “biodegrad...
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Netanyahu tells US he opposes creation of Palestinian state after Gaza war

theguardian.com

Israel’s prime minister has told the Biden White House that he rejects any moves to establish...
Israel’s prime minister has told the Biden White House that he rejects any moves to establish a Palestinian state when Israel ends its offensive against Gaza, and that all territory west of the Jordan River would be under Israeli security control.Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to obstruct the establishment of a Pales...
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Gen Z struggles with job interviews. Can we blame them?

theguardian.com

Halfway through a job interview during a grueling search, Tori Romo grew concerned. As she answered...
Halfway through a job interview during a grueling search, Tori Romo grew concerned. As she answered questions about her strengths, weaknesses and goals, it hit her. “I had no idea what product this company actually made,” said Romo, who is 26 and lives in New York. “Then they asked me this one question about it. I t...
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Meta documents show 100k children sexually harassed daily on its platforms

theguardian.com

Meta estimates about 100,000 children using Facebook and Instagram receive online sexual harassment each day, including...
Meta estimates about 100,000 children using Facebook and Instagram receive online sexual harassment each day, including “pictures of adult genitalia”, according to internal company documents made public late Wednesday.The unsealed legal filing includes several allegations against the company based on information the...
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'Giving us oxygen': Italy turns to Cuba to help revive ailing health system

theguardian.com

In the operating theatre at a hospital in Calabria, Asbel Díaz Fonseca and his team are...
In the operating theatre at a hospital in Calabria, Asbel Díaz Fonseca and his team are preparing to perform abdominal surgery on a man in his sixties. They deliberate over which medical technique to use – the French or US model – before deciding on the latter.But their main topic of pre-op conversation is food, nam...
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The social media insiders fearing for their kids

theguardian.com

Arturo Bejar would not have let his daughter use Instagram at the age of 14 if...
Arturo Bejar would not have let his daughter use Instagram at the age of 14 if he’d known then what he knows now.Bejar left Facebook in 2015, where he spent six years making it easier for users to report when they had problems on the platform. But it wasn’t until his departure that he witnessed what he described in ...
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Plantwatch: The organism so tough it can survive in space

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Fixing Horizon bugs would have been too costly, Post Office inquiry told

theguardian.com

A Fujitsu software developer who raised the issue of bugs in the Horizon IT system said...
A Fujitsu software developer who raised the issue of bugs in the Horizon IT system said the company did not properly fix the problem because it would have been too expensive and time-consuming, the inquiry into the Post Office scandal has heard.Faults in Fujitsu’s Horizon IT system resulted in the Post Office wrongf...
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Rare near mint/mint copy of the Spider-Man No 1 sells for more than £1M

theguardian.com

A rare copy of the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man has sold for more than...
A rare copy of the first issue of The Amazing Spider-Man has sold for more than £1m.The comic, published in March 1963, reached a record-setting $1.38m (£1.1m) at auction. It is one of only two copies of The Amazing Spider-Man No 1 rated “near mint/mint” by comic book grading service Certified Guaranty Company (CGC)...
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A groundbreaking study shows kids learn better on paper, not screens. Now what?

theguardian.com

The nationwide collapse in reading scores among American youth has lately captured the attention – if...
The nationwide collapse in reading scores among American youth has lately captured the attention – if not the concern – of headline writers, educators and government bureaucrats.The Department of Education’s most recent survey, released in June, was certainly sensational: it found that text comprehension skills of 1...
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Italian province orders all dogs to be DNA tested in poo crackdown

theguardian.com

Dog owners in Bolzano must submit their pets for DNA tests as the authorities in the...
Dog owners in Bolzano must submit their pets for DNA tests as the authorities in the northern Italian province crack down on the scourge of dog poo in the streets.The swab test results will be inserted into a database, which police can then refer to in their search for the culprits and their owners. The evidence wil...
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Third of UK teenagers believe climate change exaggerated, report shows

theguardian.com

A third of UK teenagers believe climate change is “exaggerated”, a report has found, as YouTube...
A third of UK teenagers believe climate change is “exaggerated”, a report has found, as YouTube videos promoting a new kind of climate denial aimed at young people proliferate on the platform.Previously, most climate deniers pushed the belief that climate breakdown was not happening or, if it was, that humans were n...
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What happens when a school bans smartphones? A complete transformation

theguardian.com

When the weather is nice, the Buxton boarding school moves lunch outside. Students, faculty and guests...
When the weather is nice, the Buxton boarding school moves lunch outside. Students, faculty and guests grab their food from the kitchen, and eat together under a white tent that overlooks western Massachusetts’ Berkshire mountains.As the close of the school year neared last June, talk turned to final assignments (th...
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