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Submission + - Xi Says World Order 'Crumbling Into Disarray' as War Takes Toll (archive.is)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: Chinese President Xi Jinping lamented a world in “disarray,” using some of his strongest language yet to describe a collapse of the Western-led international order as he vowed to play a constructive role in the Middle East.

“The international order is crumbling into disarray,” Xi told Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Tuesday in Beijing, using a Chinese phrase indicating not only chaos but also moral decay.

The comments, part of Xi’s first public statements on the Iran war since the conflict began more than a month ago, followed a flurry of visits by world leaders to Beijing and fresh economic data on Tuesday showing the war took a sharp toll on Chinese exports in March. Xi has framed his country as a stabilizing force in a world thrown into turmoil by Donald Trump’s erratic approach to trade and foreign policy.

Submission + - AI chatbots misdiagnose in over 80% of early medical cases (archive.is)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: Consumer AI chatbots falter when used to make medical diagnoses, particularly when faced with incomplete information, according to new research highlighting the risks of relying on them as digital doctors.

The study finds that leading large language models struggle to suggest a range of possible diagnoses when patient data is limited, frequently narrowing too quickly to a single answer.

The results point to a broader limitation in AI: while chatbots can identify likely conditions once a case is fully specified, they are less reliable at the earlier, more uncertain stages of clinical reasoning.

Submission + - Expert Warns Artemis II Crew Not to Fart or They Could Be in Danger (mediaite.com)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: There’s one perhaps unusual problem the crew of NASA’s Artemis II has to be mindful of while aboard the spacecraft: their farts.

In an interview with CTV News, science and technology expert Dan Riskin addressed the potential repercussions of a space bathroom or flatulence catastrophe, particularly in light of the fact that Artemis II’s “lunar loo” temporarily stopped working April 3rd.

The crew called into Mission Control and was forced to remove the urine hose from the toilet’s cradle in order to reactive it, which fortunately did the trick.

Astronaut Christina Koch celebrated the feat, laughing about being the “space plumber.”

“I’m proud to call myself the space plumber,” she joked. “I like to say that it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board.”

Submission + - Oxygen made from Moon dust for first time (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: Breathable oxygen has been created from Moon dust in a world first that paves the way for a lunar base.

Blue Origin, a company founded by Jeff Bezos, the American billionaire, announced this week that it had developed a reactor that could successfully release oxygen from lunar soil by using an electric current.

Almost half of Moon dust – the thin layer of rock that blankets the lunar surface – is oxygen, but it is bound to metals such as iron and titanium.

Scientists and engineers want to extract the oxygen to repurpose it as breathable air or rocket fuel. Transporting oxygen to space from Earth would be too dangerous and expensive, so making it on the Moon is seen as a key step for long-term habitation.

Submission + - A Talking Robot Guide Dog Could Change How Visually Impaired People Navigate (studyfinds.com) 1

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: What if you could ask your guide dog where the nearest water fountain is and hear it answer back, complete with directions and an estimated walk time? Researchers at the State University of New York at Binghamton have built a robotic guide dog that can do something close to that, holding simple back-and-forth conversations about navigation with its handler, describing the surrounding environment, and talking through route options as it leads the way.

Real guide dogs are incredible companions, but they can only respond to a handful of short commands like “forward” or “left.” They can’t tell a person what’s around them or explain that reaching the kitchen means passing through two doors. And the supply problem is staggering: only about 2% of visually impaired people in the United States use guide dogs, partly because breeding and training takes years and fewer than half the dogs in training actually graduate. In China, the gap is even wider, with roughly 400 guide dogs serving more than 10 million visually impaired people.

Submission + - The 40 minutes when the Artemis crew loses contact with the Earth (bbc.com)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: As the astronauts pass behind the Moon at about 23:47 BST on Monday, the radio and laser signals that allow the back-and-forth communication between the spacecraft and Earth will be blocked by the Moon itself.

For about 40 minutes, the four astronauts will be alone, each with their own thoughts and feelings, travelling through the darkness of space. A profound moment of solitude and silence.

Submission + - Masturbate more to lower your risk of cancer (nypost.com) 1

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: Dr. Lorelei Mucci, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a co-author of emerging research on prostate cancer and ejaculation, told The Post that her team has come across some interesting patterns.

Data from a long-term health and lifestyle study assessing more than 50,000 men since 1986 suggests that those who ejaculate 21 or more times per month had a 19-22% lower risk of prostate cancer than those who came less, she said.

“The ’21 or more’ isn’t a strict biological magic number, but rather a finding that emerged from our robust statistical analysis,” Mucci explained, adding that her team has even observed small reductions in risk for men who ejaculated only eight times per month.

Submission + - Code red at OpenAI as it 'pours money down a black hole' (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: Since its release in late 2022, OpenAI has become one of the world’s most valuable start-ups, raising tens of billions of dollars and making Sam Altman, its chief executive, one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent figures.

But even as it breaks records, OpenAI is facing questions about whether the vast sums investors have ploughed into the company will ever be repaid.

Some have even speculated that the poster child of the AI boom could run out of cash and potentially bring down much of the US tech sector with it.

Submission + - Life with AI causing human brain 'fry' (france24.com)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: Too many lines of code to analyze, armies of AI assistants to wrangle, and lengthy prompts to draft are among the laments by hard-core AI adopters.

Consultants at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have dubbed the phenomenon "AI brain fry," a state of mental exhaustion stemming "from the excessive use or supervision of artificial intelligence tools, pushed beyond our cognitive limits."

Submission + - Why It's Good to [Masturbate] Frequently, According to Science (404media.co) 1

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Regular ejaculation — for example, by masturbation — produces higher quality sperm, a finding that has implications for fertility science and assisted reproductive technologies, according to a comprehensive new study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

It’s well-established that sperm quality in many animals can deteriorate as males age, but less is known about how the age of sperm cells independently impacts reproductive outcomes. To fill in this gap, scientists co-led by Krish Sanghvi and Rebecca Dean of the University of Oxford conducted a meta-analysis of more than 115 studies about human sperm storage that cumulatively involved nearly 55,000 men, as well as 56 studies of 30 non-human species.

Submission + - FCC Bans Nearly All Wireless Routers Sold in the U.S. (reason.com)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: This week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) effectively banned the sale of nearly all wireless routers in the U.S., in yet another example of the government making Americans' consumer decisions for them.

Ninety-six percent of American adults use the internet, and 80 percent of them use wireless routers—devices that transmit a signal throughout your home via radio waves and allow you to get online without plugging into the wall.

In a Monday announcement, the FCC deemed "all consumer-grade routers produced in foreign countries" potentially unsafe. This followed a national security determination last week, in which members of executive branch agencies concluded that "routers produced in a foreign country, regardless of the nationality of the producer, pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States and to the safety and security of U.S. persons."

Submission + - People 65 and older can get better with age, study shows (msn.com)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: Negative stereotypes about aging are pervasive. A global survey in 2024 found that 65 percent of health care workers and 80 percent of the general population falsely believed that developing dementia is a normal part of aging.

“The stereotype of an older person is that they’re dependent, that they have cognitive impairment,” said Mark Lachs, co-chief of the division of geriatrics and palliative medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian Hospital and professor of medicine at Cornell’s medical school. While Lachs said that may sometimes be true, “the vast majority of older people don’t have any cognitive impairment. The vast majority of older people do not have a need for assistance.”

In the last couple of decades, there has been more research focused on the positive aspects of getting older. Lachs noted that judgment and wisdom improve with age, as does emotional intelligence and even happiness.

Submission + - Alabama State Sup. Ct: Police CAN Demand Physical ID If THEY Deem It Necessary (msn.com) 2

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The ruling states that officers are allowed to demand physical identification if they feel an individual gives an unsatisfactory oral answer. AL.com reported how the decision ruled against a local pastor, who sued an Alabama town and its law enforcement office after a police encounter.

The incident occurred in 2022, in which police arrested Pastor Michael Jennings after he watered his neighbor's flowers. Another neighbor called the police on Jennings, citing that a "younger Black male" was on the property.

While officers pressed the church leader about his identity, he told them he was "Pastor Jennings" and lived across the street. The answer, however, did not please the officers.

After the man refused to give them his ID, law enforcement arrested him on charges of obstructing government operations, which were later dismissed. The woman who initially called 911 also confirmed Jennings as a neighbor.

Feeling wronged, Jennings sued the town of Childersburg and the officers for false arrest, leading to a long legal battle. Although a district judge dismissed his case in 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed the decision the next year.

The case then proceeded to the Alabama Supreme Court, while several civil rights organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center, filed briefs in support of Jennings. However, the court ruled 6-3 that officers may arrest someone who refuses to provide sufficient identification.

Justice Terry Sellers cited that getting correct identification is a "crucial part" of the stop-and-identify law, also known as a Terry stop. Sellers defended the officers' actions, stating that officers can request or demand physical identification if they deem a person's oral answer as unsatisfactory.

According to WVTM13, Sellers wrote that the law "does not exclude from its purview a request for physical identification when a suspect provides an incomplete or unsatisfactory response to an officer's demand to provide his or her name and address and an explanation of his or her action."

The judgment now sets a legal precedent that officers can not only request physical proof of one's identity but also arrest individuals if they fail to provide such evidence. Legal rights advocates condemned the decision, with Matthew Cavedon, director of the Cato Institute's Project on Criminal Justice, calling the ruling a "significant expansion of government power over people."

Now, an Alabamian under suspicion by a police officer must stay prepared to show proof of identity or face arrest.

Cavendon added, "The significance now for Alabamians is if an officer's not satisfied with whatever answer you give, I sure hope you've got your driver's license or passport on you."

https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3F...

Submission + - The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent. (yahoo.com) 1

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: The U.S. government is insolvent. That’s not hyperbole — it’s the conclusion drawn directly from the Treasury Department’s own consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2025, released last week to near-total media silence. The numbers: $6.06 trillion in total assets against $47.78 trillion in total liabilities as of September 30, 2025.

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