Ten years after change the world

Can gene-editing technology CRISPR create new crops that help fight climate change as they grow? That’s what a group of researchers hopes to do with $11 million in funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The funding will go toward efforts to enhance plants — starting with rice — and soil so that they’re better at trapping carbon dioxide. The effort, which was announced last week , is being led by the Innovative Genomics Institute, which was founded by Nobel laureate and co-inventor of CRISPR Jennifer Doudna. “[Jennifer] and I saw eye to eye on climate and how big of a problem it is in the world. And we just didn’t want to sit on the sidelines anymore,” says Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) executive director Brad Ringeisen. Climate experts overwhelmingly agree that the only way to truly tackle climate change is to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions we’re sending into the air as we burn fossil fuels to generate electricity or power trains, planes, and cars. … [Read more...] about How CRISPR rice could help tackle climate change

Brave Search, the private, independent search engine competing with giants such as Google, has announced on its first anniversary that 2.5 billion queries have now been completed by the search engine. Brave recently announced that its search engine, Brave Search, has passed 2.5 billion queries completed on its one-year anniversary. Brave Search defined its goals for its search engine, writing that it wanted to be “a privacy-protecting, unbiased alternative to Google and Bing, and a truly independent alternative to providers—such as DuckDuckGo or Startpage—that rely on Big Tech to run.” Brave is the default search engine for users of the privacy-focused Brave Browser but can be used by anyone by visiting the Brave Search Page. The search engine has seen rapid growth and has released a number of new features. The company has aimed to do so while sticking to its original core principles: Independence: We serve results from our own built-from-scratch index of the Web … [Read more...] about Brave Search Passes 2.5 Billion Queries in First Year

What's happening Picture settings on your new TV might not be ideal right out of the box. Why it matters Getting the best image possible out of your TV will make all your shows and movies pop. What's next We break down all the settings you'll need to adjust to get the best picture quality. Your TV doesn't actually come looking its best right out of the box. It may be surprising, but the default settings that your TV uses before you make any changes don't always deliver optimal performance. If you want the best out of your TV , you'll likely need to adjust your picture settings. That is exactly what we do here at CNET as part of our TV review process . We immediately dig into the menus to adjust the picture settings to make sure the televisions we're testing have optimal picture quality. Fortunately, you don't have to be an expert to get your TV looking great. Every TV has numerous adjustments, including different picture modes and controls for brightness, … [Read more...] about Your TV Could Look a Whole Lot Better: 9 Setting Changes for the Best Picture

A prolific NASA orbiter has celebrated its fifth year at Mars this month and the spacecraft has no plans to slow down anytime soon. NASA's powerful Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter began circling Mars on March 10, 2006. The primary science phase of the probe's mission wrapped up in 2008, but MRO keeps plugging away, monitoring the Martian surface in great detail and serving as a communications link between landers and rovers and scientists on Earth. MRO has radically expanded scientists' understanding of Mars, providing copious information about the Red Planet's environment and how it has changed over time, researchers said. "Copious" may be an understatement — the probe has transmitted more data to Earth than all other interplanetary missions combined. And the spacecraft's continued operation will only add to researchers' growing knowledge base. "Each Mars year is unique, and additional coverage gives us a better chance to understand the nature of changes in the … [Read more...] about Powerful NASA Orbiter Marks Five Years at Mars

Audio player loading… One of Elden Ring’s most recognizable areas looked very different when it first appeared earlier this year, as Bandai Namco quietly altered the game after release. Leyndell, a grand fortress-city and one of Elden Ring ’s late-game areas, included different enemies and items in the game’s 1.0 version. Playing an unpatched PS5 disc copy of the game, YouTuber Sekiro Dubi (opens in new tab) was able to play this early iteration and spot some of the major changes that have been made through post-release updates (thanks, VG247 (opens in new tab) ). Most obviously, the area’s enemies are totally different. Rather than meeting Leyndell Knights throughout the city, you’ll find it populated by enemy Banished Knights. Deeper in the city, the usual soldiers you’d expect to see are also missing, and replaced with a couple of back-to-back Erdtree Avatars. The swap suggests this original version of Leyndell was set earlier in Elden Ring’s … [Read more...] about More secret Elden Ring map changes have been discovered

A poll released by Gallup on Tuesday found the world “sadder, more worried, and more stressed-out” in 2021 than the year before, pushing its “negative experience index” to a record high of 33 points in the first year of U.S. President Joe Biden’s term. Gallup’s annual global bummer survey includes adult respondents from 122 countries. In 2021, 42 percent described themselves as “worried,” 41 percent as “stressed,” 28 percent as “sad,” and 23 percent as “angry.” 31 percent said they were in considerable physical pain. Those figures represent a two-percent increase in worry and pain, plus one-percent increases in stress and sadness, over the year of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. On the bright side, anger fell by one point. Gallup also asks about positive experiences and found them slipping downward for the first time since 2017. Positive experiences include laughter, enjoyment, learning, respect, and feeling well-rested. Laugher increased two points and learning … [Read more...] about Poll: Entire World ‘Unhappier, More Stressed’ Since Joe Biden Took Over – Especially Afghanistan

On a submersible dive off the Bahamas, Mikhail V. Matz of the University of Texas at Austin and several colleagues were seeking big-eyed, glowing animals adapted to darkness. Yet as they cruised above the seafloor, the team was distracted by hundreds of bizarre, sediment-coated balls the size of grapes. Each sat at the end of a sinuous track in the seafloor ooze. Indeed, the balls appeared to have made the tracks; some even seemed to have rolled upslope. The team collected specimens and identified the creatures as giant protozoans, Gromia sphaerica , each one a single large cell with an organic shell, or "test." When cleaned of sediment, the test feels like grape skin, but squishier, Matz says. Surprisingly, the tracks on the Bahamian seafloor resemble grooves found in sedimentary rocks formed as long as 1.8 billion years ago. The ancient grooves, bisected by a low ridge, had constituted the only evidence that multicellular, bilaterally symmetrical animals, such as … [Read more...] about Big Blobs Change View of Evolution

Audio player loading… Ubisoft has announced plans to use in-game events in games such as Riders Republic and Skull and Bones to raise awareness around the impact that climate change has on our planet. The plans were developed as part of Ubisoft’s participation in the Playing for the Planet Alliance’s annual Green Game Jam, which encourages studios to find ways to integrate environmental topics in their games. In Rider’s Republic, for instance, Ubisoft intends to (opens in new tab) use a “short and intense live event” to promote strategies that will reduce the size and frequency of wildfires, as well as have an emotional impact by highlighting their consequences. You won’t be forewarned of the event, Ubisoft has said. Instead, one day you’ll boot up Riders Republic and “be immersed immediately in the consequences of wildfires on the outskirts of the map”. The consequences will include an orange sky and "’fire smoke’ fog throughout the entire game”, a default gas … [Read more...] about Ubisoft is creating in-game events that highlight the impact of climate change

Chinese-owned social media site TikTok told US senators it was working on a final agreement with the Biden Administration that would "fully safeguard user data and US national security interests," according to a TikTok letter seen by Reuters. The letter dated Thursday came in response to questions raised in a June 27 letter by a few senators including Republicans Marsha Blackburn and Ted Cruz , TikTok said. TikTok, owned by Chinese technology conglomerate ByteDance, is one of the world's most popular social media apps, with more than 1 billion active users globally. It counts the United States as its largest market. TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew told senators in the letter the short video app was working with Oracle Corp on "new advanced data security controls that we hope to finalize in the near future." Last month, TikTok said it had completed migrating US users' information to servers at Oracle but it was still using U.S. and Singapore data centers … [Read more...] about tiktok: TikTok seeks to reassure US lawmakers on data security

One thing the pandemic has shown is the importance of having a reliable internet connection at home. It's essential for working from home , keeping up with schoolwork for remote learning , and keeping us entertained when we can't (or can't afford to) gather socially. But home internet service isn't exactly cheap -- in many cases, people can struggle just to get connected. Previously, a temporary subsidy program called the Emergency Broadband Benefit was established to help low-income families and those who had lost income during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the EBB was shuttered and replaced with the Affordable Connectivity Program , one of several broadband-focused initiatives in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill signed by President Joe Biden in November . Like the EBB before it, the ACP aims to help households afford the internet connections desperately needed to keep pace with a rapidly changing world. Those who qualify will receive a … [Read more...] about Here’s How to Save Money on Home Internet by Applying for the Affordable Connectivity Program