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  • Copilot is coming to cars — and so are Teams calls

    Copilot is coming to cars — and so are Teams calls

    What’s worse, being stuck in traffic or on another interminable Microsoft Teams call? ¿Por qué no los dos? Mercedes is teaming up with Microsoft to allow you to take Teams calls while on the go — and is talking about adding Microsoft Copilot to its suite of luxury cars, too.

    Microsoft and Mercedes-Benz said Wednesday that the new Mercedes CLA will be able to tap into an in-vehicle camera and give drivers access to a Meetings for Teams application. Somehow, Mercedes is also including Microsoft Intune inside the car, so business workers will be able to access private business data, too.

    Mercedes is making this part of what it calls MBUX, the Mercedes-Benz user experience. Microsoft and Mercedes plan to implement the new Intune and Teams enhancements as part of an MBUX 4.0 upgrade this summer.

    The integration of Microsoft Teams, however, might be either the most useful or the most dystopian upgrade. Microsoft and Mercedes say that you can use the in-car camera for talking to partners or underlings, letting them see you as you cruise down the highway in comfort.

    Fortunately, the technology is being rolled out with an eye toward safety. “To minimize distraction and maximize safety while driving, the meeting video stream turns off automatically as soon as the camera is activated,” the companies said. “As a result, the driver will never see any shared screens or slides — and the camera can be turned off at any time.”

    Is this the future of commuting to the office?

    Mercedes-Benz

    Mercedes is also integrating chat into its driver interface, so you’ll be able to dictate chats to contacts, and view your upcoming calendar through a “Next Meetings” function.

    Copilot is coming to cars

    Microsoft and Mercedes are also working together to bring Copilot to vehicles, though the two aren’t saying when.

    “Mercedes‑Benz and Microsoft are also working together to integrate Microsoft 365 Copilot into the latest vehicles,” both companies said. “This will be one of the world’s first application of its kind in a car and will help users prepare for upcoming meetings with the aid of advanced AI. Using voice prompts, drivers can summarize emails, retrieve or query client preferences and details, and manage daily tasks without distraction. Microsoft 365 Copilot has the potential to transform the vehicle into a third workspace, complementing the office and the home office.”

    Microsoft has previously struggled to bring its services into the car, with Microsoft Sync powering the early versions of the Ford Sync entertainment and communications system. Since then Android Auto and Apple’s CarPlay have provided alternatives to Ford’s own entertainment systems.

    The 2025 CLA starts at $45,550 and goes up to $54,350, according to Car and Driver. To enable the new MBUX features, you’ll need an Active Entertainment Package Plus subscription, which apparently varies by region and location.

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  • Real Madrid says ‘club legend’ Lucas Vázquez won’t return

    Real Madrid says ‘club legend’ Lucas Vázquez won’t return

    Jul 16, 2025, 03:05 PM ET

    MADRID — Lucas Vázquez, an important player for Real Madrid during one of its most successful eras, is ending his stint with the Spanish powerhouse.

    The club and the player said Wednesday that he is not returning for another season.

    “I’m leaving Real Madrid, but Real Madrid will never leave me,” Vázquez said on social media. “Wherever I go, I will proudly say that I had the honor of playing for the best team in the world. Thank you for joining me on the most beautiful journey of my life.”

    Madrid is preparing a farewell ceremony on Thursday for the 34-year-old Vázquez.

    “Real Madrid would like to express our gratitude and affection to Lucas Vázquez, one of the great legends of our club,” it said in a statement.

    Vázquez is one of the winningest players with Madrid, having helped the club capture 23 titles, including five Champions Leagues and four in LaLiga. He made 402 appearances, playing mostly as a right-back but also as a forward, attacking midfielder and contributing off the bench.

    “Lucas Vázquez represents in an exemplary way the values of Real Madrid, which has made him one of the most loved players by our fans,” club president Florentino Pérez said.

    “The figure of Lucas Vázquez symbolizes the hard work, perseverance, humility and winning spirit that are essential for success in this shirt. He is a player who has the affection and recognition of all madridistas. Real Madrid is and always will be his home.”

    Vázquez joined the club’s youth academy in 2007 as a 16-year-old. After a season on loan at Espanyol, he made his debut with Madrid’s first team in 2015.

    He did not immediately announce his plans for the future.

    Madrid is coming off a disappointing season by its high standards, losing the Spanish league title to Barcelona and failing to reach the final in the Club World Cup or the Champions League.

    Vázquez wasn’t the only club legend to leave the club ahead of the 2025-26 campaign, with Luka Modric moving to AC Milan and manager Carlo Ancelotti making way for Xabi Alonso to take over as coach.

    Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.

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  • Predators are doomed when their prey vanishes

    Predators are doomed when their prey vanishes

    Across Earth’s long timeline, extinction often seems like a silent erasure. Yet behind many disappearances lies a chain of ecological tension. Researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil explored predator-prey dynamics.

    The results of two new studies suggest predator-prey relationships shaped extinction patterns in ancient species. Supported by FAPESP, the work focuses on predators like saber-toothed cats and their herbivore prey in North America.


    The scientists used fossil records, body size data, and climate history from the last 20 million years.

    Predators left without their prey

    Saber-toothed tigers, known for long canines, likely hunted large animals. A popular theory links their extinction to the loss of megafauna during the late Pleistocene, caused by climate change and human actions.

    “One of the hypotheses that’s received the most attention in the literature was that the end of saber-toothed tigers,” said study author and UNICAMP researcher João Nascimento.

    “It could be linked to the extinction of megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene, which occurred between 50,000 and 11,000 years ago.”

    “These large animals became extinct due to climate change and human actions, and as a result, the predators were left without their main prey.”

    Extinction started before humans

    Nascimento noted that the research offers a new timeline. “We found that the process began millions of years earlier,” he said.

    Saber-toothed cats went through repeated extinctions over time, often during periods of reduced prey diversity. This long-term view changes how we understand their fate.

    The second study, published in the journal Evolution, takes a reverse approach. It looks at how predator expansion drove herbivore decline. Antilocaprids, once a diverse group in North America, now have just one species left: the American antelope.

    This group includes two extinct subfamilies. Merycodontinae vanished about six million years ago, likely outcompeted by proboscideans, ancestors of modern elephants. These massive animals dominated forest habitats, squeezing out smaller herbivores.

    Predators vanished after prey

    The Antilocaprinae subfamily started fading when felids grew more diverse. The American cheetah (Miracinonyx), built for speed, emerged during this time. It likely drove antelopes to become faster.

    Predator-driven speed might be why the American antelope is so fast today. The study gives new weight to that idea. More predators meant more evolutionary pressure on prey species. Fewer herbivores meant fewer niches to support diverse predators.

    In a previous study, the researchers had suggested that large herbivores in the Iberian Peninsula caused predator decline 15 million years ago. These new papers expand that perspective to much broader regions.

    “The great contribution of this set of studies is precisely to present the idea that the interaction between predators and prey can have an effect on large evolutionary patterns,” said Professor Mathias Pires, who supervised the work.

    “This had been debated for decades, but there was no really robust set of results to support this hypothesis.”

    Fossils reveal extinction clues

    These discoveries rest on detailed fossil records. The team analyzed size, diet, and coexistence patterns of animals across millions of years.

    For example, saber-toothed cats appeared around 14 million years ago in Eurasia and 12 million years ago in North America. Eight species once coexisted, but numbers shrank over time.

    Six million years ago, the saber-toothed cat population began a steady decline. This drop happened during a shift toward a more arid climate. Grasslands expanded while forests shrank, affecting food chains.

    Leaf-eating prey lost their food sources, reducing available prey for predators.

    “Our study did not find a direct relationship between this event and the reduction in saber-toothed cats, but these changes in the environment had an indirect impact on the extinctions of different saber-toothed species by reducing the availability of prey,” Pires said.

    Predators and prey need balance

    Forest-dependent Merycodontinae went extinct as their habitats disappeared. Grass-eating Antilocaprinae lasted longer but declined with increasing predator pressure. This chain reaction mirrors how nature balances itself.

    “We’re showing how an increase in predators can reduce the availability of prey, which in turn reduces the abundance of predators, and how this can manifest on an evolutionary scale,” Pires said.

    “It’s a warning about how we may be altering the future with the extinctions we’re causing now.”

    The studies not only map the past but also warn how predator loss and extinction trends today may echo through millennia, reshaping life far beyond our own time.

    The study is published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology.

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  • Sabrina Carpenter Is Living La Dolce Vita—With Vacation Style to Match

    Sabrina Carpenter Is Living La Dolce Vita—With Vacation Style to Match

    Following the globe-spanning Short n’ Sweet tour and ahead of her forthcoming album, Man’s Best Friend, Sabrina Carpenter is on a well-deserved vacation. The singer jetted off to Italy, where—to nobody’s surprise—she brought a fabulous, La Dolce Vita-inspired wardrobe to match.

    For an itinerary that consisted of lounging on balconies, drinking goblet-sized spritzes, eating bowls of pasta, and petting stray cats, Carpenter brought along whimsical summer staples: minidresses, bikinis, bloomers, and matching sets galore. Like her tour wardrobe, the singer embraced a delicate color palette, mainly sticking to white, baby pink, and butter yellow, but every so often she punctuated her pastels with sporadic splashes of black and red.

    Courtesy of @sabrinacarpenter on Instagram

    Lightweight pieces were central to Carpenter’s Euro summer wardrobe. (Because, when forgoing air conditioning…) See: the open knit off-the-shoulder long-sleeve she wore over a polka-dot bikini top, and the semi-sheer black and white minidress she paired with a black newsboy cap.

    Image may contain Sabrina Carpenter Clothing Hat Accessories Jewelry Ring Adult Person Bag Handbag Head and Face

    Courtesy of @sabrinacarpenter on Instagram

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  • Hepatitis C treatment gaps persist in postpartum women, children

    Hepatitis C treatment gaps persist in postpartum women, children

    Hepatitis C treatment gaps persist in postpartum women, children | Image Credit: © Dr_Microbe – stock.adobe.com.

    Two studies conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis highlight gaps in hepatitis C virus (HCV) care among children and recently pregnant women, 2 populations vulnerable to long-term adverse liver outcomes. The findings, published in Pediatrics and Obstetrics & Gynecology Open, underscore how race, age, geography, and peripartum status affect access to direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy, despite the availability of effective treatment.1-3

    “We have treatments for hepatitis C where it’s just 2 or 3 months of pills and then over 95% of people are cured,” said Megan Curtis, MD, assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at WashU Medicine, who led both studies. “But we are still having difficulties in getting the treatments to the populations that need them the most. These kinds of studies can help us identify where those barriers are.”

    Pediatric treatment disparities

    In the study published in Pediatrics, Curtis and colleagues analyzed data from the TriNetX Research Network to characterize the HCV care cascade among 928 U.S. children diagnosed with HCV between 2000 and 2022. Despite clinical guidelines recommending DAA treatment for children aged 3 years and older, only 32.0% of children were linked to HCV care, and just 12.0% received antiviral therapy.2

    Children born between 2014 and 2018 had the highest rates of linkage to care (P = .008), and those diagnosed before age 3 were more likely to be linked to care (P = .03) but less likely to receive treatment (P = .01) compared to older children. The decline in DAA prescriptions after 2020 may reflect pandemic-related disruptions or the delayed rollout of pediatric formulations.

    The study identified significant racial and regional disparities. Hispanic/Latinx children had more than twice the odds of linkage to care compared to Black children (odds ratio [OR], 2.20; 95% CI, 1.05–4.59), while White children had over triple the odds (OR, 3.44; 95% CI, 1.89–6.28). Geographic differences were also notable, with children in the South least likely to be linked to care.

    “Parents might also delay because of the difficulty of administering a medicine to a young child,” Curtis explained. “And clinicians may delay treatment because some children who have hepatitis C will spontaneously clear it on their own. However, this isn’t always the case.”

    Peripartum barriers to care

    In a second study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology Open, Curtis and colleagues, including co-senior author Kevin Xu, MD, examined DAA uptake in 19,668 individuals with HCV entering opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment between 2015 and 2019. Using the Merative MarketScan database, the authors found that recently pregnant women were significantly less likely to receive HCV treatment compared with both men and nonpregnant women.3

    Among all individuals initiating OUD treatment, 37.3% received DAAs within 1 year. However, only 31.8% of recently pregnant women received treatment, compared with 35.7% of nonpregnant women and 40.6% of men. Adjusted analyses confirmed that women with recent pregnancy were 18% less likely than men (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.18; 95% CI, 1.13–1.24) and 9% less likely than nonpregnant women (aHR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.04–1.13) to receive antiviral treatment.

    Caroline Cary, the study’s first author and a third-year medical student, noted that postpartum priorities may hinder access to care. “People with hepatitis C are often asymptomatic for years after being exposed, so if you are young, otherwise healthy, and have a new baby, getting prompt treatment may not be a top priority, especially if it is challenging to access,” she said.

    Implications for practice

    The findings suggest that postpartum and pediatric patients may be overlooked in HCV elimination strategies, despite treatment guidelines recommending universal screening and timely therapy. As Curtis stated, “We need to come up with better strategies for addressing hepatitis C. We have all the tools to eliminate it. We have medications that can treat it. We know the people who need to get it. We just need to step up the availability and the awareness. We could be done with hepatitis C in a generation.”

    Together, these studies support targeted interventions to improve linkage to care and DAA uptake among children and postpartum women, particularly in minoritized and underserved populations.

    References:

    1. WashU Medicine. Hepatitis C treatment is not reaching some at-risk populations. EurekAlert. July 11, 2025. Accessed July 16, 2025. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1090972
    2. Curtis MR, Munroe S, Biondi BE, Ciaranello AL, Linas BP, Epstein RL. Disparities in Linkage to Care Among Children With Hepatitis C Virus in the United States. PEDIATRICS. Published online April 18, 2025. doi:https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2024-068565
    3. Cary CB, McCrary LM, Marks LR, et al. Association Between Sex and Recent Pregnancy and Hepatitis C Virus Treatment in People With Opioid Use Disorder. O&G Open. 2025;2(4):e096. doi:https://doi.org/10.1097/og9.0000000000000096

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  • The companies firing staff for AI today will regret it in five years

    The companies firing staff for AI today will regret it in five years

    You’ve probably seen the headlines. “AI job cuts.” “Automation replacing humans.” Some CEOs are even proud of it.

    OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the next billion-dollar company could consist of one person thanks to AI advances. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei thinks AI could eliminate nearly half of all entry-level white-collar jobs in five years

    Already this year, more than 64,000 people have been laid off across the tech sector, with Microsoft and Intel leading the charge and AI being a major factor.

    People innovate, AI imitates

    Not only is this short-sighted, it’s fundamentally bad business. The companies cutting people today in the name of AI will be the ones playing catch-up tomorrow.

    There is no doubt that AI is excellent at doing more with less. It speeds up processes, cuts down repetitive work, and buys back time. But AI on its own cannot create the next generation of products and services.

    The businesses that win in the long term are the ones that innovate. That create new products. That reimagine how things should work, and find radical breakthroughs that impress their customers in new ways.

    The data backs it up. McKinsey found that companies with innovation baked into the culture are 3.5 times more likely to outperform their competitors.

    And history supports it as well—just ask Blockbuster. Back in the early 2000s, it had strong profits and a large customer base. But what it lacked was the foresight to use its leading position to build the next wave of value. Netflix built it instead.

    And that kind of creative thinking still only comes from people. Ultimately, it comes down to this: AI doesn’t invent. It recycles. It’s trained on other people’s ideas, imitates patterns, and doesn’t jump the curve.

    That’s not a flaw—that’s how AI is designed. As academic Mark Runco puts it: “AI can only produce artificial creativity.” It can support creative people, but it can’t replace them.

    If your strategy is to fire the people who could create the next big thing—good luck. You might run a tighter ship, at least in the short term, but don’t be surprised when your product roadmap starts to fall flat.

    How AI can really unleash creativity

    So, if you’re leading a large business, what should you do instead? Keep hold of your talent. Tell your team to use the extra time they have freed up with AI to innovate. Give your people the headroom to think.

    Some of the world’s most successful—and perhaps more importantly profitable—products started as side projects inside Google, among them Gmail and AdSense. Not because they were asked for. But because smart people had the space and time to explore.

    Imagine if those same people had been made redundant the quarter before. That’s exactly what is happening right now.

    Too many leaders are taking the efficiency gains of AI and passing them straight to the bottom line. They’re juicing short-term profits and calling it innovation.

    AI limitations

    And that’s before you even factor in the risk that many of these so-called “efficiencies” may never materialize. For all the AI hype, humanity doesn’t have the greatest track record when it comes to predicting the future. If the magazines of the 1950s and 1960s were right, we’d be commuting to work with jet packs and cleaning our homes with nuclear-powered hoovers by now.

    The same might apply here. Embedding AI into real-world business processes is hard, especially when it comes to sophisticated knowledge work. There are technical limitations, privacy minefields, and the unsolved problem of how to fix or debug AI agents when they go off course.

    So, there’s every chance that some of the companies laying off staff today will find themselves quietly rehiring in a few years, once they realize the tech isn’t as capable as they thought.

    Taken together, the winners won’t be the companies that cut deepest. They’ll be the ones that keep the right people, give them space, and leverage AI to push their creativity even further.

    AI is rewriting the rules of business. What matters now is how you choose to use it. Where one company sees an opportunity to cut headcount, another sees a chance to build something new.

    Only one of those will still be leading the market in five years.

    The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

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  • Neffy Effectively Treats Anaphylaxis in Pediatric Phase 3 Open-Label Trial

    Neffy Effectively Treats Anaphylaxis in Pediatric Phase 3 Open-Label Trial

    Motohiro Ebisawa, MD, PhD

    A phase 3 open-label study has demonstrated that neffy, a recently approved epinephrine nasal spray, successfully treated anaphylaxis symptoms induced by an oral food challenge (OFC).1

    “The present study is the first prospective study conducted to assess both the efficacy of an epinephrine product during anaphylaxis, as well as to characterize the clinical course of anaphylaxis before and after administration of epinephrine,” wrote investigators, led by Motohiro Ebisawa, MD, PhD, from the clinical research center for allergy and rheumatology at NHO Sagamihara National Hospital in Japan.

    Despite extensive safety and efficacy data, many people remain hesitant to use epinephrine, the only approved first-line treatment for severe allergic reactions, largely due to fear of injection. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved neffy, a needle-free epinephrine option, on August 9, 2024, eliminating patients’ top-cited fear.2

    In this phase 3 single-period, single-dose, open-label study, investigators assessed neffy’s efficacy for treating OFC-induced anaphylaxis symptoms in 15 Japanese children aged 6 – 17 years with food allergies.1 Patients received neffy following moderate (grade 2) anaphylaxis symptoms in the gastrointestinal, respiratory, or cardiovascular systems. Triggers included egg (n = 5), milk (n = 4), peanut (n = 4), wheat (n = 1), and walnut (n = 1).

    Patients < 30 kg received neffy 1 mg (n = 6; 1 male and 5 female), and those ≥ 30 kg received 2 mg (n = 9; 6 male and 3 female). The median age and weight were 7 vs 12 years and 18 vs 40 kg for the 1 mg and 2 mg groups, respectively.

    The primary endpoint was the change from baseline in main symptoms at 15 minutes or before alternative treatment. Secondary endpoints included the proportion of patients not requiring additional treatment, symptom grading by organ system at each time point, and time to resolution. Safety measures included vital signs, adverse events, and nasal assessments.

    No patients needed a second epinephrine dose to treat their initial reaction. However, 1 patient developed a biphasic reaction 2 hours and 45 minutes later and received intramuscular epinephrine. On average, symptoms resolved in 16 minutes.

    “In the present study, the mean symptom Grades started improving within 5 minutes (the first timepoint), followed by continuous improvement,” investigators wrote, mirroring what clinicians often observe in practice.

    However, several patients received alternative medication after neffy. One child with grade 2 respiratory symptoms received procaterol hydrochloride 8 minutes after neffy for dyspnea. Other post-neffy treatments included antihistamines, a nebulized B2 agonist, cromoglicate sodium, hydrocortisone sodium succinate, oxygen for decreased oxygen saturation, and cooling as adjunctive treatment for skin itching.

    Some adverse events were unrelated to the OFC, including tremor (n = 3) and nasal mucosal erythema (n = 2). Other mild to moderate adverse events included headache, cough, intranasal hypoesthesia, nasal crusting, nasal discomfort, oropharyngeal pain, pharyngeal hypoesthesia, rhinalgia, abdominal pain, oral hypoesthesia, chills, pain, and tachycardia.

    Erythema appeared in 4 patients at 15 minutes post-dose, 5 patients in 20 minutes, 6 patients at 30 minutes, 4 patients at 60 and 120 minutes, and 3 patients at discharge. One patient had nasal crusting at 120 minutes. No patients had hemorrhage, inflammation/erosion, or abnormal oxygen saturation or ECG findings.

    Following neffy administration, an overall increase in systolic blood pressure and heart rate was observed. A transient decrease in systolic blood pressure occurred shortly after dosing, coinciding with reductions in diastolic blood pressure across all dose groups. A brief decline in heart rate was also noted at 10 minutes post-dose, and the diastolic blood pressure decrease persisted for approximately 20 minutes following administration.

    “These data provide a bridge between neffy’s extensive PK and PD data which demonstrate activation of adrenergic receptors and the clinically measurable therapeutic effects of neffy,” investigators wrote. “In addition, the exploration of the PD response to epinephrine provides insights into the mechanism of action for the treatment of severe allergic reactions.”

    References

    1. Ebisawa M, Takahashi K, Takahashi K, et al. Epinephrine Nasal Spray Improves Allergic Symptoms in Patients Undergoing Oral Food Challenge, Phase 3 Trial. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. Published online July 8, 2025. doi:10.1016/j.jaip.2025.06.038
    2. Smith, T. FDA Approves Epinephrine Nasal Spray for Emergency Treatment of Allergic Reactions. HCPLive. August 9, 2024. https://www.hcplive.com/view/fda-approves-epinephrine-nasal-spray-for-emergency-treatment-of-allergic-reactions. Accessed July 16, 2025.

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  • Crude Oil Prices Fall Due to a Focus on Oil Surplus

    Crude Oil Prices Fall Due to a Focus on Oil Surplus

    Oil pipeline in winter by Robson Machado via Pixabay

    August WTI crude oil (CLQ25) on Wednesday closed down -0.14 (-0.21%), and August RBOB gasoline (RBQ25) closed down -0.0256 (-1.18%).

    Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday, driven by expectations of a global oil surplus later this year.  Oil prices also saw continued weakness after President Trump on Monday refrained from imposing new sanctions on Russian oil exports, instead issuing more tariff threats.  Oil prices were undercut by Wednesday’s 3-week high in the dollar index.  The weekly EIA report was mixed.

    Concern about a global oil glut is negative for crude prices.  On July 5, OPEC+ agreed to raise its crude production by 548,000 barrels per day (bpd) beginning August 1, exceeding expectations of a 411,000 bpd increase.  Saudi Arabia also stated that additional similar-sized increases in crude output could follow, which is viewed as a strategy to reduce oil prices and penalize overproducing OPEC+ members, such as Kazakhstan and Iraq.  OPEC+ is boosting output to reverse the 2-year-long production cut, gradually restoring a total of 2.2 million bpd of production by September 2026.  On May 31, OPEC+ agreed to a 411,000 bpd increase in crude production for July, following the same 411,000 bpd hike for June.  June crude production rose +360,000 bpd to a 1.5-year high of 28.10 million bpd.

    In a supportive factor for oil prices, Bloomberg reported last Thursday that OPEC+ is discussing a pause in further production increases from October, following its next monthly hike in September of 548,000 barrels.  OPEC+ may be concerned about a slowdown in global oil demand in the second half of this year that could lead to a supply glut if the group keeps boosting production.  The International Energy Agency said inventories have been accumulating at a rate of 1 million bpd and that global crude oil market faces a surplus by Q4-2025 equivalent to 1.5% of global crude consumption.

    A decrease in crude oil held worldwide on tankers is bullish for oil prices.  Vortexa reported Monday that crude oil stored on tankers that have been stationary for at least seven days fell by -4.6% w/w to 78.03 million bbl in the week ended July 11.

    Today’s weekly EIA report showed that US crude inventories in the week ended July 11 fell by -3.859 million bbls, the first draw in three weeks.  Gasoline inventories rose +3.399 million bbls, and distillate inventories rose by +4.173 million bbls.  The EIA report showed that (1) US crude oil inventories as of July 11 were -8.0% below the seasonal 5-year average, (2) gasoline inventories were -0.1% below the seasonal 5-year average, and (3) distillate inventories were -21.1% below the 5-year seasonal average.  US crude oil production in the week ending July 11 fell -0.1% w/w to 13.375 million bpd, modestly below the record high of 13.631 million bpd posted in the week of 12/6/2024.

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  • Dust devils on Mars leave ‘fingerprints’ that can guide future Red Planet missions

    Dust devils on Mars leave ‘fingerprints’ that can guide future Red Planet missions

    Martian dust devils are fleeting, but the footprints they leave behind can endure for months. Now, researchers have used those tracks to learn about the whirlwinds and potentially guide future mission planning.

    As wind swirls across the landscape on both Mars and Earth, it sweeps up ground particles that reveal the dry columns. The whirlwinds dance across the landscape, leaving a path revealed by excavated particles. On the active surface of Earth, such paths are hard to spot. But on the nearly inactive surface of Mars, they can remain for months, long after the devils’ minutes-long lifetimes.

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  • Elizabeth Hurley has the Secret to the Perfect Selfie

    Elizabeth Hurley has the Secret to the Perfect Selfie

    Model and actress Elizabeth Hurley, 60, has a simple tip to capture the perfect selfie: Get rid of sunlight!

    To prove her pictorial theory, the actress shared a photo of herself standing confidently at an ideal angle, with a sunset providing the lighting for the lively shot.

    “The secret to flattering bikini pics? BAN overhead sunlight,” Hurley wrote on Instagram. “When shooting bikinis, sunrise or sunset are your best friends.”

    Hurley took the flattering shot as the sun was rising at 7 a.m. After she wrapped up her mock photo shoot by 8 a.m., she was “lounging around,” “feeling glamorous” and “shielded from the lethal sun.”

    The Bedazzled star’s glow could stem from her current whirlwind romance with country musician Billy Ray Cyrus. Hurley and Cyrus, 63, have been together since April. They met while filming Christmas in Paradise in 2022.

    Hurley told People in May that she was “very happy” with the longtime guitarist.

    “We are very happy, we both love country music, we both love the country and we both love our kids. We’re happy together,” Hurley said.

    Believe it or not, there are more ways to take a better selfie.

    Effective tips, such as facing the camera, using a timer, finding ideal lighting and even investing in a selfie stick, can help you take the ultimate photo.

    To take control of how you appear in photos, know your best angles, change poses often, be aware of your environment and show emotion when you’re in front of the camera.

    AARP has additional stories on capturing great selfies, taking better family photos and tagging others in the pictures you’ve taken.


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