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  • How Ollie Norris Reinvented His Game » allblacks.com

    How Ollie Norris Reinvented His Game » allblacks.com

    Keeping their eye on the prize of a 3-0 Lipovitan-D Series win over France is occupying All Blacks’ minds as they build toward the third Test in Hamilton on Saturday.

    Hamilton’s wet weather on Tuesday ensured the All Blacks were able to prepare for the eventuality of rain lasting through until the weekend.

    Assistant coach Jason Ryan said there was at least one benefit from the rain: “Training in the rain helps you prepare for a game in the rain.”

    Adjusting to the wet meant catching the ball more on the chest, not giving passes that are unlikely to stick, and playing the game closer than usual.

    Having wrapped up the series in Wellington, Ryan said Hamilton will give the management the chance to have a look at a few players who haven’t been used already.

    “Everyone that’s had their opportunity of training, whether or not they’ve been called into the squad with injury replacements, or they’ve been training cover, have been outstanding for us.”

    Speaking to the performance of the front row, Ryan said tighthead prop Fletcher Newell had continued to show the form he demonstrated in Super Rugby Pacific, especially in the finals.

    “He’s had a consistent run of games which has set up his Test season and has got a lot of confidence.”

    Ollie Norris has shown the benefits of his change from loose forward play to prop.

    “He had to change his whole body, and he’s done that in a bit of a slow build in the last couple of years, and we put a bit of work into that space for him, too. We know he’s aerobically got a big capacity, he moves well across the park, and he’s dynamic.

    “He’s starting to understand the fundamentals and the dark arts of scrummaging, and we’ve got a lot of confidence in him, and he’s done well in the couple of appearances he’s had.”

    Ryan hinted at continuing evolution in the All Blacks’ innovation approaches. Innovation is always possible, and they couldn’t afford to get too comfortable performing the same things.

    “We’re having a crack at a few things but we are going to do simple things well too.”

    All teams are trying different things, and opponents are all doing their analysis.

    “You’ve got to prepare for different pictures and it can change late. That’s given the boys a bit of confidence in that sort of thing that they can execute and put a bit of work into it and have it come off.”

    Wing Sevu Reece said he had recovered from the head injury that he suffered in the first moments of the first Test and which kept him out of last weekend’s Test.

    Reece said he is enjoying the speed at which the team is attempting to play, and that trainer Nic Gill’s approach has helped them.

    “The way he trains us sets us up really well to suit the type of game we want to play.”

    Saturday’s Test would be a chance for the All Blacks to make a statement about their 2025 season, and they are keen to make it a clean sweep of the French.

    But they are also aware that the French threat remains.

    “They will have nothing to lose mindset and we are expecting anything and everything from them. They’ll throw everything at us. All the boys are wired for every like this. We know how the French play, they won’t go away.”

    Find out where to watch All Blacks v France around the world HERE.


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  • How ‘Game Changer’ Gamified Its Own Social Marketing

    How ‘Game Changer’ Gamified Its Own Social Marketing

    It’s not often that “Game Changer” host Sam Reich is the person on the show’s colorful set made to look anxious. But the latest episode of the Dropout series begins with not just a push-in but some vignetting on Reich as he stares down the barrel of the endless wheel of content creation, coming up with “Game Changer” ideas one after the other, “backing myself further and further into a corner where it’s harder and harder to be original.” It’s real Season 7 problems. 

    Enter players Mike Trapp, Rekha Shankar, and Jordan Myrick, whom Reich deputized to produce the latest episode of “Game Changer” — or really, to produce the things that keep “Game Changer” inside of a virtuous cycle for online comedy series. The show’s segments get broken out into social clips, and those that perform well drive viewers who discover “Game Changer,” “Make Some Noise,” or “Dimension 20,” back to Dropout and the sweet, sweet, $7/month subscription fee that powers the platform. 

    Brennan Lee Mulligan, Erika Ishii, Aabria Iyengar, and Lou Wilson all seated looking towards camera against a white background. Brennan and Erika slightly lower in the frame than Aabria and Lou.

    This episode would address that cycle head-on, offering the players/producers the opportunity to ‘greenlight’ potential viral videos pitched by other Dropout cast members and compete with each other for which videos will perform the best on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and other social media platforms. The conceit means that this is the first “Game Changer” episode that will require an update, in about a month’s time, to see who actually has won the game. 

    Even for a show that delights in interrogating its own nature, it feels like an exciting escalation for “Game Changer” to tackle its own social media shadow so explicitly. Cast members pitching ideas grapple with who among the Dropout team tends to go viral doing what — Myrick’s deadpan “Any clip with Brennan [Lee Mulligan] will go viral, so it kind of doesn’t matter what you do,” is a highlight of the “Shark Tank” style commentary the players provide as they debate ideas. 

    But on the other hand, the Dropout team does put a lot of thought and care into crafting clips of “Game Changer” episodes so they play well on social platforms. IndieWire reached out to Andrew Bridgman, Chief Digital Officer at Dropout, to ask about the team’s approach to social videos and the challenges of “Fool’s Gold” specifically. 

    Some of the effort is just the work of reframing, “making decisions as to whether certain segments should be fullscreen vertical or letterboxed to show more of the original composition in a 9:16 frame,” Bridgman told IndieWire. Dropout also has a standardized style for captions, usually a manual process vs. automated CapCut-style captions, so they can better maintain accuracy (and occasionally slip in a joke about feudal shrieking).  

    For “Fool’s Gold” specifically, the team had the challenge of creating ideal versions of the videos to play within the episode itself and to exist out in the wilds of the Internet. That meant making more editorial judgments about cutting, especially with the in-studio segments that had some time lag to them, like Paul Robalino’s Operation Snake Skin or Erika Ishii’s offer of side-shave real estate.  

    “There will be some small differences between some of the videos as we see them in the episode and the versions that live on across our social accounts,” Bridgman said. “We sought some input from Grant [O’Brien], Izzy [Roland], Erika, and Lily [Du] in particular. There were some cases, like with Katie [Marovitch], Vic [Michaelis], Johnny [Stanton], and Anna [Garcia] (most of the outside the studio ones), where the finished product was so airtight there was no question of how it had to be presented.” 

    All of the videos, however, went through multiple rounds of revision with the “Game Changer” creative team, including Reich and Robalino, so that the timing on them is exactly right, the captions pop, and the pacing evokes the cheerful chaos of the show proper. Bridgman told IndieWire that adjustment is no hardship, however. “If the original content is good enough, marketing doesn’t have a lot of work to do to make it sing on social platforms,” Bridgman said. 

    The success is already evident — Tumblr is, of course, already shipping characters from Marovitch’s “Dimension 20: On A Bus” video and demanding a full season, although it may require additional funding to secure Matthew “Mark” Mercer’s appearance fee for that one. But Bridgman refuses to pick a favorite among the “Fool’s Gold” clips. 

    “All of our social videos are perfect angels, whom we subject to the cold, merciless judgment of The Algorithm to establish value and worthiness of love,” Bridgman said. 

    “Game Changer” is available to stream on Dropout.


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  • Global Health Aid Sinks To 15-year Low In ‘Era Of Austerity’

    Global Health Aid Sinks To 15-year Low In ‘Era Of Austerity’

    Sweeping foreign aid cuts led by the United States will cause international health funding to plummet to the lowest level in 15 years, a study said Wednesday, warning the world has entered a new “era of global health austerity.”

    The Barron’s news department was not involved in the creation of the content above. This article was produced by AFP. For more information go to AFP.com.
    © Agence France-Presse

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  • The Devil Works Fast, but ‘Game Changer’ Social Videos Are Working Even Faster in the Dropout Series’ Latest Episode

    The Devil Works Fast, but ‘Game Changer’ Social Videos Are Working Even Faster in the Dropout Series’ Latest Episode

    It’s not often that “Game Changer” host Sam Reich is the person on the show’s colorful set made to look anxious. But the latest episode of the Dropout series begins with not just a push-in but some vignetting on Reich as he stares down the barrel of the endless wheel of content creation, coming up with “Game Changer” ideas one after the other, “backing myself further and further into a corner where it’s harder and harder to be original.” It’s real Season 7 problems.

    Enter players Mike Trapp, Rekha Shankar, and Jordan Myrick, whom Reich deputized to produce the latest episode of “Game Changer” — or really, to produce the things that keep “Game Changer” inside of a virtuous cycle for online comedy series. The show’s segments get broken out into social clips, and those that perform well drive viewers who discover “Game Changer,” “Make Some Noise,” or “Dimension 20,” back to Dropout and the sweet, sweet, $7/month subscription fee that powers the platform.

    More from IndieWire

    This episode would address that cycle head-on, offering the players/producers the opportunity to ‘greenlight’ potential viral videos pitched by other Dropout cast members and compete with each other for which videos will perform the best on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and other social media platforms. The conceit means that this is the first “Game Changer” episode that will require an update, in about a month’s time, to see who actually has won the game.

    Even for a show that delights in interrogating its own nature, it feels like an exciting escalation for “Game Changer” to tackle its own social media shadow so explicitly. Cast members pitching ideas grapple with who among the Dropout team tends to go viral doing what — Myrick’s deadpan “Any clip with Brennan [Lee Mulligan] will go viral, so it kind of doesn’t matter what you do,” is a highlight of the “Shark Tank” style commentary the players provide as they debate ideas.

    But on the other hand, the Dropout team does put a lot of thought and care into crafting clips of “Game Changer” episodes so they play well on social platforms. IndieWire reached out to Andrew Bridgman, Chief Digital Officer at Dropout, to ask about the team’s approach to social videos and the challenges of “Fool’s Gold” specifically.

    Some of the effort is just the work of reframing, “making decisions as to whether certain segments should be fullscreen vertical or letterboxed to show more of the original composition in a 9:16 frame,” Bridgman told IndieWire. Dropout also has a standardized style for captions, usually a manual process vs. automated CapCut-style captions, so they can better maintain accuracy (and occasionally slip in a joke about feudal shrieking).

    For “Fool’s Gold” specifically, the team had the challenge of creating ideal versions of the videos to play within the episode itself and to exist out in the wilds of the Internet. That meant making more editorial judgments about cutting, especially with the in-studio segments that had some time lag to them, like Paul Robalino’s Operation Snake Skin or Erika Ishii’s offer of side-shave real estate.

    “There will be some small differences between some of the videos as we see them in the episode and the versions that live on across our social accounts,” Bridgman said. “We sought some input from Grant [O’Brien], Izzy [Roland], Erika, and Lily [Du] in particular. There were some cases, like with Katie [Marovitch], Vic [Michaelis], Johnny [Stanton], and Anna [Garcia] (most of the outside the studio ones), where the finished product was so airtight there was no question of how it had to be presented.”

    All of the videos, however, went through multiple rounds of revision with the “Game Changer” creative team, including Reich and Robalino, so that the timing on them is exactly right, the captions pop, and the pacing evokes the cheerful chaos of the show proper. Bridgman told IndieWire that adjustment is no hardship, however. “If the original content is good enough, marketing doesn’t have a lot of work to do to make it sing on social platforms,” Bridgman said.

    The success is already evident — Tumblr is, of course, already shipping characters from Marovitch’s “Dimension 20: On A Bus” video and demanding a full season, although it may require additional funding to secure Matthew “Mark” Mercer’s appearance fee for that one. But Bridgman refuses to pick a favorite among the “Fool’s Gold” clips.

    “All of our social videos are perfect angels, whom we subject to the cold, merciless judgment of The Algorithm to establish value and worthiness of love,” Bridgman said.

    “Game Changer” is available to stream on Dropout.

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  • Large study squashes anti-vaccine talking points about aluminum

    Large study squashes anti-vaccine talking points about aluminum

    A sweeping analysis of health data from more than 1.2 million children in Denmark born over a 24-year period found no link between the small amounts of aluminum in vaccines and a wide range of health conditions—including asthma, allergies, eczema, autism, and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

    The finding, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, firmly squashes a persistent anti-vaccine talking point that can give vaccine-hesitant parents pause.

    Small amounts of aluminum salts have been added to vaccines for decades as adjuvants, that is, components of the vaccine that help drum up protective immune responses against a target germ. Aluminum adjuvants can be found in a variety of vaccines, including those against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and hepatitis A and B.

    Despite decades of use worldwide and no clear link to harms, concern about aluminum and cumulative exposures continually resurfaces—largely thanks to anti-vaccine advocates who fearmonger about the element. A leader of such voices is Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the current US health secretary and an ardent anti-vaccine advocate.

    In a June 2024 interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, Kennedy falsely claimed that aluminum is “extremely neurotoxic” and “give[s] you allergies.” The podcast has racked up nearly 2 million views on YouTube. Likewise, Children’s Health Defense, the rabid anti-vaccine organization Kennedy created in 2018, has also made wild claims about the safety of aluminum adjuvants. That includes linking it to autism, despite that many high-quality scientific studies have found no link between any vaccines and autism.

    While anti-vaccine advocates like Kennedy routinely dismiss and attack the plethora of studies that do not support their dangerous claims, the new study should reassure any hesitant parents.

    Clear data, unclear future

    For the study, lead author Niklas Worm Andersson, of the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, and colleagues tapped into Denmark’s national registry to analyze medical records of over 1.2 million children born in the country between 1997 and 2018. During that time, new vaccines were introduced and recommendations shifted, creating variation in how many aluminum-containing vaccines children received.

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  • These Foods May Raise Diabetes Risk Up to 30%

    These Foods May Raise Diabetes Risk Up to 30%

    • Daily intake of processed meats or sugary drinks may raise risk for diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
    • Eating 50 grams of processed meat daily may raise type 2 diabetes risk by 30%.
    • New findings in Nature Medicine stress that small dietary changes can significantly reduce chronic disease risk.

    We’ve all heard that processed meats, sugary drinks and trans fats aren’t great for our health, but just how bad are they? While past studies have linked these foods to diabetes and other chronic conditions, such as heart disease and cancer, we haven’t had a strong understanding of the dose-response relationship, i.e., to what level our body reacts to how much or how little of a given food we consume.

    To gain a better understanding, researchers delved deeper into the data, examining the impact of processed meats, sugary beverages, and trans fats on our health. Using cutting-edge methods to account for differences across studies, researchers uncovered more detailed evidence linking these foods to serious health risks. These findings were recently published in Nature Medicine.

    How Was This Study Conducted?

    In this study, researchers reviewed and analyzed data to explore the connections between foods like processed meats, sugary drinks and trans fats, and specific health outcomes. They looked at how processed meats are linked to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and colorectal cancer; how sugary drinks are tied to type 2 diabetes and heart disease; and how trans fats are associated with heart disease.

    What Did The Study Find?

    The researchers identified the following associations between specific foods and health outcomes.

    Processed Meats 

    The researchers found a link between eating processed meat and a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The risk increased steadily with increasing consumption of processed meat, but the most significant jump in risk occurred at lower levels of intake.

    What does that mean? Eating 50 grams of processed meat daily (about two to three breakfast sausages) was associated with a 30% higher risk of type 2 diabetes compared to eating no processed meat at all.

    To provide a more cautious estimate, the researchers used a method known as the Burden of Proof risk function. This showed that eating processed meat in typical amounts (ranging from about 0.6 to 57 grams per day) was linked to at least an 11% higher risk of type 2 diabetes compared to eating none. While this estimate is conservative, it still underscores a connection between processed meat consumption and the risk of diabetes. 

    When it comes to other chronic conditions, researchers found that the risk of heart disease increased slightly with processed meat consumption, but the overall association was small. When it comes to colorectal cancer risk, researchers found that the risk rises as processed meat consumption goes up. For example, eating 50 grams of processed meat daily (about two to three breakfast sausages) was associated with a 26% higher risk of developing colorectal cancer compared to eating none.

    Sugary Beverages

    Researchers analyzed studies including more than 560,000 participants. They found that drinking about 8 ounces of sugary drinks daily was associated with a 20% higher risk of type 2 diabetes compared to not drinking any at all.

    The analysis also showed that drinking more sugary beverages is linked to a steady increase in the risk of heart disease. The results revealed that drinking about 8 ounces of sugary drinks daily was associated with a 7% higher risk of heart disease compared to not drinking any at all.

    Trans Fats

    The analysis did not look at the association between consuming trans fats in the diet and diabetes risk. When it comes to trans fats, researchers assessed their connection to the risk of heart disease, finding that consuming 1% of daily calories from trans fats was associated with an 11% higher risk of heart disease compared to consuming none.

    Study Limitations 

    The review is primarily based on observational studies, which have a significant limitation in determining cause and effect. Observational studies only show associations.

    While researchers adjusted for factors like age, weight, and physical activity, there may still be unmeasured factors that could influence the results. Additionally, most studies relied on food frequency questionnaires to measure what people ate, but these self-reports can be prone to errors, as participants may forget or misreport their food intake.

    How Does This Apply to Real Life?

    This study offers valuable insights into the impact of everyday dietary choices on long-term health. While we’ve all heard that processed meats, sugary drinks, and trans fats aren’t the healthiest options, this research highlights the risks in a way that’s easier to understand. For example, it shows that even moderate consumption of these foods, like a daily serving of processed meat or a sugary drink, is linked to an increased risk of serious conditions like type 2 diabetes. These findings emphasize the importance of making mindful food choices, such as reducing consumption of processed meats and sugary drinks, to lower the risk of chronic diseases.

    Our Expert Take

    This study, published in Nature Medicine, sheds light on the real health risks associated with processed meats, sugary drinks, and trans fats. The key takeaway is that small, mindful changes in your diet can make a big difference. Reducing your intake of processed meats and cutting back on sugary drinks can help lower your risk of diabetes and other health conditions like heart disease and colorectal cancer. 

    While the risks may seem modest on an individual level, they accumulate over time and across populations, making these findings important not only for personal health but also for public health initiatives. This study serves as a reminder that even small steps toward healthier eating can lead to meaningful improvements in overall well-being.

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  • CDA removes golden hands sculpture in Islamabad after online backlash – ARY News

    1. CDA removes golden hands sculpture in Islamabad after online backlash  ARY News
    2. Margalla Road sculptures to be removed: CDA  Dawn
    3. Islamabad’s new monument faces demolition amid public outrage  Aaj English TV
    4. Controversial sculpture removed in Islamabad following online backlash  Dunya News
    5. CDA Orders Removal Of Controversial Sculpture After Public Backlash  The Friday Times

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  • Adam Scott says his ‘Severance’ Emmy nomination is a ‘delight’

    Adam Scott says his ‘Severance’ Emmy nomination is a ‘delight’

    Dystopian drama “Severance” captured the imagination of overworked Americans when it depicted an employee revolt against an oppressive corporation. Now the series and its lead, Adam Scott, are being recognized by the Television Academy. On Tuesday, Scott was nominated for lead actor in a drama for his role as Mark Scout in the dark, sci-fi thriller.

    The Apple TV+ series is the most nominated show this year, landing 27 nods for its second season, including for drama series. In Scott’s category, the competition features actors previously nominated for Emmys, including Sterling K. Brown for “Paradise,” Gary Oldman for “Slow Horses,” Pedro Pascal for “The Last of Us” and Noah Wyle for “The Pitt.”

    In the series, Scott‘s Mark S. is a macrodata refinement manager employed by the biotechnology corporation Lumon Industries. In order to work in the highly secretive complex, the mild mannered manager and his co-workers have undergone a “severance procedure.” Their brains have been surgically altered, dividing their work life and home life into separate consciousness described by the company as “innies” and “outies.” The trouble begins when the line between realms starts to blur.

    Show creator Dan Erickson, executive producer and primary director Ben Stiller were also nominated, as were Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, Zach Cherry, John Turturro, Patricia Arquette and Gwendoline Christie in the acting categories. Scott, who is also an executive producer on the show, spoke with The Times about the recognition, the series and how he separates himself from his work.

    “Severance” has broken through in a way that I don’t think anyone expected when it first arrived in 2022. It’s a smart, heady show that requires some brain power. Now Season 2 leads the Emmy nominations.

    The feeling is incredible. I just am always sort of at a default position of nothing’s going to happen, and I need to be braced for disappointment. I think that’s a healthy disposition for a career in show business, and then I’ll be delightfully surprised if anything goes in a different direction. I try not to read any of the stuff, the prognosticating. I stay away from it and keep it out of my head as much as possible, and then something like this [nomination] is just a pure delight.

    I love the idea that you block out the hype and conjecture around the show. It’s a form of self-severance.

    It’s true. I’ve been at this for 30 years now so I think that I’ve found ways to keep myself healthy, as much as possible, anyway. For me, that’s just trying to sever myself from anything beyond keeping my head down and trying to do the best work possible.

    Clearly it’s a tactic that’s paid off, for you and your fellow cast mates.

    I’m so honored for our show to be recognized and to be on a list with everyone else — Britt and Tramell. Zach and John and Patricia and Merritt [Wever] and Gwendoline. And Ben and Jessica [Lee Gagné] and Dan. His wonderful script is being recognized. We work so hard on the show, every single one of us. It’s a team effort, as any show is, but our show takes a lot of time. So getting recognized for that hard work is really gratifying,

    And there’s something redeeming about such a smart show breaking through in such stupid times.

    [Laughs] Thank you. “Severance” is sort of this intangible thing, so we work really hard to make it happen. While we’re making the show and while Dan and the writers are putting it together, there’s sort of this invisible third rail. You’re not sure exactly what it is, but when it feels right, it’s like OK, there’s our show. It’s a specific feeling, a specific tone that we’re seeking out and sometimes it takes a while to zero in and find it.

    It’s an original story that Dan came up with and it’s very weird. For something this weird to be recognized is really gratifying because we were surprised when anyone watched. We didn’t know if it would be a tiny audience. We thought maybe it’s too weird, so when it broadened out popularity-wise, it was a huge surprise and a really lovely one.

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  • Defending champ Sabalenka leads field to New York

    Defending champ Sabalenka leads field to New York

    World No. 1 and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka leads the main-draw entry list for the 2025 US Open, which was released on Tuesday.

    All of the world’s Top 70 players in the current PIF WTA Rankings can be found on the jam-packed entry list, as the top players on the Hologic WTA Tour will head to Flushing Meadows for the year’s final Grand Slam event. Main-draw play at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center kicks off on Sunday, August 24.

    Top-ranked Sabalenka will top the draw as she seeks a second straight success in New York City. After semifinal finishes in 2021 and 2022 and a narrow loss to Coco Gauff in the 2023 final, Sabalenka finally hoisted her long-awaited US Open trophy last year, defeating Jessica Pegula in the final.

    However, Sabalenka has yet to win a Grand Slam title this year. All three of this year’s major champions will be in New York to try to capture a second 2025 Grand Slam title: Australian Open champion Madison Keys, Roland Garros titlist Coco Gauff and Wimbledon victor Iga Swiatek.

    The rest of the WTA’s Top 10 can be found at the peak of the main-draw entry list as well: last year’s runner-up Pegula, surging teenager Mirra Andreeva, reigning Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, Wimbledon finalist Amanda Anisimova, Jasmine Paolini and Paula Badosa.

    The last direct entry into the main draw is World No. 99 Mayar Sherif. All told, 98 of the world’s Top 99 players as of Monday’s rankings are on the main-draw entry list. The only player in the Top 99 who is not on the main-draw entry list is 2022 US Open runner-up Ons Jabeur (currently ranked No. 71).

    Six players are in the main draw using protected rankings, including two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who plans to play her final Grand Slam event at the 2025 US Open. The other main-draw entrants using protected rankings are: Sorana Cirstea, Zhu Lin, Anastasija Sevastova, Wang Yafan and Danka Kovinic.

    The former US Open champions in the main-draw entries are: Sabalenka (2024), Gauff (2023), Swiatek (2022), Emma Raducanu (2021) and Naomi Osaka (2018 and 2020).

    The first alternates into the main draw will be (in order): World No. 100 Leolia Jeanjean, Nuria Parrizas Diaz, Jil Teichmann, Alize Cornet (using her protected ranking of No. 102) and Aoi Ito. The 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu is further down the main-draw alternates list.

    The entire US Open main-draw entry list can be found on the official tournament website here! Stay tuned for more updates to the US Open entries as the event approaches.

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  • Reduction In Supply Of Prey Was Decisive Factor In Extinction Of Saber-Toothed Tigers – Eurasia Review

    Reduction In Supply Of Prey Was Decisive Factor In Extinction Of Saber-Toothed Tigers – Eurasia Review

    In two new studies supported by FAPESP, researchers at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, have shed light on how interactions between predators and prey influenced the extinction of saber-toothed tigers and the demise of the diverse antilocaprid species, which are now reduced to a single species: the American antelope.

    In the first study, published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, the researchers used fossil databases, body size estimates, and data on climate variation in North America and Eurasia over the last 20 million years.

    This allowed them to trace the evolutionary history and interactions that may have influenced the extinction of saber-toothed tigers. These felids are characterized by their elongated canines, suggesting that they were specialized predators of large animals.

    “One of the hypotheses that’s received the most attention in the literature was that the end of saber-toothed tigers 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,” says João Nascimento, the lead author of the studies, which were conducted during his PhD at the Institute of Biology (IB-UNICAMP) with a scholarship from FAPESP.

    “However, we found that the process began millions of years earlier. Throughout the group’s history, there have been several different species of saber-toothed cats. Our study shows that the extinctions of some of them, throughout the group’s history, generally occurred at times when prey diversity was lower,” he explains.

    In the other study, published in the journal Evolution, the authors observed a correlation in the opposite direction. The increase in predator diversity caused a decline in the species diversity of a group of herbivores known as antilocaprids.

    Antilocaprids were once diverse animals in North America. Today, they are represented by a single species: the American bison (Antilocapra americana), one of the fastest herbivores in the world. One of the two subfamilies, Merycodontinae, became extinct about six million years ago. This coincided with the emergence of proboscids, the group of modern elephants that competed with the Merycodontinae for forest environments.

    The other subfamily, Antilocaprinae, began to decline about six million years ago, which coincided with an increase in felid diversity. One example is the American cheetah (Miracinonyx), which, like the African cheetah, was adapted for high-speed pursuit.

    Studies by other research groups suggest that predation by this species is one evolutionary explanation for the high speed of American antelopes. This study supports that hypothesis by showing that felid diversity may have impacted the past extinction of antilocaprids.

    In a previous study, the researchers pointed to the gigantism of herbivores in the Iberian Peninsula as a factor that contributed to the extinction of predators 15 million years ago. This time, the studies cover much larger territories on a continental scale.

    “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. This had been debated for decades, but there was no really robust set of results to support this hypothesis,” says Mathias Pires, a professor at IB-UNICAMP who supervised the study.

    Macroevolution

    Both the current and previous studies were only possible due to the substantial amount of data on fossil records from North America and Eurasia, which includes information on body size and diet. These databases are available online for free and allow a variety of estimates to be made.

    Armed with the data, the researchers traced the evolutionary history of several groups of large animals. This enabled them to estimate the probable timing of their emergence and extinction, as well as which species coexisted and interacted during the same period.

    For example, saber-toothed cats appeared 12 million years ago in North America and 14 million years ago in Eurasia. At their peak, eight species coexisted. Their diversity remained stable until six million years ago, when it began to decline, eventually stabilizing at five species. They became extinct in the Holocene era, which began 11,700 years ago.

    The period during which saber-toothed cats declined in diversity coincided with changes that made the climate more arid. This expansion of open environments increased the number of ruminant animals that feed on grasses. Meanwhile, leaf-eating animals lost the forests that provided their food and shelter.

    “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 says. 

    One group that was adversely affected by these changes was the Merycodontinae. This subfamily of antilocaprids was folivorous and dependent on forests. Eventually, they became extinct. Meanwhile, the grazing antilocaprids – most of the Antilocaprinae at the time – prospered for longer, but they too declined with the increase in felid diversity.

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

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