Off the field has also been busy for Packer, with the vice-captain proposing to England team-mate Rosie Galligan.
A city break to Bath a few months ago was where Galligan spotted the ring she wanted, but Packer said it was too expensive and used the upcoming World Cup as an excuse.
Packer then proceeded to sneakily call up and secure the purchase.
“That same week I got it sized up and ordered,” she said.
“I was going to do it on the week we had off after Treviso. I spoke to her dad and the rest of the family about coming over on that day.
“She went and got her nails done and asked if she minded if she got her hair done. It was all set up perfectly.
“I did it where we first started speaking at a reservoir just outside Guildford.
“She was on her way and I texted her to meet me at this location. It was perfect and it couldn’t have been done any better. She was super surprised.”
Upcoming family weddings in 2026 has left 2027 as the likely wedding date, but Packer is aware of the British and Irish Lions’ first women’s tour that September, to New Zealand.
Galligan, 28, is in her prime years and will likely be in the mix for a squad spot.
However, Parker, who is 36 in October, is not convinced she will be in contention by then.
“With the back row at the Red Roses and at every other nation, I think I would only be going to the Lions if I was water girl,” Packer joked. “I would want to be there in some capacity, but playing in 2027 there will be some really incredible world class players.
“Rosie might want to play in it, so it [the wedding] will probably be after the Lions tour.”
Noticing somebody fidgeting can be distracting. Vexing. Even excruciating. But why?
According to a study published in 2021, the stressful sensations caused by seeing others fidget are an incredibly common psychological phenomenon, affecting as many as one in three people.
Called misokinesia – meaning ‘hatred of movements’ – this strange phenomenon had been little studied by scientists until recent years, but was noted in the context of a related condition, misophonia: a disorder where people become irritated upon hearing certain repetitious sounds.
Misokinesia is somewhat similar, but the triggers are generally more visual, rather than sound-related, researchers say.
Watch the video below for a summary on the research:
“[Misokinesia] is defined as a strong negative affective or emotional response to the sight of someone else’s small and repetitive movements, such as seeing someone mindlessly fidgeting with a hand or foot,” a team of researchers, led by first author and psychologist Sumeet Jaswal, then at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada, explained in a study published in 2021.
“Yet surprisingly, scientific research on the topic is lacking.”
Related: Angry Outbursts Could Literally Be Putting Some People’s Heart at Risk
To improve our understanding, Jawal and fellow researchers conducted what they said was the “first in-depth scientific exploration” of misokinesia – and the results indicate that heightened sensitivity to fidgeting is something a large number of people have to deal with.
Across a series of experiments involving over 4,100 participants, the researchers measured the prevalence of misokinesia in a cohort of university students and people from the general population, assessing the impacts it had upon them, and exploring why the sensations might manifest.
“We found that approximately one-third self-reported some degree of misokinesia sensitivity to the repetitive, fidgeting behaviors of others as encountered in their daily lives,” the researchers explained.
“These results support the conclusion that misokinesia sensitivity is not a phenomenon restricted to clinical populations, but rather, is a basic and heretofore under-recognized social challenge shared by many in the wider, general population.”
According to the analysis, misokinesia sometimes goes hand in hand with the sound-sensitivity of misophonia, but not always.
The phenomenon seems to vary significantly among individuals, with some people reporting only low sensitivity to fidgeting stimuli, while others feel highly affected.
“They are negatively impacted emotionally and experience reactions such as anger, anxiety, or frustration as well as reduced enjoyment in social situations, work, and learning environments,” explained UBC psychologist Todd Handy.
“Some even pursue fewer social activities because of the condition.”.
Handy began researching misokinesia after a partner told him he was a fidgeter and confessed she felt stress when he fidgeted (or anybody else for that matter).
“As a visual cognitive neuroscientist, this really piqued my interest to find out what is happening in the brain,” Handy said.
So, the million-dollar question stands: Why do we find fidgeting so annoying?
In the study, the researchers ran tests to see if people’s misokinesia might originate in heightened visual-attentional sensitivities, amounting to an inability to block out distracting events occurring in their visual periphery.
The results based on early experiments were inconclusive on that front, with the researchers finding no firm evidence that reflexive visual attentional mechanisms substantively contribute to misokinesia sensitivity.
While we’re still only at the outset then of exploring where misokinesia may spring from on a cognitive level, the researchers do have some hypothetical leads for future research.
“One possibility we want to explore is that their ‘mirror neurons’ are at play,” Jaswal said.
“These neurons activate when we move but they also activate when we see others move… For example, when you see someone get hurt, you may wince as well, as their pain is mirrored in your own brain.”
By extension, it’s possible that misokinesia-prone people might be unconsciously empathizing with the psychology of fidgeters. And not in a good way.
“A reason that people fidget is because they’re anxious or nervous so when individuals who suffer from misokinesia see someone fidgeting, they may mirror it and feel anxious or nervous as well,” Jaswal said.
As to whether that’s what’s really going on here with misokinesia, only further research into the phenomenon will be able to say for sure. A follow-up study conducted by Jaswal in 2024 on 21 volunteers found the condition may be linked to challenges in disengaging from a stimulus, rather than about the initial distraction.
One thing is certain though. From the results seen here, it’s clear that this unusual phenomenon is much more usual than we realized.
“To those who are suffering from misokinesia, you are not alone,” Handy said. “Your challenge is common and it’s real.”
The findings are reported in Scientific Reports.
An earlier version of this article was published in September 2021.
Scientists have discovered that cancer cells generate an instant burst of energy when physically squeezed, helping them repair DNA damage and survive harsh environments. This discovery means that therapies targeting this new survival mechanism could be developed.
Cancer cells release a quick energy response when physically squeezed, according to a study published in the journal Nature Communications. The surge of energy is the first reported occurrence of a defensive mechanism that helps cells repair DNA damage and survive the crowded environments of the body.
The findings help explain how cancer cells endure mechanical challenges such as crawling through a tumour microenvironment, traversing through porous blood vessels or withstanding the battering of the bloodstream. The research could lead to new strategies to stop cancer from spreading.
Mitochondria act as “agile first responders”
The research, conducted at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, used a specialised microscope to compress living cells to just three microns wide – which is about one-thirtieth the diameter of a human hair. Within seconds of being squeezed, mitochondria in HeLa cells moved to the surface of the nucleus and pumped in extra ATP – the cell’s energy source.
“It forces us to rethink the role of mitochondria in the human body. They aren’t these static batteries powering our cells, but more like agile first responders that can be summoned in emergency situations when cells are literally pressed to the limit,” says Dr Sara Sdelci, co-corresponding author of the study.
The mitochondria formed a tight halo around the nucleus – causing it to cave inward. This happened in 84 percent of confined HeLa cancer cells, compared with virtually none in uncompressed cells. Researchers refer to the structures as NAMs – nucleus-associated mitochondria.
Energy boost repairs DNA damage
To understand the role of NAMs, the team used a fluorescent sensor that lights up when ATP enters the nucleus. The signal surged by around 60 percent within three seconds of squeezing. “It’s a clear sign the cells are adapting to the strain and rewiring their metabolism,” says Dr Fabio Pezzano, co-first author of the study.
Mechanical stress damages DNA by snapping strands and tangling the genome. The ATP boost fuels repair that loosens DNA and reaches the broken sites. Squeezed cells receiving this energy repaired DNA within hours, while those without it stopped dividing properly.
Evidence found in patient tumours
The researchers also examined breast tumour biopsies from 17 patients. NAM halos were found in 5.4 percent of nuclei at invasive tumour fronts versus 1.8 percent in the dense tumour core – a three-fold difference.
“Seeing this signature in patient biopsies convinced us of the relevance beyond the lab bench,” explains Dr Ritobrata Ghose, co-first author of the study.
Potential for new cancer therapies
Further experiments found that actin filaments and the endoplasmic reticulum create a scaffold that traps the mitochondria around the nucleus. When this scaffold was dismantled using the drug latrunculin A, NAM formation collapsed, and the ATP surge vanished.
“If metastatic cells depend on NAM-driven ATP surges, drugs that block the scaffold could make tumours less invasive without broadly poisoning mitochondria and sparing healthy tissues,” says Dr Verena Ruprecht, co-corresponding author of the study.
A universal mechanism under pressure
While the research focused on cancer, the scientists think the mechanism may exist in other biological processes. Immune cells squeezing through lymph nodes, neurons extending branches and embryonic cells undergoing morphogenesis all face similar physical stresses.
“Wherever cells are under pressure, a nuclear energy boost is likely safeguarding the integrity of the genome,” concludes Dr Sdelci. “It’s a completely new layer of regulation in cell biology, marking a fundamental shift in our understanding of how cells survive intense periods of physical stress.”
The findings highlight a previously unrecognised survival mechanism in cancer cells that could inform new approaches to limiting tumour progression.
In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at water on Mars, how new technology could end animal testing, a possible vaccine for HIV, and more. You can sign up to get The Prototype in your inbox here.
A Martian glacier seen from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
NASA
Although there are many who dream about one day living on Mars, there’s been one challenge to plans for eventually settling on the Red Planet: access to water, which would be vital for any kind of community. But new findings show that water might be easier to find than expected. It turns out that Martian glaciers, once thought to be mostly rock intermixed with ice, are actually over 80% ice in regions across the planet’s surface.
In trying to figure out the puzzle of Martian glaciers, the researchers behind the new study realized that previous efforts to determine their composition were inconsistent. So one of the first things they did was standardize their approach. Using a radar instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been circling the planet for nearly two decades, the scientists found that the glaciers were mostly ice that was covered in rocks and dust. Moreover, they found that glaciers on different parts of Mars–even on opposite hemispheres–had virtually identical ratios of water.
That will make it easier for future Martian citizens to access water, increasing the odds that a permanent colony on the planet might happen one day.
Stay tuned.
How AI And Mini-Organs Could Replace Testing Drugs On Animals
Illustration by Macy Sinreich for Forbes; Images by Svetlana Shamshurina; Serhii Borodin; Kristina Velickovic; Nosyrevy via Getty Images
At Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, researchers have created something extraordinary: tiny, beating lab-grown “hearts.” Visible only under a microscope, the diminutive innards are called organoids. They can be grown in a matter of days from a patient’s own stem cells, and their doctors use them to screen for the best medicine for their condition, sparing months of trial and error.
They’re also core to the future of drug testing, and someday perhaps the end of the lab rat.
Animal testing has been mandated by law since 1937, when a new formulation of a common antibiotic had a poisonous new ingredient — and killed more than 100 people. Nearly a century later, drugs are still being pulled from shelves because they have toxic effects, even though animal testing showed they were safe. Now, politicians, scientists and entrepreneurs are pushing for new, more accurate ways to test drugs before they get to human clinical trials — potentially saving lives and billions of dollars in the process.
In 2022, a group of scientists ran an experiment with 27 known drug compounds that animal studies had shown to be safe. Some of them had turned out to have toxic side effects and had been pulled from the market after they’d killed people. The researchers tested the 27 compounds on a new technology called “organ-on-a-chip”: similar to organoids, “organ chips” have clusters of cells embedded in a diminutive electronic device that can simulate an organ’s behavior. The researchers found that liver organs-on-a-chip accurately predicted which compounds were dangerous, an advancement that might someday lead to significant cost savings in the extremely expensive drug development process. More accurate testing using organ chips could save the industry over $3 billion a year, the study’s authors calculated.
On top of safety, cost is another reason to move away from animal testing. Today, pharma companies often spend more than $2 billion to bring a single drug to market, with the industry spending nearly $300 billion a year on research & development. But despite these vast R&D expenditures, more than 90% of drug candidates fail. It’s a wasteful process, contributing to the flabbergasting prices of drugs that do make it to market.
Read the whole story at Forbes.
DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK: MRNA VACCINES MIGHT PREVENT HIV INFECTION
Scientists have made great strides in treating HIV since the 1980s, though after decades of work, a vaccine still remains elusive. But a new study of an mRNA vaccine against the virus offers hope. A clinical trial of 108 healthy adults found that it triggered the immune system to develop antibodies against HIV while having few serious side effects. More study is needed before any kind of vaccine hits the market, but the authors stated that this approach using mRNA vaccines offers a lot of future promise.
FINAL FRONTIER: THIS STAR SYSTEM MIGHT HAVE FIVE LIVABLE PLANETS
Astronomers have found a new planet around L 98-59, a red dwarf star that’s just 35 light-years away from Earth. What’s interesting about the planet is that it lies in the “habitable zone” of the star–meaning it’s at the right distance for temperatures allowing liquid water to flow. Even more interesting: this is the fifth such planet to be found around L 98-59 over the past decade. All of the planets have roughly similar masses and sizes to Earth, as well. Next up, astronomers hope to study the system using the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope to learn more about these worlds.
WHAT ELSE I WROTE THIS WEEK
In my other newsletter, InnovationRx, Amy Feldman and I looked at how Trump’s tariffs on European drugs will hit American consumers, Halle Berry’s menopause startup, how robots eliminate the need to do open heart surgery for a valve replacement, and more.
I filled in this week on my colleague Thomas Brewster’s cybersecurity newsletter, The Wiretap, where I took a look at how OpenAI’s agent casually proved it wasn’t a bot, pro-Ukrainian hackers taking down Russia’s national airline and Apple’s efforts to combat text message spam.
SCIENCE AND TECH TIDBITS
Self-driving taxi company Waymo announced that it will be expanding its services to Dallas next year. The robot cars are currently available in five U.S. cities and will also be launching in Miami and Washington D.C. in 2026.
Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company Neuralink is joining a research project aimed at developing a bionic eye, reports Bloomberg.
Fusion power company Helion has broken ground on its first nuclear fusion plant in Malaga, Washington. The company has a contract with Microsoft to power its data centers in the region.
Commercial space company Firefly Aerospace, which is so far the only company to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon’s surface, has been awarded a $177 million contract from NASA to deliver rovers and scientific instruments to the lunar South Pole.
PRO SCIENCE TIP: GET IN THE TRENCHES IF YOU WANT TO SPEAK YOUR MIND AT WORK
Two new studies on the workplace both shared a result you may not find surprising: the folks who tend to agree with their bosses a lot tend to get promoted more than people who challenge them. That’s true even though there’s a wealth of papers finding that empowering employees willing to challenge the company line is better for results in the long run. But there’s one way the studies found that internal critics can still get promoted and empowered: if they exhibit helpful behaviors and are willing to roll up their sleeves when the going gets tough.
“If an employee was willing to buckle down and put in the work when the chips were down, such as helping leaders with heavy workloads, leaders were not threatened when that employee highlighted problems or raised concerns,” study co-author Bradley Kirkman said in a statement.
WHAT’S ENTERTAINING ME THIS WEEK
I recently read the book Assassin’s Anonymous by Rob Hart. It’s a spin on the old story of the world’s deadliest assassin, who has been retired until his past inevitably catches up to him. But there’s a catch: he’s also in a 12-step program with other assassins, working to break the patterns that led him to become a killer, and he’s about to get his one-year chip. So now he needs to deal with his enemies using non-fatal solutions. It’s a perfect summer beach read.
MORE FROM FORBES
ForbesThwarted By Regulators, Vindicated By Wall Street: Design Startup Figma’s CEO Is Now A Multi-BillionaireBy Iain MartinForbesHow A 60-Year-Old Drug Developer Built A $4.4 Billion Biotech Treating ‘Butterfly Skin Disease’By Amy FeldmanForbesHow Halle Berry Became The New Face Of MenopauseBy Maggie McGrath
Beautiful light displays in the sky, such as glowing halos around the moon or bright spots beside the sun, aren’t just Earthly wonders. According to new research, similar dazzling effects might also occur on planets light-years away.
In a study published on July 21 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Cornell University scientists propose that WASP-17b, a gas giant roughly 1,300 light-years from Earth, could host shimmering optical effects in its atmosphere. Discovered in 2009, WASP-17b is what scientists call a “hot Jupiter,” a type of gas giant that orbits very close to its star. As a result, the world experiences intense heat and hurricane-force winds that can reach up to 10,000 miles per hour (16,000 kilometers per hour).
These fierce winds, the researchers suggest, might be powerful enough to align tiny quartz crystals suspended in the planet’s upper atmosphere — similar to how ice crystals align in Earth’s atmosphere to create “sun dogs,” which are halos and rainbow-colored light pillars, by bending and scattering sunlight.
“If we were able to take a picture of WASP-17b at optical wavelengths and resolve the disk of the planet, we would see these types of sun dog features,” Nikole Lewis, an associate professor of astronomy at Cornell University in New York and co-author of the new paper, said in a statement.
The crystals responsible for these displays are composed of quartz, the same mineral commonly found in sand and gemstones. They are minuscule — about 10,000 could fit across the width of a human hair. Under the force of high-velocity winds, these particles could become mechanically aligned, like tiny boats drifting in formation down a river, Elijah Mullens, a graduate student in the astronomy and space science department at the university who led the new study, said in the statement.
The concept of mechanical alignment, where particles orient themselves in response to aerodynamic forces, was first proposed in 1952 by Cornell astronomer Tommy Gold to explain how interstellar dust particles might align with gas flows. While newer theories have replaced that model for cosmic dust, study authors Mullens and Lewis argue it may still apply in the extreme conditions of exoplanetary atmospheres.
Where the JWST’s eye comes in
Although telescopes can’t directly image these phenomena on WASP-17b due to its vast distance, scientists can infer their presence by studying the planet’s atmosphere with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which observes the universe in infrared light. In 2023, Lewis and Mullens were part of a team that used JWST to identify signs of quartz nanocrystals in WASP-17b’s high-altitude clouds.
Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
“We didn’t expect to see quartz crystals in a hot Jupiter atmosphere,” Lewis said in the statement.
To investigate further, the researchers built detailed models simulating how different crystals, including quartz, enstatite and forsterite, would reflect or transmit light depending on how they’re oriented. Their results showed that even small changes in particle orientation could produce noticeable differences in the light signals the JWST could detect.
“When we started looking at planetary atmospheres, in particular these hot Jupiters, it occurred to me that with 10,000 mile per hour winds zipping around in these very dense atmospheres, surely the grains would align,” Lewis said in the statement.
Even if the crystals don’t align perfectly with the wind, they may still orient themselves vertically or be influenced by electric fields, creating distinct visual effects as they interact with starlight, scientists say.
Mullens will continue exploring particle alignment in WASP-17b’s atmosphere through a newly approved JWST observation program he’s leading in the coming year, according to the statement.
“Other than being pretty, these effects can teach us about how crystals are interacting in the atmosphere — they’re really information-rich,” he said in the statement.
Sturgeon Moon 2025: The second full moon of summer
Sturgeon Moon, the second full moon of summer, will lighten up the sky on Saturday, August 9.
Why is it called Sturgeon Moon?
The full moon takes its name from the sturgeon fish found in the Great Lakes in North America during summer. It served as a marker for the prime time to fish for this important food source. Symbolically, Sturgeon moon is also seen as the symbol of resilience, strength, and abundance, portraying plentiful harvests that were characteristics of the summer.
In other cultures, August’s full moon is recognized as green corn and grain moon. The seasonal names for the full moon also vary across the world.
Sturgeon Moon 2025: The second full moon of summer
The best time to see full moon
Sturgeon moon will be best seen at 3:56 a.m. EDT on Saturday, August 9. However the night gazers can also enjoy the full moon on both Friday and Saturday nights.
The best time to watch it rise in North American will be at moonrise during dusk on Friday, August 8. This is the most suitable time to observe as the moon will rise about the same time the sun goes down. The second good option will be the west coast on August 9.
In New York, New York: sunset at 8:04 p.m. EDT, moonrise at 8:03 p.m. EDT on Friday, Aug. 8 and sunset at 8:03 p.m. EDT, moonrise at 8:32 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Aug. 9.
Los Angeles: sunset at 7:48 p.m. PDT, moonrise at 7:48 p.m. PDT on Friday, Aug. 8 and sunset at 7:47 p.m. PDT, moonrise at 8:21 p.m. PDT on Saturday, Aug. 9.
London: sunset at 8:37 p.m. BST, moonrise at 8:40 p.m. BST on Friday, Aug. 8 and sunset at 8:36 p.m. BST, moonrise at 8:58 p.m. BST on Saturday, Aug. 9
The best place to see Sturgeon Moon
To experience this celestial activity, one must find an elevated location, an open and wide space or east-facing coastline with a clear view of the eastern horizon. The full moon can be observed through naked eyes but a telescope and binoculars will give a more clear and closer look.
Annual peak activity of Perseids shower
The rise of the full moon will bring bad news for the annual Perseids meteor shower as the bright moonlight will ruin the peak activity of shooting meteors on August 12-13.
Upcoming Lunar Eclipse
September’s corn moon, the third full moon of summer, will be a total lunar eclipse witnessed on Sunday, September 8. The eclipse can be visible from the parts of Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. The event will see the penumbral and partial phases of the moon to move through the Earth’s shadow.
Liam Neeson may have gained pop-culture immortality for his gravelly growl of a certain line of dialogue in the 2008 hostage thriller Taken – “I don’t have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills” – but the release of his new film, a reboot of the classic spoof cop movie The Naked Gun represents another remarkable turn in Neeson’s distinguished career, which has taken in heavyweight prestige dramas, historical biopics, blockbusting science fiction, superhero epics and head-cracking action cinema.
In The Naked Gun, Neeson has for the first time taken the lead role in an out-and-out comedy. He plays Frank Drebin Jr, the police-detective son of Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin in the original. Created by the celebrated comedy team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker, The Naked Gun was released in 1988, with Nielsen featuring in two sequels, The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear from 1991 and Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult in 1994, as well as the preceding TV series Police Squad!, which aired in 1982. Neeson’s intense, unflappable acting style has been acclaimed by critics as a perfect match for Nielsen’s celebrated stone-face delivery; the Guardian’s chief film critic Peter Bradshaw said that Neeson “deadpans it impeccably”, while the Telegraph’s Robbie Collin writes that Neeson “delivers his dialogue with a gravelly matter-of-factness that only compounds its lunacy”.
Neeson in the ‘dad action’ film Taken, 2008, which revived his career. Photograph: 20 Century Fox/Allstar
At the age of 73, Neeson’s current status as the star of a hit mainstream comedy – augmented by rumours of a romance with his co-star Pamela Anderson – is a world away from his emergence as a bona fide leading man in the early 1990s, when he put his teenage proficiency in boxing to good use in the Scotland-set drama The Big Man, bagged an Oscar nomination for playing Oskar Schindler in Schindler’s List, and nobly donned plaid, kilt and sporran as 18th century highlander Rob Roy.
Neeson’s ability to project a weighty sense of gravitas in these wildly differing roles was compounded by his casting as Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins, in Neil Jordan’s 1996 biopic, the most politically sensitive – and closest to home – of his early leading roles. Born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, Neeson was raised Catholic but later said he was, ironically, inspired to become an actor after watching the firebrand Protestant leader Rev Ian Paisley preach, saying: “It was incredible to watch this 6ft-plus man just bible-thumping away.”
Neeson, right, with Ewan McGregor in 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Photograph: Lucasfilm/Allstar
Neeson’s career took its first unexpected deviation in the late 1990s when he was cast as Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, George Lucas’s return to the Star Wars universe in 1999, with Lucas describing Neeson as “a master actor, who the other actors will look up to”. This excursion into fantasy-blockbuster moviemaking was cemented with a role as principal antagonist Ra’s al Ghul in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins in 2005, and lending his voice to Aslan the lion in the three Narnia films from the same period: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Neeson’s standing in the industry also allowed him to take smaller roles in landmark films in the same period, including Gangs of New York and Love Actually.
He had, however, lost his leading-man status in Hollywood, and it was the success of Taken – a French production, written by Luc Besson and directed by Pierre Morel – that returned him to the spotlight. Neeson later said he was “stunned” by its impact, adding: “I really thought it would be kind of a little side road from my so-called career. Really thought it would go straight to video.” Taken’s box office receipts amounted to nine times its $25m (£19m) budget and virtually inaugurated the “dad action” movie, thrillers featuring leads in late middle age; it is also the film with which Neeson is arguably now most identified with. Neeson went on to make a string of dad action films, including Unknown, Non-Stop, The Ice Road and Retribution.
Neeson’s reinvention as an action star coincided with a period of personal tragedy, after the death of his wife, Natasha Richardson, in a skiing accident in 2009. The pair had met in 1993 while co-starring in a Broadway production of Eugene O’Neill’s play Anna Christie, and married a year later. Neeson later said that grief over her death was partly responsible for his withdrawing from the lead role in Steven Spielberg’s biopic of Abraham Lincoln, released in 2012, in which he was replaced by Daniel Day-Lewis.
His role in the Steven Spielberg-directed Schindler’s List was Oscar nominated. Photograph: Atlas Photography/JB Ent
More recently Neeson was heavily criticised, and subsequently apologised, for saying that, in his youth, he had gone out looking to “kill” a random black man in revenge for a sexual assault on a friend. Neeson had mentioned the incident in 2019 during the press tour for another action film, Cold Pursuit, later saying: “The horror of what happened to my friend ignited irrational thoughts that do not represent the person I am. In trying to explain those feelings today, I missed the point and hurt many people.”
Neeson’s career, however, appears to have been relatively unaffected by the controversy, as well as his comment in 2018 that the recent wave of sexual misconduct allegations in the entertainment industry was “bit of a witch-hunt”. With The Naked Gun commanding significant media attention – as much for speculation on Neeson’s personal life as for the film itself – the actor’s stock is as high as it has ever been.
China’s cyberspace regulators on Thursday summoned Nvidia over security concerns that its H20 chips can be tracked and turned off remotely, the Cyberspace Administration of China said on its website.
In the meeting, Chinese regulators demanded that the U.S. chip company provide explanations on “backdoor safety risks” of its H20 chips to be sold in China and submit relevant materials, the office said.
“Cybersecurity is critically important to us. NVIDIA does not have ‘backdoors’ in our chips that would give anyone a remote way to access or control them,” an Nvidia spokesperson said in a statement to AP.
It came just about two weeks after the Trump administration lifted the block on the computing chips and allowed Nvidia to resume sales of H20 chips to the Chinese market. Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, made the announcement with fanfare when he was in Beijing earlier this month.
The latest episode appears to be another turbulence in the tech rivalry between the United States and China, which have left businesses in both countries tussling with governments over market access and national security concerns.
Any safety concern by Beijing could jeopardize the sale of H20 chips in China. Citing unnamed U.S. AI experts, the Chinese regulators said Nvidia has developed mature technology to track, locate and remotely disable its computing chips. The regulators summoned Nvidia to “safeguard the cybersecurity and data security of Chinese users,” in accordance with Chinese laws, the statement said.
The statement also referred to a call by U.S. lawmakers to require tracking and locating capabilities on U.S. advanced chips sold overseas.
In May, Rep. Bill Huizenga, R.-Michigan, and Rep. Bill Foster, D.-Illinois, introduced the Chip Security Act that would require high-end chips to be equipped with “security mechanisms” to detect “smuggling or exploitation.” The bill has not moved through Congress since its introduction.
Foster, a trained physicist, then said, “I know that we have the technical tools to prevent powerful AI technology from getting into the wrong hands.”
The U.S. still bans the sale to China of the most advanced chips, which are necessary for developing artificial intelligence. Both countries aim to lead in the artificial intelligence race. The Trump administration in April blocked the sales of H20 chips, which Nvidia developed to specifically comply with U.S. restrictions for exports of AI chips to China.
After the ban was lifted, Nvidia expected to sell hundreds of thousands more H20 chips in the Chinese market.
But the easing of the ban has raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill. On Monday, a group of top Democratic senators, including Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, wrote to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to express their “grave concerns”.
While chips like the H20 have differing capabilities than the most advanced chips such as Nvidia’s H100, “they give (China) capabilities that its domestically-developed chipsets cannot,” the senators wrote.
Shortly after the ban was lifted, Rep. John Moolenaar, R.-Michigan, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, objected. “The Commerce Department made the right call in banning the H20. Now it must hold the line,” Moolenaar wrote in a letter to Lutnick.
“We can’t let the CCP use American chips to train AI models that will power its military, censor its people, and undercut American innovation,” Moolenaar wrote, referring to the Chinese Communist Party by its acronym.
