Queen Camilla puts her foot down against Prince William
Queen Camilla appears to have completely put her foot down with her husband over his eldest son.
Royal commentator Ian Pelham Turner is the one that made this comment public in his chat with the Mirror US.
According to the royal expert, Prince William has allegedly been “pushing to be the driving force behind the throne.” Leading Queen Camilla to make demands of her husband, urging him to “stop” it in its tracks.
Mr Turner also offered his own two cents on the matter and admitted, “Charles has great humanity, and I think he just needed the corners smoothed out, and I think that’s what Camilla has done more than anything.”
“I think what is happening at the moment, and it’s just my inkling, there’s nothing I can sort of prove, and say, ‘this is the case,’ but I get the feeling at the moment, that she’s seeing William trying to create issues and she’s told Charles to stop it.”
Before concluding he also added, “I want Charles to have his time, I get it, I think in a lot of ways, he is a very good King, I really do, and I think, where he’s come in his life now with Camilla by his side, Camilla is a much stronger person, I think, for him.”
A new camera system called EyeRIS has captured crisp three-dimensional footage of deep-sea octopuses crawling almost two miles below the surface.
The images reveal subtle bends and strains in each arm, data that engineers hope will guide the next wave of flexible machines.
Researchers filmed the animals at Octopus Garden, a nursery site that hosts about 6,000 brooding pearl octopuses on a warm patch of seafloor near Central California.
Principal Engineer Kakani Katija and Senior Research Specialist Crissy Huffard, both with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), led the study.
Filming deep-sea octopuses
EyeRIS rode on a remotely operated vehicle during dives to roughly 9,850 ft, a zone too dark for sunlight yet rich with life.
Because the system works in low light, it left the octopuses undisturbed, no bright lamps or tether lines altered their behavior.
The camera delivered real-time models of each animal’s posture, letting scientists tag and follow individuals over boulder fields.
Those models stream to the surface ship through fiber-optic cable, so the team can adjust focus and angle on the fly.
Such immediate feedback matters when observations cost thousands of dollars per hour and harsh currents limit dive time.
By knowing exactly what the camera “sees,” pilots can linger on rare actions like mating dances or defensive color flashes.
How EyeRIS sees in 3D
At the heart of EyeRIS sits a dense microlens array that captures dozens of perspectives in a single shot, a principle known as light-field imaging.
Software then stitches those perspectives into one frame where every pixel is sharp, even when subjects dart across uneven terrain.
That sharpness lets algorithms plot the octopus’s arm skeleton, frame by frame, without attaching markers or probes.
The approach contrasts with laboratory studies that often require tanks or anesthetized animals, settings that miss natural movements.
Engineers built the housing from titanium and acrylic to survive crushing pressures and icy temperatures. The package weighs under 110 lbs, light enough for quick swaps between MBARI’s submersibles during routine maintenance.
Lessons from octopus arms
“These flexible joints concentrate and bend above and below a single point, giving the octopus simple yet elegant control,” explained Huffard.
EyeRIS data revealed that each arm forms temporary muscular “joints” which shift position as the animal crawls.
The finding supports earlier work showing that octopus arms act as muscular hydrostats, organs that stiffen without bones by selectively contracting fibers.
By localizing strain, the animal reduces the number of commands the brain must send, a form of biological efficiency.
“There was no need to bring animals to the lab, which keeps the behavior authentic,” said Katija. She noted that fine-scale maps of curvature came straight off the seafloor.
Robots, deep-sea octopus, biomimicry
Soft-robot designers crave blueprints for limbs that bend anywhere yet still push against the world. Light-field footage supplies those blueprints in millisecond increments, turning a mysterious crawl into numbers that code can mimic.
Early prototypes already pair silicone sleeves with pressurized chambers to copy the octopus gait. Future versions could inspect ship hulls, grip delicate coral, or thread wiring through collapsed buildings.
MBARI’s innovative EyeRIS camera system collects near real-time three-dimensional visual data about the structure and biomechanics of marine life. Filming deep-sea pearl octopus (Muusoctopus robustus) with this system has provided new insight into octopus locomotion that can contribute to the design of bioinspired robots in the future. Click image to enlarge. Credit: MBARI
Because the control scheme looks simplified, software may run on low-power chips rather than bulky processors. That shift could lower costs and widen adoption in medicine, manufacturing, and search-and-rescue.
Protecting hidden ecosystems
The Octopus Garden sits inside the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, an area under consideration for stricter protections as deep-sea mining expands.
Non-invasive tools like EyeRIS strengthen conservation arguments by proving that fragile nurseries thrive in seemingly barren depths.
Long time-series footage will also track how warming currents affect brooding success, egg development, and predator visits.
Such baseline data barely exist for most abyssal species, leaving policymakers with little guidance on cumulative impacts.
MBARI plans to release segments of the footage to educators and documentary crews. Seeing a pearl octopus hustle across 35°F mud may kindle public interest in preserving regions far beyond human sight.
EyeRIS and future missions
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation financed the camera’s development.
Their grants covered custom optics, pressure testing, and the software pipeline that converts raw pixels into usable models.
“I’m excited to watch other labs adapt this technology for jellyfish, squid, and even plankton swarms,” said Katija. She went on to explain that the team is adding a spectral sensor to measure how skin pigments shift during motion.
The next deployment will explore hydrothermal seeps 60 miles offshore, places where methane bubbles lure both octopuses and crabs.
If EyeRIS can cope with shimmering hot fluids, its design could inspire cameras for Europa or Enceladus missions.
The study is published in Nature.
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Jennifer Aniston shares another relationship insight after Jim Curtis rumours
Jennifer Aniston recently opened up about her friendship with Selena Gomez amid rumours of her relationship with Jim Curtis.
The Friends star, known for her portrayal of Rachel Green in the popular sitcom, spilled details about her bond with the Rare founder.
In an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE, the 56-year-old actress said, “Selena helps me lean into social media. And she’s just an angel that I love to spend time with.”
This revelation comes after Gomez reflected on her first meeting with the Murder Mystery star during their joint appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Earlier in 2020, she recalled, “I walked into the bathroom and I saw you and you were just so nice. My heart stopped and I freaked out and I ran to my mom and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I just saw Jennifer Aniston.”
The Break-Up actress is currently making headlines for her budding romance with Jim Curtis.
An insider revealed, “They were introduced by a friend and started out as friends. Jen had read his book and was familiar with his work. She’s really into self-help and wellness. They are dating, but it’s still casual.”
For the unversed, Aniston also sparked online buzz after she was spotted enjoying a sunny getaway in Mallorca in summer.
This collage shows Senior Research Fellow at the Charhar Institute Prof Cheng Xizhong (left) and Indian Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh. — APP/NDTV/File
Senior Research Fellow at the Charhar Institute, Prof Cheng Xizhong on Sunday rubbished Indian Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh’s groundless claim that the Indian Air Force had shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and one large aircraft during Operation Sindoor in early May.
This claim lacks strong evidence and has been widely questioned by the international community, being considered groundless.
Prof Cheng believed that everything should be based on sufficient evidence.
The Indian side has not presented any evidence, such as photos of the wreckage of the fighter jets and radar monitoring data.
On the other hand, the Pakistani side had previously presented a large amount of relevant evidence of shooting down the Indian fighter jets.
“Therefore, the remarks by the Indian air chief marshal are comical, implausible and unconvincing. We may call it “self-amusement”, he said in a statement.
He highlighted that now, more than three months have passed since the India-Pakistan clash ended.
India has never produced any evidence to prove that it had shot down Pakistani fighter jets.
In contrast, the Pakistan side immediately provided a detailed technical report to international media after the clash ended.
Moreover, there are also confirmations from world leaders, senior Indian politicians, and foreign intelligence assessments that India suffered heavy losses of multiple aircraft.
It is thus evident that no Pakistani fighter jet was hit or destroyed by the Indian side.
On the contrary, the Pakistani side shot down six Indian fighter jets and destroyed S-400 air defence positions, among other achievements, which is an indisputable fact, he added.
We already know that Apple is planning to launch a major AI-infused Siri upgrade next year, but it might be better than we thought.
Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter at Bloomberg contains interesting information about App Intents, an existing feature that Gurman says will get a big upgrade next spring when the new, smarter Siri launches. When this feature is live, users will be able to use their voices to give Siri complex, cross-app commands.
Examples include using your voice to ask Siri to edit and send off a specific photo to a specific person, or to log into an app hands-free.
Mashable Light Speed
SEE ALSO:
iPhones, Macs, and iPads will get GPT-5 via Apple Intelligence. Here’s when it happens.
Of course, this is all still in internal testing at Apple, and Gurman’s report said there are still concerns about getting it to work with enough apps to be useful at launch. Its accuracy will also be something to watch, as it is with any AI application. Apple first outlined the big upgrades coming to Siri (which has fallen way behind other competing voice assistants like Gemini) back at WWDC in 2024, but delays have led to a situation where the upgrades still aren’t out, and probably won’t be out in time for the iPhone 17 launch in September.
Hopefully, this feature finally coming out will prevent more headaches for Apple’s legal team.
David Beckham and Victoria remain estranged with son Brooklyn and his wife Nicola
Victoria Beckham and David Beckham appear to be making attempts at reconciliation with son Brooklyn and his wife Nicola Peltz but they have not come to fruition yet.
As their family feud continues, some friends close to the family seem to think the soccer star, 50, and the fashion mogul, 51, might not have a helpful strategy to get their son back.
The couple has been making subtle comments about the estrangement in their family and extended multiple indirect olive branches to send a message to their son.
However, a source close to the family told RadarOnline that their pressurising agenda might backfire for themselves.
“If they’re trying to win their son back, constantly attacking his wife is the worst possible way to go about it,” the source said, adding, “The attacks, subtle or otherwise, are doing the opposite of what Victoria and David claim to want.
The insider continued, “People around them, friends of the family, are genuinely confused. They’re asking, ‘Why are they relentlessly hammering Brooklyn and Nicola?’”
They further claimed, “Brooklyn is just trying to create a beautiful life for himself and his wife. He doesn’t deserve to be belittled or ignored for that. So now Brooklyn and Nicola are finally standing up for themselves.”
A team of researchers from University of California and the University of Kassel in Germany has developed a way to halt the ultra-fast melting of silicon using well-timed lasers. This new technique could open possibilities for controlling material behavior under extreme conditions.
The breakthrough could also help improve the accuracy of experiments that study how energy moves through solids. This is important as scientists have long struggled to determine whether the changes caused in silicon by a laser beam come from simple heating (thermal effects) or from direct disruption of the atomic bonds (non-thermal effects).
The researchers investigated how powerful, ultra-fast laser pulses influence the atomic arrangement of silicon, a key material in electronics and solar technology. Through sophisticated computer modeling, they demonstrated that a single high-energy laser burst can melt silicon in mere fractions of a trillionth of a second.
Laser beams separated by 126 femtoseconds
Called non-thermal melting, this phenomenon occurs so rapidly that atoms collapse out of their orderly arrangement before any significant heating takes place.
However, by dividing the laser energy into two separate pulses and synchronizing them with precision, the scientists managed to halt the melting mid-process and lock the material into a new, metastable form.
This was done through a method called ‘ab initiomolecular dynamics’, which simulates atomic and electronic behavior based on fundamental principles of physics. Using advanced computer simulations, the laser beam was split into two pulses, separated by 126 femtoseconds (that’s 0.000000000000126 seconds).
The experiment revealed that while the initial laser pulse initiates atomic motion, the second pulse disrupts this motion in a way that stops the atoms from losing their ordered arrangement. As a result, the material temporarily stays solid despite having absorbed sufficient energy to trigger melting.
Precise laser pluses ‘freeze’ atoms in place
Interestingly, the team found that this metastable form preserves most of the electronic characteristics of the original crystalline silicon, including a slightly smaller band gap, a key factor in determining how the material conducts electricity.
Furthermore, the scientists also observed that the atomic vibrations, or phonons, in this state were cooler and more stable than anticipated, indicating that the second pulse effectively “freezes” the atoms in place.
This new technique shows that it is possible to control ultra-fast atomic changes with precise laser timing. The study also implies the approach could be extended to other materials with comparable behavior, potentially facilitating the formation of new phases of matter or enhancing the accuracy of experiments that investigate how energy moves between electrons and atoms.
The study authors opine that future research could focus on refining this technique for various materials to gain deeper insights into the physics governing light–matter interactions.
“This mechanism can be generalized to other materials, potentially enabling structural and/or electronic transitions to metastable phases in the high-excitation regime. In addition, our approach could be used to switch off nonthermal contributions in experiments, allowing reliable electron-phonon coupling constants to be obtained more easily,” the authors note in their abstract.
The study has been published in the journal Communications Physics.
A 6.1-magnitude quake struck Sindirgi in western Turkiye on Sunday, the Turkish disaster management agency (AFAD) said.
The quake was felt across several cities in the west of the country, including Istanbul and the tourist hotspot of Izmir, said officials, who are yet to comment on any potential damages or deaths.
Several buildings collapsed in the Balikesir province after the quake, according to images broadcast by Turkish media.
The quake hit at 7:53 pm (9:53pm PKT), with a 4.6-magnitude aftershock following several minutes later, according to AFAD.
The quake was also registered by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), which recorded the quake and the aftershock at a depth of 10 kilometres.
An interactive map shows the location of the earthquake and an aftershock in Turkiye. — United States Geological Survey
“All AFAD teams and the relevant institutions have immediately begun searches on the ground. No undesirable event has been flagged up till now,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X.
Turkey is crisscrossed by several geological fault lines, which have previously caused catastrophes in the country.
A quake in February 2023 in the southwest killed at least 53,000 people and devastated Antakya, the site of the ancient city of Antioch.
More recently, a 5.8-magnitude tremor in the same region resulted in one death and injured 69 people at the beginning of July.
Wii Sports was a phenomenon for the Wii. Can Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour replicate its success?
If you’re the type of person who does not like to read the manual, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour just might be what Dr. Mario ordered.
Think of it as a Trojan horse, if you will.
Behind its polished presentation, interesting game mechanics and, at times, goofy high jinks is a wealth of knowledge about Nintendo’s new Switch 2 system. Let’s just say that going through this not so little exercise is enough to give you a Switch 2 PhD.
In fact, even as someone who does read manuals and misses all the colorful literature and packaging from games and consoles of years past, Welcome Tour represents a huge step up from the very Spartan pieces of paper that now come with gaming products. And yes, we’re really leaning heavily into the Greek references so far in this article.
More: Move over, Mario Kart World. Donkey Kong Bananza is the best Switch 2 game now
In that sense, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is akin to Wii Sports. For new owners of Nintendo’s then revolutionary Wiimote-based console, it was the best introduction to the gadget and its features.
So is Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour the new Wii Sports? Well, yes and no. First let’s go over what the game is all about.
Like going to Switch 2 university
At its heart, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is an interactive and fun introduction to the successor of the original Switch.
The game’s layout itself mirrors that of an expo or theme park. In fact, it can be eerily reminiscent of the Osaka World Expo 2025 that’s going on in Japan this year. I literally had flashbacks of seeing long lines for stamp rallies while going through Welcome Tour.
Basically, you have an in-game character making the rounds at various stops within this entertainment space that’s shaped like a Nintendo Switch 2, featuring everything from its detachable controllers and large middle screen all the way to every little button on the device. Along the virtual Switch 2 map are different points of interest that you can interact with. These can require multiple clears or earning a high score in order to receive medals, which can then be used to unlock other areas of the map.
Some points can give you interesting trivia about the Switch 2, such as how its rumble features works and how it differs from the original Switch. I actually found the trivia to be quite interesting. As someone who started gaming as a kid during the Atari days and lived through every console launch since then, I’ve been conditioned to pay attention to the new features of every console — like parallax scrolling and rotoscoping to name a few.
In the case of Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, I actually learned a bunch of stuff that I didn’t know about despite reading a bunch of articles about the console prior to its launch. It was information that was actually super helpful when it came to writing up my in-depth Switch 2 console review. I can even see this feature potentially roping in those aforementioned folks who don’t like to read manuals.
Then again, I can also see the trivia stuff turning off some folks who just want to play games. This is especially true given how the game has a ton of these trivia stations to go through. They were fun during the first area or two when you were just starting out. By the time you get to the third area, however, they can start to wear out their welcome a bit, no pun intended.
Some of the interactive trivia also require things that you might not have, such as a 4K TV, for example. Fortunately, the game has a way for you to skip such obstacles and still receive points to unlock other areas in the game. You actually learn about this secret skip code by talking to one of the NPCs. By the way, the unlock trick requires a combination of long and short presses of the Y button — short-short-short, long-long-long, short-short-short. For you sharp-eyed amateur radio operators and military folks, that is indeed an homage to the morse code for SOS.
How are the mini games forNintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour?
In addition to trivia, some of the virtual booths and stations also have you playing mini-games, which are creatively used to introduce the console’s features.
One such game is called “Dodge the Spiked Balls.” The game introduces the new Joy-Con controllers’ mouse function, which lets you use them like you would a regular mouse by turning it sideways and setting it on a surface. You then use the Joy-Con to move a UFO on the screen and dodge countless spikes raining down on the screen.
Games such as “Dodge the Spiked Balls” are what make Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour really shine. I didn’t think it would be interesting at first but soon found myself spending almost an hour just trying to get the highest rating I could. It actually reminded me of the fun I had with the more engaging games from the Wii Sports lineup.
Other games include a touch sensitivity exercise where you guess where the strongest rumble feedback can be felt while moving your cursor on the screen. Another has you guessing frame rates.
Admittedly, the mini-game selection can be hit or miss. While it serves up some gems such as the spiked ball game, other games feel more like a glorified tech demo instead of an actual fun game. It’s during these activities that Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour starts to wear a little thin.
This is also where it falls short of the standard set by Wii Sports. While Wii Sports can be considered a glorified tech demo as well, it actually felt like a real game right off the bat. It also baked in multiplayer quite well, giving it a ton of replay value even among casual players as well.
Then there’s the fact that Wii Sports was free, at least in the U.S. In contrast, Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour requires folks to fork over $10. Granted, that’s not a lot but this really should have been included as free pack-in software for the Switch 2. This would have made it great as an introduction to the new console while putting the game in more people’s hands. It also would have been a great way to build up goodwill for Nintendo, especially given the Switch 2’s higher cost compared to its predecessor. Heck, I still remember when including a free game was standard practice for Nintendo with every console launch.
All in all, I think Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a pretty cool game. Is it cool enough to be worth paying for? Personally, I’d pay $10 for it. For some folks, though, they might opt to use that extra money toward subsidizing Mario Kart World’s higher $80 price tag. That would be a shame as there’s a lot of neat stuff to experience in Welcome Tour 2 but that would all be a moot point if someone decides to skip it.
Final thoughts Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour
Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a fun little introduction to the industry’s newest console, complete with a selection of mini-games plus trivia that helps users get to know their new system better. It would have been nice if it was included as a free game with every Switch purchase as it gives off the vibes of a pack-in game. The included mini-games can also be hit or miss while the heavy use of trivia can wear out its welcome after a while. It’s undoubtedly a great demonstration of what the Switch 2 can do. At the same time, charging for it means some folks will also have to decide whether to spend $10 on Welcome Tour or use that to make up for Mario Kart World’s higher price instead.
In a groundbreaking study, a team of geoscientists, including Dr. Uisdean Nicholson and Dr. Débora Duarte, has uncovered a significant clue about the formation of the Atlantic Ocean. Their research, revealed through seismic profiles and deep-sea core samples, traces the opening of the Equatorial Atlantic Gateway back to 117 million years ago, shifting previous geological timelines. This discovery challenges prior assumptions about the formation of the Atlantic and offers insights into the dramatic tectonic events that unfolded beneath the Earth’s surface long before human existence. The results of this study, published in Global and Planetary Change and reported by Heriot-Watt University, represent a pivotal moment in understanding the tectonic forces that shaped the continents and the oceans.
The Discovery of the Gigantic Mud Waves
The team’s investigation began with the analysis of seismic data and deep-sea drilling cores located more than 3,000 feet below the seafloor, about 250 miles west of Guinea-Bissau. What they found were massive mud waves, some up to one kilometer long and several hundred meters high. These colossal structures are an ancient testament to the violent geophysical processes that occurred millions of years ago when the Earth’s tectonic plates began to drift apart. The sediment waves reveal that the Atlantic Ocean’s formation wasn’t a sudden event but rather a gradual process marked by the movement of dense, salt-laden water.
As Dr. Nicholson explained, “These are one-kilometre-long waves, a few hundred metres high,” comparing them to the towering dunes of the Namib Desert. The immense size of these mud waves speaks to the power of the forces that were at work. The saltwater’s density created a flow capable of reshaping the seafloor in extraordinary ways, scouring and sculpting the landscape beneath the ocean’s surface. This discovery provides a new way of thinking about how oceans might have formed and continues to shape scientific understanding of early Earth history.
The “mud waves” discovered off the coast of Africa, under the Atlantic Ocean, are hundreds of feet high and almost a mile long. (Image credit: courtesy of D Duarte et al/Heriot-Watt University)
Rewriting the Geological Timeline: The Start of the Atlantic’s Formation
The new findings suggest that the formation of the Atlantic Ocean began far earlier than previously believed. Geological models had placed the birth of the Atlantic somewhere between 113 and 83 million years ago, but this new data pushes the timeline back to at least 117 million years ago. This shift is significant because it forces scientists to reconsider how the Atlantic Ocean and the surrounding landmasses—Africa and South America—began to separate.
The mud waves formed when water from the north and south, with very different salinities, were mixed together following the final split of South America and Africa. (Image credit: courtesy of D Duarte et al/Heriot-Watt University)
Dr. Duarte emphasized the importance of the new evidence: “The sediment waves show that the opening started earlier, from around 117 million years ago,” underscoring the fact that the initial outflow of water was powerful enough to rework the seafloor, yet focused enough to leave behind a coherent bedform train. These waves, caused by a massive outflow of brine from evaporating basins, help scientists date the precise moment when saltwater first began spilling over and changing the course of geological history. This new understanding pushes back our understanding of the opening of the Atlantic and redefines the tectonic processes at play.
The Role of Salt-Laden Water in Ocean Formation
One of the most fascinating aspects of the discovery is the role of salt-laden water in triggering the formation of the Atlantic Ocean. Before the ocean fully opened, basins to the south of the gateway had been evaporating under tropical conditions, leaving behind highly concentrated saltwater. When the tectonic barrier finally cracked, the dense brine rushed down the seabed like a submarine waterfall, creating the powerful mud waves that were observed. The research team was able to trace the density-driven outflows with remarkable precision, revealing how the brine spread across the seabed, carving massive waves and reshaping the area.
The dynamics of these dense water flows highlight the incredible power of Earth’s natural processes. The waves themselves, created by the cascading water, serve as a timestamp for one of the most important geological events in Earth’s history—the gradual opening of the Atlantic Ocean. This natural event helped to reshape the oceans and played a crucial role in the long-term evolution of the planet’s climate systems. As the researchers note, these waves were not random occurrences; they were the result of precise, predictable processes that have shaped Earth’s past and will continue to affect its future.
