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  • ‘War 2’ advance box office report: The Hrithik Roshan, Jr NTR film earns Rs 16 crore gross in advance ticket sales, momentum picks as Telugu markets opens |

    ‘War 2’ advance box office report: The Hrithik Roshan, Jr NTR film earns Rs 16 crore gross in advance ticket sales, momentum picks as Telugu markets opens |

    ‘War 2’ is one of the most anticipated movies of the year. The Hrithik Roshan, Jr NTR, Kiara Advani film is also facing a tough competition from Rajikinanth’s ‘Coolie’ which is already having a huge advance booking. While earlier, the advance sales for ‘War 2’ were not extra-ordinary, the film has picked momentum just as the openings in Telugu markets have opened. Ahead of the opening of bookings in the Telugu states, ‘War 2’ had already grossed around ₹10 crore (with block seats) for its Hindi version’s first day. However, once sales began in the Telugu markets, momentum picked up sharply, with BookMyShow logging over 20,000 tickets sold per hour for the first time.This boost is expected to spill over into the Hindi belt as well just as the film releases. At present, Coolie is leading the advance booking race, having already hit an opening-day worldwide gross of ₹75 crore, of which ₹30 crore of which comes from India and this data was till Wednesday afternoon. According to Sacnilk, the film has made Rs 16 crore so far on Day 1 as the gross number and this is the figure from advance sales excluding the block bookings. However, with the block bookings, the advance day 1 number is Rs 28 crore as of now. However, according to Box Office India, Trade analysts caution, that these numbers don’t yet point to an “huge blockbuster type of weekend”, the kind the industry hopes for with such big-budget spectacles. ‘War 2’ may look underwhelming when compared to some past juggernauts, but the ratio of advance sales to first-day collections has changed in recent years, making direct parallels tricky. Some previous “big ones,” as the trade hints, even had “advances which were tampered putting it in a nice way.” By contrast, War 2’s advance numbers are twice that of recent big titles like ‘Raid 2’ and ‘Housefull 5’. Regional performance of the film will also be a mixed bag. ‘War 2’ is expected to underperform in Maharashtra, Gujarat, East Punjab, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh, just as Pathaan, Jawan, and Animal did, but it will need to make up for this shortfall in other territories, as those films managed to do.The Telugu-dubbed version could perform well thanks to JR NTR’s presence, who is a massive star in the Nizam/Andhra belt. One already senses that as the fil has suddenly picked momentum, just as the Telugu markets have opened. Still, ‘Coolie’ will be a formidable rival, even outside its home Tamil market. Eventually, the content of both these movies and word of mouth will eventually decide the fate of both these movies while the weekend performance will be crucial for deciding among these.


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  • Ethiopian fossils reveal new species in human evolutionary lineage – Reuters

    1. Ethiopian fossils reveal new species in human evolutionary lineage  Reuters
    2. Ancient Teeth Suggest Our Ancestors Lived Side by Side With a Mysterious Hominin  ScienceAlert
    3. Never-before-seen cousin of Lucy might have lived at the same site as the oldest known human species, new study suggests  Live Science
    4. Discovery of new fossils — and a new species of ancient human ancestor — reveals insights on evolution  University of Nevada, Las Vegas | UNLV
    5. Fossil teeth may come from a new species of early hominin  New Scientist

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  • Study identifies a promising new strategy for treating alcohol use disorder

    Study identifies a promising new strategy for treating alcohol use disorder

    Researchers have identified a promising new strategy for treating alcohol use disorder (AUD). A novel study found that the dopamine-boosting drug tolcapone increases activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during self-control tasks. Greater activation of the inferior frontal gyrus, part of the PFC, was associated with better behavioral control and reduced alcohol consumption. The findings from this new study in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, published by Elsevier, indicate that medications with a similar mechanism could one day be used to treat AUD.

    AUD is a devastating disorder characterized by loss of control over alcohol consumption, for which existing pharmacological treatments are modestly effective. Most approved and off-label pharmacological treatments for AUD target alcohol craving and/or alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

    We desperately need new pharmacological treatments for AUD. Our study shifts the focus to ‘rescuing’ impaired inhibitory control, which is the brain’s ability to stop unwanted thoughts or actions, a function often compromised in AUD. Our study suggests that medications that increase prefrontal dopamine are an important lead to pursue.”


    Joseph P. Schacht, PhD, Senior Author, Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine

    The study involved 64 participants with AUD who were randomly assigned to receive either tolcapone, an FDA-approved medication that increases dopamine in the PFC by suppressing catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), an enzyme that degrades dopamine, or a placebo for eight days. Participants completed a behavioral control task called a “stop signal” task while undergoing functional neuroimaging (fMRI), during which they had to try to stop themselves from pressing a button on certain trials. This task reliably elicits activation of regions of the PFC that underlie response inhibition. Analysis showed that tolcapone increased activation of cortical areas implicated in inhibitory control, as assessed by the fMRI blood oxygenation response.

    Lead author Drew E. Winters, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine, notes, “Based on previous studies, we anticipated that greater inferior frontal gyrus activation would be associated with better behavioral control, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was also associated with reduced alcohol consumption. This association validates the importance of impaired control in the pathophysiology of AUD.”

    Editor-in-Chief of Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging Cameron S. Carter, MD, University of California Irvine School of Medicine, concludes, “Dopamine is a crucial neurotransmitter involved in pleasure, motivation, reward, and control and decision-making. The findings of this study underscore the importance of targeting specific brain circuits that govern self-control to reduce problematic drinking. Future research should continue to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms of tolcapone and other cortical dopamine modulators to develop more effective treatments for AUD.” 

     

    Source:

    Journal reference:

    Winters, D. E., & Schacht, J. P. (2025). Effects of COMT suppression in a randomized trial on the neural correlates of inhibitory processing among people with Alcohol Use Disorder. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.06.003.

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  • Refugee children to participate in UEFA Super Cup match – UEFA.com

    1. Refugee children to participate in UEFA Super Cup match  UEFA.com
    2. LIVE: PSG vs Tottenham – UEFA Super Cup  Al Jazeera
    3. Two children from Gaza to take part in ceremony of European soccer Super Cup  The Times of Israel
    4. The UEFA engaged banner during PSG – Tottenham  French Football Weekly
    5. UEFA rolls out banner in support of children in war zones ahead of Super Cup  SoMdNews.com

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  • Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne features on artist’s bank notes

    Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne features on artist’s bank notes

    A set of Ozzy Osbourne-themed bank notes has been created as a tribute to the heavy metal legend.

    Artist Dion Kitson has designed and hand cut 1,000 of the notes in memory of Ozzy, who died aged 76 on 22 July.

    The Prince Of Darkness “replaces” the King on the £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes, which are available for sale with 30% of proceeds going to the Parkinson’s UK charity.

    Mr Kitson, from Dudley, says: “It was quite emotional, just after his passing, having to select all these images, and go through all these details of his life.”

    All the notes have different images of Ozzy, and also feature other moments from his life including band mates, bats, and the Aston factories he grew up around.

    “My favourite little bit, is there is an angel on the 20, which is giving Tony Iommi a guitar, just some really tiny details,” continued Mr Kitson.

    “Heavy metal, the industry, the Black Country and Birmingham, it created its own genre, I think it needs to be spoken about more.”

    “I’m an artist, that uses all sorts of mediums. It wasn’t easy by any means using Photoshop, I didn’t sleep for three days making these.”

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  • New SFU Study Unveils AI That Designs Medical Drugs

    New SFU Study Unveils AI That Designs Medical Drugs

    Researchers from Simon Fraser University have unveiled an artificial intelligence framework that could transform drug development and accelerate the discovery of new medicines.

    In a potential breakthrough for healthcare, the new study presents an innovative method that tackles one of the pharmaceutical industry’s most persistent challenges – how to design and make effective drug molecules.

    For years, AI tools have shown great promise in designing complex molecular structures that can, in theory, interact with disease targets. Yet, many of these ‘perfect’ molecules prove impossible to manufacture in real-world labs.

    It is hoped that this new process could dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes to discover and manufacture drugs used to treat common diseases, such as cancer.

    Martin Ester, professor of computing science at SFU, says: “The development of a new drug is an extremely time consuming and expensive process. As a rule of thumb, people always say that it takes 10 years and $1 billion USD to bring a new drug to market.

    “Our hope is that our method will significantly shorten this process so that new drugs can be discovered, produced and made available in a much shorter timeframe in order to help cure diseases.”

    One of the core challenges for AI drug design is the synthesis pathway – the ability to come up with a realistic chemical recipe to build the molecule. Without this, even the most promising AI-designed molecules are often discarded, leading to wasted time and resources.

    “The fight against disease starts with identifying the disease-causing protein,” explains Tony Shen, SFU PhD student and lead author of the paper.

    “In the lab, computer models are then used to design molecules that will bind to the disease-causing protein, often deactivating it and stopping its harmful activity. The whole process is a bit like trying to design a key that will fit into a lock.”

    The new method presented in the study, called CGFlow, introduces a dual-design approach that enables AI to simultaneously model how a molecule is constructed and what it looks like in 3D space.

    This combination is essential for generating molecules that are not only biologically effective but also chemically feasible to produce.

    “We have developed a machine-learning method that practically guarantees that the molecule generated can be created through chemical synthesis in the real world,” says Ester.

    “This is a hugely important aspect in translating the results of these generative models into practical applications, it is very exciting.”

    Instead of designing molecules in one go, CGFlow assembles them step by step, much like sculpting a statue by adding one piece of clay at a time.

    With each step, the AI learns how the new component changes the overall shape and function of the molecule, resulting in more accurate and efficient designs.

    The model’s potential is already being recognized beyond the lab. Several companies are looking at adopting the CGFlow framework for early-stage cancer drug discovery, offering new hope in the fight against complex diseases.

    “The next step is to take our method to industry so it can be used and improved. We’re really interested in working with industry to evaluate and further develop CGFlow in practical applications,” adds Ester.

    The study was published at the International Conference on Machine Learning 2025, in Vancouver, a top conference in its field.

    Available SFU Experts

    TONY SHEN, PhD student, computing science | [email protected]

    MARTIN ESTER, professor, computing science | [email protected]

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  • Venus Williams, Caroline Garcia headline US Open wild cards

    Venus Williams, Caroline Garcia headline US Open wild cards

    The US Open announced its singles main-draw wild cards on Wednesday, headlined by two-time champion Venus Williams.

    It’s no surprise that the 45-year-old will be in Queens after returning to the Hologic WTA Tour last month at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, where she defeated Peyton Stearns to become the oldest player to win a WTA singles match in more than two decades.

    Williams last competed in Cincinnati, losing to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in straight sets but making progress ahead of the final Grand Slam of the year.

    “Coming off of this match, I feel amazing,” Venus said after the 6-4, 6-4 defeat last week. “So that means in this next period, I won’t have to fix injuries. I can work on power and speed instead of trying to make sure I’m not hurt going into the tournament. I’m very excited that I can have a different focus for the US Open.”

    The seven-time Grand Slam champion will also play in the reimagined mixed-doubles tournament, partnering with Reilly Opelka, in the week leading up to the start of the main draw (August 19 and 20). 

    She last played the Open in 2023, losing badly to qualifier Greet Minnen, 6-1, 6-1, in the first round. 

    Williams wasn’t the only notable name given a wild card into the Open. Caroline Garcia, who is set to retire at the end of the season, also received one. The former World No. 4 reached the semifinals in Flushing Meadows in 2022, her best result at a Grand Slam.

    Five other Americans were also granted wild cards: Former junior World No. 1 Clervie Ngounoue, current junior World No. 1 Julieta Pareja, World No. 104 Caty McNally, ACC Freshman of the Year Valerie Glozman (she plays for Stanford) and USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s champion Alyssa Ahn.

    The final wild card went to Australian Talia Gibson, who’s currently ranked No. 107 in the PIF WTA Rankings. 

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  • Tiny creatures, big insights: The microbial signature of the sea uncovered by copepods

    Tiny creatures, big insights: The microbial signature of the sea uncovered by copepods

    image: 

    Top – a map showing the sampling stations along the research cruise onboard the R/V L’Atalante. Bottom – circulation maps presenting ocean connectivity between stations, reflected in the copepod microbial metacommunities. From: Velasquez et al. (2025).


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    Credit: Dr. Ximena Velasquez

    [13 August 2025] — An international study led by Prof. Tamar Guy-Haim and Dr. Ximena Velasquez from the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research (IOLR) has revealed that tiny planktonic crustaceans carry a unique microbial signature that better reflects ocean currents and environmental gradients than microbes found freely in seawater.

    Published today in Limnology and Oceanography Letters, the researchers investigated microbial communities associated with copepods across the Mediterranean Sea—one of the world’s most environmentally diverse marine systems, characterized by pronounced west-to-east gradients in temperature, salinity, and nutrients. By comparing microbes living on copepods with those found in seawater, the researchers discovered that copepod microbiomes revealed clearer biogeographic patterns that reflect environmental gradients and ocean circulation.

     “These microbes travel with their copepod hosts”, explains lead author Dr. Ximena Velasquez. “Because copepods dispersal is more limited by ocean currents than free-living microbes, their associated microbes are shaped by where they are and how they move, creating a ‘microbial map’ of ocean regions”.

    The study brought together experts from Israel, Italy, Greece, and France, collecting samples aboard the French research vessel L’Atalante during a five-week expedition from the western Mediterranean off France to the eastern Mediterranean near Crete. The fieldwork took place in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, adding logistical challenges. “Every day we towed plankton nets and collected water samples”, recalls Velasquez.  “I set hours by the stereomicroscope in our ship’s lab to identify and carefully pick the copepods, one by one, even when the sea was rough. Despite everything, it was an unforgettable and enjoyable experience”.

    “Marine microbial metacommunities are networks of communities”, explains Prof. Tamar Guy-Haim. “At local scales, copepod microbial communities are host-specific and strongly influenced by traits like diet and feeding behavior, as we found in a previous research. But over large oceanic distances, copepods can share microbes directly with one another or indirectly via the environment, forming what we call a microbial metacommunity”.

    Using genetic tools and evolutionary models, the researchers discovered that copepod-associated microbial metacommunities were alike in Mediterranean basins linked by ocean currents, but distinctly different in basins that were not connected. By contrast, free-living microbes in seawater were more uniform everywhere and tended to be dominated by common, widespread species.

     “This suggests that copepod-associated microbes are more sensitive indicators of regional changes in ocean conditions”, says Guy-Haim. “They could serve as valuable bioindicators for detecting shifts in marine ecosystems, especially under climate change”.

    As surface oceans become warmer and more nutrient-depleted, these host-associated microbes, especially those adapted to oligotrophic conditions, may offer early warning signs about the health of marine ecosystems. The findings open new avenues for tracking how host-associated microbial communities, and the ecosystems they inhabit, are changing on a global scale.

    Journal

    Limnology and Oceanography Letters

    Method of Research

    Observational study

    Subject of Research

    Not applicable

    Article Title

    Copepod-associated microbial biogeography in the epipelagic ocean

    Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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  • A Fresh Look at the Life Cycle of Stars, Courtesy of Gaia

    A Fresh Look at the Life Cycle of Stars, Courtesy of Gaia

    In a cosmic breakthrough, astronomers have stitched together a massive star map that reveals how stars live, age, and die, not in isolation, but as part of their celestial communities.

    Stars don’t always shine steadily. Some pulse, flicker, and flare; these are called variable stars, and their changing brightness holds clues about the inner workings of stars and the galaxy itself. Meanwhile, open clusters, groups of stars born together from the same cloud, act like natural laboratories, showing how stars evolve side by side.

    Until now, scientists studied clusters and variable stars separately, like reading two chapters of a book without realizing they’re part of the same story. But researchers Richard I. Anderson (EPFL) and Emily Hunt (Max Planck Institute) just flipped the script.

    Using data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission, the team mapped nearly 35,000 variable stars across 1,200 open clusters in the Milky Way. That’s like zooming out to see the entire starry neighborhood in motion.

    First old binary star cluster discovered within our Galaxy

    Their findings, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, reveal striking new patterns in how stars evolve. About one in five stars within open clusters regularly change their brightness, offering a dynamic glimpse into stellar behavior. Young clusters are bustling with a diverse mix of variable stars, each flickering in its way, while older clusters tend to settle into calmer, more predictable cycles, similar to our Sun’s slow rhythm.

    Perhaps most exciting, the researchers discovered that certain types of variable stars can act as natural age markers, allowing scientists to estimate the age of star clusters without relying on complex models.

    The team didn’t just keep this treasure to themselves; they released a public catalog of all 35,000 variable stars, including their positions, types, and properties. They also created the clearest diagram yet of how these stars fit into the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram, the key chart astronomers use to track stellar evolution.

    Though the Gaia satellite has been switched off, its data, covering nearly 2 billion stars, is just beginning to shine. Anderson calls this study a “teaser” for what’s coming in future data releases, which promise to revolutionize how we understand star populations through their light.

    “We are made of stardust,” Anderson reminds us. “By understanding how stars live and change, we get closer to understanding where we come from, and where we’re going.”

    Journal Reference

    1. Richard I. Anderson and Emily Hunt. A bird’s eye view of stellar evolution through populations of variable stars in Galactic open clusters. Astronomy & Astrophysics. DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202555111

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  • Pebble’s smartwatch is back: Pebble Time 2 specs revealed

    Pebble’s smartwatch is back: Pebble Time 2 specs revealed

    Eric Migicovsky, the original creator of the Pebble smartwatch, on Wednesday showed off the new designs for the upcoming watch, now known as the Pebble Time 2.

    Although the company originally branded its new watches as the Core 2 Duo and Core Time 2 when it first announced its plans to return to the market in March, Migicovsky says the company has since been able to regain the Pebble trademark.

    That means the new watches will instead be called the Pebble 2 Duo and the Pebble Time 2.

    Migicovsky’s company, Core Devices, had also shown off early ideas for the watches back in March, but today it’s revealing the final design for the Pebble Time 2.

    Image Credits:Core Devices

    The industrial design of the watch has changed, and a handful of new features have been added, notes Migicovsky in a blog post.

    The Time 2 will debut in four colors, still yet to be determined; Pebble buyers will have input later on, the company says. Plus, the company is adding a multicolor RGB LED backlight, a second microphone (to aid with a potential environmental noise cancellation feature), a compass sensor, and a screw-mounted back cover.

    The watch will be stainless steel on the front and back, and feature stainless steel buttons like the older Pebble Time Steel.

    Other previously announced specs will remain the same, including Pebble’s plans for a 1.5-inch 64 color e-paper display, a touch screen, a quick-release 22mm watch strap, a flat hardened glass lens, 30-day estimated battery life, heart rate monitor, step and sleep tracking, speaker, linear actuator motor (for vibration), and a waterproof rating of some sort, which is yet to be determined.

    The Pebble Time 2 is available for pre-order for $225 and will pair with a smartphone via Bluetooth, allowing it to display notifications, control the music on your phone, and connect with the internet.

    The company also noted that people who pre-order the Core 2 Duo can upgrade to the Pebble Time 2 while reserving their place in line. To do so, customers shouldn’t cancel the original order, but instead wait for an email survey link that will be emailed in the next month or so, offering the option for them to catch their order.

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