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  • Crystal Palace: Conference League demotion could ‘galvanise’ club, says Chris Sutton

    Crystal Palace: Conference League demotion could ‘galvanise’ club, says Chris Sutton

    Crystal Palace’s demotion to the Uefa Conference League could “galvanise” the club and bring them closer together, says Chris Sutton.

    The Eagles beat Liverpool on penalties in the Community Shield on Sunday but less than 24 hours later were told they had lost their appeal against being dropped from the Europa League.

    They had qualified for the competition after winning the FA Cup last season but were punished by Uefa for breaching multi-club ownership rules.

    “I don’t necessarily see it as having an effect on the players – this is the best period in the club’s history,” former Premier League striker Sutton said on 5 Live’s Monday Night Club.

    “On the footballing side of it, Palace just have to move on and get on with the season. And in many ways, it may actually galvanise the club.

    “It might bring them closer together, if that’s possible.”

    American businessman John Textor owned a 43% stake in Palace until he sold it in June and is the majority owner of Lyon, who also qualified for the Europa League.

    Palace had until 1 March 2025 to show Uefa proof of multi-club ownership restructuring, but the club missed that deadline.

    The ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) also means Nottingham Forest’s spot in the Europa League is confirmed, having been promoted into the competition in Palace’s place.

    “They’ve won an FA Cup, they’ve won a Community Shield. So I think there’s still a lot of excitement,” Sutton added. “You still can’t take away them winning the FA Cup; you still can’t take away the great performance in the Community Shield. If you’re a Palace fan, you love that.

    “You’ve got to focus on the positives, as much as anything. But it’s certainly not ideal.”

    Palace will face either Norwegian side Fredrikstad or Midtjylland of Denmark in the Conference League play-off round later this month.

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  • Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale Inspired ‘Emily in Paris’ Costumes

    Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale Inspired ‘Emily in Paris’ Costumes

    When “Emily in Paris” costume designer Marylin Fitoussi learned that Season 4 of the Netflix series would take its titular character to Italy, she saw it as a perfect opportunity to pay homage to her love for black-and-white films of the 1940s and 1950s — and pay tribute to such cinema Italiano stars as Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale.

    At the end of Season 4, Emily (Lily Collins) heads to Rome and finds herself enamored with the city and with Marcello (Eugenio Franceschini). To reflect that, Fitoussi took a more romantic approach to Emily’s outfits so that she’s “more relaxed and forgets about her Instagram for a bit.”

    Emily in Rome, in love. Her costumes reflected this enamored side.
    GIULIA PARMIGIANI/NETFLIX

    “In many Italian movies, you’ll see polka-dot prints,” Fitoussi adds. “Sophia Loren wore several dresses with black-and-white polka dots, or the reverse. So I said, maybe we can play with polka dots.”

    Emily dons a blue top with white polka dots, shorts and flats while carrying a butterfly Peter Nitz backpack — a look that was Collins’ idea.

    “Lily said, ‘I have a friend of a friend who designed this backpack, and it’s really interesting. Let me show it to you. Let’s see if we can use it,’” Fitoussi recalls. She agreed it was perfect and symbolic of Emily’s feelings. “She felt free, and when you’re in love, you have butterflies in your stomach, so I said, ‘Let’s use it.’”

    The polka-dot corset top was by Vivienne Westwood. Notably, Fitoussi put Emily in Christian Louboutin flats. “It’s important because it’s Rome, she’s walking and she’s on a scooter, so it felt more relaxed and very feminine,” says the costume designer behind the decision.

    Lily Collins was the perfect collaborator who picked out the backpack.
    GIULIA PARMIGIANI/NETFLIX

    While Emily wears numerous brands and designers, the key to dressing the character doesn’t lie in labels. “The pieces help tell a story,” Fitoussi says. “I pick pieces because they sing to me. I wanted this strong contrast and to focus on the butterfly because it reflects freedom for her. She’s smiling and she’s so happy.”

    The red, white and blue palette was not deliberate, and a happy accident. “It’s a tribute to the French flag and the American flag,” Fitoussi laughs.

    She describes Collins as the perfect collaborator, also calling her a chameleon because of how perfectly she wears bold designs and colors. The actor is also willing to take risks in the same way Emily does. “I put her in a black dress with pink polka dots when she’s at a party with Marcello,” Fitoussi
    says. “This look is risky and unexpected for the Emily we know and cherish. But we wanted to be playful to express this joie de vivre that she is feeling while she’s in love.”

    Marilyn Fitoussi was inspired by “Clueless,” but had found some pieces back in season 1.
    MARIE ETCHEGOYEN/NETFLIX

    Aside from the influence of vintage Italian cinema, Fitoussi nods to “Clueless” in episode 4 by putting Emily in a yellow-and-black houndstooth dress over a ruffled blouse and bow tie secured with a belt buckle. The blouse was an item Fitoussi had been holding onto since Season 1 but couldn’t find the right moment until now.

    “It’s very Victorian and French, with a bit of Marie Antoinette,” she says. Fitoussi loves the idea of blending contemporary with period and felt the bow tie was the perfect touch. “I found that on Instagram, and I found Catherine Osti, who designed that,” she says, noting she excited to add a feminine touch on a masculine design. “It was very chic on Emily, and Lily wore it so perfectly.”

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  • This see-thru Game Boy is a work of art — because she designed a transparent circuit board

    This see-thru Game Boy is a work of art — because she designed a transparent circuit board

    Now, she’s put her skills to work in probably the most beautiful build I’ve ever seen: a working see-through Game Boy Color where even the circuit board is made of clear plastic. Because she designed and created that board herself from scratch, you see.

    I’ve been floored by console mods before, but I’d typically limit praise to saying they’re “damn clean.” But this thing, to paraphrase Indiana Jones, belongs in a museum. “Damn that’s lovely,” says one of my colleagues. “It’s such a delight,” says another.

    Another reason why it’s probably a museum piece: she agreed with one commenter that it’s likely too flimsy and fragile for extended use. “Yeah not practical at all, just art work TBH,” she wrote.

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  • From mistrust to militants: Why polio persists in Pakistan

    From mistrust to militants: Why polio persists in Pakistan

    Despite more than three decades of sustained efforts and billions invested in mass vaccination drives, training, logistics and awareness, Pakistan remains one of only two countries where the wild poliovirus still circulates, with the other being neighboring Afghanistan.

    According to Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Program, the country reported 74 cases of wild polio in 2024, a steep rise from just six in 2023.

    This year, at least 19 cases have been confirmed. Environmental surveillance also detected the virus in sewage samples across 20 districts, suggesting ongoing transmission even in places without confirmed infections.

    Experts say this resurgence reflects the complexity of polio eradication in Pakistan, where longstanding issues – including mistrust, misinformation, militant violence and operational fatigue – continue to undermine hard-won gains.

    So far this year, cases have been reported in 13 districts. These include Dera Ismail Khan, Torghar, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Tank, and North Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border; Badin, Larkana, Qambar and Thatta in Sindh; Mandi Bahauddin in Punjab; and Diamer in Gilgit-Baltistan.

    These regions include both conflict-affected areas and districts where public service gaps have fueled skepticism toward government-led initiatives.

    The ups and downs have been consistent. In 2020, Pakistan recorded 84 cases of wild polio, which dropped dramatically to one case in 2021. But the virus rebounded in 2022 with 20 cases, a reminder that polio can re-emerge quickly in the absence of consistent coverage.

    Polio is a highly contagious viral disease that primarily affects children under five. It attacks the nervous system and can lead to permanent paralysis or death. While there is no cure, oral polio vaccines have proven to be an effective safeguard, helping eliminate the virus from most of the world.

    – Why does polio still exist in Pakistan?

    Pakistan has been working to eliminate polio since 1994, and there has been a significant drop in cases since then. However, its eradication remains elusive.

    “Polio has been eradicated in most countries, including our neighbor India, through effective campaigns. But we lag behind due to a combination of security challenges and poor community engagement,” said Dr. Muhammad Rafiq, program specialist at UNICEF Pakistan and former head of the Health Sector Reforms Unit in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

    He acknowledged that while militant threats are real, widespread parental refusals – often driven by conspiracy theories – remain a major obstacle. Some rumors claim the vaccine is part of a Western plot to sterilize Muslim children.

    In a written response to Anadolu, Pakistan’s Polio Eradication Program pointed to persistent virus transmission in a few chronically missed and high-risk areas. These hotspots, it said, face overlapping factors such as insecurity, community resistance to vaccination, campaign fatigue, and gaps in routine immunization.

    In some rural areas, residents have also used the vaccine program as political leverage, refusing vaccination unless the government provides basic services such as roads, gas or electricity.

    “This reflects a lack of community ownership,” said Rafiq. “The government must craft an effective communication strategy that makes people see this program as a way to protect their own children, not a favor to demand in exchange for infrastructure.”

    The continued presence of the virus has also created travel challenges for Pakistanis. Since 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) has required travelers from Pakistan to carry a valid polio vaccination certificate, a requirement that still remains in place.

    – Security threats to vaccination teams

    Polio vaccination teams, especially in high-risk and border areas, routinely face violent attacks. According to officials, nearly 150 people involved in anti-polio efforts have been killed since December 2012.

    Last April, two security personnel were shot dead in Mastung, a volatile district in southwestern Pakistan’s Balochistan province, during a nationwide immunization campaign. A month later, gunmen struck again in Nushki, another high-risk district in northwestern Balochistan near the Afghan border, killing one person and injuring another during a vaccination drive.

    Militants, particularly in parts of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, often brand vaccination campaigns as Western conspiracies and have targeted workers, many of whom are women.

    “We know we could be attacked at any moment, but we continue to do our duty to protect children,” said Lubna Azam, a frontline polio worker from Bajaur, near the Afghan border.

    Azam is among more than 400,000 workers, including 225,000 women, who go door-to-door across Pakistan to administer oral polio vaccines.

    In 2024, at least seven people, including six police officers and one polio worker, were killed during attacks in Bajaur alone.

    – Cross-border migration worsens problem

    Pakistan’s 2,640-kilometer (1,640-mile) border with Afghanistan adds another layer of difficulty. The porous, mountainous frontier sees frequent movement of migrants, traders and unregistered families, making it hard to ensure full immunization coverage.

    “Polio still exists in Afghanistan. When people move across the border, the virus comes with them,” said Rafiq.

    Dr. Tariq Habib, the focal person for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor’s polio monitoring team, said that the government has established vaccination centers at all border points, with teams vaccinating every child entering from Afghanistan at official crossings.

    – Government response to eradicate polio

    According to the polio eradication program, Pakistan has launched a new three-phase National Polio Eradication Roadmap for 2025-2026, designed to intensify efforts where they are needed most.

    “Oversight is led directly by the prime minister, with active engagement from provincial governments and law enforcement agencies to ensure safe, high-quality campaign execution,” it said.

    In 2023, the government and international partners including WHO and UNICEF spent $924 million on eradication efforts. The funding covered nationwide campaigns, logistics, training and community outreach.

    Health officials insist the goal of a polio-free Pakistan is still within reach, but with the virus now re-emerging, experts warn that without coordinated, community-driven and secure campaigns, eradication will remain a moving target.

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  • Making a small change to rice plant DNA could end world hunger

    Making a small change to rice plant DNA could end world hunger

    Rice plants run on sunlight, but they don’t always use that light wisely. A new study shows that gently rewriting their control code can raise the crop’s natural photosynthetic output and set the stage for sturdier harvests.

    Dhruv Patel-Tupper and colleagues from the Innovative Genomics Institute, at the University of California Berkeley, used CRISPR/Cas9 to rearrange short stretches of regulatory DNA upstream of a single rice gene, PsbS, and watched the plant ratchet up its own protein levels without a trace of foreign genetic material.

    Why rice deserves attention


    One fifth of global calorie intake comes from rice, making the grain an irreplaceable safety net for billions.

    Demand is rising fastest in regions already grappling with water scarcity and erratic weather, so every extra ounce harvested from existing fields matters.

    Nearly 733 million people faced hunger in 2023, a number the United Nations calls “stubbornly high” despite record food production. Rice yields have climbed, yet the pace of improvement has slowed as breeding hits biological ceilings.

    Scientists have long known that the photosynthetic efficiency of most crops leaves room for improvement.

    A plant typically dissipates excess light as heat to avoid damage, a safety valve called non photochemical quenching that is governed by PsbS.

    Earlier transgenic experiments in tobacco showed that overexpressing PsbS tightened water use by 25 percent under field conditions. Those gains hinted that dialing up the same gene in rice could lift both radiation use efficiency and yield.

    Tweaking the genetic dimmer switch

    Traditional genetic modification bolts new genes into the genome, but that triggers lengthy regulation in many countries.

    The Berkeley team instead targeted the cis regulatory DNA that behaves like a dimmer, deciding when and how strongly a native gene turns on.

    “Tools like CRISPR/Cas9 are accelerating our ability to fine tune gene expression in crops, rather than just knocking out genes or turning them ‘off’,” said Patel-Tupper.

    Their goal was audacious: increase expression rather than knock genes out, a harder trick because nature already keeps useful genes near optimum.

    Eight CRISPR guides cut flanking regions of the promoter and 5′ untranslated zone, letting the plant’s own repair machinery shuffle fragments.

    In about one percent of edited seedlings a segment flipped orientation, an inversion that unexpectedly turbo charged PsbS transcription two to threefold.

    “The changes in the DNA that increased gene expression were much bigger than we expected,” noted Patel-Tupper.

    Protein assays confirmed matching surges in PsbS abundance, while RNA sequencing found only 104 other genes nudged, less than 0.2 percent of the genome.

    From lab bench to paddy field

    Greenhouse tests under intense red light showed that boosted PsbS plants dissipated extra energy faster yet kept carbon intake steady.

    Higher non photochemical quenching trimmed peak leaf temperatures, a side benefit that may shield crops during heat spikes.

    Gas exchange measurements revealed an 11 percent jump in intrinsic water use efficiency, echoing earlier tobacco work. More efficient stomatal behavior means the plants release less water vapor per molecule of carbon dioxide captured.

    Importantly, whole plant growth and grain fill matched or exceeded unedited controls when plants were raised to maturity in a sunlit glasshouse.

    That finding suggests the added photoprotection does not exact a penalty under moderate light, unlike some transgenic overexpression lines that ran short on energy.

    The team’s long read sequencing traced the top performing allele to a 252 kilobase duplication inversion that left neighboring genes intact.

    Such large but surgical edits were once thought rare, new long read data imply they may be surprisingly common outcomes of CRISPR breaks in repetitive regions.

    Regulatory shortcuts and farmer benefits

    Because the edit rearranges native DNA and removes the CRISPR machinery through breeding, U.S. regulators classify the resulting line as non regulated, clearing a quicker path to field trials.

    Many countries follow a similar product based standard, so farmers could see seed in seasons rather than decades.

    The work also sidesteps public unease over “foreign genes.” Consumers get a variety that is genetically rice through and through, differing only in how vigorously one natural gene is read.

    For breeders, the allele behaves like any conventional trait: it can be crossed into local varieties without lingering transgenes.

    That flexibility is crucial in Asia, where more than 200,000 distinct rice cultivars are grown across diverse soils and climates.

    A modest step against hunger

    On its own, a two fold PsbS boost will not erase global hunger, yet stacking this trait with other edits that cut photorespiration or improve nitrogen uptake could compound gains.

    Computational models from the RIPE consortium predict that integrating several photosynthetic tweaks might raise rice yields 20 percent under fluctuating field light.

    Even incremental efficiency matters when climate extremes threaten harvests and irrigation water shrinks. If each percentage point in yield shields a few million people from calorie deficits, the payoff scales quickly.

    Future efforts

    The study also offers a template for editing upstream DNA of other single copy photosynthetic genes, many of which sit idle at midday when stress peaks.

    Moving beyond random mutagenesis into rational promoter refits could unlock traits breeders never dared chase before.

    Patel-Tupper sees a broader lesson: plants tolerate large rearrangements far better than animals, providing engineers with unusual genomic “wiggle room.”

    Harnessing that plasticity responsibly may accelerate the shift toward climate smart agriculture without sparking regulatory gridlock.

    The study is published in Science Advances.

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  • Researchers identify key biomarkers for chronic fatigue syndrome

    Researchers identify key biomarkers for chronic fatigue syndrome

    When cells expire, they leave behind an activity log of sorts: RNA expelled into blood plasma that reveal changes in gene expression, cellular signaling, tissue injury and other biological processes.

    Cornell researchers developed machine-learning models that can sift through this cell-free RNA and identify key biomarkers for myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). The approach could lead to the development of diagnostic testing for a debilitating disease that has proved challenging to confirm in patients because its symptoms can be easily confused with those of other illnesses.

    The findings were published Aug. 11 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The lead author is Anne Gardella, a doctoral student in biochemistry, molecular and cell biology in the De Vlaminck Lab.

    The project was a collaboration between the labs of co-senior authors Iwijn De Vlaminck, associate professor of biomedical engineering in Cornell Engineering, and Maureen Hanson, Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

    “By reading the molecular fingerprints that cells leave behind in blood, we’ve taken a concrete step toward a test for ME/CFS,” De Vlaminck said. “This study shows that a tube of blood can provide clues about the disease’s biology.”

    De Vlaminck’s lab previously used the cell-free RNA technique to identify the presence of Kawasaki disease and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) – puzzling inflammatory conditions that have also proved difficult to diagnose. After hearing De Vlaminck deliver a presentation about a project involving cell-free DNA, Hanson, who studies the pathophysiology of ME/CFS, reached out about a potential collaboration.

    Using cell-free RNA to measure system-wide cellular turnover in patients is a relatively new concept, and it seemed particularly well-suited for unraveling the mystery of ME/CFS.

    “ME/CFS affects a lot of different parts of the body,” said Hanson, who directs the Cornell Center for Enervating NeuroImmune Disease (ENID). “The nervous system, immune system, cardiovascular system. Analyzing plasma gives you access to what’s going on in those different parts.”

    There are no laboratory diagnostic tests for ME/CFS, so doctors must rely on a range of symptoms, such as exhaustion, dizziness, disturbed sleep and “brain fog.”

    “The problem is a lot of the symptoms that a patient might come to a primary care physician complaining about could be many different things,” Hanson said. “And what that primary care physician would really like to have would be a blood test.”

    Blood samples were collected from ME/CFS patients and a control group of healthy, albeit sedentary, people. De Vlaminck’s team spun down the blood plasma to isolate and then sequence the RNA molecules that had been released during cellular damage and death. 

    They identified more than 700 significantly different transcripts between the ME/CFS cases and the control group. Those results were parsed by different machine-learning algorithms to develop a classifying tool that revealed signs of immune system dysregulation, extracellular matrix disorganization and T cell exhaustion in ME/CFS patients. 

    Using statistical analysis methods, they were able to map where the RNA molecules originated by deconvolving the patterns of gene expression based on known cell type-specific marker genes, as determined from a previous ME/CFS single-cell RNA sequencing study from the Grimson Lab at Cornell.

    “We identified six cell types that were significantly different between ME/CFS cases and controls,” Gardella said. “The topmost elevated cell type in patients is the plasmacytoid dendritic cell. These are immune cells that are involved in producing type 1 interferons, which could indicate an overactive or prolonged antiviral immune response in patients. We also observed differences in monocytes, platelets and other T cell subsets, pointing to broad immune dysregulation in ME/CFS patients”

    The cell-free RNA classifier models had 77% accuracy in detecting ME/CFS – not high enough for a diagnostic test yet, but a substantial leap forward in the field. The researchers are hopeful the approach can help them understand the complex biology behind other chronic illnesses, as well as differentiating ME/CFS from long COVID.

    “While long COVID has raised awareness of infection-associated chronic conditions, it’s important to recognize ME/CFS, because it’s actually more common and more severe than many people might realize,” Gardella said. 

    Co-authors include Andrew Grimson, professor of molecular biology and genetics in the College of Arts and Sciences; Daniel Eweis-LaBolle, Ph.D. ’27 and Conor Loy, Ph.D. ’24; research technicians Emma Belcher and Joan Lenz; ENID center manager Carl Franconi; and Sally Scofield ’27.

    The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the WE&ME Foundation. 

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  • Onboarding sequence, ringtones, and more

    Onboarding sequence, ringtones, and more

    iOS 26 beta 6 features new versions of Apple’s “Reflections” ringtone.

    The sixth developer beta of iOS 26 has arrived, and it introduces an onboarding sequence, along with six additional iPhone ringtones. Here’s what’s new.

    On Monday, a week after the debut of the fifth developer beta, Apple released iOS 26 developer beta 6. The update increments the build number to 23A5318c, up from the previous 23A5308g.

    As a whole, the iOS 26 update introduced a variety of meaningful upgrades, including improvements to Image Playground, Shortcuts, and new features for the Messages and Phone apps.

    Along with a dedicated Games app, Apple unveiled a Foundation Models framework that lets developers utilize Apple Intelligence tools in third-party apps, while Visual Intelligence now supports screenshots. Some of these enhancements are ideal for creative work on iPhone, while others are arguably better for business users.

    Still, iOS 26 is largely known for its controversial “Liquid Glass” design language, which is used across all of the company’s platforms. The software features dynamic user interface elements that mimic the look of real-world glass, replacing the flat aesthetic used from iOS 7 through iOS 18.

    The sixth developer beta of iOS 26 builds upon the design choices introduced in prior releases through updates to animations and UI elements. There’s even a new sequence detailing the most noteworthy changes of iOS 26.

    New intro sequence and improved app animations

    Monday’s developer beta features an entirely new onboarding sequence. Through a series of animated splash screens, Apple details the key changes within iOS 26, namely its “Liquid Glass” design language.

    The macOS Tahoe beta got a similar onboarding video, along with an updated splash screen for the Photos app.

    iOS 26 beta 6 features an entirely new onboarding sequence.

    The intro sequence highlights the customization options of iOS 26, as well as the dynamic user interface elements that were introduced as part of the “Liquid Glass” redesign. Apple also emphasizes how iOS 26 makes searching within apps significantly easier through UI changes.

    With iOS 26 developer beta 6, Apple altered the animations used when applications are launched. The new animations are imperceptibly faster, and they now feature a genie-type effect, making them somewhat reminiscent of iPadOS.

    Apple also fixed the way priority notifications are displayed, eliminating a cutoff bug that was present in earlier developer betas of iOS 26.

    The Lock Screen clock, meanwhile, has received an improved “Liquid Glass” effect, more closely resembling what Apple previewed during WWDC 2025. Some of the changes in iOS 26 beta 6, however, have more to do with sounds rather than imagery.

    More ringtones, removed Camera toggle

    By opening the Settings app and navigating to Sounds & Haptics > Ringtone, you’ll see six new options under the “Reflection” ringtone. The melodies offer different takes on the existing Reflection ringtone, and they’re no less recognizable than the original, which is still the default iPhone ringtone.

    Smartphone screen displaying ringtone selection, with 'Dreamer' checked. Battery at 81%, Wi-Fi and clock visible at the top.
    The sixth developer beta of iOS 26 includes new variants of Apple’s ‘Reflections’ ringtone.

    The different “Reflection” ringtone variants in iOS 26 developer beta 6 are labeled as follows:

    • Default

    • Buoyant

    • Dreamer

    • Pond

    • Pop

    • Reflected

    • Surge

    The iOS 26 update itself also makes it much easier to add custom iPhone ringtones. The company’s decision to include a new ringtone variant goes well with its improved customization options. Apple first added an alternate version of its “Reflections” ringtone with the second developer beta of iOS 26.

    iOS 26 developer beta 6, meanwhile, removed a toggle for the Camera app that was added in the previous beta. The fifth developer beta featured a “Camera Mode Switching” toggle that let users swipe through camera modes like they did with prior iOS releases, disabling the navigation method implemented with iOS 26.

    With iOS 18, for instance, users were able to swipe through camera modes as though they were interacting with a dial. iOS 26, meanwhile, replaced this with a loupe-type element that’s arguably more clunky. Unfortunately, Apple has now made it impossible to revert to the previous method of navigation without downgrading to iOS 18.

    Overall, iOS 26 developer beta 6 offers a few new ringtones, but not much else beyond quality-of-life improvements. Apple deploys new developer betas of iOS nearly every week or two, meaning that we’ll likely see additional features and changes with subsequent software releases.

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  • Madonna Calls for Peace in Gaza: ‘Everyone Is Suffering’

    Madonna Calls for Peace in Gaza: ‘Everyone Is Suffering’

    Madonna is speaking out about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, sharing a poignant message on Monday (Aug. 11) calling for an end to the suffering caused by the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

    In a letter on Instagram, the pop icon began by sharing a written prayer to her “Most Holy Father.”

    “Please go to Gaza and bring your light to the children before it’s too late,” she wrote. “As a mother, I cannot bear to watch their suffering. The children of the world belong to everyone. You are the only one of us who cannot be denied entry.”

    “We need the humanitarian gates to be fully opened to save these innocent children,” she continued. “There is no more time.”

    In her caption, Madonna continued her plea. “Politics Cannot affect Change. Only consciousness Can,” she wrote. “Therefore I am Reaching out to a Man of God.”

    “Today is my Son Rocco’s birthday,” she added. “I feel the best gift I can give to him as a Mother is to ask everyone to do what they can to help save the innocent children caught in the crossfire in Gaza. I am not pointing fingers, placing blame or taking sides. Everyone is suffering.”

    Encouraging followers to join her in donating to relief efforts, Madge concluded, “I am merely trying to do what I can to keep these children from dying of starvation.”

    Madonna’s post comes as the war in Gaza approaches the two-year mark, throughout which time there have been many reports that the Israeli military is blocking humanitarian aid from entering the region. The violence first began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas killed more than 1,200 Israelis and took more than 250 hostages. Since then, more than 61,000 Palestinian people have died in Israel’s retaliation efforts, according to PBS, while countless others have been suffering from the widespread hunger and homelessness affecting the area.

    Over the course of the war, several other musicians besides Madonna have also spoken out on behalf of Palestinian people in Gaza. In recent weeks, Olivia Rodrigo has slammed the “horrific” conditions the area’s children are facing, while U2 posted Monday, “Everyone has long been horrified by what is unfolding in Gaza – but the blocking of humanitarian aid and now plans for a military takeover of Gaza City has taken the conflict into uncharted territory.”

    See Madonna’s post below.

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  • McLaren lead the way as F1 enters summer shutdown – Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix

    1. McLaren lead the way as F1 enters summer shutdown  Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix
    2. Edd Straw’s mid-season 2025 F1 driver rankings  The Race
    3. WATCH: The story of the 2025 season so far  Formula 1
    4. The 5 craziest storylines from 2025 so far  BVM Sports
    5. In Formula 1, No Dynasty Lasts Forever  Neil Paine | Substack

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  • Light pollution encroaching on observatories around the globe, making it harder for astronomers to study cosmos

    Outdoor lighting for buildings, roads and advertising can help people see in the dark of night, but many astronomers are growing increasingly concerned that these lights could be blinding us to the rest of the universe.

    An estimate from 2023 showed that the rate of human-produced light is increasing in the night sky by as much as 10% per year.

    I’m an astronomer who has chaired a standing commission on astronomical site protection for the International Astronomical Union-sponsored working groups studying ground-based light pollution.

    My work with these groups has centered around the idea that lights from human activities are now affecting astronomical observatories on what used to be distant mountaintops.

    Hot science in the cold, dark night

    While orbiting telescopes like the Hubble Space Telescope or the James Webb Space Telescope give researchers a unique view of the cosmos – particularly because they can see light blocked by the Earth’s atmosphere – ground-based telescopes also continue to drive cutting-edge discovery.

    Telescopes on the ground capture light with gigantic and precise focusing mirrors that can be 20 to 35 feet (6 to 10 meters) wide. Moving all astronomical observations to space to escape light pollution would not be possible, because space missions have a much greater cost and so many large ground-based telescopes are already in operation or under construction.

    Around the world, there are 17 ground-based telescopes with primary mirrors as big or bigger than Webb’s 20-foot (6-meter) mirror, and three more under construction with mirrors planned to span 80 to 130 feet (24 to 40 meters).

    The newest telescope starting its scientific mission right now, the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile, has a mirror with a 28-foot diameter and a 3-gigapixel camera. One of its missions is to map the distribution of dark matter in the universe.

    To do that, it will collect a sample of 2.6 billion galaxies. The typical galaxy in that sample is 100 times fainter than the natural glow in the nighttime air in the Earth’s atmosphere, so this Rubin Observatory program depends on near-total natural darkness.

    Any light scattered at night – road lighting, building illumination, billboards – would add glare and noise to the scene, greatly reducing the number of galaxies Rubin can reliably measure in the same time, or greatly increasing the total exposure time required to get the same result.

    The LED revolution

    Astronomers care specifically about artificial light in the blue-green range of the electromagnetic spectrum, as that used to be the darkest part of the night sky. A decade ago, the most common outdoor lighting was from sodium vapor discharge lamps. They produced an orange-pink glow, which meant that they put out very little blue and green light.

    Even observatories relatively close to growing urban areas had skies that were naturally dark in the blue and green part of the spectrum, enabling all kinds of new observations.

    Then came the solid-state LED lighting revolution. Those lights put out a broad rainbow of color with very high efficiency – meaning they produce lots of light per watt of electricity. The earliest versions of LEDs put out a large fraction of their energy in the blue and green, but advancing technology now gets the same efficiency with “warmer” lights that have much less blue and green.

    Nevertheless, the formerly pristine darkness of the night sky now has much more light, particularly in the blue and green, from LEDs in cities and towns, lighting roads, public spaces and advertising.

    The broad output of color from LEDs affects the whole spectrum, from ultraviolet through deep red.

    The U.S. Department of Energy commissioned a study in 2019 which predicted that the higher energy efficiency of LEDs would mean that the amount of power used for lights at night would go down, with the amount of light emitted staying roughly the same.

    But satellites looking down at the Earth reveal that just isn’t the case. The amount of light is going steadily up, meaning that cities and businesses were willing to keep their electricity bills about the same as energy efficiency improved, and just get more light.

    Natural darkness in retreat

    As human activity spreads out over time, many of the remote areas that host observatories are becoming less remote. Light domes from large urban areas slightly brighten the dark sky at mountaintop observatories up to 200 miles (320 kilometers) away. When these urban areas are adjacent to an observatory, the addition to the skyglow is much stronger, making detection of the faintest galaxies and stars that much harder.

    When the Mt. Wilson Observatory was constructed in the Angeles National Forest near Pasadena, California, in the early 1900s, it was a very dark site, considerably far from the 500,000 people living in Greater Los Angeles. Today, 18.6 million people live in the LA area, and urban sprawl has brought civilization much closer to Mt. Wilson.

    When Kitt Peak National Observatory was first under construction in the late 1950s, it was far from metro Tucson, Arizona, with its population of 230,000. Today, that area houses 1 million people, and Kitt Peak faces much more light pollution.

    Even telescopes in darker, more secluded regions – like northern Chile or western Texas – experience light pollution from industrial activities like open-pit mining or oil and gas facilities.

    The case of the European Southern Observatory

    An interesting modern challenge is facing the European Southern Observatory, which operates four of the world’s largest optical telescopes. Their site in northern Chile is very remote, and it is nominally covered by strict national regulations protecting the dark sky.

    AES Chile, an energy provider with strong U.S. investor backing, announced a plan in December 2024 for the development of a large industrial plant and transport hub close to the observatory. The plant would produce liquid hydrogen and ammonia for green energy.

    Even though formally compliant with the national lighting norm, the fully built operation could scatter enough artificial light into the night sky to turn the current observatory’s pristine darkness into a state similar to some of the legacy observatories now near large urban areas.

    This light pollution could mean the facility won’t have the same ability to detect and measure the faintest galaxies and stars.

    Light pollution doesn’t only affect observatories. Today, around 80% of the world’s population cannot see the Milky Way at night. Some Asian cities are so bright that the eyes of people walking outdoors cannot become visually dark-adapted.

    In 2009, the International Astronomical Union declared that there is a universal right to starlight. The dark night sky belongs to all people – its awe-inspiring beauty is something that you don’t have to be an astronomer to appreciate.

    Richard Green is Astronomer Emeritus, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona.

    The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.

    • External Link

    • https://theconversation.com/light-pollution-is-encroaching-on-observatories-around-the-globe-making-it-harder-for-astronomers-to-study-the-cosmos-260387

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