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  • Matt Hauser detonates another dose of WTCS Hamburg dominance

    Matt Hauser detonates another dose of WTCS Hamburg dominance

    Matt Hauser went into Saturday afternoon’s WTCS Hamburg at the top of the rankings and every bit the man to beat. As it happened, nobody could hold a torch to the Australian as he detonated a now-trademark surge some 800m out to pull away from Vasco Vilaça (POR) and take the tape for the second consecutive year.

    Behind them in third, Alessio Crociani of Italy pulled out an almighty display to take the bronze, having led the swim and as one of those to drive the pack on the bike before the run of his career so far.

    ‘There was nothing bad on the race today, said Hauser. ‘The weather brought the harsh conditions and the boys brought their strength. I managed to hold off Vasco, who had a really strong run. I just thought let’s play as if this was a time trial and never look back and it ended up paying off for me, so I’m happy. In the first lap I tried to push as hard as possible and on the second, when I saw that it was only Vasco, in the last turnaround I used my long legs and the afterburners and when I looked back in the blue carpet I just saw that I had a bit of a buffer and I could celebrate properly. Kudos to him and also to Crociani for his first WTCS podium.’ 

    The yellow caps of the top 10 athletes all took to the right of the pontoon for the quickest line to the first buoy, but it was the lower-ranked Alessio Crociani on his first Series start since Hamburg 2024 who was carving his way through clear water up ahead. 

    There was no surprise to see Hauser right up there with him, Alghero winner Miguel Hidalgo also putting together a great swim, Chase McQueen (USA), Max Stapley (GBR) and Vasco Vilaça (POR) just 6 seconds back. 

    But then it was all change as home-fan favourite Henry Graf, 12th out of the water, stormed transition, boosted his way to the front and soared away to get the crowd on their feet with a 7-second lead all to himself after the first lap of six. 

    France’s Tom Richard came down on lap two as the slick conditions took their toll, up ahead Hungarian duo Csongor Lehmann and Mark Devay powering on the chasers with Matt Hauser (AUS) and Darr Smith (USA). 

    Tjebbe Kaindl (AUT) was first to join on the leaders, but as the Kenji Nener (JPN) and Ben Dijkstra (GBR)-led chasers appeared to pull ever closer on laps three and four, suddenly the lead went out again on lap six. Even as Henry Graf came off after pushing just too hard on a slick corner, the gap shot up to 30 seconds with Graf still there as the 11 leaders flew into T2. 

    Out of transition it was Hauser looking fluid, Hidalgo likewise as they were first out onto the 2-lap 5km run. Suddenly it was Hauser and Vilaça searing clear and set in for a battle just as they did last year. 

    Crociani and Graf were doing best at holding the pace as the rest of the lead pack were shelled, David Cantero (ESP), Adrien Briffod (SUI) and Ricardo Batista (POR) the next closest, but there was to be no matching the firepower up front.

    A decisive surge 800m out from Hauser finally broke Vilaça, Hauser’s 13m50s 5km run helping him to another 1,000 points towards his mission to become men’s world champion on home turf in Wollongong in October. 

    Vilaça’s fourth Hamburg silver sees him hold firm in third, Crociani with an outstanding first Series bronze. Hidalgo crossed in fourth to hang tough in third in the rankings, Graf crossing with a brilliant, hard-earned fifth place. 

    Tiszaujvaros World Cup winner a week ago, Csongor Lehmann continued his strong form with sixth, Max Stapley, David Cantero, Ricardo Batista and Adrien Briffod rounding out the top 10. 

    ‘I am just really happy to be back in the podium, getting back some confidence, especially after Alghero,’ said Vasco Vilaça. ‘I had a good block of training, I was doing the opposite than in Yokohama, sitting back, but he is running so fast. I was feeling good beside him, but he was just too fast. I thought that after the U-turn I was going to go for it and sprint him, but I couldn’t. He really surprised me with another really strong kick, but so happy for him. I’m still looking for my first win.’

    “I didn’t know what to expect of this race because this is my first Series after the Olympics last summer,’ said Alessio Crociani. ‘I decided to do some long-distance races, but Hamburg is a very spacial race and I really like it. I was very confident on my preparation, and I was feeling great today. The Italian team is working very hard and we will be back very soon.’

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  • Leonie Periault back to her very best with glittering WTCS Hamburg

    Leonie Periault back to her very best with glittering WTCS Hamburg

    France’s Leonie Periault produced a race-defining run surge on the first lap of the 5km run at WTCS Hamburg, breaking her teammate Cassandre Beaugrand’s challenge  in the process as the Olympic and World Champion had to settle for silver.

    The rain had held off until the end of the bike, but even as the heavens opened on the closing stages of the race, Periault looked completely at home, backing up her lightning run in Alghero with another impressive kick, Beth Potter with the bronze just as she had looked close to reeling in her rival.

     

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  • Australia drop Lyon and batting first against West Indies in Jamaica day-night test

    Australia drop Lyon and batting first against West Indies in Jamaica day-night test

    KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Australia won the toss and chose to bat first against the West Indies in the first ever day-night test at Sabina Park on Saturday.

    The Australians won the first two tests and, for the series closer, have dropped frontline spinner Nathan Lyon and gone for an all-pace attack by bringing in Scott Boland beside Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and captain Pat Cummins.

    The West Indies, on the other hand, broke up its all-pace attack from Grenada by recalling left-arm spinner Jomel Warrican at the expense of quick Anderson Phillip.

    Also, opening batter Kraigg Brathwaite was dropped following his 100th test in Grenada after scores in the series of 4, 4, 0, 7. He was replaced by Mikyle Louis, while Guyana’s Kevlon Anderson will debut at No. 3 in the order after displacing Keacy Carty.

    Lyon was dropped for the first time in 12 years with Australia believing it doesn’t need him in pink ball conditions. That left Travis Head as its best spin option.

    Starc will play his 100th test, the 16th Australian to the landmark. He’s five wickets away from a career 400. Hazlewood was eight wickets away from 300.

    Australia’s bowlers have dominated the series after winning the first two tests — by 159 runs in Barbados then by 133 runs in Grenada — to secure the Frank Worrell Trophy.

    ___

    Lineups:

    West Indies: Mikyle Louis, John Campbell, Kevlon Anderson, Brandon King, Roston Chase (captain), Shai Hope, Justin Greaves, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Jomel Warrican, Jayden Seales.

    Australia: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (captain), Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland.

    ___

    AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket


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  • Lights to flag victory for Evans and Jaguar in Berlin E-Prix opener

    Lights to flag victory for Evans and Jaguar in Berlin E-Prix opener

    Jaguar TCS Racing star Mitch Evans delivered a dominating drive in the first race of the weekend in Berlin converting a sublime qualifying run to a champagne spraying victory.

    On Saturday race day, teams faced damp and tricky conditions on a slippery concrete surface at Tempelhof Airport – home to a former aerodrome. Once made for aircraft traffic, the 2.345km layout is now the host for an ABB FIA Formula E World Championship double-header – with all eyes on pole man Mitch Evans who was eager to show his worth after a bitterly disappointing season and the prospect of title hopeful Oliver Rowland (Nissan Formula E Team) securing the crown in the first race of the weekend.

    The opening two thirds of the race was a tactical affair with drivers threading their GEN3 Evo around the damp, but slowly drying circuit in the German capital. Polesitter Mitch Evans got proceedings underway brilliantly, utilising his road position in the spray and deploying an early Attack Mode to hold a commanding position at the front of the race.

    Behind the Kiwi, squabbling enraged between Robin Frijns (Envision Racing), the two championship hopefuls from Tag Heuer Porsche – António Félix da Costa and Pascal Wehrlein as well as Jean-Eric Verne (DS Penske) for the remainder of the podium positions.

    Wehrlein, who started from ninth, was up into the lead fight after a strong Attack Mode period – much to the delight of his home fans. Rowland was out muscled in the opening laps and was in the bottom half of the top ten by the mid stage of the race.
    Two different strategies emerged at the halfway point with most of the grid using an Attack Mode before and after the compulsory Pit Boost. A select few elected for a more aggressive option – led by Taylor Barnard and winner last time out in Jakarta Dan Ticktum, who elected to utilise both Attack options in the latter part of the race – praying for drama up front or a Safety Car to bunch the field back up again.

    A coming together between Sérgio Sette Câmara (Nissan) and David Beckmann (Cupra Kiro) produced a Safety Car with just ten laps left on the counter to go. The biggest moment of the frantic battle to the flag was the retirement of championship leader Oliver Rowland. The British driver, after taking his second Attack Mode, struggled with the grip and outbraked himself in an opportunistic move on Maserati MSG Racing driver Stoffel Vandoorne into the hairpin. Rowland was a passenger, running up the inside, with the contact resulting in a spin and damage leading to the towel being thrown in with no points to show.

    Meanwhile, Mitch Evans continued his march with a blisteringly quick restart – making most of a back marker acting as an unintentional line of defence between him, Wehrlein and the chasing pack – allowing the Jaguar driver to break away once more with an Attack Mode straight from the restart. 

    With a drying track, and opting for a later deployment, Wehrlein set-up a last-lap, grandstand finish with the pair fighting for grip in the run to the line with both cars almost nose to tail at the end of the 41 laps. Evans liftt his 14th first place trophy and a happy Wehrlein, who also snatched fastest lap of the race secured an impressive haul of points – closing up the gap for the championship fight – tightening the screw of pressure throwing the pressure back to Rowland in the second of the German races tomorrow.

    Rounding out the rostrum on the road was Porsche driver António Félix da Costa but the  Portuguese driver received a time penalty – which dropped him down to tenth – allowing the Mahindra of Edoardo Mortara to bank his second podium of the year.

    NEOM McLaren Formula E Team hotshot Taylor Barnard delivered a calculated drive with an excellent use of Attack Mode later on to seal fourth while one of the drivers of the day came from Evans’ teammate and fellow countryman Nick Cassidy who drove from the back of the grid to round out the top five to help Jaguar leap up the teams standings. 

    Maximilian Günther (DS Penske), Sébastien Buemi (Envision Racing), and Nico Mueller (Andretti Formula E) all had quiet races to finish sixth, seventh and eighth respectively, while  Dan Ticktum who was one of the drivers to keep his Attack Modes in his back pocket until late in the could only manage ninth ahead of the penalised Da Costa.

    If that race wasn’t enough, the Berlin double-header will reach its conclusion tomorrow with the second of two races billed for tomorrow (Sunday 13 July).

    Mitch Evans, No. 9, Jaguar TCS Racing:

    “I wasn’t expecting that today, it’s been difficult for us since São Paulo. There were tricky conditions and I was managing some stuff towards the end of the race with the brakes which wasn’t easy. I was quite happy with a bit of a gap, but nonetheless the car was competitive throughout the race and there were some good strategy calls from the team. My guys did so well. There’s always some work to do, but this is a nice reward for everyone back at Jaguar TCS Racing.”

    Pascal Wehrlein, No. 94, TAG Heuer Porsche said:

    “It was an important day and a good race, starting from P9. Finishing second is a good result, but we had a small taste of the victory. I think pace-wise, we were the quickest, so I tried really hard and it was close in the end. I think we can be happy with today – good points for the team, good points for the championship, and tomorrow is another chance. Every race is all-in and we try to maximise every one.”

    Edoardo Mortara, No. 48, Mahindra Racing said:

    “I think that the race actually went quite well for us, we kept one ATTACK MODE towards the end – I think that was the key actually to pass quite a few cars after the Safety Car. I’m happy with a second podium in a row, it looked good for us to take that – it’s taken quite a bit of time to actually chase a podium, and now there’s another moment, it’s very positive for the team.”

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  • “Forever our number 20”: Liverpool retires Diogo Jota’s shirt number

    “Forever our number 20”: Liverpool retires Diogo Jota’s shirt number

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    “Diogo Jota: Forever our number 20”. Liverpool FC confirmed Friday, in a statement on their official platforms, that they will be retiring the number 20 jersey from all the club’s squads “in honour and memory” of Diogo Jota.

    The Premier League club that the Portuguese footballer represented made the decision after “consulting his wife, Rute, and his family”. It will also cover the LFC Women and Academy teams.

    The club said the initiative is “recognition of not only the immeasurable contribution our lad from Portugal made to the Reds’ on-pitch successes over the last five years, but also the profound personal impact he had on his teammates, colleagues and supporters and the everlasting connections he built with them.”

    “What Jota meant – and continues to mean – to teammates, colleagues and supporters has been evident in the tributes that have followed since he and his brother, André, passed away,” the statement reads.

    In the club’s words, 20 was “the number [Jota] wore with pride and distinction”, having led the team “to countless victories in the process”.

    Remembering the man who, the statement said, “was not only an outstanding footballer” but also “an outstanding human being”, Liverpool FC also pledged to”stand alongside” Diogo’s family and his brother, André, who also lost his life in the early hours of 3 July.

    Diogo Jota, 28, and André Silva, 25, died following a road accident in the province of Zamora in Spain.

    According to preliminary data from the Guardia Civil investigation, wheel problems combined with speeding may have caused the Lamborghini Huracán they were both driving to crash, which was eventually consumed in a fire that resulted from the accident.

    They were both pronounced dead at the scene.

    André Silva was also a professional footballer and played for FC Penafiel, a club in the second division of Portuguese football.

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  • AI tool maps cancer in 3D detail

    AI tool maps cancer in 3D detail

    Imagine trying to describe a city using only drone photos, or judging a restaurant based on the menu font. That’s how scientists have long been forced to study cancer: peering through microscopes, crunching datasets, trying to understand cells by viewing one layer at a time.

    Now, a new deep-learning tool called CellLENS is flipping that model inside out, and zooming into cancer cells with unprecedented clarity.

    Developed by a powerhouse team from MIT, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and University of Pennsylvania and led by Bokai Zhu of the Broad Institute and Ragon Institute, CellLENS (Cell Local Environment and Neighborhood Scan) merges three perspectives into one:

    • What genes a cell expresses
    • Where does it live in the tumor
    • What it looks like under the microscope

    The tool creates a 3D atlas of the tumor, grouping cells not by first impressions, but by behavior and biology. That means two identical-looking cells can be accurately separated if one’s quietly suppressing the immune system while the other’s mounting an attack.

    This smart system blends two AI superpowers: convolutional neural networks and graph neural networks, to create a detailed digital snapshot of every single cell. Even if two cells look like identical twins under the microscope, the AI can spot if one is acting like a hero at the tumor’s edge while the other is just blending in quietly. It doesn’t just group cells by looks, it groups them by biology, behavior, and social scene.

    “Before, we’d just say, ‘Here’s a T cell,’” Zhu explains. “Now we can say, ‘Here’s a T cell, and it’s engaged in battle at this specific tumor border.’”

    It’s not just cell spotting, it’s cell storytelling.

    Many cancer treatments stumble because they target cells without understanding their spatial strategy. For instance, immune therapies often miss their mark if the target cells only huddle at the tumor’s edge. CellLENS fills in those blanks, revealing who’s where, doing what, and why it matters.

    Applied to healthy tissues and cancers like lymphoma and liver tumors, CellLENS uncovered rare immune cell types and decoded their silent choreography, showing how their positions in the tissue shaped their roles in either fighting disease or quietly fueling it.

    “I’m extremely excited by the potential of new AI tools, like CellLENS, to help us more holistically understand aberrant cellular behaviors within tissues,” says co-author Alex K. Shalek, the director of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), the J. W. Kieckhefer Professor in IMES and Chemistry, and an extramural member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, as well as an Institute member of the Broad Institute and a member of the Ragon Institute.

    “We can now measure a tremendous amount of information about individual cells and their tissue contexts with cutting-edge, multi-omic assays. Effectively leveraging that data to nominate new therapeutic leads is a critical step in developing improved interventions. When coupled with the right input data and careful downstream validations, such tools promise to accelerate our ability to positively impact human health and wellness.”

    Journal Reference:

    1. Bokai Zhu, Sheng Gao, Shuxiao Chen et al. CellLENS enables cross-domain information fusion for enhanced cell population delineation in single-cell spatial omics data. Nature Immunology. DOI: 10.1038/s41590-025-02163-1

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  • Honor X70: Future Android battery-life leader backed to deliver solid build quality

    Honor X70: Future Android battery-life leader backed to deliver solid build quality

    The X70. (Image source: Honor)

    Honor asserts that the X70 will become a new class-leader in terms of Android smartphone battery life on its imminent debut. The device is also backed to beat even the highest-end handsets in terms of official durability ratings. Then again, it is also still predicted to crumple in other ways.

    Honor has just confirmed that it will unleash the Android smartphone market’s biggest battery yet in just a few days from today (July 12, 2025).

    It will be available in the X70, the design of which has also now been revealed. While that will be less novel, it will present its series’ classic Star Ring camera hump in new Bamboo Green, Moon Shadow White, Phantom Night Black and Vermillion Red colorways.

    They are backed to stay in mint condition for longer with dust and water resistance touted to go up to IP69K levels. The X70 has also apparently achieved an SGS “Gold Label Triple-Proof” drop-resistant certification.

    For all those potential killer features, the X70 is also projected to be held back in certain ways – chiefly its performance, which might be hampered by its integration of the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 SoC.

    In addition, it might fail to live up to its durability hype over time, should the plastic mid-frame predicted by the prodigious leaker Digital Chat Station indeed be made manifest on its July 15, 2025 debut.

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  • WHERE TO WATCH THE IFSC CLIMBING WORLD CUP CHAMONIX 2025

    WHERE TO WATCH THE IFSC CLIMBING WORLD CUP CHAMONIX 2025

    SCHEDULE AND RESULTS

    The schedule of the event in Chamonix is as follows:

    Friday, 11 July:
    19:00 – Speed qualifications

    Saturday, 12 July:
    9:00 – Lead qualifications
    21:00 – Speed finals

    Sunday, 13 July:
    10:00 – Lead semi-finals
    20:30 – Lead finals

    News and updates about the event will be available on the IFSC website and on the Federation’s digital channels: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and exclusively for the Chinese audience, Douyin, Weibo, and Xiaohongshu.


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  • Pet Mutations in Grow a Garden explained

    Pet Mutations in Grow a Garden explained

    Pet Mutations are a new feature added to Grow a Garden in the Pet Mutation update.

    These new mutations work similarly to the mutations you might find on crops, but are for pets instead, giving them access to a new pool of abilities and passive traits.

    In this guide, we’ll run through everything you need to know about what Pet Mutations are, as well as all Pet Mutations listed.

    Pet Mutations in Grow a Garden explained

    Pet Mutations are a new feature added in the Pet Mutation update that allows you to modify and upgrade your pets to give them new abilities, boost their stats and more.

    To engage with this system, you’ll need to use the dedicated machine for the feature, which can be found next to the Pet Eggs and Gear vendors.

    The Pet Mutation machine can be seen on the left – the green pod. This is what you’ll interact with to begin the process. | Image credit: Eurogamer/The Garden Game

    Should you want to set one of your pets up with a mutation, you’ll first need to let the pet reach a level of 50, and then you’ll be able to interact with the Pet Mutations machine. It should be noted however that using this feature will reset the pet’s age back to 1, and the process takes somewhere around an hour to complete.

    As for the Mutations that will take effect, we’ll list them below – but you should also know that there are varying chances for which mutation your pet will get afflicted by. We run through all of this below, so be sure to keep reading for the info.

    All Pet Mutations and odds in Grow a Garden listed

    There are twelve Pet Mutations as part of the new feature, and each of them have varying odds and effects.

    Here are the full list of all Pet Mutations, their effects, and the odds:

    Pet Mutation Ability Odds to receive
    Shiny Provides a 15% boost to XP earned by the pet every second. 32.15%
    Inverted Provides a 30% boost to XP earned by the pet every second. 16.08%
    Windy Provides a 20-30% chance that, after 30-300 metres, nearby fruits obtain the Windstruck mutation. 9.65%
    Frozen Provides a 20-30% chance that, after 0.5-5 metres, nearby fruits receive the Frozen mutation. 9.65%
    Golden Boosts the pet’s passive ability. 6.43%
    Tiny The pet becomes tiny, slowing their hunger rate down by 20% and gains an additional 5-30 XP every second. 6.43%
    Mega Pet becomes massive, increasing the hunger rate by 20% and gaining an additional 10-40 XP every second. 6.43%
    IronSkin Has a 35-45% chance to recover any fruit that is stolen. 3.22%
    Radiant Every 20-30 metres, the sunlight it emits quickens the growth of a plant by 24 hours. 3.22%
    Shocked During Thunderstorms, every 45-60 seconds the pet has a 25-30% chance to attract lightning srikes, shocking nearby crops. 3.22%
    Rainbow Provides a larger boost to the pet’s passive ability. 3.22%
    Ascended Every 300-360 metres travelled, there’s a 75-90% chance to apply the Dawnbound mutation to crops. 0.32%

    There are many strong mutations in this list, and essentially all of them will help you in some way. However, it’s hard not to recommend the Ascended mutation if you can get it. Even some of the other mutations such as Frozen, or IronSkin especially will help you make more Sheckles, and secure you farm from any crop-stealers.

    Image credit: Eurogamer/The Garden Game

    Best of luck getting the mutations you’re looking for.

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  • Study reveals dopamine sends precise signals rather than broad brainwide messages

    Study reveals dopamine sends precise signals rather than broad brainwide messages

    A new study from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus has upended decades of neuroscience dogma, revealing that dopamine, a neurotransmitter critical for movement, motivation, learning and mood, communicates in the brain with extraordinary precision, not broad diffusion as previously believed. This groundbreaking research offers fresh hope for millions of people living with dopamine-related disorders, marking a significant advance in the quest for precision-based neuroscience and medicine.

    For years, scientists thought of dopamine as a kind of chemical “broadcast system,” flooding large areas of the brain to influence behavior. But new research, published today in Science, found that dopamine acts more like a finely-tuned postal service, delivering highly localized messages to specific nerve cell branches at exact moments in time.

    Our current research found that dopamine signaling and transmission in the brain is much more complex than we thought. We knew that dopamine plays a role in many different behaviors, and our work gives the beginning of a framework for understanding how all those different behaviors could all be regulated by dopamine.”


    Christopher Ford, PhD, Professor, University of Colorado School of Medicine and lead author

    Using advanced microscopy techniques, researchers found that dopamine is released in concentrated hotspots which enable targeted, rapid responses in nearby brain cells, while broader signals activate slower, widespread effects. This dual signaling system allows dopamine to simultaneously fine-tune individual neural connections and orchestrate complex behaviors like movement, decision-making, and learning.

    The implications are far-reaching. Dopamine system dysfunction plays a central role in a wide range of brain disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, addiction, schizophrenia, ADHD and depression. Current treatments largely focus on restoring overall dopamine levels but this research suggests that the precision of dopamine signaling may be just as crucial.

    “We are really only at the tip of the iceberg in trying to understand how dysfunctions in dopamine contribute to diseases like Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia or addiction,” said Ford. “More work is needed to grasp how these specific changes in dopamine signaling are affected in these different neurological and psychiatric diseases. The goal, of course, would then be to build on those findings to come up with new and improved treatments for those disorders.”

    Source:

    University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

    Journal reference:

    Yee, A. G., et al. (2025). Discrete spatiotemporal encoding of striatal dopamine transmission. Science. doi.org/10.1126/science.adp9833.

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