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What does Microsoft has in store for us this month? Here's the full list of games coming to Xbox Game Pass in July 2023.

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A group of scientists and philosophers claim to have identified a “missing law of nature”, in a discovery which has huge implications for our understanding of how, basically, everything works. Most of us are familiar with the names – if not the intricacies – of many of the physical laws which govern the world and beyond, such as gravity and thermodynamics. And yet, no established physical law has been able to describe the behaviours of countless complex systems that exist across the universe – until now. In a paper published in the PNAS journal on 16 October, a multidisciplinary team from some of the US’s top institutes and universities, unveiled a new law claiming to do just that. In a nutshell, their law states that evolution is not limited to life on Earth, it also occurs in other massively complex systems – from planets to atoms. This means that these systems naturally “evolve” to states of greater diversity, and complexity. In other words, the researchers found evolution to be a common feature of the natural world's complex systems which, according to the Carnegie Institution for Science, comprise the following characteristics: “They are formed from many different components, such as atoms, molecules, or cells, that can be arranged and rearranged repeatedly “Are subject to natural processes that cause countless different configurations to be formed.” Only a small fraction of these configurations survive via a process of natural selection called “selection for function”. According to the researchers, regardless of whether the system is living or nonliving, when a new configuration works and function improves, evolution occurs. The authors' new law – which they have christened "the Law of Increasing Functional Information" – states that the system will evolve "if many different configurations of the system undergo selection for one or more functions." "An important component of this proposed natural law is the idea of 'selection for function,'" the study’s lead author, astrobiologist Dr Michael L. Wong, explained. The team’s research builds on Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection, which suggests the function exists to ensure the “survival of the fittest”. For their work, Dr Wong and his team expanded on this perspective, pointing to the existence of three types of this selection for function in nature. The first, most basic type, they claim, is stability – the stable arrangements of atoms or molecules which are selected to continue. Second, are dynamic systems which are selected for their ongoing supplies of energy. And the third, and most intriguing, function is "novelty" – the tendency of evolving systems to explore new configurations which can lead to surprising new behaviours or characteristics. Novelties are, ironically, nothing new. Indeed, life’s evolutionary history is rich with examples: photosynthesis evolved when single cells learned to harness light energy; multicellular life evolved when cells learned to cooperate; and species evolved thanks to advantageous new behaviours such as walking and thinking. The same type of evolution happens in the mineral kingdom, as the Carnegie Institution for Science notes in a release published by Phys.org. Indeed, Earth's minerals, which began with about 20 at the dawn of our solar system, now number almost 6,000 known today. This is thanks to the ever more complex physical, chemical, and biological processes which have occurred over the past 4.5 billion years. The paper also notes that just two major elements – hydrogen and helium – formed the first stars shortly after the big bang. Those earliest stars then used this hydrogen and helium to create around 20 heavier chemical elements, which was built upon by the next generation of stars. "Charles Darwin eloquently articulated the way plants and animals evolve by natural selection, with many variations and traits of individuals and many different configurations," co-author and research lead Robert M. Hazen explained. "We contend that Darwinian theory is just a very special, very important case within a far larger natural phenomenon. “The notion that selection for function drives evolution applies equally to stars, atoms, minerals, and many other conceptually equivalent situations where many configurations are subjected to selective pressure." The new law has a number of exciting implications, including a deeper understanding of how the Universe itself came to exist. It could also help explain how life differs from other complex evolving systems, and could help aid the search for life elsewhere. Furthermore, at a time when increasingly autonomous AI systems are of increasing concern, it’s very handy to have a law that characterises how both natural and symbolic systems evolve. It also offers insights into how we could artificially influence the rate of evolution of some systems which, again, could prove invaluable. The key point to remember, as Dr Wong put it, is that whilst life is the “most striking example of evolution”, it’s not the only one. Evolution, it transpires, is everywhere. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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TOKYO Taiwanese chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp and Japanese financial firm SBI Holdings said on Tuesday they have

Apple has held its biggest event of the year, announcing four new iPhones and two new Apple Watches. The livestreamed event saw no mention of Macs, Apple TVs or iPads. But some products were even more rejected than that: being discontinued during the event, or after it. That includes the smaller iPhones, all leather accessories and some products with the Lightning connector that was removed from the new phones. Here’s everything that was discontinued during the event. iPhone Mini In 2020, Apple released a phone that was incredibly exciting to some: a smaller model, at 5.4-inches, which it referred to as the iPhone 12 Mini. A year later came its predecessor, the iPhone 13 Mini. Some people may have liked them a lot – but not enough people did. Last year, Apple didn’t announce a follow-up model in the iPhone 14 range, and instead launched the iPhone 14 Plus. But the iPhone 13 Mini stuck around in the line-up, until the iPhone 15 event. Now it is gone, and it doesn’t look like anything is replacing it. Other iPhones have also been removed from the line-up: the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, and the iPhone 12. They all have direct replacements, however, in the form of the previous year’s model. Lightning accessories Perhaps the biggest news for the new iPhones was the switch away from the Lightning cable, used for more than a decade, and its replacement with USB-C. Apple had initially resisted the switch, but after the European Union forced it to change, it relented and presented it as a selling point during the event. That switch, however, means that some Lightning accessories have been removed. That includes, for instance, the MagSafe charging pack that Apple released with the iPhone 12, presumably because it had a Lightning connector at the bottom. It is unclear whether they will be coming back, with a USB-C port or any other changes. But they are no longer on the store. (Some Lightning accessories are still here, however, for now. The mouse and keyboard that comes with the iMac still plugs in that way, for instance.) And lightning AirPods The AirPods have also been moved to USB-C, and so the old ones have left the market. Apple presented this as a straightforward upgrade during its event – though after the fact it has emerged that the new AirPods are actually new in other ways, with support for lossless audio and better dust protection. The silent switch The switch has been on the side of the phone in some form since the very first iPhone. And now it is gone, at least in the Pro line-up. Instead, Apple has swapped it for the “action button”. That can still be used for muting – and by default it is set that way – but it can be changed to do other actions, too. The switch is still around in the normal, cheaper iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. But given that those tend to get many of the innovations from the previous years’ model, expect it to be removed fully in next year’s iPhones. Leather accessories Apple focused on sustainability a lot during its event. And the star announcement of that focus was the removal of leather from Apple’s line-up. It will make no new accessories out of the material, it said – though some will still be available, they are being phased out. Apple said that was because of their environmental impact, not mentioning ethical concerns. Instead, Apple has launched a range of new Apple Watch straps and iPhone cases in a new material, named FineWoven. It says that it will do the same job but with “significantly lower emissions”. Read More The iPhone has gone all grown-up. Here’s why we should be grateful Why Apple getting rid of lightning cable iPhone charger is a big deal France bans Apple iPhone 12 sales due to ‘too high radiation’ Here’s the brand new Apple Watch Apple to stop using leather in all new products Apple is changing the plug on the bottom of your iPhone

Music-streaming services like Spotify put millions of songs at your fingertips—provided you have an internet