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Astronomers have discovered a key ingredient for life at the edge of our Milky Way galaxy. A team from the University of Arizona detected the presence of phosphorus while studying molecular clouds on the outskirts of the galaxy using giant radio telescopes in the US and Spain. Phosphorus is one of the so-called NCHOPS elements that make up the critical ingredients for life on Earth – nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulphur. All of the others have already been found on the edge of the galaxy, so the discovery of phosphorus has direct implications for the search for Earth-like planets around distant stars. Their observations of the chemical 74,000 light-years from the centre of the Milky Way calls into question our fundamental understanding of the universe, the researchers said. “The phosphorus we detected is at the edge of the galaxy, where it shouldn’t be,” said Lilia Koelemay, a doctoral student at the University of Arizona who led the research. Theories that could explain its presence include supernova stars, which are typically not found on the edge of galaxies, and low mass stars generating excess neutrons that are then added onto silicon atoms to create phosphorus. “To make phosphorus, you need some kind of violent event,” said Lucy Ziurys, Regents Professor of chemistry and biochemistry and astronomy at Steward Observatory. “It is thought that phosphorus is created in supernova explosions, and for that, you need a star that has at least 20 times the mass of the Sun. In other words, if you’re going to have life, you better be near a supernova, if that’s indeed the only source where phosphorus is created.” The detection of phosphorus at the edge of the galaxy could motivate studies of distant exoplanets, the researchers hope, which have not been properly considered until now due to the assumed lack of the chemical. The research team now plans to examine other molecular clouds in the far reaches of the Milky Way to see if they contain phosphorus. Their discovery was described in a paper, titled ‘Phosphorus-bearing molecules PO and PN at the edge of the galaxy’, in the scientific journal Nature. Read More Astronomers find unprecedented ‘disc’ around distant planet Astronomers discover new six-planet system China unveils ‘foldable’ Mars helicopter in mission to return samples to Earth China unveils ‘foldable’ Mars helicopter in mission to return samples to Earth New images of Mars released by Nasa’s Odyssey orbiter Scientists find planets moving around in strange ‘rhythm’

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Zoom has provoked outrage among its users after a change to its terms of service. This week, the company made a number of changes to its terms of service that related to the way it uses people's data and the content of their calls. They have led to widespread criticism from users, some of whom have quit over what they said was overly expansive permissions. In particular, critics focused on a passage in which users agreed to Zoom's "access, use, collection, creation, modification, distribution, processing, sharing, maintenance, and storage" of data "for any purpose". The new terms said that data could be used for a variety of functions, including "machine learning or artificial intelligence" such was training new artificial intelligence models. Many feared that the expansive rules would mean that Zoom could, for instance, use the data of meetings to train generative artificial intelligence systems. A number of companies have faced backlash over fears that they could be gathering user data with a view to training artificial intelligence systems using it, and customers have become increasingly concerned about the potential invasion of privacy and ownership that could present. But now Zoom has said that the terms were misunderstood, and updated them with a new line intended to make clear that chats would not be used to train AI systems. "Zoom will not use audio, video or chat customer content to train our artificial intelligence models without your consent," the terms now read. In a blog post addressing the controversy, Zoom said that it had introduced two new generative AI features, aimed at making it easier to summarise meetings and help with chats. At the moment they are offered on a free trial basis and administrators can choose whether they are turned on. "When you choose to enable Zoom IQ Meeting Summary or Zoom IQ Team Chat Compose, you will also be presented with a transparent consent process for training our AI models using your customer content," the company said in its update. "Your content is used solely to improve the performance and accuracy of these AI services. And even if you chose to share your data, it will not be used for training of any third-party models." Read More Now even Zoom tells staff: ‘Come back to the office’ OpenAI launches bot that will crawl the internet to educate GPT PayPal launches dollar-backed cryptocurrency

Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes may have again stalled the date by which she must report to prison by filing another appeal of her fraud conviction. Holmes was convicted by a federal jury of defrauding Theranos investors last year and was sentenced in November to just more than 11 years in prison. Holmes’s attorneys asked that she be allowed to remain free on bail while she appeals her conviction, but a judge declined that request and ordered her to report to prison on April 27. Now, though, it seems the disgraced tech star might not have to begin her prison sentence until June at the earliest. On Monday, her attorney filed a new motion of appeal of her conviction — after which Holmes was granted an immediate stay of her prison-report date, according to NBC Bay Area. The state has 21 days to respond to the appeal, after which Holmes’s defence team will have a further three weeks to file a final motion. After the final motion is filed, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will consider her legal fate. The appeal filed this week is considered a longshot, but while that process is ongoing it is believed that Ms Holmes will remain free unless a judge orders her to report to prison. Holmes was back in the news last week after The New York Times published a long-form profile of her that was panned by a number of readers for its tone and credulity. Some critics, including the poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib, noted that Black people convicted of felonies are rarely given the same space to pitch their reformations to the media that the profile gave Holmes. Much of the article focused in part on Holmes as a mother. The former CEO gave birth to her first child in 2021 and her second child sometime around the beginning of 2023. Holmes’s former romantic partner and business partner Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani was sentenced to just under 13 years in prison on conspiracy and fraud counts for his role in the Theranos situation. He began serving his prison sentence last month. Read More Elizabeth Holmes says actors are playing a ‘character I created’ in dramatisations of her downfall Elizabeth Holmes says she’s working on new inventions but admits ‘mistakes’ in first interview post trial OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says AI can go ‘quite wrong’ Regulation ‘critical’ to curb risk posed by AI, boss of ChatGPT tells Congress Sam Altman testifies before Congress saying there is ‘urgent’ need for regulation

National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan are joining a White House meeting

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Apple said a lot of words during its recent major event, in which it revealed a new headset and updates for all of its platforms over the course of more than two hours. But there was one specific word – or, more specifically, two initials – that it did not mention at all. The company did not reveal a single product powered by AI, and did not mention artificial intelligence even in passing. It was a marked contrast with other recent tech launches, which have seen companies attempt to link a wide array of new products with the hype over artificial intelligence. In advance of the event, many had speculated that Apple could be forced to discuss AI because of the increasing focus on how companies are using it in their products. Google’s recent I/O event, for instance, made heavy use of the word, seemingly in response to criticism from pundits and shareholders that it was failing to convince the world it had done enough with artificial intelligence. Apple instead opted to describe most updates that could be called “AI” as machine learning, using a more precise term that has fallen out of popularity as artificial intelligence has become so popular as a marketing term. But it even seemed to avoid using that phrase often, even when it could have done. It was not for want of new features that are built on tools that could be described as AI, if Apple wanted to. It showed off everything from automated transcriptions of voice notes and voicemails to AirPods features that can recognise sounds in the environment and filter them out or not depending on whether they seem urgent. Describing them in other ways therefore seemed as if it was an intentional rejection of what has become a voguish way of describing new features in tech in recent months. Apple generally tends to favour words of its own invention, over new and much hyped terms in the technology industry. It also avoided using the word “metaverse” throughout the whole launch event, for instance, despite launching a product that fits specifically with the new focus on virtual and augmented reality. But the lack of mention of AI seemed as if it was the result of an even more active choice to reject the wording. In that way, it seemed to reflect an increasing concern that the widespread use of artificial intelligence as a marketing term is serving both to water down the meaning of the word and confuse users about the actual nature of the product it is being used to describe. It may also be part of an increasing sense that AI is not necessarily viewed positively, and could reflect badly on the products that it is used to market. Recent months have seen a run of reports about both the danger of AI products and the techniques used to make them, such as the analysis of large amounts of data without the consent of those depicted, and so Apple may have decided that using the word could lead to negative connotations.

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