Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. said it is seeking advice from various experts, including Guggenheim Securities as it takes

Warzone Season 6 likely ends on Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 12 p.m. ET, marking the final season in the Modern Warfare 2 era.

In Maybe This Is Potentially Good News, it looks like Instagram is going to help

Some of Europe’s biggest insurers are underwriting close to a third of the coal production that takes place

These glasses are the first in the world of Augmented Reality. The TCL RayNeo X2

China has imposed export curbs on two metals used in computer chips and solar cells, expanding a squabble with Washington over high-tech trade ahead of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to Beijing this week

Kai Cenat recently took a trip to Japan and was livestreaming while roaming the streets

California Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled legislation Friday to speed up construction of power lines, water works, bridges and

Apple has announced a surprise event, at which it is expected to unveil new Macs. The event is unusual in a number of ways, including its much later start than Apple’s regular events: it will begin at 5pm local pacific time, or midnight in the UK. Apple events almost always begin at 10am local time, and it did not give any indication of why it had changed its time. It will also take place notably late in the year, on 30 October. Apple appeared to reference the proximity to Hallowe’en in its invitation, which used the title “Scary fast”. It will also be entirely virtual, with no in-person attendance. Apple switched to fully virtual events during the pandemic, but has since opened up physical attendance as restrictions have lifted. Unlike many recent Apple events, it is unclear what exactly the company is planning – though Apple’s website used the “Finder” icon from the Mac operating system, all but confirming a focus on its computers. Apple seems likely to introduce a new version of its iMac, which was last updated in April 2021 and is now far behind all of the rest of Apple’s line-up. It still uses Apple’s M1 chip, and the event will presumably at least bring it up to speed with the existing M2 processors. The company might unveil its first M3 processors, however. Apple’s first M2 computers arrived last summer, inside updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models, and so those computers could also be updated with the latest generation. Some reports have also suggested that Apple could be planning an update for its most high-end and expensive 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro, too. Those were overhauled earlier this year, however, with the introduction of the M2 Pro and M2 Max, meaning that any new update might be less likely or could be more minor. Recent weeks brought rumours that Apple was planning to update at least some of its iPads. The rumoured launch day only brought a new Apple Pencil, however – which may mean that the iPads were delayed for the upcoming event, or may mean that Apple opted not to make any changes to the iPad and released the Apple Pencil to clear the way for its new Macs. The latest launch comes the month after Apple held another live event – at its usual time – to launch the new iPhone 15 and other products. Read More Apple ‘is planning surprise Mac announcement soon’ Apple just released a new Pencil after days of excitement Sadiq Khan, Met Commissioner to ask phone companies to ‘design out’ theft

Claims about a breakthrough in superconductor technology that could revolutionize the power, transportation and chip industries have sparked

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.

There is no clear link between mobile phones and the internet and a negative impact on mental wellbeing, the authors of a major new study have found. Researchers took data on two million people aged between 15 and 89, from 168 countries. While they found that negative and positive experiences had both increased, they found little evidence that was the result of the prevalence of the internet. The results from the major study, led by the Oxford Internet Institute, contradict widespread speculation that the internet – and especially its widespread availability through mobile devices – has damaged mental wellbeing. The researchers said that if the link between internet use and poor health were as universal and robust as many think, they would have found it. However, the study did not look at social media use, and although the data included some young people, the researchers did not analyse how long people spent online. Professor Andrew Przybylski, of the Oxford Internet Institute and Assistant Professor Matti Vuorre, Tilburg University and Research Associate, Oxford Internet Institute, carried out the research into home and mobile broadband use. Prof Przybylski, said: “We looked very hard for a ‘smoking gun’ linking technology and wellbeing and we didn’t find it.” He added: “The popular idea that the internet and mobile phones have a blanket negative effect on wellbeing and mental health is not likely to be accurate. “It is indeed possible that there are smaller and more important things going on, but any sweeping claims about the negative impact of the internet globally should be treated with a very high level of scepticism.” Looking at the results by age group and gender did not reveal any specific patterns among internet users, including women and young girls. Instead, the study, which looked at data for the past two decades, found that for the average country, life satisfaction increased more for females over the period. Data from the United Kingdom was included in the study, but the researchers say there was nothing distinctive about the UK compared with other countries. Although the study included a lot of information, the researchers say technology companies need to provide more data, if there is to be conclusive evidence of the impacts of internetuse. They explain: “Research on the effects of internet technologies is stalled because the data most urgently needed are collected and held behind closed doors by technology companies and online platforms. “It is crucial to study, in more detail and with more transparency from all stakeholders, data on individual adoption of and engagement with internet-based technologies. “These data exist and are continuously analysed by global technology firms for marketing and product improvement but unfortunately are not accessible for independent research.” For the study, published in the Clinical Psychological Science journal, the researchers looked at data on wellbeing and mental health against a country’s internet users and mobile broadband subscriptions and use, to see if internet adoption predicted psychological wellbeing. In the second study they used data on rates of anxiety, depression and self-harm from 2000-2019 in some 200 countries. Wellbeing was assessed using data from face-to-face and phone surveys by local interviewers, and mental health was assessed using statistical estimates of depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and self-harm in some 200 countries from 2000 to 2019. Read More Software firm Cloudsmith announces £8.8m investment No ‘smoking gun’ linking mental health harm and the internet – study Young people the biggest users of generative AI, Ofcom study shows Software firm Cloudsmith announces £8.8m investment No ‘smoking gun’ linking mental health harm and the internet – study Young people the biggest users of generative AI, Ofcom study shows