Microsoft says state-backed Chinese hackers have been targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and could be laying the technical groundwork for the potential disruption of communications between the U.S. and Asia in future crises

Excitement about a possibly revolutionary new material has continued to grow – even without any firm proof that it exists. Last week, two new papers published by researchers in South Korea claimed that they had been able to create a room temperature, ambient pressure superconductor. Until now, all superconductors have required cold temperatures and high pressure, and their practical use has been limited as a result. Such a breakthrough would achieve one of the holy grails of engineering and physics. It would allow for vastly more efficient energy transfer and the development of products such as powerful maglev trains. But almost as soon as the paper was released, experts urged caution about its findings. The claims in it could represent a significant breakthrough – but they were still far from confirmed, and similar reports have been released in the past that were later debunked. And there is still no clear indication that the breakthrough described in the original paper is definitely real. And despite numerous attempts to replicate the study, none have yet done so convincingly. Some new work has suggested that the findings could at least be possible. In a new paper published on Monday, Sinéad Griffin from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory simulated the material and suggested that it was at least theoretically possible. She shared the paper in a tweet accompanied by a “mic drop” gif. And it immediately had what was presumably the intended effect: leading to an increase in discussion of a topic that had already generated tremendous excitement. Around the same time, new videos appeared from China that claimed to show the work of a team who had successfully replicated the material. That showed the levitation effect that happens with superconductors – but not the low resistance that is required for the claims to be verified, and the material to be useful. Work to verify whether the original paper is correct and the material is actually as claimed is ongoing. But each of those videos only served to make the claims of a new breakthrough become louder, even as there was no firm proof that it had actually happened. For a period on Tuesday, the betting markets implied that the most likely result was that the papers would be replicated. Polymarket, a prediction market that lets people bet on a wide array of events, suggested that people tended to think there was a roughly 60 per cent chance the result would be replicated – but a couple of hours later it slid back, and more bets had been placed on the outcome that the superconductor is not real.

By Andreas Rinke BERLIN An agreement on how artificial intelligence should be regulated in the future has been

The Apex Legends: ignite patch notes consist of multiple weapon buffs and nerfs to the Hemlok, Charge Rifle, and Bocek Bow coming on Oct. 31.

TL;DR: The best service for unblocking porn sites is ExpressVPN. This high-speed VPN can reliably

The world’s two largest powers will descend on the small Pacific nation of the Cook Islands this week

Itching to try Google's Bard AI chatbot? As of today, Google is removing the waitlist

China is setting out how it will prevent bottlenecks as it prepares for another record year of renewable

Despite facing protests from users, Reddit’s CEO is refusing to back down on charging for

Taylor Swift fans have shared feelings of forgetfulness after seeing the pop-star performing on her highly anticipated Eras Tour. Speaking to Time, Jenna Tocatlian, 25, spoke about her experience seeing Swift at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts. Speaking about one of Swift’s nightly surprise songs At the concert that Tocatlian attended the song was 'Better Man', but she said: ‘If I didn’t have the 5-minute video that my friend kindly took of me jamming to it, I probably would have told every that it didn’t happen.’ She added that as she waited to leave the stadium, during an hour-long wait, she found it difficult to grasp the reality of a night she had waited so long to experience. ‘It’s hard to put together what you actually witness,’ she told Time. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter It seems Tocatlian isn’t the only one experiencing ‘post-concert amnesia’. Taking to social media, many users have shared their inability to recall the events of the show, from small details to even significant parts of the concert. Some described having feelings of guilt after waiting so long to attend the show and leaving without explicit memories. Ewan McNay, an associate professor in the psychology department at the State University of New York in Albany, told Time that the experience may be a result of too much excitement. He explained that ‘this is not a concert-specific phenomenon - it can happen any time you’re in a highly emotional state.’ This is because as a result of feelings of excitement, the body’s stress levels increase, which in turn causes neurons associated with memory to start firing indiscriminately. McNay shared that this makes forming new memories ‘really hard.’ The biological explanation for this occurrence is due to the body seeing excitement as a state of stress. The body then starts pumping out the brain’s favourite molecule for memory: glucose. Because the body thinks it’s stressed, it doesn’t want to waste energy on memory formation. Your vagal nerves, which regulate internal organ functions, also become stimulated as a result of the perceived stress. All this causes the part of your brain responsible for emotional processing - known as your amygdala - to release a neurotransmitter called norepinephrine. This helps to categorise memories as having high emotional content, increasing the likelihood that they’ll be stored vividly in your mind. However, McNay goes on to explain that too much of this chemical release can actually invest the process, especially if caffeine or alcohol are included. Which leads to your brain struggling to create and store new memories. For those who want to try and have a better memory of an important event, whether it’s seeing Taylor Swift, or getting married, McNay shared some helpful techniques. He says to try and achieve a ‘semi-meditative state’ and relaxing. He also adds that physical responses such as screaming at a concert tells the body that you must be scared. If you stand still in a more relaxed state, your brain will know not to get too excited, and aid the formation of new memories. 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.

JD.com reports third-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analysts' estimates, Berkshire Hathaway purchases a stake in Sirius XM in the third quarter, and Nvidia shares close higher for the 10th session in a row.

Researchers have successfully created a robotic hand with bones, ligaments and tendons using 3D printing for the first time. A team from ETH Zurich in Switzerland were able to accomplish the complex construction using a new technology that combines 3D printing with a laser scanner and feedback mechanism. The method opens up the possibility of building far more complex and durable robots in the future, according to the researchers. “We wouldn’t have been able to make this hand with the fast-curing polyacrylates we’ve been using in 3D printing so far,” said Robert Katzschmann, a professor of robotics at ETH Zurich and leader of the research into the next-generation robotic hand. It marks a breakthrough in both 3D printing – with all the hand’s components printed simultaneously rather than assembled separately – as well as the field of soft robotics, which shuns materials like metal that are typically used to construct robots. “Robots made of soft materials, such as the hand we developed, have advantages over conventional robots made of metal,” said Professor Katzschmann. “Because they’re soft, there is less risk of injury when they work with humans, and they are better suited to handling fragile goods.” Despite significant advances in industrial robots over the last decade, they still pose a considerable risk to humans working alongside them. Earlier this month, a South Korean man was crushed to death by a machine that mistook him for a box of vegetables. The latest soft robotic hand was detailed in a paper, titled ‘Vision-controlled jetting for composite systems and robots’, published in the scientific journal Nature on Wednesday. “Recreating complex structures and functions of natural organisms in a synthetic form is a long-standing goal for humanity,” the paper notes. “Our approach provides an automated, scalable, high-throughput process to manufacture high-resolution, functional multi material systems.” Read More MIT invents self-replicating AI robots Nasa spots collection of shocking materials on distant planet Ring to preview security features with abuse charity to boost safety WhatsApp users warned they will soon have to pay to keep old messages and photos