When the first laser and inkjet printers meant for PCs became available—at about the same

When he’s not making radical, controversial changes to Twitter/X, Elon Musk is eyeing up plans to colonise Mars in the coming years with his company SpaceX – and now a team of researchers at the Virginia-based George Mason University claims it has found out the minimum number of people needed to successfully takeover the red planet. In the study – the results of which were published to the research platform Arxiv in August - the academics established a model to find out the ‘initial population size’ required on Mars to produce a “stable colony size”. They ran the model five times for 28 Earth years, and increased the population by 10 people each time - from 10 to 170 individuals. “Given that there are four critical tasks that are needed continuously (air, water, food production and waste removal) in addition to handling disasters, and two skills needed for each task, we chose a population size of 10 as the minimum needed for a ‘stable’ colony size. “The population is allowed to dip below 10 as long as it bounces back within 1.5 years, or the amount of time between Earth resupply shuttles.” The test found all initial population sizes over 50 were able to sustain a population of at least 10 people across the time period, and that the bare minimum number to meet that criteria is at least 22 people. There you go, Elon. You’re welcome. It’s certainly a decrease in the minimum number previously suspected by French researcher Jean-Marc Salotti in June 2020 – that was the rather astronomical figure (sorry) of at least 110 people. And the Virginia researchers didn’t stop there, either, as they also took a look at the personality types best placed to handle the highly stressful environment that is living on a completely different planet. There’s four: “agreeables”: low competitiveness and aggressiveness, and not fixated on “stringent routine “socials”: medium competitiveness, extroverted, require social interaction but not fixated on stringent routines “reactives”: medium competitiveness and fixed on stringent routines “neurotics”: high competitiveness, highly aggressive and a “challenged ability to adapt to boredom or a change in routine” Perhaps unsurprisingly, the “agreeables” came out on top. The researchers added: “In all runs, the Agreeable personality type was the only one to survive the full duration of model runs. This is likely because it has the highest coping capability.” Their results found that while the “neurotic” was “most likely to fail”, and both “reactives” and “socials” fluctuated, the “agreeables” was the “most resilient”. “While this model assigns equal numbers of each personality type, future work could try adjusting the proportion of each to possibly lead to a lower required minimum initial population. For example, a crew of all Agreeable personalities may be more successful,” they suggest. Musk, meanwhile, said earlier this year that he was optimistic humans landing on Mars was "possible" in the next five years, and "highly likely" in a decade. Sign up to 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.

Players are curious about the city-builder simulation known as Cities: Skylines 2.

Twitch king seems upset with IShowSpeed ahead of Sidemen Charity Match 2023

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By David Shepardson and Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Amazon.com is set to meet next week with the U.S. Federal Trade

Listen to The Big Take podcast on iHeart, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Terminal. Seven percent of US households and

The human body is an extraordinary thing – and now, one video is proving just that, while simultaneously giving people nightmares. Childbirth is often regarded as one of nature's most incredible events, but have you ever questioned how a baby's face develops while in the womb? Neither have we. But thanks to the BBC, people are divided about how "beautiful" the process actually is. The simulation shows how the baby's face starts with the philtrum, the area between the bottom of your nose and upper lip. During the episode of Inside the Human Body: Creation, Michael Mosley points out: "Down the centuries, biologists have wondered why every face has this particular feature. What we now know is it is the place where the puzzle that is the human face finally all comes together." The footage then recreates a baby's facial development via an animation, which begins with two holes at the top of the head. It appears as though the features then start to merge, though this is the baby's nostrils. (Fast-forward 32 seconds in to the below video to watch:) Face Development in the Womb - Inside the Human Body: Creation - BBC One www.youtube.com "We've taken data from scans of a developing embryo so we're able to show you for the very first time how our faces don't just grow, but fit together like a puzzle," Mosley continues. "The three main sections of the puzzle meet in the middle of your top lip, creating the groove that is your philtrum." He continues: "This whole amazing process, the bits coming together to produce a recognisable human face, happens in the womb between two and three months. "If it doesn't happen then, it never will." The snippet understandably garnered a mixed response, with one viewer writing: "That was so creepy yet amazing..." Another joked: "Makes me feel better that Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise once looked like space aliens." And a third quipped: "Thank you for the enlightening information and the skin-curdling nightmares." 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.

The snow drought could be over for New York and the northeastern US this coming winter, according to

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Months after Apple unveiled a privacy change that threatened Facebook's core advertising business, the social networking company rebranded as Meta and shifted its focus to virtual reality.