Microsoft is weighing up different options for monetizing its games.

Microsoft showed off some swanky new laptops and tablets on Thursday. Let's check 'em out.

Almost six months after Qatar hosted what it billed as a “carbon-neutral” World Cup, Switzerland’s advertising regulator ruled

Astronomers have seen the “afterglow” of two huge planets crashing into each other for the first time. Scientists watched as the heat and dust that were left behind from the crash swirled in front of their star, allowing them to see the aftermath of the explosion. The incident happened when two ice giant planets collided with each other, around a star like our own Sun. A blaze of light and dust resulted, which could be seen from Earth. Those effects were first spotted by an amateur astronomer social media, who noticed unusual light coming from the star. It had brightened up in infrared – getting lighter at those wavelengths for three years – and then the optical light began fading. Scientists then watched the star in an attempt to understand what was happening. They monitored for further changes at the star, named ASASSN-21qj, to see how the star’s brightness changed. “To be honest, this observation was a complete surprise to me. When we originally shared the visible light curve of this star with other astronomers, we started watching it with a network of other telescopes,” said co- lead author Matthew Kenworthy from Leiden University. “An astronomer on social media pointed out that the star brightened up in the infrared over a thousand days before the optical fading. I knew then this was an unusual event.” Their research suggested that the glow was the heat from the collision, which could be picked up by Nasa’s Neowise mission. Then the optical light began to fade when the dust covered the star, over a period of three years. “Our calculations and computer models indicate the temperature and size of the glowing material, as well as the amount of time the glow has lasted, is consistent with the collision of two ice giant exoplanets,” said co-lead author Simon Lock from the University of Bristol. The dust is then expected to star smearing out. Astronomers hope to confirm their theories by watching as that happens, since it should be visible both from Earth and with Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope – and they might see that dust begin its journey into something else. It will be fascinating to observe further developments. Ultimately, the mass of material around the remnant may condense to form a retinue of moons that will orbit around this new planet,” said Zoe Leinhardt, from the University of Bristol, who was a co-author on the study. The research is described in a paper, ‘A planetary collision afterglow and transit of the resultant debris cloud’, published in Nature today. Read More 1.2 mile-high ‘dust devil’ spotted on Mars by Nasa’s Perseverance rover Researchers capture first-ever afterglow of huge planetary collision Earth hit by a huge solar storm that would devastate civilisation, trees show

Scientists have seen one of the mysterious “dark spots” on Neptune from Earth for the first ever time. Researchers spotted the feature using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, or VLT. Using that telescope, astronomers were able to examine a large dark spot – which was joined by a smaller, bright spot, they said, of a kind that has never seen before. Scientists still do not know why those spots form on Neptune’s blue atmosphere. But they hope that the new observations could help answer questions about their origin. “Since the first discovery of a dark spot, I’ve always wondered what these short-lived and elusive dark features are,” said Patrick Irwin, professor at the University of Oxford and lead investigator of the study. It has already helped rule out one possibility: that the dark spots are caused when the clouds on the planet clear. The observations instead suggest that the spot is formed when air particles make a layer below the main one go darker, caused by ice and haze mixing in the atmosphere. Understanding the spots has been difficult because they leave the planet’s surface as mysteriously as they arise. They have also been difficult for researchers to actually examine, given the difficulty of spotting them through telescopes. Previously, scientists were forced to send spacecraft to see the spots, and the first was observed in 1989, when Nasa’s Voyager 2 flew past. It disappeared a few years later. In recent years, scientists have been able to examine them with the Hubble Space Telescope, which has seen more spots on the atmosphere. When it did so, astronomers were able to point ground-based telescopes towards them, allowing for more detailed research. “This is an astounding increase in humanity’s ability to observe the cosmos,” said Michael Wong, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley and a co-author on the paper. “At first, we could only detect these spots by sending a spacecraft there, like Voyager. “Then we gained the ability to make them out remotely with Hubble. Finally, technology has advanced to enable this from the ground.” The new observations allowed scientists to examine the spot using the VLT’s Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, which let them split the light from Neptune and the spot into its component colours. That in turn means that astronomers can understand the height at which the spot sits, and how the atmosphere is composed. As well as helping examine the dark spots, scientists also saw a surprise result: another, entirely new kind of bright spot. “In the process we discovered a rare deep bright cloud type that had never been identified before, even from space,” said Wong. The work is described in a new paper, ‘Cloud structure of dark spots and storms in Neptune’s atmosphere’, published in Nature Astronomy. Read More Mysterious dark spot on Neptune detected from Earth for the first time We just received the first ever pictures taken near the Moon’s uncharted south pole Chandrayaan-3 mission rover exits Moon lander to explore lunar south pole Mysterious dark spot on Neptune detected from Earth for the first time We just received the first ever pictures taken near the Moon’s uncharted south pole Chandrayaan-3 mission rover exits Moon lander to explore lunar south pole

Shares of Meta Platforms fall following a warning about weaker advertising demand, while IBM says a push into artificial intelligence is starting to pay off. Amazon.com reports earnings after the closing bell Thursday.

An Amazon worker and union organizer has been given her job back after she appealed her firing by the e-commerce giant earlier this month.

You can find out if Wild Card Football is on Xbox Game Pass here.

X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, said this week it may collect biometric and employment information from its users — expanding the range of personal information that account-holders may be exposing to the site.

TOKYO Japan plans to create tax breaks for domestically-made electric vehicle (EV) batteries and semiconductors from April 2024

A scientist has broken the world record for living underwater after spending 74 days living in a habitat 30 feet (9 metres) below a Florida lagoon. Former naval officer Dr Joseph Dituri is the first person to live that long that far underwater without depressurisation, with plans to remain in Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo until 9 June as part of a 100 day mission dubbed Project Neptune 100. The mission combines educational outreach with medical and ocean research, with scientists keen to see what impact sustained exposure to such pressure will have on the human body. One hypothesis is that the increased pressure – roughly 1.6-times that of the surface pressure – will lead to improvements in health, while also potentially having an impact on key indicators related to disease and longevity. “We know for sure that when you’re exposed to about half the pressure that I am right now, you double the number of circulating stem cells,” Dr Dituri told The Independent via video chat in April. “I will have longer telomeres – potentially reversing ageing – and I will also gain bone density and muscle when I’m down here.” Scientists also estimate he may lose around an inch in height during the mission due to the pressure exerted on his body – in the same way that astronauts grow around 3 per cent taller after spending time in the weightlessness of space. Dr Dituri’s 74th day residing in the underwater lodge was similar to previous days spent there since he submerged on 1 March. The university professor, who also goes by the moniker “Dr. Deep Sea,” ate a protein-heavy meal of eggs and salmon prepared using a microwave, exercised with resistance bands, did his daily pushups and took an hour-long nap. Unlike a submarine, the lodge does not use technology to adjust for the increased underwater pressure. The previous record of 73 days, two hours and 34 minutes was set by two Tennessee professors – Bruce Cantrell and Jessica Fain – at the same location in 2014. “The record is a small bump and I really appreciate it. I’m honoured to have it, but we still have more science to do,” Dr Dituri said. “The idea here is to populate the world’s oceans, to take care of them by living in them and really treating them well.” While he says he loves living under the ocean, there is one thing he really misses. “The thing that I miss the most about being on the surface is literally the Sun,” he said. “The sun has been a major factor in my life – I usually go to the gym at five and then I come back out and watch the sunrise.” During his time underwater, Dr Dituri also claims to have discovered a brand new species. “We found a single-cell ciliate, a single-celled organism that we believe is a brand new species to science,” Dr Dituri said. “People have dived in this area thousands and thousands of times – it’s been here, we just didn’t look.” Additional reporting from agencies Read More Woman talks to past self in ‘trippy’ conversation after feeding childhood journals to AI Nearly half of all internet traffic is now bots, study reveals ChatGPT is finally connected to the web 75% of Irish data watchdog’s GDPR decisions since 2018 overruled – report

EU lawmakers hold a crucial vote Thursday towards setting restrictions on how AI such as ChatGPT can be used...