The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Coinbase Global Inc. in federal court in New York on Tuesday, alleging

Wild boar in southeastern Germany have long contained high levels of radioactive substances, which has been attributed to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. But as radioactivity levels have fallen in other animals, they have stayed much the same among boar. Now, scientists have worked out the secret behind the so-called “wild boar paradox”. Research shows there is another culprit for the high levels of radioactivity: nuclear weapons tests from the mid-20th century. And both the weapons and the nuclear reactor meltdown continue contaminating the boar because of their diet. While the muscular boar seem healthy, the dangerous levels of radioactive caesium, the main contaminator, have prompted people to stop hunting them. In turn, there is now an overpopulation issue. “Our work reveals deeper insights into the notorious radio-cesium contamination in Bavarian wild boars beyond the total radionuclide quantification only,” radioecologist Felix Stäger from Leibniz University Hannover wrote in a paper. After a nuclear incident, radioactive materials can pose a significant threat to ecosystems. This happened after the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986, where there was an increase in radioactive caesium contamination. The main component of this, caesium-137, has a half-life of about 30 years, meaning it loses its radioactivity fairly quickly. However, caesium-135, which is created via nuclear fission, is far more stable. It has a half-life of more than 2m years. The ratio of cesium-135 compared to cesium-137 can help us work out where the cesium came from. A high ratio indicates nuclear weapon explosions, while a low ratio points to nuclear reactors like Chernobyl. So the researchers analysed caesium levels from 48 wild boar meat samples from 11 regions of Bavaria. It turns out that nuclear weapons testing was responsible for between 12 per cent and 68 per cent of the unsafe contamination in the samples. “All samples exhibit signatures of mixing,” wrote the researchers. “Nuclear weapons fallout and [Chernobyl] have mixed in the Bavarian soil, the release maxima of which were about 20−30 years apart.” So while Chernobyl remains the main source of caesium in wild boar, about a quarter of the samples showed enough contributions from weapons fallout to exceed safety limits even before the reactor meltdown comes into account. And because wild boar eat so many truffles, it has been exacerbated. The fungus absorbs high levels of contamination from both sources. Wild boars' diets, which include underground truffles, have absorbed varying levels of contamination from both sources, which has contributed to the animals' persistent radioactivity. “This study illustrates that strategic decisions to conduct atmospheric nuclear tests 60−80 years ago still impact remote natural environments, wildlife, and a human food source today,” the authors concluded. The study was published in Environmental Science & Technology. 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.

A major leak has seemingly revealed Microsoft’s plans for the future of the Xbox. The company is planning a new version of the Xbox Series X that will be shaped like a cylinder and not include a console, according to internal documents. Codenamed “Brooklyn”, the new console will have the power of the more expensive Xbox, with more storage but without the option to use discs. But that will then be followed by an entirely new kind of console, planned for 2028. That aims to create a “hybrid” experience by streaming games online but combining them with local hardware, to get the best of both. That is according to new documents that were published as part of the legal hearings between the US Federal Trade Commission and Xbox, which were first reported by The Verge. The documents appear to have been uploaded accidentally, and have since been pulled down. There is no guarantee that either of the consoles will actually arrive, and the documents appear to show the internal planning of the hardware. But the new “Brooklin” version of the Xbox Series X appears close to completion, with an estimated 2024 release date. It will also come with a new controller, nicknamed Sebile and planned for later this year. It will include new features such as an accelerometer so that the console can wake up just by being picked up, and a white and black mixed colour scheme, but otherwise keeps the same design as the existing controller. The “next generation” console appears to be more speculative, and comes from a 2022 pitch ahead of a possible 2028 release date. It says that the company is aiming for its cloud gaming platform and physical consoles to achieve “full convergence” through games that would be described as “cloud hybrid”. “Our vision: develop a next generation hybrid game platform capable of leveraging the combined power of the client and cloud to deliver deeper immersion and entirely new classes of game experiences,” the documents read. It suggests for instance that players could buy a small puck that would plug into their television and include some of the processors and other hardware required to play games. But much of the game itself would stream over the internet. The hardware design would begin next year, ahead of kits arriving with developers in 2027, and then the console itself arriving a year later. The first games would start being developed for the hybrid platform from next year, the documents suggest. But it also notes that a range of things are yet to be decided. The company needs to build a “thin” operating system that could play the local parts of the games, for instance. The documents mention “hybrid Windows”, suggesting that similar technology could come to the desktop. Read More Apple explains how the iPhone turned into a camera like none before it BBC reviews Russell Brand’s time at corporation as YouTube demonetises content Google announces huge breakthrough step in finding genes that cause disease

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Elon Musk pleaded with X users on Sunday to try and stick to the facts, as the site and its billionaire owner come under heavy criticism for the spread of false information regarding the Israel-Hamas war. “As always, please try stay as close to the truth as possible, even for stuff you don’t like,” Mr Musk wrote on X. “This platform aspires to maximize signal/noise of the human collective.” Critics have been hammering Mr Musk for the proliferation of fake news on the site, arguing his attempts to loosen the reins on its content moderation have allowed bad actors and dubious sources to flourish. “This site is a cesspool of disinformation,” former Obama administration official and podcaster Tommy Vietor wrote on X in response to Mr Musk’s plea. “You have made it exponentially worse, and just this morning you recommended an account known to spread lies and antisemitism. Other than that, great job.” “This site is worse than useless during a breaking news story,” Aaron Kleinman, of the States Project political advocacy group, wrote recently in response to a thread collecting false information about the war in Israel and Gaza. “Actively harmful. Don’t log in if you want to be informed.” Dubious news stories have spread far and wide on the site formerly known as Twitter since the outbreak of war in Israel yesterday. A widely seen video, purporting to show a Hamas militant shooting down an Israeli helicopter, was really a clip from a video game, BBC Verify’s Shayan Sardarizadeh reports. A Taliban spokesperson had to set the record straight after a false claim spread on social media that the group was seeking to join in the conflict, Pakistan bureau chief for WIONews Anas Mallick reports. And a widely shared clip of Israel reportedly bombing a Gazan office tower really was from fighting that occured in 2021. Critics of X allege that policy changes under Mr Musk have allowed such false information to spread more easily. Since taking over, Mr Musk has disbanded Twitter’s trust and safety team, reinstated (and at times vocally endorsed the content of) known extremists and far-right commentators, removed labels noting accounts associated with foreign governments, and allowed paid access to the verification feature, a designation on Twitter previously reserved for heads of states, celebrities, journalists, and other high-profile individuals who could see their credibility abused by imitators. The Independent has contacted X for comment. Read More Israel-Palestine conflict live: Fierce gun battles rage with Hamas militants as ‘over 700 Israelis killed’ Israel suffers bloodiest day in decades as fierce gunfights rage in streets against Hamas militants US regulators seek to compel Elon Musk to testify in their investigation of his Twitter acquisition

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By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency platform, said it will ask a judge to

Kim Kardashian and Rylan Clark are among some of the celebrities to have signed up for the new social media site Threads. The Meta app, from the company behind Facebook and Instagram, has a text-style format which encourages users to post updates and join public discourse. Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama also signed up to the newly launched platform. Former Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two presenter Clark kept his first update short with a photo captioned: “Get ya threads out for the ladddsss.” Chef Gordon Ramsay, known for his Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares series, said in his post: “Is this where I find the lamb sauce?” Colombian pop singer Shakira already has one million followers on the app, whilst reality TV star and businesswoman Kardashian has one and a half million, despite a lack of posts on her profile. TV personality and model Khloe Kardashian, who is Kim’s sister, is also on the platform and posted a photo with the caption: “Oh hi my little threaders”. Other celebrities such as Paris Hilton, former One Direction members Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik, The Last Of Us star Bella Ramsey, Dragons’ Den panellists Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett and former Big Brother presenter Davina McCall have also signed up. Also setting up account were American singer-songwriter Olivia Rodrigo, radio DJ Chris Moyles, Little Mix singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock, British singer Louise Redknapp, American rapper Jack Harlow and The Help actress Jessica Chastain. The site is connected to Instagram so usernames and verification checks can carry over so celebrities can make the move to Threads easily. Brands and companies including streaming platform Netflix, clothing retailer Pretty Little Thing and supermarket Aldi have also joined the app. Threads posts can be up to 500 characters long and include links, photos, and videos of up to five minutes in length. On Meta’s website, the company says: “Our vision with Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas.” Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, which is also text based and allows posts of up to 280 characters. The South African-born billionaire announced at the weekend that his social media platform would be temporarily limiting the number of tweets people can read in a day, as thousands of users reported problems accessing the site. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Mastercard helping banks predict scams before money leaves customers’ accounts Art historian helps build new Assassin’s Creed game after son’s suggestion Twitter to stop TweetDeck access for unverified users

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MrBeast's girlfriend Thea Booysen decided to recreate the 'Disaster Girl' meme in her own way and shared her conversation with DoorDash worker to explain the situation