Pokémon has raised eyebrows and left people in hysterics with the design of the new Wiglett soft toy and it’s easy to see why. In the Pokémon world, Wiglett was announced as a new convergent species related to Diglett for the 2022 Pokémon Scarlet and Violet role-playing video games. It is a type of Garden Eel Pokémon that, with its long cylindrical length, has led to some unfortunate comparisons with the release of a new plushie toy. The Wiglett plushie is sold online by the Pokémon Center, but the long toy has caught the eye for all the wrong reasons as people have suggested it looks like a phallus. The website explains, “this long Poké Plush version of the Garden Eel Pokémon is ready to stand tall as part of your plush collection, perched on your couch, coffee table, or bookshelf”. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter It boasts a “bendable body” that is 10 ¼ inches in length and has drawn some hilarious feedback online. One person wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter): “Ok but who thought this was a good idea.” Many others made similar points. Someone else wrote: “So this Wiglett plush... It's certainly something!” Others were much more NSFW with their commentary. The hilarious plushie may have sparked some rather interesting comments, but despite that, it does seem to resemble the Pokémon character quite closely. 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.

SWINDON, United Kingdom--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 12, 2023--

July was the warmest month recorded in at least four decades in the Mediterranean Sea as the daily

Google’s leading AI division DeepMind claims to have unlocked “800 years’ worth of knowledge” after discovering 2.2 million new crystals. The materials found through the research could be used to transform industries, DeepMind said, while simultaneously opening up brand new avenues for making future discoveries. Of the 2.2 million crystals, roughly 380,000 of them are reportedly stable enough for developing next-generation technologies, ranging from better electric car batteries to superconductors for ultra-efficient computers. In order to discover the crystals, DeepMind developed a state-of-the-art neural network tool called GNoME (Graph Networks for Materials Exploration). DeepMind researchers Amil Merchant and Ekin Dogus Cubuk wrote in a blog post that using GNoME bypassed centuries of “painstaking experimentation” that would have been required to discover the new materials. “With GNoME, we’ve multiplied the number of technologically viable materials known to humanity,” the researchers wrote. “GNoME shows the potential of using AI to discover and develop new materials at scale... We hope that GNoME and other AI tools can help revolutionise materials discovery today and shape the future of the field.” External researchers tested DeepMind’s breakthrough by independently creating 736 of the new materials discovered by GNoME. “Among these candidates are materials that have the potential to develop future transformative technologies ranging from superconductors, powering supercomputers, and next-generation batteries to boost the efficiency of electric vehicles,” the blog post stated. The research was detailed in a study, titled ‘Scaling deep learning for materials discovery, published in the journal Nature. The researchers behind the new tool said it can “reach unprecedented levels of generalisation, improving the efficiency of materials discovery by an order of magnitude”. Others uninvolved in the research described GNoME as the “ChatGPT for chemistry”, referring to the hugely popular artificial intelligence chatbot released exactly one year ago. “Scientific discovery is the next frontier for AI,” said Carla Gomes, co-director of the Cornell University AI for Science Institute, who was not involved in the research. “That’s why I find this so exciting.” Read More 10 ways AI will change the world – from curing cancer to wiping out humanity Astronomers find unprecedented ‘disc’ around distant planet How AI is about to change our relationship with phones forever When and where to watch Tesla’s highly anticipated Cybertruck delivery event

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It turns out that human ancestors and dinosaurs could have actually co-existed, according to new research. Scientists have produced a study which suggested that placental mammals were around before the asteroid that brought an end to the Cretaceous period hit Earth 66 million years ago. A new paper published in the journal Current Biology claims that fossil records of placental mammals suggests that our ancestors roamed the Earth before the extinction event, and later flourished due to the lack of competition from dinosaur species afterwards. According to the research, primates evolved shortly before the asteroid hit. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Lead author Emily Carlisle of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences said: “We pulled together thousands of fossils of placental mammals and were able to see the patterns of origination and extinction of the different groups.” Carlisle added: “Based on this, we could estimate when placental mammals evolved.” “The model we used estimates origination ages based on when lineages first appear in the fossil record and the pattern of species diversity through time for the lineage,” co-author Daniele Silvestro from the University of Fribourg shared. While we don’t have a full picture of what human ancestors looked like at that time, it’s thought they “were small and squirrely”. Carlisle said: “Unfortunately we don’t know what our placental mammal ancestors would have looked like back then. “Many of the earliest fossils of placental mammals are quite small creatures such as Purgatorius – an early ancestor of primates – which was a small burrowing creature a bit like a tree shrew. So it’s likely that many of our ancestors were small and squirrely.” 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.

It’s the most unexpected food trend of the year so far, and now McDonald’s has broken its silence on the Grimace shake going viral. In case you missed it, TikTok has been completely obsessed over a limited edition purple-coloured milkshake over recent days. Grimace has been a mascot in McDonald’s marketing for decades and the fast food giant honoured the 52nd birthday of the character by introducing the new item to menus in the US. Only, since then, TikTok users have made it the focus of a strange trend – which sees them drink it, then pretend to be dead after consuming it. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Typically, the clips see someone sip the drink, before cutting to them in a fake crime scene looking like they’ve been poisoned. Gen Z is always finding new ways to surprise us, and the odd trend has racked up millions of hits. @wheresxander the foot twitch… it’s grimace taking over. #grimaceshake #grimacesbirthday Now, McDonald’s has addressed the trend with a lighthearted Tweet. The official account posted a picture of a Grimace mascot, writing: “meee pretending i don't see the grimace shake trendd.” The milkshake is only set to be on the menu for a limited time, but it looks like the trend isn’t going anywhere just yet - and the memes keep coming thick and fast. 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.

Shares of Apple fell by 3.4% on Thursday following reports that China plans to expand a ban on the use of iPhones to government-backed agencies and companies.