The Federal Reserve has launched a new instant payment service that allows banks and credit unions to sign up to send real-time payments so they can offer customers a quicker way to send money between banks

Despite a few nerfs, the ISO Hemlock is still a viable AR to run in Warzone Season 4 thanks to Sally Is A Dog's deadly loadout.

Your brain doesn’t work the same when you speak to someone on Zoom, scientists have confirmed. Neural signalling is significantly less when chatting to someone through a video call rather than having a face-to-face conversation, the new study found. When researchers watched the brain of someone talking in real life, they found that there was a detailed and complex system of neurological activity. On Zoom, however, that was dramatically less. It suggests that there is still something fundamentally lacking about speaking with someone online. People’s faces are not able to light up people’s brains in the same way, the researchers suggest. That is something of a surprise: current models suggest that the brain should process people’s faces in the same way whether they are on Zoom or in real life, given the features of them are the same. But the new study suggests that there really is something fundamentally different between the two contexts. “In this study we find that the social systems of the human brain are more active during real live in-person encounters than on Zoom,” said Joy Hirsch, a Yale professor who was the lead author on the new study. “Zoom appears to be an impoverished social communication system relative to in-person conditions.” To find that, researchers studied people’s brains in real time as well as looking at other signals, such as where people’s eyes moved. As well as increased neural activity, the researchers found that people’s eyes hovered for longer on the real faces, for instance. The two people’s brains also seemed to be more co-ordinated. That suggests that there are more social cues being shared between the two people, they said. “Overall, the dynamic and natural social interactions that occur spontaneously during in-person interactions appear to be less apparent or absent during Zoom encounters,” Professor Hirsch said. “This is a really robust effect.” The study suggests that face-to-face encounters remain very important, even as technology companies and others come up with new ways for us to interact with people remotely, the authors said. “Online representations of faces, at least with current technology, do not have the same ‘privileged access’ to social neural circuitry in the brain that is typical of the real thing,” said Professor Hirsch. The findings are described in a new paper, ‘Separable Processes for Live “In-Person” and Live “Zoom-like” Faces’, published in Imaging Neuroscience. Read More The Apple Watch feature everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived Scientists find surprise ‘layer’ underneath surface of Mars Apple’s plans for the future of AirPods might just have been revealed

US Vice President Kamala Harris has arrived in the UK ahead of attending Rishi Sunak’s summit focused on the safe use of artificial intelligence (AI). Ms Harris touched down at Stansted Airport on Tuesday evening with her husband Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff for the summit. She will represent the US at Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes, on Wednesday and Thursday in place of President Joe Biden. French President Emmanuel Macron will also not be in attendance, whilst Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are also believed to be unlikely to show up. But Downing Street denied on Monday that the summit was being snubbed by world leaders. Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO and owner of the social media site X, will attend and join Mr Sunak for a live interview after the summit closes. The Prime Minister hopes the summit on AI safety will cement the UK’s status as a leading world player in the cutting-edge technology. Mr Sunak also said last week that mitigating the risk of extinction because of AI should be a global priority alongside pandemics and nuclear war. It comes as Mr Biden signed an executive order on AI on Monday, and said the technology was driving change at “warp speed” and carries tremendous potential as well as perils. The order seeks to steer how AI is developed so that companies can profit without putting public safety in jeopardy. Using the Defence Production Act, it requires leading AI developers to share safety test results and other information with the government.

Scientists have designed a new robot that people are dubbing a 'transformer' thanks to its ability to roll, fly, crawl, crouch, balance, and tumble its way through any terrain. Its adaptability is similar to that of a number of animals, including seals, meerkats, and chukar birds. The morphobot was created by the Northeastern University in the US, and will impact the future designs of response and rescue robots, as well as space exploration vehicles. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

A natural phenomenon consisting of polka-dot-style formations has been cropping up around the world, and scientists are baffled as to why. The circular-shaped patches of ground have been seen in deserts in Australia and Namibia but now experts believe they are more widespread than originally thought. Known as “fairy circles”, there are now 263 known sites across the globe where they can be found, according to new research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). They have been documented in 15 countries, across three continents, including the Sahel region of Africa, Madagascar, and in Middle-West Asia. And yet, despite the spread of these anomalies, scientists are still none the wiser about how they actually form. A team led by environmental scientist Emilio Guirado, of the University of Alicante in Spain, explained in their paper on the "intriguing" phenomenon: “We conducted a global and systematic assessment of fairy circle-like vegetation patterns and discovered hundreds of [fairy-circle]-like locations on three continents. “Our study provides insights into the ecology and biogeography of these fascinating vegetation patterns and the first atlas of their global distribution.” The mysterious circles appear in desert regions and can be as wide as 12 metres (39 feet) in diameter. They are almost always spaced out and rarely connect or overlap with one another. Several theories have been put forward as to what causes them, including, tiny insects, termites, and plant toxins. But, none have been accompanied by any significant evidence and some have been debunked completely. One significant factor limiting their study is they are often found in places that are difficult to access and are inhospitable. Locating the 263 different sites of “fairy circles” involved analysing high-resolution satellite imagery. Guirado and his team wrote in their paper: “[The sites] include those already identified in Namibia and Western Australia, as well as areas never described before, including the Sahel, Western Sahara, Horn of Africa, Madagascar, Southwest Asia, or Central and Southwest Australia. “By doing so, our study provides a global atlas of areas showing FC-like vegetation patterns and expands the known existence of this vegetation type to new countries and continents.” The team hopes that locating new sites will enable them to find common traits that may point towards their cause. 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.

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 8, 2023--

Nicki Minaj has hilariously called for the "whole internet" to be deleted after sharing a clip from ITV's Deep Fake Neighbour Wars. On Sunday (9 July), the 'Barbie Girl' rapper took to Twitter with a snippet from the show. The clip shows an AI version of Minaj and her 'husband,' Tom Holland. Upon arriving home from their honeymoon, they found an intruder in their living room, Mark Zuckerberg. It plays on an internet rumour that joked Minaj and Holland were dating and expecting a baby in 2019. At the time, the actor joked to Esquire: "This actually really stressed me out... and then I realised I've never met Nicki Minaj. So that was a big relief for me because I'm not ready to have kids." Fast-forward, and the ITV show is seemingly poking fun at the fake relationship using artificial intelligence – and Minaj is not happy. She wrote: "HELP!!! What in the AI shapeshifting cloning conspiracy theory is this?!?!! I hope the whole internet get deleted!!!" Meanwhile, fans were left in hysterics, with one writing: "I just know you was cracking up laughing." Some shared their concerns regarding deep fakes: "It’s crazy. All this computer s*** is going too far. Kinda scary honestly." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter "LMAOOOOOOOO I’m surprised you're just seeing this," a third added about the show that was released earlier this year. Deep Fake Neighbour Wars certainly polarised social media. Some loved it. Others hated it. And more delved into the creepiness of artificial intelligence. "I thought this would be no good, but it's brilliant, and I heartily recommend it," one Twitter user wrote, adding: "Really, I'm a tough crowd as far as new comedy is concerned, and I found myself shouting with laughter quite often." 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 EU will reveal Wednesday which of the world's tech behemoths face stronger curbs from next year under a law that will shake up how major players like...

China’s leading internet search provider Baidu Inc. may get a fresh tailwind from the sooner-than-expected launch of its

Microsoft Corp.’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in California,

Earth has received the first ever ‘alien message’ after a simulation of what extraterrestrial contact could look like was sent out by scientists. The SETI Institute produced the simulation of a radio wave from a Mars orbiter and gave hint of how alien contact would be received. The exercise was conducted to prepare experts for the “profoundly transformational experience for all humankind”. The signal was successfully decoded after taking just 16 minutes to travel through space and be picked up by telescopes on Earth. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter It all took place as part of the A Sign in Space project led by Daniela dePaulis, who said during the live-streamed event: “It was very real. This is not the first time we have received a signal from TGO [ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter], but this one is a real message.” The signal had to be decoded, as it couldn’t be heard on Earth without being altered. Victoria Catlett is the GBO software engineer and she explained: “A radio signal is not inherently sound, but a light wave. “When we receive it with something like a car radio, that light wave gets translated into the up and down movement in the speaker - and that is what you hear.” Of course, there’s no evidence that aliens exist at this point, but it’s good to know that we’re prepared. It comes after it was revealed that aliens could be mapping out the planet via the signals mobiles are emitting. It’s all to do with the radio transmission towers which are key to millions of people communicating around the world. These towers are constantly pumping out microwave signals as we call and message one another, and they’re found across a huge area of the Earth’s surface. 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.