Tootfinder

🦠 Genomes of 24,000 previously unknown microbes revealed by new tools
#microbes

Genomes of 24,000 previously unknown microbes revealed by new tools
QUT researchers have recovered the genomes of more than 24,000 previously unknown microbial species—some from entirely new branches of life that likely evolved before plants and animals. The microbes are detailed in two studies published in Nature Biotechnology and Nature Methods.

Coinbase confirms that it has called off acquisition talks with stablecoin infra startup BVNK; reports previously put the acquisition price around $2B (Ben Weiss/Fortune)
https://fortune.com/2025/11/11/coinbase-bvnk-2-billion-deal-falls-through-stableco…

Exclusive: Coinbase and stablecoin startup BVNK call off $2 billion acquisition
BVNK was previously fielding offers from not only Coinbase but Mastercard.

"The effort focused on dozens of targets and involved a level of automation that Anthropic’s cybersecurity investigators had not previously seen"
Chinese Hackers Used Anthropic’s AI to Automate Cyberattacks
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/china-hackers-

BBC Studios appoints Alice Taylor, who previously led Disney's StudioLAB, as the head of its new AI Creative Lab to ensure "ethical, editorially sound" output (Lily Ford/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gen

BBC Studios Names Alice Taylor Chief of New AI Creative Lab
At a time when fear is heightened around AI's impact on the industry, Taylor will ensure the BBC AI Creative Lab's output is "innovative, ethical, editorially sound and technically robust."

The Trump administration is providing the names of all air travelers to immigration officials,
substantially expanding its use of data sharing to expel people under deportation orders.
Under the previously undisclosed program, the Transportation Security Administration provides a list multiple times a week to Immigration and Customs Enforcement of travelers who will be coming through airports.
ICE can then match the list against its own database of people subject to deporta…

T.S.A. Is Providing Air Passenger Data to Immigration Agents for Deportation Effort
The Transportation Security Administration is providing passenger lists to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to identify and detain travelers subject to deportation orders.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #SonicReducer
Mudhoney:
🎵 Over the Top (Previously Unreleased)
#Mudhoney
https://open.spotify.com/track/3wq0jodtPDIz4Nmoc6KKrb

I've made a strange attractor CV source module for #VCVrack using Claude Code. I know, AI is controversial, but this opens up a lot of territory for people who previously didn't have the ability to make their module dreams real. https://

How Reinforcement Learning After Next-Token Prediction Facilitates Learning
Nikolaos Tsilivis, Eran Malach, Karen Ullrich, Julia Kempe
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11495 https://

How Reinforcement Learning After Next-Token Prediction Facilitates Learning
Recent advances in reasoning domains with neural networks have primarily been enabled by a training recipe that optimizes Large Language Models, previously trained to predict the next-token in a sequence, with reinforcement learning algorithms. We introduce a framework to study the success of this paradigm, and we theoretically expose the optimization mechanisms by which reinforcement learning improves over next-token prediction in this setting. We study learning from mixture distributions of s…

I'm already looking forward to OpenBSD 7.8. KDE 6.4.5 has been announced in the preliminary release notes. Rafael Sadowski previously did a stellar job (with others of course) in porting 6 to OpenBSD, wonder how far they've gotten until now.
#openbsd

Model-Based Lookahead Reinforcement Learning for in-hand manipulation
Alexandre Lopes, Catarina Barata, Plinio Moreno
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.08884 https://

Model-Based Lookahead Reinforcement Learning for in-hand manipulation
In-Hand Manipulation, as many other dexterous tasks, remains a difficult challenge in robotics by combining complex dynamic systems with the capability to control and manoeuvre various objects using its actuators. This work presents the application of a previously developed hybrid Reinforcement Learning (RL) Framework to In-Hand Manipulation task, verifying that it is capable of improving the performance of the task. The model combines concepts of both Model-Free and Model-Based Reinforcement L…

tiktok is heading toward being full maga.
If your business or life is centered on that app, take steps now to change that.
I am happy to help however I can.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-p…

Barron Trump tipped for top job at TikTok after dad tells users they ‘owe’ him for saving platform
The president has previously claimed that users ‘owe’ Barron Trump for saving the social media platform in a video from the Oval Office

Scattering in the dual regime of Yang-Baxter deformed O(2N) sigma models
Alexey Bychkov, Boris Nekrasov
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11429 https://arxiv.org/…

Scattering in the dual regime of Yang-Baxter deformed O(2N) sigma models
We continue to explore the previously suggested dual regime of Yang-Baxter (YB) deformed $\mathrm{O}(2N)$ sigma models, which is a new one-parametric deformation of the $\mathrm{O}(2N)$ model. It can be obtained from the conventional YB deformed $\mathrm{O}(2N+2)$ sigma model by freezing two isometries. The scattering matrix in the non-deformed $\mathrm{O}(n)$ model is known coincide with the rational $\mathfrak{so}_n$-invariant $R-$matrix. For $n = 2N$ this rational solution allows for two tri…

Cowboys Announce Reunion With Previously Suspended DB https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/dallas-cowboys/julius-wood-reunite-with-previously-suspended-db/?adt_ei=[email]

The Second Moment of $\mathrm{GL}_3 \times \mathrm{GL}_2$ $L$-functions at Special Points
Zhi Qi
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11191 https://arxiv.org/pdf/251…

The Second Moment of $\mathrm{GL}_3 \times \mathrm{GL}_2$ $L$-functions at Special Points
Let $ϕ$ be a fixed Hecke--Maass form for $\mathrm{SL}_3 (\mathbb{Z})$ and $u_j $ traverse an orthonormal basis of Hecke--Maass forms for $\mathrm{SL}_2 (\mathbb{Z}) $. Let $1/4+t_j^2$ be the Laplace eigenvalue of $u_j $. In this paper, we prove the mean Lindelöf hypothesis for the second moment of $ L (1/2+it_j, ϕ\times u_j) $ on $ T < t_j \leqslant T + \sqrt{T} $. Previously, this was proven by Young on $ t_j \leqslant T$. Our approach is more direct as we do not apply the Poisson summation…

The Court has issued a final ruling on the postponement of stricter emission standards for vehicles in Brussels: the region should not have reversed previously announced measures that would have improved the environment for Brussels citizens.
In other words: the zone is becoming stricter.
https…

Bruxelles : le report de la LEZ définitivement annulé
La Cour constitutionnelle a annulé l’ordonnance bruxelloise qui reportait l’agenda de la zone de basses émissions à 2027. Les véhicules concernés, les diesel Euro 5 et les essence Euro 2, seront bien interdits dans la Région dès le 1er janvier 2026.

Martingale Optimal Transport and Martingale Schr\"odinger Bridges for Calibration of Stochastic Volatility Models
Antonios Zitridis
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.10860 https:/…

Martingale Optimal Transport and Martingale Schrödinger Bridges for Calibration of Stochastic Volatility Models
Motivated by recent developments in the calibration of stochastic volatility models (SVMs for short), we study continuous-time formulations of martingale optimal transport and martingale Schrödinger bridge problems. We establish duality formulas and also provide alternative proofs, via different techniques, of duality results previously established in the mathematical finance literature. Applications include calibration of SVMs to SPX options, as well as joint calibration to both SPX and VIX o…

JWST imaging of omega Centauri: II. Evidence for a split white dwarf cooling sequence in the near-infrared
M. Scalco (Indiana University), M. Salaris (Liverpool John Moores University, INAF-OAAb), L. R. Bedin (INAF-OAPD), S. Blouin (University of Victoria), E. Vesperini (Indiana University), P. Bergeron (University of Montreal), M. Libralato (INAF-OAPD), M. Griggio (STScI), A. Burgasser (UniCA SanDiego), D. Nardiello (UniPD, INAF-OAPD), A. Bellini (STScI), J. Anderson (STScI), R. Geras…

JWST imaging of omega Centauri: II. Evidence for a split white dwarf cooling sequence in the near-infrared
We present a detailed analysis of the white dwarf cooling sequence (WD CS) in omega Centauri based on combined Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and JWST observations. Our analysis confirms the previously reported split - based on HST observations in ultraviolet filters - in the upper part of the WD CS, consistent with the presence of two distinct WD populations, and extends it to a significantly fainter and cooler limit (down to ~8000 K), corresponding to cooling ages of about 1 Gyr. We used artifi…

SoK: Scope and Mission of CS&Law
Joan Feigenbaum, Daniel J. Weitzner
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.08723 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2510.08723

SoK: Scope and Mission of CS&Law
We systematize the intellectual scope of the ACM Computer Science and Law Symposium (CS&Law). In particular, we address the meaning and importance of the word ''and'' in the name of the symposium. We identify previously published papers (from CS&Law and other forums) that exemplify different aspects of the CS&Law scope and note that the scope is expected to evolve as the symposium and the community grow and change. To round out our systematization of the still nascent research area, we also dis…

A time-space B-spline integrator for the Burgers' equation
Idris Dag, Serkan U\u{g}urluo\u{g}lu, Nihat Adar
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09408 https://ar…

A time-space B-spline integrator for the Burgers' equation
The purpose of this paper is to propose a new algorithm for obtaining approximate solutions to the Burgers' equation (BE). Integration in time by a quadratic B-spline collocation method is shown. To the best of our knowledge, B-splines have not previously been used to integrate partial differential equations in both time and space. First, the BE is integrated using quadratic B-spline functions in time, and then the time-integrated BE is further solved in space via the cubic B-spline collocation…

AMIGO: a Data-Driven Calibration of the JWST Interferometer
Louis Desdoigts, Benjamin Pope, Max Charles, Peter Tuthill, Dori Blakely, Doug Johnstone, Shrishmoy Ray, Anand Sivaramakrishnan, Jens Kammerer, Deepashri Thatte, Rachel Cooper
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09806

AMIGO: a Data-Driven Calibration of the JWST Interferometer
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) hosts a non-redundant Aperture Masking Interferometer (AMI) in its Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) instrument, providing the only dedicated interferometric facility aboard - magnitudes more precise than any interferometric experiment previously flown. However, the performance of AMI (and other high resolution approaches such as kernel phase) in recovery of structure at high contrasts has not met design expectations. A major contribut…

$\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$(001) surface reconstructions from first principles and experiment
Konstantin Lion, Piero Mazzolini, Kingsley Egbo, Toni Markurt, Oliver Bierwagen, Martin Albrecht, Claudia Draxl
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09233

$β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$(001) surface reconstructions from first principles and experiment
We present a comprehensive investigation of reconstructions on $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$(001) combining first-principles calculations with experimental observations. Using {\it ab initio} atomistic thermodynamics and replica-exchange grand-canonical molecular dynamics simulations, we explore the configurational space of possible reconstructions under varying chemical potentials of oxygen and gallium. Our calculations reveal several stable surface reconstructions, most notably a previously unreported 1$\…

🛡️ Big trees in Amazon more climate-resistant than previously believed
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/25/study-shows-big-trees-in-amazon-more-climate-resistant-than-previously-believed

Herb.jl: A Unifying Program Synthesis Library
Tilman Hinnerichs, Reuben Gardos Reid, Jaap de Jong, Bart Swinkels, Pamela Wochner, Nicolae Filat, Tudor Magurescu, Issa Hanou, Sebastijan Dumancic
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09726

Herb.jl: A Unifying Program Synthesis Library
Program synthesis -- the automatic generation of code given a specification -- is one of the most fundamental tasks in artificial intelligence (AI) and many programmers' dream. Numerous synthesizers have been developed to tackle program synthesis, manifesting different ideas to approach the exponentially growing program space. While numerous smart program synthesis tools exist, reusing and remixing previously developed methods is tedious and time-consuming. We propose Herb.jl, a unifying progra…

Galaxy Underdensities Host the Clearest IGM Ly$\alpha$ Transmission and Indicate Anisotropic Reionization
Yongda Zhu, George D. Becker, Anson D'Aloisio, Ryan Endsley, Nakul Gangolli, Christopher Cain, Charlotte A. Mason, Seyedazim Hashemi, Hui Hong
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09568

Galaxy Underdensities Host the Clearest IGM Ly$α$ Transmission and Indicate Anisotropic Reionization
How galaxies drive reionization and what governs its geometry remain fundamental questions. We present JWST/NIRCam wide-field slitless spectroscopy (WFSS) observations toward two of the most Ly$α$-transmissive QSO sightlines near the end of reionization. We find that regions at $z \sim 5.7$ along both sightlines previously found to be low-density in Ly$α$ emitters are also underdense in [O III] emitters, with densities less than half the cosmic mean. Other transmissive regions, however, are f…

Field-induced magnetic phases in the Kitaev candidate Na$_3$Co$_2$SbO$_6$
Kranthi Kumar Bestha (Leibniz IFW Dresden, Institute of Solid State Research, Dresden, Germany, Institut f\"ur Festk\"orper- und Materialphysik and W\"urzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat, Technische Universit\"at Dresden, Dresden, Germany), Manaswini Sahoo (Leibniz IFW Dresden, Institute of Solid State Research, Dresden, Germany, Institut f\"ur Festk\"orper- und Materialphy…

Field-induced magnetic phases in the Kitaev candidate Na$_3$Co$_2$SbO$_6$
We report a rich anisotropic magnetic phase diagram of Na$_3$Co$_2$SbO$_6$, a previously proposed cobaltate Kitaev candidate, based on field- and temperature-dependent magnetization, specific heat, and magnetocaloric effect studies. At low temperatures, our experiments uncover a low-lying $j_{\textrm{eff}} = \frac{1}{2}$ state with an antiferromagnetic ground state and pronounced in-plane versus out-of-plane anisotropy. The experimentally identified magnetic phases are theoretically characteriz…

Canalized hyperbolic magnetoexciton polaritons by Shubnikov-de Haas effect in van der Waals semiconductors
Guangyi Jia, Qizhe Cai, Chunqi Zheng, Xiaoying Zhou, Cheng-Wei Qiu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11163

Canalized hyperbolic magnetoexciton polaritons by Shubnikov-de Haas effect in van der Waals semiconductors
Polariton canalization exhibits highly collimated and diffraction-free propagation characteristics in natural hyperbolic materials, holding great promise for molding the energy flow at nanoscale. Previously, the majority of canalizations are realized in phonon polaritons. Herein, we theoretically explore hyperbolic magnetoexciton polaritons (HMEPs) in van der Waals crystals of WTe2, MoS2, and phosphorene. Based on the Shubnikov-de Haas effect, canalized HMEPs with ultralow group velocity (~10-5…

Sharpness for monotone absorbing Interacting Particle Systems
Jean B\'erard (IRMA), Barbara Dembin (IRMA), Laure Mar\^ech\'e (IRMA)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11424 http…

Sharpness for monotone absorbing Interacting Particle Systems
We prove a sharpness result for the dynamics of finite-range Interacting Particle Systems (IPS) on $\{0,1\}^{\mathbb Z^d}$. Starting from an IPS that is monotone, ergodic, and which admits the all-zero configuration as an absorbing state, we prove that there exists an arbitrarily small perturbation of the dynamics which leads to an \emph{exponentially} ergodic IPS. This extends the sharpness result previously established for (discrete-time) probabilistic cellular automata in \cite{Har} to the c…

Testing 1-2-3. Testing 1-2-3.
You grab that iso. New release, KDE 6.4.5 on an immutable Gentoo. Interesting! No wifi enabled ootb? What? 2014? Yes, I know I can. I even know how. But I won't.
2nd one. Reinstall previously used. All well, until i add 3 regular applications. Desktop files (/usr/share/applications) are installed, but don't link to the correct applications at all.Yes, I know I can. I even know how. But I won't.
QA is a lost art and the rise of alph…

Icy or rocky? Convective or stable? New interior models of #Uranus and Neptune: https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2025/12/aa56911-25/aa56911-25.html -> Uranus and Neptune Might Be Rock Giants: https://www.news.uzh.ch/en/articles/media/2025/Uranus-Neptune.html - the composition of Uranus and Neptune, the two outer most planets, might be more rocky and less icy than previously thought.

Kamal Ahmed, who previously hosted The Telegraph's The Daily T podcast, leaves to join Fortune as executive editorial director for UK and Europe (Charlotte Tobitt/Press Gazette)
https://pressgazette.co.uk/the-wire/me

Kamal Ahmed joins Fortune as editorial director for UK and Europe
Kamal Ahmed is leaving The Telegraph to join business publisher Fortune as executive editorial director for UK and Europe.

„Tech companies’ use of Pfas gas at facilities may mean datacenters’ climate impact is worse than previously thought“ (via @… )
https://www.

Also does that mean that you can't recommend something unless you've previously commended it?

New York just doubled down on clean energy in a big way.
The state's Power Authority approved an ambitious update: 5.5 GW of renewable capacity including solar, wind, and innovative compressed air storage. That's 2.5 GW more than previously planned.
The goal? Help develop 15 GW total to hit climate targets while keeping costs down as demand surges.

NYPA adopts 5.5-GW renewables plan amid concerns over affordability, policy changes
Developers with major solar, wind and storage projects in the New York Power Authority’s updated plan include AES, EDF Renewable Energy, Forward Power and Orenda.

We've now posted our submitted response to Manchester’s Local Plan – consultation | Steady State Manchester https://steadystatemanchester.net/2025/10/27/manchesters-local-plan-responding-to-the-consultation/

Manchester’s Local Plan – responding to the consultation
UPDATE!  11 Nov.  We have now submitted a revised version.  It adds some answers to questions we didn’t address in the previously published draft, and has some additions to some of the other …

Commanders QB Jayden Daniels leaves game after landing hard on previously dislocated left elbow

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/jayden-daniels-injury-commanders-qb-elbow-vikings…

Equivalence criteria for the two--term functional equations for Herglotz--Zagier functions
Sumukha Sathyanarayana, N. Guru Sharan
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.10088 https://

Equivalence criteria for the two--term functional equations for Herglotz--Zagier functions
We establish Kronecker limit type formula for the generalized Mordell-Tornheim zeta function $Θ(r,r,t,x)$ as a function of the third argument around $t=1-r$. We then show that the above Kronecker limit type formula is equivalent to the two-term functional equation for the higher Herglotz function obtained by Vlasenko and Zagier. We also show the equivalence between a previously known Kronecker limit type formula for $Θ(1,1,t,x)$ around $t=0$ and the two-term functional equation for the Herglo…

Yukawa interactions in Quantum Gravity
Gustavo P. de Brito, Manuel Reichert, Marc Schiffer
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09572 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2510.0957…

Yukawa interactions in Quantum Gravity
We present the first complete next-to-leading-order analysis of a Yukawa system within the framework of asymptotically safe quantum gravity. Our results are obtained through a systematic resummation of higher-order operators, revealing two distinct resummation mechanisms -- one of which has not been explored previously. In addition, we introduce a novel approach to estimate systematic uncertainties by simulating the impact of neglected higher-order contributions. We demonstrate that quantum g…

Variational Analysis in Spectral Decomposition Systems
H\`oa T. B\`ui, Minh N. B\`ui, Christian Clason
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11433 https://arxiv.org/p…

Variational Analysis in Spectral Decomposition Systems
This work is concerned with variational analysis of so-called spectral functions and spectral sets of matrices that only depend on eigenvalues of the matrix. Based on our previous work [H. T. Bùi, M. N. Bùi, and C. Clason, Convex analysis in spectral decomposition systems, arXiv 2503.14981] on convex analysis of such functions, we consider the question in the abstract framework of spectral decomposition systems, which covers a wide range of previously studied settings, including eigenvalue de…

Sources: Microsoft's US data center crunch will last through H1 2026, longer than previously outlined, as the company restricts new Azure cloud subscriptions (Brody Ford/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

The age and metallicity dependence of the near-infrared absolute magnitude and colour of red clump stars
Hiroki Onozato, Yoshifusa Ita, Yoshikazu Nakada
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.09168

The age and metallicity dependence of the near-infrared absolute magnitude and colour of red clump stars
Understanding the age and metallicity dependence of the absolute magnitude and colour of red clump (RC) stars is crucial for validating the accuracy of stellar evolution models and enhancing their reliability as a standard candle. However, this dependence has previously been investigated in the near-infrared across multiple bands only for -1.05 $\leq$ [Fe/H] $\leq$ 0.40, a range accessible through the star clusters in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Therefore, we used star clusters in the Small Mag…

Recasting the nature of INTEGRAL hard X-ray transients previously classified as active galactic nuclei
V. Sguera, L. Sidoli
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.06920 https://

Recasting the nature of INTEGRAL hard X-ray transients previously classified as active galactic nuclei
We present new broad-band X-ray results aimed at the identification and characterization of four poorly studied hard X-ray transients discovered by INTEGRAL: IGR J16426+6536, IGR J09446-2636, IGR J21268+6203, and IGR J02447+7046. The key properties and X-ray behavior of these sources have remained largely unknown until now. We investigated the temporal, spectral, and energetic characteristics of their hard X-ray outbursts detected above 20 keV by INTEGRAL. In addition, we performed a systematic…

Trump is just the worst!
The National Park Service is reshuffling its free-admission schedule
so that visitors get in free on Donald Trump’s birthday next year,
while Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth (previously free days) will now require regular entrance fees.
https://bsky.app…

Alt National Park Service (@altnps.bsky.social)
Trump is just the worst! The National Park Service is reshuffling its free-admission schedule so that visitors get in free on Donald Trump’s birthday next year, while Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth (previously free days) will now require regular entrance fees. https://www.axios.com/2025/12/05/national-park-service-free-days-2026-trump-birthday-mlk-juneteenth

Got the convergence mostly fixed after trying to fix it previously. Learned a heluva lot, but time to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
#retrogaming #snes #crt

Quartic quantum speedups for community detection
Alexander Schmidhuber, Alexander Zlokapa
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.08494 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2510.08494…

Quartic quantum speedups for community detection
Community detection is a foundational problem in data science. Its natural extension to hypergraphs captures higher-order correlations beyond pairwise interactions. In this work, we develop a quantum algorithm for hypergraph community detection that achieves a quartic quantum speedup over the best known classical algorithm, along with superpolynomial savings in space. Our algorithm is based on the Kikuchi method, which we extend beyond previously considered problems such as Tensor PCA and $p$XO…

It is absolutely disgraceful how illegally, immorally and unconstitutionally the current USA government is acting. The government is just bending to the will of a president with deeply concerning psychological problems.
Any Republican that is not taking action to stop this administration must be voted out of office as soon as possible.

New York AG Letitia James indicted by grand jury, MSNBC reports
New York Attorney General Letitia James previously sued President Trump in a civil case that led to him and his company being held liable for business fraud.

🫓 Ultra-flat optic pushes beyond what was previously thought possible
#optics

Ultra-flat optic pushes beyond what was previously thought possible
Cameras are everywhere. For over two centuries, these devices have grown increasingly popular and proven to be so useful, they have become an indispensable part of modern life.

"Antarctica sees similar climate change effects as Greenland: Study"
#Antarctica #Climate #ClimateChange

Antarctica sees similar climate change effects as Greenland: Study
The planet's warming climate is having effects in Antarctica that increasingly resemble those observed in the Arctic, meaning global sea levels could rise faster than previously predicted, Danish researchers warned on Friday.

Astronomers Discover Previously Unknown Quasi-Moon Near Earth - Slashdot
https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/09/22/0034204/astronomers-discover-previously-unknown-quasi-moon-near-earth

Is Enerkem's Waste Gasification technology a Failure or a promising Climate Solution?🗑️💨♨️🏭
Gasification of waste and biomass🪵 could be an enormously helpful tool to make valuable circular or renewable chemicals. Yet, the list of failed gasification projects is long.
Enerkem looked like it had finally unlocked successful waste gasification, with the world's only waste-to-Methanol/Ethanol plant operating in Edmonton, Canada🇨🇦, since 2014. But in early 2024, it was shut down.…

Is Enerkem's Waste Gasification technology a Failure or a promising Climate Solution?
Repsol wants to build a waste gasification plant to make circular and biogenic Methanol in Spain. The Ecoplanta project will use a technology that previously failed to deliver on its promises in Canada.

Policy Robustness & Uncertainty in Model-based Decision Support for the Energy Transition
Ian J. Burton, Femke J. M. M. Nijsse, James M. Salter
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11177

Policy Robustness & Uncertainty in Model-based Decision Support for the Energy Transition
Climate policy modelling is a key tool for assessing mitigation strategies in complex systems and uncertainty is inherent and unavoidable. We present a general methodology for extensive uncertainty analysis in climate policy modelling. We show how emulators can identify key uncertainties in modelling frameworks and enable policy analysis previously restricted by computational cost. We apply this methodology to FTT:Power to explore uncertainties in the electricity system transition both globally…

Trump un-banned the use of no-click, smartphone Spyware for use by ICE against immigrants & PROTESTORS.
☑️ICE reactivates contract with previously banned spyware vendor
https://wapo.st/4httse1
(Archive:

ICE reactivates contract with previously banned spyware vendor
The Biden administration had barred Paragon Solutions from U.S. government use after finding that the company’s software had been used unethically elsewhere.

As a security precaution I had previously configured every single 11ty repository to have its own single-package-scoped npm token (there were probably ~30 or so), so this is a lovely improvement 😅

In Trump v. Wilcox,
Trump v. Boyle and
Trump v. Slaughter, all from 2025, the Supreme Court upheld Trump’s firing of officials from the National Labor Relations Board,
the Merit Systems Protection Board,
the Consumer Product Safety Commission
and the Federal Trade Commission.
Previously, these officials had appeared to be protected from political interference.
Remarks by conservative justices in those cases indicated that the court will soon reassess…

The Supreme Court is headed toward a radically new vision of unlimited presidential power
Recent rulings indicate that the high court is leaning toward expanding the type of presidential power that is more emblematic of dictatorship than democracy.

Advocates raise alarm over Pfas pollution from datacenters amid AI boom #environment

I just learned that Frank Gehry passed away. 😔
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/arts/design/frank-gehry-dead.html
One of his buildings that I hope to visit is the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao 🇪🇸. I looked at the list of buildings he designed and the only o…

The German government scales back financial aid for its semiconductor industry, cutting €3B from its previously planned €15B chip subsidies to fund road repairs (Christina Kyriasoglou/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Hamiltonian flow between standard module Lagrangians
Yujin Tong
https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.06431 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2511.06431 https://arxiv.org/html/2511.06431
arXiv:2511.06431v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: In Aganagic's Fukaya category of the Coulomb branch of quiver gauge theory, the $T_\theta$-brane algebra gives a symplectic realization of the Khovanov-Lauda-Rouquier-Webster (KLRW) algebra, where each standard module is known to admit two Lagrangian realizations: the 'U'-shaped $T$-brane and the step $I$-brane. We show that the latter arises as the infinite-time limit of the Hamiltonian evolution of the former, thus serving as a generalized thimble. This provides a geometric realization of the categorical isomorphism previously established through holomorphic disc counting.
toXiv_bot_toot

"For nearly 20 years, the [#SNP] has acted, in many respects, as a bulwark to the worst of Westminster – or so the story goes. Not good policy, just not as bad as Westminster. Just enough to hold power without disrupting the status quo.
When the SNP had the political capital to finally scrap the regressive Council Tax – something they had previously promised to do – they baulked. On LGBT ri…

Hups, ein bekanntermaßen unsicheres Passwort ergibt eine erstaunlich hohe neunstellige Zahl Treffer:
> This password has been seen 179,863,340 times before in data breaches!
https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords

Tensor Product Decompositions, Limits in Excellent Filtrations, Affine Weyl Group Orbits, and Tableaux Counting
Laura Estivalez, Adriano Moura
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.04697 h…

Tensor Product Decompositions, Limits in Excellent Filtrations, Affine Weyl Group Orbits, and Tableaux Counting
We express the outer multiplicities in the tensor products of two fundamental simple modules for an affine Kac-Moody algebra of type $A$ in terms of counting certain sets of multipartitions by exploring the stabilizing limits of certain excellent filtrations. This extends for all ranks a previously obtained result by Jakelić and the second author for rank $1$. The same outer multiplicities were previously computed by Misra and Wilson in terms of counting certain sets of tableaux. By comparing …

Investigating Language and Retrieval Bias in Multilingual Previously Fact-Checked Claim Detection
Ivan Vykopal, Antonia Karamolegkou, Jaroslav Kop\v{c}an, Qiwei Peng, Tom\'a\v{s} Jav\r{u}rek, Michal Gregor, Mari\'an \v{S}imko
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.25138

Investigating Language and Retrieval Bias in Multilingual Previously Fact-Checked Claim Detection
Multilingual Large Language Models (LLMs) offer powerful capabilities for cross-lingual fact-checking. However, these models often exhibit language bias, performing disproportionately better on high-resource languages such as English than on low-resource counterparts. We also present and inspect a novel concept - retrieval bias, when information retrieval systems tend to favor certain information over others, leaving the retrieval process skewed. In this paper, we study language and retrieval b…

Enhancing Multiplet Alignment Measurements with Imaging
Alexus Annika Kumwembe, Claire Lamman, Daniel Eisenstein, Jessica Nicole Aguilar, Steven Ahlen, Davide Bianchi, David Brooks, Todd Claybaugh, Andrei Cuceu, Axel de la Macorra, Biprateep Dey, Peter Doel, Andreu Font-Ribera, Jaime E. Forero-Romero, Enrique Gaztanaga, Satya Gontcho A Gontcho, Gaston Gutierrez, Mustapha Ishak, Jorge Jimenez, Dick Joyce, Robert Kehoe, Theodore Kisner, Ofer Lahav, Martin Landriau, Marc Manera, Ramon Miq…

Enhancing Multiplet Alignment Measurements with Imaging
We demonstrate that measurements of the gravitational tidal field made with spectroscopic redshifts can be improved with information from imaging surveys. The average orientation of small groups of galaxies, or "multiplets" is correlated with large-scale structure and is used to measure the direction of tidal forces. Previously, multiplet intrinsic alignment has been measured in DESI using galaxies that have spectroscopic redshifts. The DESI Legacy Imaging catalog can be used to supplement mult…

SER-Diff: Synthetic Error Replay Diffusion for Incremental Brain Tumor Segmentation
Sashank Makanaboyina
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.06283 https://arxiv.org…

SER-Diff: Synthetic Error Replay Diffusion for Incremental Brain Tumor Segmentation
Incremental brain tumor segmentation is critical for models that must adapt to evolving clinical datasets without retraining on all prior data. However, catastrophic forgetting, where models lose previously acquired knowledge, remains a major obstacle. Recent incremental learning frameworks with knowledge distillation partially mitigate forgetting but rely heavily on generative replay or auxiliary storage. Meanwhile, diffusion models have proven effective for refining tumor segmentations, but h…

Stability with respect to periodic switching laws does not imply global stability under arbitrary switching
Ian D. Morris
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.08074 https://

Stability with respect to periodic switching laws does not imply global stability under arbitrary switching
R. Shorten, F. Wirth, O. Mason, K. Wulff and C. King have asked whether a linear switched system is guaranteed to be globally uniformly stable under arbitrary switching if it is known that every trajectory induced by a periodic switching law converges exponentially to the origin. Positive answers to this question have previously been announced for linear switched systems of order two and three. We answer this question negatively in all higher orders by constructing a fourth-order linear switche…

[M]any consumers might not realize the privacy risks just by glancing at the flyer sent to them, according to Florian Schaub, associate professor at the University of Michigan School of Information.
"The privacy policy is very specific that we're going to track everything, including what you do in Incognito Windows. Previously anonymous data may now be identifiable. All those risks are not disclosed here," Schaub said, after reviewing a copy of the flyer.

YouTube launches a pilot program to give terminated creators a "second chance" by letting them apply to create a new channel (Zach Vallese/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/09/youtube-banned-accounts-trump-misinformation.html

YouTube will give banned creators a 'second chance' after rule rollback
YouTube is rolling out a feature for previously terminated channels to apply to create a new channel after scrutiny from Republicans and President Donald Trump.

CFO Palantir talking about how they're working to make the various data streams of surveillance efficiently useful and remove the needle-in-a-haystack anonymity we have previously enjoyed. Awesome.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/opinion

YouTube launches a pilot program to give terminated creators a "second chance" by letting them apply to create a new channel (Zach Vallese/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/09/youtube-banned-accounts-trump-misinformation.html

YouTube will give banned creators a 'second chance' after rule rollback
YouTube is rolling out a feature for previously terminated channels to apply to create a new channel after scrutiny from Republicans and President Donald Trump.

Jerry Jones previously eyed Sean Payton for Cowboys job, but timing never aligned, he explains

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/jerry-j…

A few conservative representatives with ties to the FBI and the Justice Department have spilled that
the true details of the Epstein files are “worse” for Trump than previously reported, according to journalist David Schuster.
Michael Wolff, a longtime chronicler of Trump’s White House who conducted extensive interviews with Epstein prior to his death, told The Daily Beast last month that
Epstein had shown him photos of Trump with half-naked “young girls” in his lap.

DOJ Admits to Republicans That Epstein Files Are Even Worse for Trump
Details in the files are reportedly even more damning for Donald Trump than previously indicated—and it was already bad.

🧋 Study: There is less room to store carbon dioxide, driver of climate change, than previously thought
#co2

Study: There is less room to store carbon dioxide, driver of climate change, than previously thought
The world has far fewer places to securely store carbon dioxide deep underground than previously thought, steeply lowering its potential to help stem global warming, according to a new study that challenges long-held industry claims about the practice.

Microsoft Research, Providence, and UW develop the GigaTIME AI model, aiming to perform tumor analysis in a fraction of the time and cost of existing methods (Lisa Stiffler/GeekWire)
https://www.geekwire.com/2025/microsoft-an

Constrained Natural Language Action Planning for Resilient Embodied Systems
Grayson Byrd, Corban Rivera, Bethany Kemp, Meghan Booker, Aurora Schmidt, Celso M de Melo, Lalithkumar Seenivasan, Mathias Unberath
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.06357

Constrained Natural Language Action Planning for Resilient Embodied Systems
Replicating human-level intelligence in the execution of embodied tasks remains challenging due to the unconstrained nature of real-world environments. Novel use of large language models (LLMs) for task planning seeks to address the previously intractable state/action space of complex planning tasks, but hallucinations limit their reliability, and thus, viability beyond a research context. Additionally, the prompt engineering required to achieve adequate system performance lacks transparency, a…

Manchester’s Local Plan is available in draft.
You've til 17 Nov to respond.
Our post gives you the links to the plan and consultantation, AND our draft response that you can use as a template for yours!
In summary, the council is constrained by planning regulations but they could still do much better.
Tell them!
 #Manchester

Manchester’s Local Plan – responding to the consultation
UPDATE!  11 Nov.  We have now submitted a revised version.  It adds some answers to questions we didn’t address in the previously published draft, and has some additions to some of the other …

New from 404 Media: logins for Flock, the company behind the nationwide AI-camera network, are included in malware infections. Includes government and police accounts, meaning hackers could potentially break in. Senator Wyden asking FTC to investigate Flock via @…

Flock Logins Exposed In Malware Infections, Senator Asks FTC to Investigate the Company
Lawmakers say AI-camera company Flock is violating federal law by not enforcing multi-factor authentication. 404 Media previously found Flock credentials included in infostealer infections.

Antarctica sees similar climate change effects as Greenland: Study #Antarctica

Antarctica sees similar climate change effects as Greenland: Study
The planet's warming climate is having effects in Antarctica that increasingly resemble those observed in the Arctic, meaning global sea levels could rise faster than previously predicted, Danish researchers warned on Friday.

folks migrating away from hosting providers that hadn’t previously considered how tightly coupled their web framework was to said host are about to learn some things — I’m sorry and I wish you the best on your journey

Samba TV raised up to $60M in venture debt to scale through acquisitions and new AI-powered measurement tools; Samba previously raised $69M in equity funding (Kerry Flynn/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2025/12/08/samba-tv-measurement-venture-debt

Exclusive: Samba TV raises up to $60M venture debt
The firm plans to boost AI-powered media measurement and pursue acquisitions.

Temporal-Prior-Guided View Planning for Periodic 3D Plant Reconstruction
Sicong Pan, Xuying Huang, Maren Bennewitz
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.07028 https://

Temporal-Prior-Guided View Planning for Periodic 3D Plant Reconstruction
Periodic 3D reconstruction is essential for crop monitoring, but costly when each cycle restarts from scratch, wasting resources and ignoring information from previous captures. We propose temporal-prior-guided view planning for periodic plant reconstruction, in which a previously reconstructed model of the same plant is non-rigidly aligned to a new partial observation to form an approximation of the current geometry. To accommodate plant growth, we inflate this approximation and solve a set co…

Police in Edmonton, Canada partner with Axon to test body cameras with AI facial recognition, and say the results will be verified by human officers (Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/ai-facial-recognition-axon-edmonton-21f319ce806a0…

AI-equipped police body cameras in Canada's Edmonton spark ethical concerns
Police in Edmonton, Canada, have started a pilot project using AI-equipped body cameras to detect faces on a "high risk" watch list. The move by Axon Enterprise, Inc. has raised ethical concerns, especially since the company previously paused facial recognition due to privacy issues. The pilot aims to enhance officer and public safety by identifying individuals flagged for a history of serious offenses. However, critics worry about societal risks and the lack of public debate. Axon CEO Rick Smi…

The Trump administration is going to restrict the number of refugees it admits into the United States next year to the token level of just 7,500
– and those spots will mostly be filled by white South Africans.
The low number represents a dramatic drop after the US previously allowed in hundreds of thousands of people
fleeing war and persecution from around the world

🛖 Warming triggers unprecedented carbon loss from tropical soils, study finds
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/warming-triggers-unprecedented-carbon-loss-from-tropical-soils-study-finds/

Warming triggers unprecedented carbon loss from tropical soils, study finds
Climate warming could cause much greater soil carbon losses in the tropics than previously predicted, with potentially dire consequences for the global climate, according to a new study published in Nature Communications. Tropical forests store around a third of the world’s soil carbon and exchange more CO2 with the atmosphere than any other land biome. […]

Donald Trump has pardoned the former Tennessee House speaker and his former top aide in the state legislature
just weeks after they were sentenced to prison on public corruption charges.

Glen Casada, 66, was sentenced in September to three years in federal prison on charges
related to a kickback and bribery arrangement involving the legislature’s state-funded constituent mailer program.
Cade Cothren, 38, previously Casada’s chief of staff, was also convicted of fraud…

Trump pardons former Tennessee House speaker, top aide awaiting prison
Trump has granted clemency in the opening year of his term to several former elected officials convicted on corruption-related charges.

Jensen Huang says its Blackwell GPUs are now in full production in Arizona, after being solely manufactured in Taiwan previously (Kif Leswing/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/28/nvidia-jensen-huang-gtc-washington-dc-ai.html

Jensen Huang says Nvidia's AI chips are now being manufactured in Arizona
Previously, Nvidia's fastest GPUs were solely manufactured in Taiwan.

60 Minutes heavily edited down its interview with President Trump, after previously settling with him over editing a pre-election interview with Kamala Harris (Jeremy Barr/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/03/trump-cbs-60-minutes…

An appeals court in Missouri
✅has ordered the rewording of a misleading explainer for a Republican-backed ballot measure
🔥that aims to undo a previously passed initiative that expanded abortion and reproductive rights in the state.
The order from the three-judge panel within Missouri’s Western District of Appeals
represents the second time in just a few months that the explanation accompanying the anti-abortion ballot measure was found to be confusing or deceptive.

Missouri Court Orders Clearer Wording on GOP Measure to Undo Abortion Rights
The ballot measure seeks to undo a citizen-driven one that passed in 2024, which expanded abortion rights in the state.

Sources and docs: after Marc Andreessen donated $5M to Trump's 2024 campaign, most CFPB probes have stalled, including three into Andreessen-backed companies (Jake Pearson/ProPublica)
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-cfpb-marc-andreessen-silicon-vall…

Tech Billionaire Marc Andreessen Bet Big on Trump. It’s Paying Off for Silicon Valley.
The Trump administration’s gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been good for venture capitalists like Andreessen, who previously accused the agency of “terrorizing” fintech startups and crypto companies.

Tech Billionaire investor Marc Andreessen has long criticized the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
— calling it an impediment to fintech and crypto companies. 
Andreessen’s investment firm (Andreessen Horowitz aka A16Z) backed many fintech/crypto players that were under CFPB scrutiny,
Under the Trump administration, the CFPB’s enforcement efforts were sharply scaled back:
investigations suspended,
consumer-protection rule-makings shelved,
and …

Tech Billionaire Marc Andreessen Bet Big on Trump. It’s Paying Off for Silicon Valley.
The Trump administration’s gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been good for venture capitalists like Andreessen, who previously accused the agency of “terrorizing” fintech startups and crypto companies.

Comcast's board approves the spinoff of Comcast's cable TV networks and their digital platforms to create Versant Media Group, trading as VSNT as of January 5 (Jill Goldsmith/Deadline)
https://deadline.com/2025/12/comcast-board-approv…

Comcast Board Approves Separation Of Cable Networks Into New Versant Media Group In January
Comcast’s Board of Directors said it’s board has approved the previously announced separation its cable television networks into a new company called Versant.

Apple says general counsel Kate Adams and policy chief Lisa Jackson will retire, and Jennifer Newstead, Meta's former chief legal officer, will replace Adams (Kif Leswing/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/04/apple-announces-departure-lisa-jackson-k…

Apple announces departure of general counsel and policy chief
The two executives previously reported to Apple CEO Tim Cook and represent the latest sign that Apple's senior leadership is seeing a slew of exits.

Marc Andreessen is one of America’s most well-known investors and an outsize figure in the so-called fintech industry.
His firm seeded eight companies since 2016 that landed in the crosshairs of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
-- the small watchdog agency that Congress created after the 2008 financial crisis to protect vulnerable consumers from exploitation.
Some of those inquiries have resulted in consent orders, fines and, for one company, a lifetime industry ba…

Tech Billionaire Marc Andreessen Bet Big on Trump. It’s Paying Off for Silicon Valley.
The Trump administration’s gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been good for venture capitalists like Andreessen, who previously accused the agency of “terrorizing” fintech startups and crypto companies.

Jay Yarow, who previously led digital strategy at CNBC and Business Insider, is named president of CoinDesk Insights, the media and events division of Bullish (Aoyon Ashraf/CoinDesk)
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/12/01/cn…

CNBC Veteran Jay Yarow Joins CoinDesk to Expand Media and Events
Yarow will oversee CoinDesk Insights as its parent company looks to expand digital asset coverage across the globe.

Google rolls out an AI-powered conversational photo editing tool, previously exclusive to the Pixel 10 series, to all Google Photos users on Android (Artie Beaty/ZDNET)
https://www.zdnet.com/article/android-users-just…

Your Android phone just got a massive Google Photos upgrade - here's what it can do now
Previously exclusive to the Pixel 10, you can now edit photos with a simple AI prompt - remove glare, add clouds, and more.

Colorado voters overwhelmingly supported a pair of ballot measures that aim to ensure every public school child in the state is able to access free meals at their schools.
Proposition MM increases taxes on wealthy households earning more than $300,000 annually.
The measure supplements a previously passed referendum from 2022 that also called for increases in taxes in order to help fund schools, but which fell short of its funding goals.
The tax increases will affect around …

Colorado Passes Measures to Feed All Public School Kids by Taxing the Wealthy
Excess funds from the school meals program would be redirected toward the state-managed SNAP program.

The US DOJ has indicted two Virginia brothers, Muneeb and Sohaib Akhter, for allegedly deleting 96 US government databases while working as Opexus contractors (Sam Sabin/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2025/12/03/virgina-twins-doj-arrest-opexus-data-breaches

Virginia brothers arrested for allegedly tampering with government databases
The brothers worked for a contractor and previously pled guilty for hacking into the State Department.

If the November 2025 election was a referendum on President Trump, the Democrats have a lot to celebrate tonight.
Democratic candidates swept key races:
Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old Democratic socialist, beat Trump-endorsed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a historic election for New York City mayor.

Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a 46-year-old Democrat who previously worked as a CIA officer, beat a Republican candidate to become Virginia governor.

Rep…

Voters approve Prop. 50, California redistricting, in a win for Democrats
Prop. 50, California’s congressional redistricting measure, was on the ballot on a high-profile election day that saw Democratic wins in New York, New Jersey and elsewhere.

Decentralized exchange Ostium raised a $20M Series A led by General Catalyst and Jump Trading, a source says at a ~$250M valuation, after previously raising $8M (Ben Weiss/Fortune)
https://fortune.com/2025/12/03/ostium-series-a-fundraise-perpetuals-perps-cry…

Exclusive: Harvard grads raise $20 million for Ostium, a platform focused on a derivative popular with crypto traders
The marquee investors General Catalyst and Jump Crypto led the funding round.

Perplexity is making its AI browser Comet, previously $200 per month as part of Perplexity Max, free for all, with rate limits (Charles Rollet/Business Insider)
https://www.businessinsider.com/perplexity-makes-200-ai-browser-free-to-battle-ai-sl…

Find out how Perplexity wants to fight AI 'slop' with its latest browser
Perplexity's Comet browser is now free as the AI startup fights low-quality content and partners with publishers like CNN and The Washington Post.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX
has taken money directly from Chinese investors,
according to previously sealed testimony,
raising new questions about foreign ownership interests in one of the United States’ most important military contractors.
The recent testimony,
coming from a SpaceX insider during a court case,
marks the first time direct Chinese investment in the privately held company has been disclosed.
While there is no prohibition on Chinese ownership i…

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Took Money Directly From Chinese Investors, Company Insider Testifies
The newly unsealed testimony marks the first time direct Chinese investment in the company has been disclosed, raising new questions about foreign ownership interests in one of America’s most important military contractors.

US private payrolls unexpectedly declined in November, the ADP employment report showed on Wednesday.
Private employment decreased by 32,000 jobs last month
after an upwardly revised 47,000 increase in October.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private employment rising by 10,000 jobs after a previously reported 42,000 rebound in October.