One of the world’s most active volcanoes is back in action.
The Kilauea volcano at Hawaii Volcanoes national park is spewing lava once again, the seventh recorded episode in recent weeks.
Category: entertainment
Without the French interpreter so you can listen through the whole speech without interruption.
Twitter… @thebrynnium.
This is Philip K Dick’s famous Metz speech given in Metz, France in 1977. Philip gave the speech with a French interpreter beside him for the audience, but for English speakers it can be distracting. I took care of that for you in addition to very subtly improving the video quality and doing modest touch-ups to the audio, making it clearer and reducing the humming without too heavy a hand. In the speech he explores some of his ideas of parallel realities (lateral realities/lateral dimensions), his experience in 1974 (2−3−74), and how they both relate to his novels. A very exciting way to get introduced to the enigmatic, fascinating Philip K. Dick!
Gaming stuff I do:
The world’s most active volcano is at it again after Hawaii’s Kilauea began its seventh episode of its ongoing eruption, with video showing lava shooting more than 100 feet into the air.
Now, thanks to a brain implant, he’s experienced the thrill in a simulation. By picturing finger movements in his mind, the 69-year-old flew a virtual drone in a video game, with the quadcopter dodging obstacles and whizzing through randomly appearing rings in real time.
T5 is part of the BrainGate2 Neural Interface System clinical trial, which launched in 2009 to help paralyzed people control computer cursors, robotic arms, and other devices by decoding electrical activity in their brains. It’s not just for gaming. Having the ability to move and click a cursor gets them back online. Googling, emailing, streaming shows, scrolling though social media posts—what able-bodied people spend hours on every day—are now again part of their lives.
But cursors can only do so much. Popular gaming consoles—PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch—require you to precisely move your fingers, especially thumbs, fast and in multiple directions.
“The floor is lava,” proclaimed Willaim W in the live chat as more than 400 people watched shortly after midnight Jan. 25 while lava once again fountained from the north vent in the southwest portion of Halema’uma’u Crater within Kaluapele, the summit caldera, of Kīlauea.
Episode 6 of the Big Island volcano’s latest eruption, which began the week of Christmas 2024, is underway as lava flows onto the crater floor from a geiser that started at about 11:28 p.m. Jan. 24.
Lava was fountaining to between 10 and 20 feet high within about 2 hours after Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported spattering that kicked off at about 6 p.m. Jan. 24 increased to spatter fountaining and spiked in frequency and intensity.
In the expansive realm of science fiction, spacecraft come in a stunning array of shapes, sizes, and technological capabilities. While much has been said about the iconic vessels in the Star Trek universe, this video takes a refreshing turn to explore a broader landscape of sci-fi. We will delve into the fascinating world of the ten largest spherical structures that have captivated audiences in movies and TV series. From massive space stations to monumental alien constructs, each of these remarkable creations offers unique insights into the imaginative possibilities of the genre.
We systematically investigated the detection performance of Al nanostrips for single photons at various wavelengths. The Al films were deposited using magnetron sputtering, and the sophisticated nanostructures and morphology of the deposited films were revealed through high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The fabricated Al meander nanostrips, with a thickness of 4.2 nm and a width of 178 nm, exhibited a superconducting transition temperature of 2.4 K and a critical current of approximately 5 μA at 0.85 K. While the Al nanostrips demonstrated a saturated internal quantum efficiency for 405-nm photons, the internal detection efficiency exhibited an exponential dependence on bias current without any saturation tendency for 1550-nm photons. This behavior can be attributed to the relatively large diffusion coefficient and coherence length of the Al films.
A team of physicists at Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, in France, working with a colleague from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, in Germany, has observed an odd quantum phase transition in indium oxide films. In their study published in the journal Nature Physics, the group used microwave spectroscopy to study the internal properties and behavior of indium oxide films as they transitioned between superconducting and insulating states.
Prior research has shown that when a superconductor undergoes a phase transition between superconductivity and insulation, its superfluid stiffness generally occurs in a smooth, continuous fashion. Superfluid stiffness is a measurement that has been developed to gauge how resistant a material is to changing from one phase to another. In this new study, the research team found an exception to that rule in indium oxide films.
In their work, the researchers were investigating the properties of indium oxide, a material that, when chilled to a certain temperature, changes to a superconductor—it is also known to have multiple disorders at multiple levels. Such disorders give the material unusual properties.
Open-World Games’ Affordance of Cognitive Escapism, Relaxation, and Mental Well-Being Among Postgraduate Students: Mixed Methods Study
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Background: Open-world games, characterized by their expansive and interactive environments, may offer unique cognitive escapism opportunities, potentially leading to relaxation and enhanced well-being. These games, such as “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” and “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” allow players to experience a sense of freedom and autonomy, which can reduce stress and improve mental health. While previous research has examined the general impact of video games on mental well-being, specific studies on the effects of open-world games among postgraduate students are limited.
Objective: This study aims to investigate the relationships between cognitive escapism provided by open-world games and their effects on relaxation and well-being. The goal was to understand how the immersive nature of these games contributes to stress reduction and overall mental health improvement among postgraduate students.
Methods: A mixed methods approach was used, which involved in-depth exploratory qualitative interviews and a survey of 609 players of popular open-world games. Quantitative data were collected using standardized questionnaires to measure open-world games’ affordance of cognitive escapism, relaxation, and well-being. Qualitative data were obtained through 32 in-depth interviews that explored players’ experiences and perceptions of cognitive escapism, relaxation, and mental well-being.