Improvised Firearm

Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has died after being shot with a "homemade shotgun," Bloomberg reports.

It's a highly unusual event — especially considering just how rare gun violence is in Japan. The country has some of the most strict gun laws in the world, requiring potential gun owners to go through extensive background checks and paperwork, including information about the owner's family, and mental health.

In other words, it's the polar opposite of the situation back here in the US, where firearms can be bought at Walmart in some states, without even needing to register them or get a permit.

The numbers speak for themselves: there were more than four firearm homicides per 100,000 people in 2019. Japan had almost none. In 2018, when America had 39,740 gun violence-related deaths, Japan had 8.

Two Tubes

To that end: The assassin may have circumvented Japan's strict gun laws by building their own shotgun. According to Bloomberg, the suspect held a device made out of two tubes wrapped together with black tape, an improvised firearm — presumably created to escape detection.

"This actually shows the extent that Japan gun laws are working," Daniel Foote, a professor at the University of Tokyo specializing in law and society, told Bloomberg. "Very few people have the ability to create such a weapon."

Loose Security

According to experts, the rarity of the event may have actually contributed to the fact that it was relatively easy to assassinate Abe.

"Security was obviously too loose and this will prompt a tightening up of security, especially at open-air speeches, given we’re in the middle of elections," Hiroshima Shudo University criminal law professor William Cleary told the broadcaster.

The last time a Japanese prime minster was killed was in 1932, when Tsuyoshi Inukai was famously stabbed during his tenure by Navy staff after being accused of provoking war with the US.

Abe was seen by some as a polarizing figure, as The Washington Post reports, pushing Japan to expand its military defenses during his tenure. He resigned back in 2020 due to chronic ulcreative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease.

It's an unfortunate situation, given the fact that even with some of the strictest gun laws, people will find ways to gain access to illegal firearms. Especially with the rise of 3D-printed guns — and even rifles — we're bound to hear about more incidents like this one.

READ MORE: Shooting of Japan’s Ex-Leader Shocks Nation Where Guns Are Rare [Bloomberg]

More on gun laws: Drama Engulfs Plan to Zap School Shooters With Taser-Toting Drones

The post Former Japanese Prime Minister Assassinated With "Homemade Shotgun" appeared first on Futurism.

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Former Japanese Prime Minister Assassinated With "Homemade Shotgun"

Little did we know at the beginning of this term that Afrofuturism would become now, as weve been forced to adapt to new uses of technology not just to complete the school term, but just to go about our daily lives.

Tananarive Due, lecturer on Afrofuturism in UCLAs Department of African American Studies, speaking at the departments virtual commencement on June 12

Professor Due continued by paraphrasing Angela Davis, one of UCLAs most famous faculty members: In order to work toward a better future, we need to believe that future is possible. For many, Afrofuturism is exploring those possibilities.

An Array of Expanding Definitions

What is Afrofuturism? Its the story of musicians, artists, writers, philosophers, fashion icons, filmmakers, costume and set designers, actors, activists and academics who have believed in a better future for Black people and for all people.

Afrofuturism, more concretely, can be understood as a wide-ranging social, political and artistic movement that dares to imagine a world where African-descended peoples and their cultures play a central role in the creation of that world.

Witness the sci-fi novels of one-time UCLA Extension student Octavia E. Butler. The saxophone epics spawned by former UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music student Kamasi Washington. Marvels blockbuster Black Panther and the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, executive-produced and co-directed, respectively, by Bruins. Or Jay-Z and Beyonces Family Feud music video, set in 2444 and directed by UCLAs own Ava DuVernay.

These are all examples of Afrofuturism, a term coined in the 1990s to describe a decadeslong cultural wave thats now being recognized as a powerful creative force. Not only are these captivating, provocative works being brought forth by Bruin creators, but an entire body of UCLA scholarship also offers perspective on and gives shape to this multidisciplinary movement.

The album cover for the Sun Ra Arkestras Nuclear War.

Many of its aesthetic tropes a rich color palette, African iconography and a fascination with technoculture were laid down by cosmic philosopher and jazz giant Sun Ra, starting in the 1950s. According to Shana Redmond, professor of musicology and global jazz studies in the School of Music and professor of African American studies, the Afrofuturist movement is evidence that Black music has often operated as protest strategy as well as a portal for developing ideas about new futures for African-descended peoples. Today, during a health pandemic that has disproportionately impacted Black communities, combined with a renewed focus on systemic racial injustice, Afrofuturisms power to imagine a more just society is increasingly relevant.

Being in Los Angeles offers unique possibilities for the theorizing and practice of Afrofuturism, because theres such incredible talent in this space and people are constantly colliding through formal institutions such as UCLA, she says. The creative magnetism of Los Angeles is naturally going to feed into all of the rivulets of a formation that might be called Afrofuturism.

Sheer Boldness

With Afrofuturism, the point is to challenge what it means for Black people to be free on our own terms. Liberation is a very important part of the genre.

Dalena Hunter

Librarian and archivist for Los Angeles Communities and Cultures at UCLA Library

One of the movements inspirational figures is Octavia E. Butler, an Afrofuturist writer and thinker long before critic Mark Dery coined the term in his 1993 essay Black to the Future.

Butler was born in Pasadena in 1947. A self-described hermit, she would venture to the Los Angeles Public Librarys Central Library in pursuit of her passion for storytelling. At the library, she wrote her first book, Patternmaster, published in 1976.

In 2019, the Central Library opened the Octavia Lab, a do-it-yourself studio space named in Butlers honor. This past summer, the Octavia Lab used 3D printers the kind of technology that Afrofuturism celebrates to produce personal protective equipment for health care workers.

Against the odds, Butler blazed a trail through the white maledominated world of science fiction. She told the New York Times in a 2000 interview: When I began writing science fiction, when I began reading, heck, I wasnt in any of this stuff I read. I wrote myself in, since Im me and Im here and Im writing.

One of her fans is Dalena Hunter, a librarian and archivist for Los Angeles Communities and Cultures at UCLA Librarys Special Collections. In 2018, Hunter and Kelly Besser, archivist for UCLA Librarys Special Collections, participated in a San Diego Comic-Con panel called Beyond Wakanda: Intersectional Afrofuturism. Hunter says, With Afrofuturism, the point is to challenge what it means for Black people to be free on our own terms. Liberation is a very important part of the genre.

Besser notes that the Octavia E. Butler Collection the most-requested papers at the Huntington Library in 2019 offers an intensely personal window into Butlers writing life. When she was struggling to become who she became, she created these large posters that had inspirational themes on them: Act Courageous. Act Confident. Act Quietly Intelligent. And Take the offensive against your fears conquer them by sheer boldness, Besser says. It has a real goosebumps effect.

When Besser taught Butlers 1993 novel, Parable of the Sower, to high school students in South L.A., the teenagers saw parallels with the 1965 Watts riots and 1992 L.A. riots. The kids responded to the idea of shaping the future. There were people [in the novel] of all races, genders and sexual orientations struggling to survive. It looked like L.A. to my students.

Amazon Studios is adapting Butlers books Dawn and Wild Seed for TV, the former in partnership with DuVernays ARRAY Filmworks. Another indication were living in an Afrofuturist present? Parable of the Sower takes place in a fictional Los Angeles, set in the 2020s, thats dominated by corporate greed, wealth inequality and ecological disaster themes that are all too familiar today.

Jabari Jacobs

Dexter Story

A World of Sci-fi Black Champions

Music, too, is a critical element of the landscape. Dexter Story M.A. 19 is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer and producer who grew up in the View Park section of L.A., bordering Inglewood. He has produced and music-directed several concerts for downtown L.A.s Grand Performances summer series Mothership Landing: Funk and the Afrofuturist Universe of 77 in July 2017, among them. A Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellow working toward his ethnomusicology Ph.D. at UCLA, he tells the story of Afrofuturism from the perspective of a musician, an academic and a fan.

I entered the world of Afrofuturism through comic books, the Black Panther when TChalla meets the Fantastic Four, he says. My start was in art. My mom was very encouraging of music but thought I should be involved more in fine art. What pulled me into Afrofuturist music were the [album] covers of Parliament-Funkadelic.

Story was hooked on the funk collectives two bands throughout the 70s. Concurrent with me going into this Afrofuturist world with [Parliament-Funkadelic members] Bootsy [Collins], Bernie [Worrell] and [George] Clinton, I also had the artwork on the vinyl that spoke to sci-fi movies and soundtracks.

When Story saw Parliament-Funkadelic band leader George Clinton and the Mothership on stage in 1979, he realized it wasnt just that it was symbolic of Afrofuturism [Clinton] dared to go there and turn his narrative into an embodied experience for people a spaceship that flies over my head and blows pyrotechnics, then he exits, and Im transported to a world of sci-fi Black champions. So its that, too its daring to create ones relationship to this present and push the boundaries of whats possible.

Top Brass

Saxophonist and composer Kamasi Washington embodies Afrofuturisms potential in the current moment, without being defined by it. He credits his time as an ethnomusicology student at the School of Music, from 1999 to 2004, with widening his worldview. He says he relates to the science-fiction and surrealist aspects of the Afrofuturist movement.

Ive always had that storyteller imagination, and I would drift off into my own little world, he says. Even before I knew the term Afrofuturism, once I found out theres a whole movement of people that are like that, it was like, Oh, cool!

It shaped who I am, musically and aesthetically, how I think and how I exist. To Washington, Afrofuturism is the creative expression of the wonder and marvel of what the future may hold.

Washingtons music comes out of the jazz tradition but is constantly seeking to go beyond. Washington, saxophone player and producer Terrace Martin, producer 9th Wonder, and piano and keyboard virtuoso Robert Glasper make up the recently formed supergroup Dinner Party (their eponymous album was released in July). The groups animated music video for Sleepless Nights is decidedly Afrofuturistic. Washington is also working on a graphic novel that draws from this aesthetic.

For Washington, music works as protest because it profoundly impacts the mind of the listener.

Sound is the one sense that we cant turn off, he says. [Music] is a great tool for creating empathy and for learning. Ultimately, the world is what the people who live in it make it. As we shape the minds of the people that live in the world, we help shape what that world will be at the same time.

Reflecting on the current social justice movement, Washington says: The most powerful thing Ive seen is the notion that everyone needs to help push this rock up the hill. This global system that were all in is not meant for equality. If were going to keep the same system, then that just means were going to put somebody else in a state of inequality. That means we have to change systems.

Black Panther, Green Light

Nate Moore 00 had his own Afrofuturist awakening in the early 90s through Marvels Black Panther comics, not knowing that one day he would be a steward of the billion-dollar Marvel film franchise. I was a fan of the comic Black Panther: World of Wakanda through the years the characters introduction by Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four, then Don McGregor embraced African culture and tech and combined the two, says Moore, who executive produced the 2018 hit film. There were the possibilities for an Afrofuturistic aesthetic with these characters. Chief among them was King TChalla, gracefully portrayed by the late Chadwick Boseman,who died Aug. 28 after a four-year battle with colon cancer.

Disney/Marvel Studios

A Black Panther scene featuring the Masai-inspired Dora Milaje, Wakandas elite royal military unit.

Moore says Black Panthers production designer, Hannah Beachler, and costume designer, Ruth E. Carter, worked in concert inspired by Afrofuturism to fully realize Wakanda on the big screen.

Hannah put together a Wakanda bible that would pull from the technological cutting edge and from various cultures in Africa, he says. It was a love letter to as many cultures as we could include, without breaking the reality of the world or crossing over into appropriation. Hannah focused on: What does the future look like? How do you steep that in Afrofuturism?

Moore adds: How Black Panther embraces Afrofuturism is why we wanted to make the movie in the first place. Without Octavia Butler and others laying the groundwork, it would have been harder to pull off. We owe them.

Following the movies breakout success, Moore has started to process what Black Panthers legacy could mean. Unfortunately, in America especially, visions of Africa are always of people in need of saving, he says. Saviors can come from Africa. That seemed revolutionary.

A Future Without Limits

So whats next? Or rather, whats now?

Story believes the coronavirus and current racial tensions related to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery are accelerating our collective journey into Afrofuturism: [Video gaming platform] Twitch is the new home of Afrofuturism, if you follow people like [hip-hop DJ collective] theBeat Junkies, activistTanya DePass,BlackGirlGamersandThe Roots. The pandemic has dropped us into a wormhole of the cyberculture.

Hunter looks to the Afrofuturist movies that younger Black people are being exposed to, such as Spider-Verse, which was co-directed by former UCLA fine arts student Peter Ramsey. I appreciated how they incorporated [Miles Morales] African American heritage into his identity as Spider-Man, she says. Hes not trying to fit in, but finding his place in this new school and flourishing. You get to watch him mature.

And Redmond is optimistic for whats next. Theres been a whole recentering of the scholastic enterprise of Afrofuturism through the route of fiction and of music making, she says. We understand how much value we [as African-descended peoples] hold as a creative force in the world. If we can begin to take that seriously and train toward something different, then the alternative world will follow.

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Afrofuturism: From the Past to the Living Present | UCLA

Cassette FuturismCassette FuturismKey motifs

cassettes, crt monitors, third generation computers

beige, cream, grey, red, green, blue

Cassette Futurism is a genre of retrofuturism based on the 70's and 80's. The media itself does not have to be set in this time period, but rather explore the speculated alternate future of it. As the name suggests, Cassettes are the main way of storing and transferring data.

CRT monitors are often used, occasionally evolved into larger more complicated machines, still with curved screens and chunky beige cases. These machines also often have large panels with lots of blinking lights and buttons and any graphics will be poor. Use of geometric shapes is common, and greebling is used mostly on places like lab walls or spaceships.

Scenes may be monochromatic due to the overuse of grey/beige colours, sometimes with the glow of an led light, usually in red, green, or blue. If there is multiple colours, they are often analogous.

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Cassette Futurism | Aesthetics Wiki | Fandom

"I bet I still end up next to someone else's screaming three year old for the entire trip."Howl's Nuclear Castle

It's definitely not a bird, but it is sort of a plane. Specifically, it's a non-existent but admittedly very cool concept called theSky Cruise, a fantastical nuclear-powered sky hotel.

The impressively-detailed video rendering visualizes a hulking airborne vessel, allegedly designed to house over 5,000 guests in nearly nonstop flight. Alongside magnificent views of nature including a close-up look at the Northern lights there are seemingly endless things to do: fancy restaurants, a massive shopping mall, gyms, theaters, pools, wellness and medical services, event spaces, and more. The narrator even points out that getting married above the clouds would be a pretty awesome way to say "I do."

But, as one YouTube commenter pointed out, there seems to be one very important amenity missing.

"I'd still want an old-fashioned arcade where I can turn my tickets in for cheap-azz prizes," they wrote. Honestly, fair.

The conceptual skycraft boasts 20 electric engines, powered solely by a "small nuclear reactor" that "uses highly-controlled fusion reaction," And because it wouldn't need to be refueled, it would rarely need to land. Guests would fly to and from the sky high hotel on commercial or private jetliners, and all repairs would be done in-air.

Many commenters, however, were quick to call out design flaws not the least being that practical nuclear fusion doesn't actually exist yet. And even if it did, there would be other immense engineering challenges to surmount.

"If physics and aerodynamics didn't exist, then this vessel might actually be able to take off," remarked another YouTuber. Harsh!

But the biggest caveat of all? The narrator claims that the design "combines the features of a commercial plane, while offering the epitome of luxury." Seeing as how commercial plane and luxury do not belong in the same sentence, that feels like a major plothole.

As another commenter so elegantly put it: "I bet I still end up next to someone else's screaming three year old for the entire trip."

More here:

We're in Awe of this Absolutely Deranged "Nuclear-Powered Sky Hotel" - Futurism

Oops.Small Desk Energy

Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a big deal earlier this month about forcing employees to return to work or else face the consequences shortly before announcing he had a "super bad feeling" about the economy and firing ten percent of the company's workforce.

But in spite of that bluster, the logistics of actually getting workers back on site is proving tricky. The company's offices literally aren't equipped to handle the recent influx, The Information reports, with parking spots and desks difficult to come by.

It's yet another chapter in Tesla's chaotic end to the second quarter, with Musk's brash leadership style once again shaking up the company's already tumultuous operations. In a particularly embarrassing twist, the company has even been forced to rescind job offers to people who had already accepted them.

The number of employees at the carmaker has doubled over the last three years, rising to almost 100,000 people. Over that same period, the COVID-19 pandemic has redefined what it means to work from home, with countless employees opting against coming in to a physical office.

But ever since Musk threatened to fire any full-time employee who didn't return, things have reportedly gotten out of hand.

According to The Information, workers struggled to find places to park at the company's factory in Fremont, California. Parts of the office that were used for different purposes during the pandemic were no longer able to accommodate many workers.

Things got so bad that the WiFi started acting up, according to the report, forcing managers to tell employees to disregard Musk's threats and work from home anyway.

Alongside Musk's disastrous bid to buy Twitter and SpaceX employees denouncing him for failing to fulfil the team's "No Asshole" and zero-tolerance sexual harassment policies, his management style is increasingly coming under question.

The billionaire CEO's hands are certainly full right now and the cracks are starting to show.

READ MORE: At Tesla, Returning to the Office Creates New Problems [The Information]

More on Musk: As Crisis Deepens, Tesla Rescinds Job Offers to People Who'd Already Accepted Them

Read more:

Tesla Demanded Workers Come Back to Office, Then Realized It Didn't Have Enough Desks - Futurism

One more crater!Moonstruck

We may finally have found closure for the saga of the derelict rocket believed to have crashed into the Moon earlier this year. Scientists have discovered a newly-formed double crater on the far side of our natural satellite, according to a NASA press release, where they believethe defunct spacecraft smashed down.

Using imagery captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), astronomers were able to deduce that the mystery space debris spotted on collision course for the Moon back in February crash-landed near the Hertzsprung Crater in early March.

The scientific community also seems very pleased that the debris made lunar contact pretty much right where they thought it would.

"Newton wins again," joked Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in an email to Gizmodo.

The ramshackle rocket has faced its fair share of controversy.

When the hunk of junk was first caught speeding towards the lunar surface, it was believed to a SpaceX second stage Falcon 9 craft an allegation that CEO Elon Musk took a lot of heat for.

But further observation revealed otherwise, and now experts believe that the unfortunate debris was actually a Chinese Chang'e 5-T1 booster, left over from the nation's 2014 mission to the Moon.

China, however, denies any responsibility, insisting that the Chang'e shuttle in question was eviscerated when re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

The fact that the Definitely Not Chinese rocket created a double crater raises its own questions. As Gizmodo points out, it's a strange mark for any spacecraft to make; NASA speculates that the "unexpected" impact shape implies that the space trash must have had "large masses at each end," which doesn't necessarily check out for a Chang'e. So, maybe we don't have closure after all?

In any case, it's a bummer that humankind has officially hurled even more garbage at our lunar friend in the sky. This is why we can't have nice things.

READ MORE: Likely Crash Site of Mystery Space Junk Spotted on Moons Far Side [Gizmodo]

More on space junk: Russia Forced to Dodge Space Debris From When It Blew Up Satellite

Originally posted here:

NASA Spots Location Where Derelict Rocket Smashed Into the Moon - Futurism

This 18-year-old is putting the fun in non-fungible.NFT Toys

While NFT collectors are still spending appreciable amounts of money on JPEGs, others are finding creative ways to cash in on the trend in less digital ways.

Take 18-year-old Ricky da Luz, for instance, who Insider reports figured out that people go absolutely hogwild over physical representations of their Bored Ape NFTs. In fact, he's already sold collectors $700,000 worth of NFT busts, toys, and action figures.

With the help of his dad and six staff members, da Luz's venture, called IsmToys, has grown into a considerable business complete with all the jargon you'd expect from the web3 world.

"We're tripling down on helping Web2 companies enter the Web3 space, while also converting their audience into Web3 people," da Luz told Insider. "We link the toys to actual NFTs and the digital assets act as authenticators for the toys."

The company is selling commissioned creations that are one-to-one unique with a specific NFT for an average of $700, as well as other toys that are cheaper and not unique. Naturally, IsmToys mostly takes payment in Ethereum.

The NFT.NYC conference happening right now is also boosting sales, with da Luz claiming the company has taken in over 200 orders.

"I'm emotionally attached to my Ape, so having toys of my Ape is reinforcing my emotional attachment to my digital persona," a collector who goes by @nftgerry told Insider.

There we have it, folks while NFT collectors are pining to get "exclusive" rights over a digital drawing, others are already yearning to take the act of collecting back to its roots: a cluttered shelf of keepsakes.

READ MORE: This 18-year-old just raked in $700,000 of revenue selling Bored Ape toys and NFT holders say the physical replicas reinforce their attachment to digital identities. [Insider]

More on NFTs: Family Guy Actor Pays Huge Ransom for Stolen Bored Ape

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Teen Makes $700,000 Selling Action Figures of Bored Apes to Adult Children - Futurism

They actually thought this was a good idea.Alex-sad

It's something only a corporation as soulless as Amazon could dream up.

The e-retailer is planning to allow its Alexa smart speaker to mimic the voices of deceased loved ones arguably a rather "Black Mirror"-esque failure to read the room.

During its annual re:Mars conference this week, Amazons senior vice president and head scientist for Alexa, Rohit Prasad, showed off a demo of a late grandmother's voice reading a bedtime story to a child, TechCrunch reports.

"This required inventions where we had to learn to produce a high-quality voice with less than a minute of recording versus hours of recording in the studio," Prasad said at the conference, as quoted by TechCrunch. "The way we made it happen is by framing the problem as a voice conversion task and not a speech generation path."

Despite the morbid implications of such tech, Amazon says it's an impressive example of AI technologies. Prasad called digitally waking grandmother up from her eternal slumber a big win.

"We are unquestionably living in the golden era of AI, where our dreams and science fictions are becoming a reality," he added.

But that's about all we know about the feature, as Amazon was rather short on details about its latest invention.

It's not the first device to imitate somebody's voice. In fact, as Gizmodo points out, a similar AI-powered device by Japanese toy brand Takara Tomy can read bedtime stories to children by imitating their parents' voices.

Intentionally mimicking the voices of dead relatives isn't just creepy, It could also be used for far more nefarious purposes a far more likely eventuality than you'd think.

READ MORE: Alexa will soon be able to read stories as your dead grandma [TechCrunch]

More on Alexa: NASA Is Installing Amazon Alexa on Its Next Moon Mission, for Some Cursed Reason

Read more:

Amazon Shows Off Tech That Lets Alexa Copy Voice of Dead Relatives - Futurism

In a surprise finding, researchers have found that getting at least one flu shot makes it 40 percent less likely for people over the age of 65 to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, up to four years later.

While it's still far too early to determine if there are any direct causal links between the common vaccine and neurological health outcomes like Alzheimer's in other words, we don't know if it's the flu vaccine itself or something else responsible for the results the research is certainly an eyebrow-raising new development that could,potentially, point in the direction of easily accessible treatments.

In a peer-reviewed study in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, researchers at UTHealth Houston compared the incidence rate of the disease in patients with and without at least one flu vaccination in a nationwide sample of US adults aged 65 and up, which included 935,887 vaccinated and 935,887 non-vaccinated individuals.

The results are modest but intriguing, especially considering how much time and effort is being invested in slowing down and reversing the disease. Around 5.1 percent of those with prior flu vaccinations developed Alzheimer's, compared to 8.5 percent of unvaccinated patients who were later diagnosed with the disease.

"We found that flu vaccination in older adults reduces the risk of developing Alzheimers disease for several years," said first author Avram Bukhbinder, recent UTHealth Houston graduate, in a statement. "The strength of this protective effect increased with the number of years that a person received an annual flu vaccine in other words, the rate of developing Alzheimers was lowest among those who consistently received the flu vaccine every year."

"Future research should assess whether flu vaccination is also associated with the rate of symptom progression in patients who already have Alzheimers dementia," Bukhbinder added.

Most notably, the researchers don't know the underlying mechanisms that could explain the schism between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals that is, if there are any in the first place.

"Since there is evidence that several vaccines may protect from Alzheimer's disease, we are thinking that it isn't a specific effect of the flu vaccine," said senior author and UTHealth MD Paul Schulz in the statement. "Instead, we believe that the immune system is complex, and some alterations, such as pneumonia, may activate it in a way that makes Alzheimer's disease worse."

There may be other reasons as well.

"But other things that activate the immune system may do so in a different way one that protects from Alzheimer's disease," he added.

In short, it's an interesting blip in the data that deserves plenty of future research.

"Clearly, we have more to learn about how the immune system worsens or improves outcomes in this disease," Schulz argued.

READ MORE: UTHealth Houston study: Flu vaccination linked to 40% reduced risk of Alzheimers disease [UTHealth]

More on Alzheimer's: "Poisonous Flowers" in Brain May Cause Alzheimer's, Scientists Say

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Weirdly, It Appears the Flu Vaccine May Protect Against Alzheimer's - Futurism

Early this year in January, SuperGaming announced Indus: Battle Royale. A made-in-India battle royale for the world that will be available for Mobile, PC, and Console platforms. Considering Indias highly lucrative and rapidly evolving gaming industry, this is a big step for the future. Now the country has a battle royale game to call its own, and whats an added advantage is the games focus on presenting the world with a futuristic version of India. Since the announcement, Indus has made headlines for various aspects that have been unique in the game. And now in the latest episode of Inside Indus, the developers revealed everything about the concept of Indus: Battle Royale.

Indus is a battle royale game that will be available for PC, Mobile, and console platforms worldwide. The developers at Indus said that Indus is a made-in-India for-the-world battle royale for mobile, PC, and consoles with a 2022 release date. Its being developed with the focus of bringing our take on Indian culture with a futuristic twist for gamers across the globe.

In the latest episode of Inside Indus, the CEO Roby, the writers of Indus, Ankush and Rishi talked about the main underlying theme of the game which is called Indo-Futurism. In the video, the speakers also talk about the inspiration for the theme derived from the great Indus valley civilization. They also talked about what couldve happened to the Indus valley civilization? What if they had traveled into the future?

Keeping this as a base idea, the team brainstormed on a lot of ideas to make the story of the game seem as futuristic as possible and ended up getting inspired by the concept of Afro-futurism which was first presented in the movie Black Panther with the interpretation of Wakanda, a futuristic city with themes that combined Africas rich heritage with a hopeful future. This gave rise to Induss main theme of Indo-Futurism.

Indus is based in the year 2500 and unlike any other battle royale game, Indus is not set in a destroyed or gloomy state. It is set in an optimistic vision of India in the future and shows what couldve been and what still can be. This gives gamers a unique reason to come back to the game again and again. Indo-Futurism also sheds light on those scarcely represented parts of India that deserve local and global recognition.

Through Indo-Futurism, the development team aims to set a bar for Indian games in the global gaming market. Until now, we havent had huge success in this task but with Indus, the team hopes to represent Indias take on Sci-fi thats rooted in our culture like with Godzilla from Japan or the Fallout series from the US. The core pillars of Indo-Futurism are:

While the theme of the game explains the first two core pillars, the rest are extremely important considering science fiction. Science Fiction over the years has been regularly associated with dystopian-style stories. However, with Indus, the development team plans to shift the narrative towards hope and optimism.

As Indus is a futuristic world that has eliminated key societal issues with citizens who have a deeper understanding of their part in the world who emphasize the use of technology for the betterment of the planet while sticking to our roots and blissfully representing Indian mythology and elements of our culture like arts and traditions.

Despite all the Indianness involved, the game still has modern deadly weapons, mechanics, and gameplay that match the current battle royale genre feeling. The teams main aim is to present users with an example of what Indian science fiction can do and create a universe in which players and their friends can explore where they have stories to tell from Virlok.

What are your thoughts about the concept of Indus: Battle Royale revealed in the Inside Indus episode? Let us know in the comments below!

For more Mobile Gaming news and updates, join ourWhatsApp group,Telegram Group,orDiscord server. Also, follow us onGoogle News,Instagram,andTwitterfor quick updates.

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Inside Indus' latest episode reveals how well the game's concept is related to a futuristic India - GamingonPhone

Space weather is weird.Down, Down Down

Most folks probably don't think of satellites as capable of sinking, but according to the European Space Agency they can and do.

Space news site Space.com reported Thursday that ESA scientists had to raise the Swarm constellation satellites, which measure Earth's magnetic field, because they were sinking in chaotic space weather.

"In the last five, six years, the satellites were sinking about two and a half kilometers [1.5 miles] a year," Swarm mission managerAnja Stromme, ESA's told Space.com. "But since December last year, they have been virtually diving. The sink rate between December and April has been 20 kilometers [12 miles] per year."

Although satellites always face a downward drag while in orbit, space weather has been making the sink worse, the ESA said. That's why the International Space Station makes frequent maneuvers to keep itself in orbit and out of the worst of the drag.

Space.com says that since last fall, the Sun has been acting pretty weird in general.

A growing sun spot has doubled in size and is pointed directly at the Earth, although scientists say we shouldn't be concerned (but then, how could you not be?) That phenomenon may not be connected with sinking satellites, but it does highlight how conditions in space are ever-changing.

We'll keep our eyes out for more space weather updates, because it sure does seem like there's at least some stormy weather going on up there.

More on off-world news: NASA Spots Location Where Derelict Rocket Smashed Into the Moon

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Scientists Say the Sun Is Acting Up and Causing Satellites to Fall Back to Earth - Futurism

Finally, apes that aren't boring af.Ape Shit

Don't kill the cringe kill the part of you that cringes.

You'll have to if you want to enjoy Snoop Dogg and Eminem's newest music video for their new single "From the D 2 The LBC." The nearly-five-minute-clip debuted Friday and depicts the two iconic rappers blowin' smoke in the studio. The aforementioned smoke leads Eminem to have some pretty trippy hallucinations, including seeing himself and Snoop as Bored Ape cartoon characters based on the NFTs the musicians respectively own.

The entire project has a comic book or superhero vibe to it, with hand-drawn art showcasing the artists' creativity in a way we honestly didn't expect from an NFT-inspired project. The sunset backgrounds are pretty, and the entire vibe is pretty chill.

The pair performed the song live for Bored Ape Yacht Club members in New York last week and debuted the music video at the same time, according to Thursday's report in the Verge.

NFTs are volatile asset classes, but it's not clear if celebrities understand the danger for everyday investors. Still, seeing this duo do something interested with heretofore boring old Bored Ape illustrations is kind of nice.

Once an artist owns an ape, according to the Verge, they can make derivative works based on it. That's part of BAYC's monetization plan, even if nobody can say how, exactly, an Eminem and Snoop Dogg video will turn a profit for other investors. It's weird and most likely just a good way to lose a lot of money, but the song and the video slap.

The good news is the time spent enjoying them is 100 percent free, no crypto exchange required.

More on Bored Ape weirdness: Teen Makes $700,000 Selling Action Figures of Bored Apes to Adult Children

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Eminem and Snoop Dogg Make Music Video Where They Appear as Their Bored Apes - Futurism

Bicycle helmets are not only an extremely practical accessory to wear while riding a bike, motorcycle, or scooter, they're required by law in some places. Preventable fatal bike accidents have increased by 44 percent since 2010 to a staggering 1,260 in 2020, according to the National Safety Council. A helmet can help reduce your odds of becoming a statistic.

The good thing is that helmets have gotten a lot better than the ones most of us wore in decades past. They're sleeker and more comfortable, so wearing them feels less like an obligation or chore. If you've taken up biking or riding a scooter as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, or have been an advocate for bipedal transport for years, these bike helmets will help get you where you want to go safely and in style.

Key Selling Point: This helmet's yellow color makes it easy for drivers, pedestrians, and other riders to see.

Visibility is this helmet's best feature, but we also like its sleek look, and the cutouts spaced throughout the top. These cutouts act as a ventilation system, which will keep your head from getting too sweaty and help prevent overheating.

You'll inevitably sweat during long rides, so it's great that you can detach this helmet's chin strap and wash it regularly. We're all familiar with the icky feeling of putting on a helmet and experiencing a slightly damp feeling on the sides and bottom of your face.

Ssense offers this exact same helmet in a variety of colors and patterns, so you can easily find one that matches your style. All of its helmets are available in small, medium, and large sizes, with specific head measurements on its site to help you find the one that'll fit you best.

Key Selling Point: This helmet is designed with custom foam padding that can more evenly distribute energy in case of impact.

Schwinn has one of the best reputations in the biking world, and this helmet is a good example of why that's well-warranted. The large-sized helmet has 12 vent holes on top to help keep your head cool, and an adjustable dial to help you adjust the chin strap quickly and easily. When you're done riding, the inner protective layer of Schwinn's helmet can be washed, which keeps it sanitary if you ride frequently.

The company says this helmet's waffle-shaped pads are flexible, so they'll absorb shock waves from an impact and diffuse them in different directions. This means the helmet provides cranial protection. This is certainly the most technically advanced bicycle helmet we've been able to find, and a great choice for city commuters and off-road riders alike.

Key Selling Point: LED safety lights to alert other people to your presence and current direction.

If you ride your bike at night, getting a helmet with some sort of lighting system is essential. The back of Cyclic's Hybrid Bike Helmet has a five LED lights on the back, so drivers will be able to see you clearly. For added safety, we recommend wearing reflective clothing, or riding a bike with a light on the front.

Lights are this bicycle helmet's standout feature, but it also incorporates the comfort and safety features found in our other recommendations. Cutouts on top of the helmet act as vents to keep your head from overheating, and its chin strap is made from moisture-wicking material that will prevent sweat from building up. Cyclic outfits its helmet with a visor to keep the sun from hitting your eyes, but it's removable, so you won't need to keep it on during nighttime rides.

If you bike a lot after the sun goes down, Cyclic's Bicycle Helmet can protect you in more ways than one.

Key Selling Point: This bike helmet's sleek look sets it apart from the rest.

Some people may not want to wear a bicycle helmet because it doesn't look cool especially if you've got a tricked-out ride, but this one from Bell might change your mind. Its sleek, curved design immediately catches the eye, especially if you opt for the red colorway. Naturally, the helmet's safety features match its aesthetics.

This bicycle helmet is made up of a hard outer shell (for protection) and a foam liner (for comfort), which are fused together. This prevents the inner lining from moving around as you ride on rough terrain, or look around. This is a big deal if you're planning to go off-roading and don't want to choose between strapping your helmet on too tightly, or dealing with it shifting around.

Key Selling Point: This helmet's fun look can help encourage younger riders to stay safe when they're out of your sightline.

If your kid is resistant to wearing a helmet while riding a bike, this one from Crash might change their mind. Young riders will enjoy its fun, multi-color design, and you'll appreciate its safety features. This helmet is designed for children, but it has all the same features as our recommendations for adults.

This helmet has air vents on the top, adjustable straps, and a two-layer design that protects a child's head while still feeling comfortable. Krash says this helmet is appropriate for children aged eight to 14, but recommends taking a head measurement before deciding whether it's the right size for them. Your kid may not want to wear a helmet, but the cool print on this one will hopefully make them a little more into the idea.

This post was created by a non-news editorial team at Recurrent Media, Futurisms owner. Futurism may receive a portion of sales on products linked within this post.

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Protect Yourself On The Road or Trail - Futurism

Maybe thereis something to the legend of the phoenix.

Scientists are perplexed by a mysterious star, believed to have been completely annihilated in a powerful supernova only to be found still alive, burning brighter than ever before.

According to a press release, the undead star in question was believed to have met its demise in a supernova back in 2012. And while there have been some cases of stars living through "partial" supernovas, no observed star has been known to survive a Type Ia explosion the most powerful of its kind which only goes to show how much there still is to learn about the life cycle of a star.

The researchers, whose work was published in The Astrophysical Journal, made their discovery by comparing images taken by NASA's Hubble Telescope before and after the supernova occurred back in 2012.

"We were expecting to see one of two things," said Curtis McCully, a postdoctoral researcher at University of California, Santa Barbara and lead author of the study, in the statement. "Either the star would have completely gone away, or maybe it would have still been there, meaning the star we saw in the pre-explosion images wasnt the one that blew up."

But what they actually found was striking. McCully added: "Nobody was expecting to see a surviving star that was brighter. That was a real puzzle."

The team speculates that the event, dubbed SN 2012Z, was actually a Type Iax explosion, which is a weaker explosion than a true Type Ia. Scientists have previously suggested that this less powerful death of a star is actually a "failed" thermonuclear meltdown and this new discovery could provide evidence for that suspicion.

As for the extra wattage? The team suggests that the failed explosion wasn't strong enough to blow too much of the star's material away, and a great deal of celestial shrapnel fell back onto itself as a result. A white dwarf also has a lot of concentrated weight, and, counterintuitively, when a star loses mass, it grows in volume, which is what they saw with SN 2012Z.

The research could help fill in some gaps and shed some light on why a star appeared to have cheated death.

"This star surviving is a little like Obi-Wan Kenobi coming back as a force ghost in Star Wars," said co-author Andy Howell from UC Santa Barbara, in the statement. "Nature tried to strike this star down, but it came back more powerful than we could have imagined."

More on star death: Scientists Spot Dying Star Brutally Tearing up Its Unfortunate Planets

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Scientists Puzzled by Star That Exploded in Supernova But Somehow Survived - Futurism

Time's running out.Time Bomb

In some of the week's worst environmental news, a stranded oil tanker off the coast of Yemen could make the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill "look like a beach party," according to a Bloombergop-ed published yesterday.

The tanker holds 1.1 million barrels of oil and is pretty much a done-in rust bucket doing its best to stay afloat. In May, Al Jazeera reported that the tanker's "structural integrity is on the verge of collapse" and that disaster is only a matter of time. When it spills or blows, Bloomberg says international trade could be halted for weeks.

Most of the international efforts to help Yemen during its bloody civil war have understandably been directed at reducing loss of life, but a two-month truce between opposing sides has opened a small window for the United Nations to address the time bomb that is the FSO Safer.

Bloomberg says the UN has estimated that a Red Sea cleanup would cost around $20 billion, but preventative measures are far less costly. An emergency operation to offload the oil might cost $80 million, with an additional $64 million to replace the ship.

Right now, though, fundraising efforts are short by about $20 million, with the UN even reportedly using crowdfunding the close the gap.

There's no beating around the bush this sounds like a total global disaster both environmentally and economically.

Hopefully somebody in charge does something, because neither human nor environmental systems can tolerate much more disaster right now.

More on worrisome trends: Scientists Say "No Need to Panic" As Sunspot Pointed at Earth Doubles In Size Again

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Stranded Oil Tanker That Could Start Leaking Any Time Now, Experts Warn - Futurism

"Any reports that the Celsius CEO has attempted to leave the US are false."No Worries!

In news that we definitely, one hundred percent believe, with absolutely no hesitation: Alex Mashinsky, CEO of anguished crypto lending firm Celsius, did NOT attempt to flee the US amid the ongoing bitcoin crash, as a Celsius spokesperson has clarified to Cointelegraph.

The company was moved tospeak out after widely-followed crypto analyst and investor Mike Alfred alleged, in a Sunday tweet, that Mashinsky had tried to board an international flight at the New Jersey's Morristown airport, but was barred from exit by authorities.

"All Celsius employees including our CEO are focused and hard at work in an effort to stabilize liquidity and operations," said the representative, in response to the claim. "To that end, any reports that the Celsius CEO has attempted to leave the US are false."

Alfred clarified that his intel came from an anonymous source, who claimed that the besieged CEO was en route to Israel.

The situation is very he-said, she-said, and some Celsius loyalists were quick to note that the allegation suspiciously comes on the heels of last week's short squeeze, in which holders of Celsius' native coin, called CEL, were briefly able to boost the price of the asset.

But honestly, if Mashinsky was attempting to skedaddle, it wouldn't be that surprising. His trading enterprise halted all withdrawals and exchanges earlier this month, placing it near the center of the ongoing crypto crisis. A lot of folks are unable to access the resources they put into the platform, and the company is currently under investigation by several state regulators.

And at the end of the day, whether Mashinsky was actually trying to escape the country and with it, perhaps, billions of dollars of responsibilities the fact that the accusation is believable enough for the company to feel the need to issue a response isn't exactly a promising sign for any organization.

More on the bitcoin crisis: Financial Planner Desperately Explains to Clients Why the Bitcoin Crash Is Good, Actually

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Crypto Startup in Crisis Insists That Its CEO Isn't Trying to Flee the Country - Futurism

Image by RODNAE Productions

This ones a downer: getting high might also put you at a higher risk of landing in the emergency room.

A study published Monday in the journal BMJ Open Respiratory Research found that cannabis consumers were 22 percent more likely to end up in the ER or be hospitalized than those who didnt smoke weed.

The study,which examined the health records of over 35,000 people in Ontario, Canada, controlled for 31 potentially confounding variables including histories of substance abuse, asthma, and mental and physical disorders. The initial 35,000 was narrowed down to a control group of around 10,000, compared against just over 4,800 self-reported potheads.

The researchers do seem to have something of an axe to grind more on that in a moment but the findingsare striking, especially in the context of the widespread sentiment that cannabis is more or less harmless as legalization continues to spread.

"Cannabis use is not as benign and safe as some might think," study author Nicholas Vozoris told CNN in an email. "Our study demonstrates that the use of this substance is associated with serious negative outcomes, specifically, [emergency department] visits and hospitalizations."

Vozoris was more explicitin remarks to the Daily Beast, opining that "cannabis use needs to be discouraged and reduced in the population, so as to help prevent serious adverse health consequences from happening to individuals and to protect our fragile health-care systems from further strain."

That bit of moralizing aside, its worth noting that the study found "no significant association" between smokin dope and respiratory related ER visits, and that the increased likelihood for ending up in the hospital was for all causes.

In fact, according to Vozoris himself in the same CNN interview, "physical bodily injury" was the leading cause of hospitalization among the studied stoners so it's conceivable that hapless stoners are blazing up and then accidentally injuring themselves. That's not exactly harmless, but it does paint a very different picture from the specter of some serious, yet-unidentified pulmonary or cardiac risk factor.

It's also worth noting what the studydidn't control for: income. In other words, it's not unlikely that a confounding variable could be at play in the form of cannabis users skewing poor, which has itself been linked with higher hospitalization rates. And if we want to get really far into the weeds, it's not entirely clear whether residents of Ontario are representative of the broader population in the first place.

Needless to say, more research is needed. But in the meantime, maybe its safer to stick to the couch after a heavy bong rip instead of, yknow, driving your car or taking up parkour. But if you're really worried about your weed safety, its probably worth worrying more about counterfeit and unregulated THC cartridges instead.

More on weed:Smoking Weed Makes You Nicer and Less Greedy, Scientist Says

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Study Finds That Weed Puts You at Higher Risk for Hospitalization - Futurism

Yet another startup says it's nearing tests for a system that could once and for all prove the technology can actually generate more energy than it consumes, The New York Times reports.

Seattle-based startup Zap Energy says its approach to fusion energy potentially an entirely green source of renewable energy is far simpler and cheaper than other attempts.

But critics are crying foul, arguing that we're merely stuck in yet another round of "fusion energy fever," according to the report.

Despite Zap Energy and several dozen other startups claiming fusion energy could be right around the corner, it's historically proven to be one of the hardest energy nuts to crack since the 1950s.

Scientists have yet to create a system that can reliably produce more energy than it needs to kickstart the reaction, which itself often proves highly volatile and hard to predict.

But that hasn't stopped these startups from repeatedly making hype-fueled claims about the steps they've taken towards practical nuclear fusion, year after year.

Zap Energy is hoping to scale things down and develop a kind of system that has already been ditched by other fusion companies in favor of much bigger and more complex reactors, according to NYT.

The company is hoping to produce a surplus of energy or at least break even by compressing a cloud of particles called a "shaped plasma gas" with a magnetic field inside a six-and-a-half foot vacuum tube, a process known as a "sheared flow Z-pinch."

But critics still aren't impressed.

"That these claims are widely believed is due solely to the effective propaganda of promoters and laboratory spokespersons," Daniel Jassby, a retired plasma physicist at Princeton University, told the newspaper.

If Zap Energy is indeed able to turn its ambitious plans into reality a big if, judging by the last 70 or so each of its reactors would be able to power at least 8,000 homes, the company claims.

The company still has some ways to go, and is still working on constructing a power supply beefy enough to compress the plasma, according to the NYT.

Only once the reactor kicks into action,after all, will we be able to evaluate if there's any truth to their claims.

Updated to more accurately reflect Zap's timeline and goals.

READ MORE: A Big Step Toward Fusion Energy Is Hailed by a Seattle Start-Up [The New York Times]

More on fusion: Startup Claims Fusion Power "Breakthrough" Using Massive Gun

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Startup Says It's Honing in on Simple Solution for Practical Fusion Power - Futurism

Image by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

A high tech pair of robotic arms allowed a partially paralyzed man to eat with a knife and fork, an impressive demonstration that could allow others with disabilities to regain a significant degree of autonomy.

The arms, developed by a team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), work by reading its wearer's brain signals using a brain-machine interface (BMI). This interface then translates these signals into the movement of both robotic arms and with astonishing dexterity, given the micromotor sophistication and strength required to manipulate cutlery.

In experiments involving a patient who hadn't been able to use his fingers for around 30 years, an impressive video shows the appendages cutting a piece of cake with a knife and fork, then popping it into the man's mouth.

It's the culmination of 15 years of robotics and neural science research at the APL, whose efforts were sponsored until 2020 by the US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).

"This shared control approach is intended to leverage the intrinsic capabilities of the brain machine interface and the robotic system, creating a best of both worlds environment where the user can personalize the behavior of a smart prosthesis," said Francesco Tenore, co-author of a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Neurobotics, in a statement.

"Although our results are preliminary, we are excited about giving users with limited capability a true sense of control over increasingly intelligent assistive machines," he added.

It's a big step in the right direction, achieving impressive degrees of dexterity which is crucial to actually be of help in everyday life.At the same time, as the video shows, the process is still agonizingly slow and would almost certainly struggle with tougher foodstuffs than a tasty pastry.

"In order for robots to perform human-like tasks for people with reduced functionality, they will require human-like dexterity," explained David Handelman, first author and senior roboticist at APL, in the statement. "Human-like dexterity requires complex control of a complex robot skeleton."

READ MORE: Robotic arms connected directly to brain of partially paralyzed man allows him to feed himself [Frontier Science News]

More on BMIs: Scientists Express Concern at Elon Musk's Neuralink Brain Chip

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Robotic Arms Allow Paralyzed Man to Eat Cake With Knife and Fork - Futurism

"We need to be careful about how this technology is used."Judge, Jury, Executioner

Machine learning researchers are teaching neural networks how to superficially judge humans and the results are as brutal as they are familiar.

A study about the judgmental AI, published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesjournal, describes how researchers trained the model how to judge attributes in human faces, the way we do upon first meeting each other, and how they trained it to manipulate photos to evoke different judgments, such as appearing trustworthy or dominant.

Our dataset not only contains bias, Princeton computer science postdoctoral researcher Joshua Peterson wrote in a tweet thread about the research, it deliberately reflects it.

ThePNAS paper notes that the AI so mirrored human judgment that it tended to associate objective physical characteristics, such as someones size or skin color, with attributes ranging from trustworthiness to privilege.

Indeed, in his thread Peterson explainedthat most of the 34 judgment values the researchers trained the AI to assign had corresponding political inferences. For instance, when using the studys interactive site, Futurism found that the algorithm marked white faces as more conservative, and when one searches for liberal on the studys interactive site, most of the faces it comes up with are people of color.

In a press release, cognitive scientist and AI researcher Jordan W. Suchow of the Stevens Institute of Technology, who worked on the study,admitted that we need to be careful about how this technology is used, since it could conceivably take on nefarious purposes like boosting or tarnishing a public figures reputation.

Though its fairly esoteric, Suchow noted in the press release that this kind of machine learning can study peoples biased first impressions of one another.

Given a photo of your face, we can use this algorithm to predict what peoples first impressions of you would be, he added, and which stereotypes they would project onto you when they see your face.

With AI bias being an increasingly salient issue, this paradigm twist is as delightful as it is telling. You can check out the interactive research yourself at OneMillionImpressions.com.

READ MORE:Deep models of superficial face judgments [Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences]

More on AI:Welcome to Robot Hell! Meet the Deranged Genius Who Created an AI Version of @Dril

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Scientists Create "Deliberately" Biased AI That Judges You as Brutally as Your Mother-in-Law - Futurism