A Short History of Pepe the Frog Memes – The Daily Dot

Pepe started his life as a laid-back cartoon frog but memes transformed him into an alt-right villain. The evolution of this cultural phenomenon is emblematic of the relationship between online culture and politics. Lets take a deeper dive into the history of how this frog went from the protagonist of the comic Boys Club, to an online antagonist.

Originally created by Matt Furie in 2005 for the comic Boys Club, Pepe, an anthropomorphic green frog, began his journey as an innocent cartoon character armed with the catchphrase, Feels good, man, that captured the essence of his easy-going nature.

Pepes transition into a meme began around 2008, when his image started gaining traction on platforms like MySpace, Gaia Online, and 4chan. Pepe evolved into various iterations, including Sad Frog, Smug Frog, Angry Pepe, and Feels Frog. Each variant reflected a different emotional state or reaction, making Pepe a versatile character for online expression.

By 2015, Pepe had become a staple on sites like 4chan and Tumblr, with rare Pepes circulating as virtual trading cards.

Stupid realisation and theory about Pepe the Frog and NFTs

However, the characters widespread popularity took a darker turn when Pepe the Frog was co-opted by the alt-right movement in 2015 and 2016.

The metamorphosis of Pepe intoa symbol of hate and bigotrywas alarming and led to itsinclusion in the Anti-Defamation Leagues hate symbol database. However, it was noted that not all Pepe memes were hate-based. This appropriation of Pepe caused distress to creator Matt Furie,who even took legal actionagainst the misuse of his frog cartoon.

In 2019, Pepes image was again appropriated as a symbol of the protests in Hong Kong. Unlike its use as a representation of hate in the United States, Pepes image in Hong Kong was not tied to alt-right ideologies, something Furie openly welcomed.

The reappropriation of Pepes image as a symbol of resistance against an oppressive state showed how the meme continued to be usurped by various online communities, constantly shifting the meaning of this anthropomorphic frog.

As Pepe memes proliferated, the character appeared in various contexts, sometimes even devoid of any political connotation. From Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj tweeting Pepe memes, to Donald Trumps use of a Presidential Pepe, the frog permeated various levels of pop culture and social media. However, some did not consider these newer uses as a full reclamation of the character from its alt-right connotations.

The story of Pepe the Frog is a testament to the ability of the internet to confer new meaning on characters and images. What started as a comic character became a globally recognized meme, a symbol of political movements, and a contentious icon appropriated for hateful causes. But Pepes journey highlights the fluid nature of digital symbols and their ability to embody vastly different meanings to different groups of people.

Pepes evolution also raises questions about the ownership and transformation of digital content in an age where memes can become powerful tools for communication and expression.

While Pepes journey has been tumultuous, it underscores the dynamic nature of internet culture and its impact on society. Pepe remains a potent symbol in the ever-evolving landscape of online expression, embodying the whimsical and controversial aspects of digital communication.

*First Published: Dec 13, 2023, 9:00 am CST

Kahron Spearman is the community manager for the Daily Dot and Nautilus magazine. Hes also a journalist, copywriter, and host of Discovery with Kahron Spearman on KAZI 88.7.

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A Short History of Pepe the Frog Memes - The Daily Dot

The Latest News on Meme Coins | Navigating the Meme Coin Hype in 2023 with Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Pepe Coin, and … – Finbold – Finance in Bold

This post is sponsored and not a part of Finbold's editorial content. For a full disclaimer, please . If you encounter any issues, kindly report them to [emailprotected]. Crypto assets/products can be highly risky. Never invest unless youre prepared to lose all the money you invest.

The cryptocurrency market is experiencing a surge of optimism, fueled by recent positive developments, while the ever-growing popularity of meme coins persists. These digital tokens, inspired by internet memes and cultural trends, are captivating both experienced crypto users and newcomers alike.

This article aims to demystify the world of meme coins, providing an informative overview for crypto users of all levels. Well explore the current market landscape, analyze the top contenders, and dissect the risks and potential rewards associated with these unique crypto coins.

What are Meme Coins? | Understanding the Hype

Unlike Bitcoin or other altcoins, memecoins ride the wave of humor and community. While first wave meme coins such as Dogecoin may have lacked inherent utility, more recent altcoins such as ApeMax stands out with its Boost-to-Earn staking utility, allowing coin holders to boost projects or their favorite entities and potentially earn rewards. Its important to note that while all meme coins mix blockchain and fun, they are all different from one another in many ways. In this article well explore some of these particularities of these different meme cryptos.

Meme Coin Market Overview | Current Landscape and Trends

The meme coin market has experienced explosive growth in recent years, with the total market capitalization reaching over $22 billion as of December 2023. This surge is attributed to several factors, including:

The Leading Meme Coins of 2023:

ApeMax (APEMAX)

ApeMax is exploding onto the crypto scene, grabbing peoples attention with its innovative approach to staking. This exciting new meme coin introduces Boost-to-Earn tokenomics, a revolutionary concept that lets holders potentially earn rewards while simultaneously boosting the projects theyre fans of.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

Dogecoin (DOGE) is the grandfather of all meme coins, predating the current trend by several years. Launched in 2013 as a joke, it quickly captured the hearts and minds of internet users with its Shiba Inu mascot and lighthearted approach to cryptocurrency.

Shiba Inu (SHIB)

Often called the Dogecoin killer, Shiba Inu has captured significant attention through its aggressive marketing and loyal community. SHIB has developed a wide ecosystem with several sub-tokens with specific purposes, and it has also recently launched its own Shibarium Layer-2 chain.

Pepe Coin (PEPE)

Pepe Coin is a popular new meme coin, inspired by the iconic Pepe the Frog meme. Pepe Coin implements a token burning mechanism which takes place on each on-chain transaction. This, combined with its strong community and unique branding, has propelled it to become a popular choice in the meme coin space.

What is ApeMax? | A Potential Game Changer in the Meme Coin Space?

With a rapidly growing community, ApeMax has quickly become a hot topic in presale discussions, gaining traction as a potential game-changer in the blockchain and presale space. In its current presale phase, ApeMax boasts an impressive 7,800+ token holders and a staggering 3.5 billion tokens staked. Moreover, eligible buyers during the presale can acquire exclusive discount Loot Boxes for a limited period.

Heres what makes ApeMax stand out:

ApeMax positions itself as a leader in the evolution of crypto presales and staking. Its innovative approach, combined with its passionate community and exciting features, makes it a new coin that new coin buyers are watching.

Whats The Future of Crypto Coins?

The short answer to this complex question is: its impossible to predict with certainty. Crypto is a notoriously volatile market and constantly changing, with new trends and use cases arising every year. However, 2023 has been a recovery year for crypto following a bearish year in 2023. Institutional adoption and a move into the mainstream could be in sight according to some crypto fans. For example, Paypal will soon allow its users to make transactions using cryptocurrencies, and that includes meme coins.

While the future is always unpredictable, Blockchain technology has the power to disrupt various industries, from finance and supply chain to healthcare and governance. These factors, combined with the current bullish market sentiment, could mean that 2024 could be an intriguing year for crypto with new surprises in store. As 2024 is just around the corner, larger meme coins such as Dogecoin and Shiba Inu also continue to remain popular amongst meme coin fans.

Wrapping up 2023 | Positivity Towards a Bullish Market?

The meme coin market has experienced a whirlwind of activity in 2023, captivating peoples hearts and sparking discussions about the future of cryptocurrency. While volatility remains a defining feature, the year has also been marked by new developments, gearing towards a possible crypto bullrun.

Looking forward, meme coins seem likely to remain a crypto staple within the wider altcoin family. The increasing mainstream awareness, adoption by major platforms, and integration with real-world applications are creating a fertile ground for adoption. New meme coins like ApeMax, with their innovative features, are paving the way for a future where meme coins go beyond the realm of hype to offer new and creative forms of utility. It should be noted that this article doesnt serve as financial advice. Thorough personal research is crucial when engaging with meme coins or any kind of cryptocurrency. Its essential to be aware of the high risks associated as well as the volatility inherent to all crypto coins. For those interested in ApeMax coins, verify regional restrictions and buying eligibility rules on the ApeMax official website before proceeding.

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The Latest News on Meme Coins | Navigating the Meme Coin Hype in 2023 with Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Pepe Coin, and ... - Finbold - Finance in Bold

White Supremacist Networks Gab and 8Kun Are Training Their Own … – VICE

Two images generated by 8kun's AI image generator.

As artificial intelligence technology becomes more and more mainstream, its influence is now reaching all corners of the internet, and in the last month, two of the darkest corners have announced their plans to unleash their very own AI engines on the world.

Gab, a white supremacist forum thats a favorite of mass shooters and organizers of the Capitol riot, and 8kun, the home of QAnon, have announced theyre launching AI engines and theyre training them on the same content that has in the past led multiple internet companies to cut ties and take the platforms offline.

Artificial intelligence is everywhere right now, and many are questioning the safety and morality of the AI systems released by some of the worlds biggest companies, including Open AIs ChatGPT, Bings Sydney, and Googles Bard. It was only a matter of time until the online spaces where extremists gather became interested in the technology.

Gab is a social network filled with homophobic, christian nationalist and white supremacist content. On Tuesday its CEO Andrew Torba announced the launch of its AI image generator, Gabby.

At Gab, we have been experimenting with different AI systems that have popped up over the past year, Torba wrote in a statement. Every single one is skewed with a liberal/globalist/talmudic/satanic worldview. What if Gab AI Inc builds a Gab .ai (see what I did there?) that is based, has no hate speech filters and doesnt obfuscate and distort historical and Biblical Truth?

Gabby is currently live on Gabs site and available to all members. Like Midjourney and DALL-E, it is an image generator that users interact with by sending it a prompt, and within seconds it will generate entirely new images based on that prompt.

Echoing his past criticisms of Big Tech platforms like Facebook and Twitter, Torba claims that mainstream platforms are now censoring their AI systems to prevent people from discussing right-wing topics such as Christian nationalism. Torbas AI, by contrast, will have the ability to speak freely without the constraints of liberal propaganda wrapped tightly around its neck.

Gabby has its limits, however. A review by VICE News found that like DALL-E and other AI image generators, Gabby will not generate images of naked people.

Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again, Gabby wrote in response to the prompt nude woman. When VICE News asked Gabby to show us two people having sex this is what was returned:

An image generated by Gab's AI image generator Gabby.

Based on the images shared on Gabs AI art forum on Wednesday morning, many are using the tool to create memes featuring the former President Donald Trump and Pepe the Frog.

An image generated by Gab's AI image generator Gabby.

An image generated by Gab's AI image generator Gabby.

Last month, when first talking about Gabs AI plans, Torba said he would train his AI engine on on 744 million Gab statuses, and probably a corpus of /pol posts and the Bible.

The /pol/ board on 4chan is one of the most notorious forums on the internet, filled with antisemitic, homophobic, transphobic, and racist content. It has been home to multiple mass shooters. It popularized the Pepe the Frog meme, and in 2017 gave birth to QAnon.

Torba did not respond to VICE News request for comment about Gabs AI system.

But Torba says Gabby is just the beginning of his artificial intelligence plans. Gabby is our first AI chatbot, but it certainly wont be our last, Torba wrote on Tuesday. In the future, we plan to release more AI bots, including a Chat GPT alternative that will change the way we think about communication and collaboration.

While Gabs AI is already in the wild, over on 8kun, previously known as 8chan, owner Jim Watkins is working on a more secretive project where he is training an AI engine on imagery and content from the message board.

8chan, which was founded to support the Gamergate movement, became the home of QAnon in early 2018 and was taken offline in August 2019 after the man who killed 20 people at an El Paso Walmart posted an anti-immigrant screed on the site.

Watkins has been speaking about his AI system for a few weeks now, but has yet to reveal how it will work or when it will launch. Watkins central selling point, like Torbas, appears to be that his system will be uncensored.

So that we can compete against these people that are putting up all of these false flags and illusions, Watkins said on Feb. 13 when he was asked why he was creating an AI system. We are working on our own AI that is going to give you an uncensored look at the way things are going, Watkins said in a video interview at the end of January.But based on some of the images the engine is churning out, Watkins still has a long way to go to perfect his AI image generator.

An image generated by 8kun's AI image generator.

Watkins says that unlike Gabby, the 8kun image generator will be available only to paying members of 8kuns Proto subscription service. Another difference between Torbas and Watkins systems is that the latter is not prudish about user asking his AI engine to generate porn.

Last week Watkins posted a video online showing his AI engine being trained. The video was titled: Unleash the Power of Artificial Intelligence in Image Processing with Adult Content.

When VICE News asked Watkins what he was planning to use his AI system for, he responded: Fuck off.

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White Supremacist Networks Gab and 8Kun Are Training Their Own ... - VICE

Casey Rodarmor: The Quest to Make Bitcoin Fun Again – Yahoo Finance

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Bitcoin is trying out non-fungible tokens (NFT) again.

First there were colored coins in 2012, which were aimed at representing all types of non-bitcoin assets on Bitcoin.

Then came Counterparty in 2014, which was built as a derivative of Bitcoin and allowed the creation, buying and selling of digital assets powered by its XCP token. Counterparty is where Rare Pepes NFTs inspired by the Pepe the Frog meme were born in 2016, which far predate the NFTs of Ethereum we know today.

This profile is part of CoinDesks BUIDL Week."

This time around, its Ordinal NFTs and inscriptions, which are made possible by the Ordinal protocol developed by Casey Rodarmor.

I interviewed him for BUIDL Week.

Rodarmor has worked in technology since 2010. He spent time working for Google before a brief stint at Chaincode Labs doing some nominal work on Bitcoin Core, the protocols main code implementation. He now acts as a co-host of SF Bitcoin BitDevs in San Francisco after taking over from River Financial founder Alexander Leishman last year.

Bitcoin BitDevs, which started in New York City, is a community that hosts monthly meetups to discuss some of the more technical aspects of Bitcoin. Rodarmors place at the helm in San Francisco is an indication of his commitment to testing out new Bitcoin ideas. Bitcoin BitDevs is a critical piece of Bitcoins grassroots culture.

He now works on Ordinals full time, he said during our interview. The project now has paid interns (Liam Scalzulli and RaphJaph) and paid Discord moderators.

Read more: Michael Casey - Bitcoin Ordinals Can Lift the Entire Crypto Ecosystem

Rodarmor is a Bitcoiner, and no one can tell him otherwise. He got into Bitcoin because he hate[s] the government and is in the sound money camp when it comes to Bitcoin, he told the "Stephan Livera" podcast earlier this month. He likes Bitcoin because it is better, nonstate money with a predictable, sound monetary policy; its not because it can enable NFTs.

Story continues

Still, hes now best known as the guy who enabled the most recent iteration of NFTs on Bitcoin.

Rodarmor started working on Ordinals in 2022. During the conversation Erin, his personal assistant and podcast co-host of Rodarmors podcast "Hell Money", was sitting on a couch in the background. I also noticed a trap bar deadlift barbell to Rodarmors right when he adjusted his camera.

Do you lift? I asked. Yeah! he responds, but laments that lifting in his apartment proved pretty loud. He adds that he thinks he has some pretty juicy traps.

He does. Rodarmor looks relatively fit for someone who develops software full time.

He originally learned about NFTs in 2017 and wasnt particularly interested in the type of digital art that was being created, bought and sold. He toyed with the idea for an auction house for digital art at the time, but only briefly. Then came Art Blocks, an influential generative digital art project on Ethereum founded by Erick Calderon. Its new aesthetic caught Rodarmor's eye.

Rodarmor was inspired to work on a Ethereum smart contract using Solidity but became frustrated with Ethereum, which he describes as a Rube Goldberg machine. He didnt like the idea of building NFTs on Ethereum so he gave up that idea. Then, in early 2022, he picked up the idea for NFTs again and wanted to figure out how to do it on Bitcoin.

Read more: Bitcoin NFTs: What Are Ordinal NFTs and How Do You Mint One?

When he started working on Ordinals, he told me he drew inspiration directly from Bitcoins pseudonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto. Satoshi included references to something called atoms in the original Bitcoin codebase and it was from there that Ordinal theory was born. (For the technically inclined or generally interested, check out Jeremy Rubins annotation of the original Bitcoin codebase.)

Part of Rodarmors motivation is to make Bitcoin fun again (as he tweeted earlier this year about Bitcoin NFTs). It is a bear market after all. He certainly seemed to be enjoying himself during our interview.

Ordinals are hilariously simple, at least in theory. The Ordinal protocol outlines a way in which to sequentially number satoshis the smallest unit of bitcoin, which represents 1/100,000,000 of a bitcoin. And once satoshis are given a serial number, users can inscribe data onto those satoshis to make digital artifacts, which is Rodarmors preferred term over NFTs.

Not because these arent NFTs, but because these NFTs are a touch better, in his view. Inscriptions are always immutable: the art, text or whatever inscribed data is put directly on the blockchain. This differs from most other types of NFTs that tend to store the actual JPG or text file somewhere else and then put a link to that data on the blockchain. Whether you care about NFTs or not, this is a clear upgrade to the immutability of NFTs.

Somehow, this seemingly simple technology update has come with quite a bit of embedded seriousness. Some OGs in the space have described Ordinals as an attack on Bitcoins founding mission to conduct unfettered financial transactions. People who support Bitcoin want Bitcoin to survive. They also tend to own bitcoin and they want their bitcoin to be safe. Anything that could be construed as a threat to the Bitcoin protocol is a threat to the sovereignty of bitcoin users and holders.

And so Rodarmor has found himself as the main character of this seasons Bitcoin Crisis.

Read more: Bitcoin Community Erupts in Existential Debate Over NFT Project Ordinals

I asked how he felt about being on the receiving end of much criticism.

He thought that the vibe was now very good once [he] got to know where his critics were coming from. He was initially very defensive, but once he started taking the time to engage with the more thoughtful, careful critics through some one-on-one conversations there was substantial common ground. Rodarmor feels that the Bitcoin community is mostly filled with these types of thoughtful critics. Those who are yelling for the sake of yelling are in the minority (even though they are loud on Twitter).

Of these thoughtful critics, Rodarmor referenced conversations with Blockstreams Warren Togami. Togami founded Fedora Linux, a distribution of the open-source computer operating system Linux, so his understanding of open-source projects is credibly good.

Togami says that if the Bitcoin community decides different fee rates are appropriate for different classes of traffic on the Bitcoin network (read: regular financial Bitcoin transactions vs. Ordinal NFT Bitcoin transactions), thats up to them. As a community project, isnt it up to Bitcoiners to decide and then consequently run code that can add quality of service information like priority to transactions? (Heres a somewhat technical tweet thread that touches on this topic.)

Rodarmor thinks that approach wont work. But hopefully thats the type of criticism and discourse that is good for Bitcoin in the long run.

From the other loud Ordinals critics there are valid concerns that Ordinal NFTs will lead to irreversible chain bloat. Because inscriptions have led to an influx of large blocks, it might become more difficult for new node participants to start up due to the immense amount of data that will accumulate over time. New node participants are critical to maintain Bitcoin as a decentralized, permissionless and robust monetary network where those without economic majority can still have input in how Bitcoin should be run.

In theory, Ordinal NFTs could increase transaction fees which will incentivize miners to stick around in the future once the block subsidy ends. The block subsidy is the new bitcoins which are awarded to miners for successfully mining a block. It is the main way miners are financially compensated now.

Miners help secure the Bitcoin network so when that subsidy goes away, transaction fees may need to increase so that miners dont leave the network en masse.

Projects like Ordinals could improve Bitcoins economics, helping to solve its growing security budget problem.

Read more: How Bitcoin NFTs Might Accidentally Fix Bitcoin's Security Budget | Opinion

Im not sure where I land on whether Ordinal NFTs will fix Bitcoins security budget problem. But I asked Rodarmor what he thought.

His response? YOLO. Lets find out.

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Casey Rodarmor: The Quest to Make Bitcoin Fun Again - Yahoo Finance

Ordinal Inscription Collections on Bitcoin Blockchain Grow as … – Bitcoin News

With more than 150,000 Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain, there are now numerous collections as creators and artists have found a new way to monetize their artworks via blockchain technology. In the past month, people have launched collections such as Ordinal Punks, Ordinal Penguins, Bitcoin Shrooms, Inscribed Pepe, Planetary Ordinals, Based Apes, Satoshi Punks, Ordinals Eggs, Block Munchers, and more. Although the inscription trend is still young, several collections are attempting to establish themselves in this emerging market, and some are selling for significant value.

These days, there are numerous Ordinal inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain as demand for the technology has greatly increased. For years, blockchains like Ethereum have established collections such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Cryptopunks, Azuki, Moon Birds, Doodles, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and others.

Some of these non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have become known as blue-chip NFTs, as they have maintained significant value and have been selling on the open market for several years. For instance, BAYC and Cryptopunks currently hold the highest floor values among all the collections.

Many newly minted Ordinal inscription collections are similar to ideas stemming from popular Ethereum collections, such as the Ordinal Punks collection. The collection features different versions of pixelated punk characters, with only 100 of them available, in contrast to the 10,000 available Cryptopunks.

For those interested in pixelated punk characters, there are other collections like Punks on Bitcoin, Satoshi Punks, DOS Punk 256, and Yeti Bit Club. Similar to the Rare Pepe NFT collection made with Counterparty, there are numerous collections dedicated to Pepe the frog, including Inscribed Pepes and Immortal Pepes.

Other well-known collections include Ordinal Rocks, Block Munchers, Ordinal Penguins, Bitcoin Toadz, XC Pinata, Ordinal Eggs, Planetary Ordinals, Ordinal Smokes, and Based Apes. Ordinal Punks have been selling for considerable value and just recently someone traded Cryptopunk #4155 for Ordinal Punk 16.

Most Ordinal Punks are selling for prices between 3.7 BTC and 5.4 BTC, and three days ago Ordinal Eggs said it saw 4 BTC in over-the-counter (OTC) volume. Bitcoin Toadz recently sold #4913 for 2.5 ether, and another sold for 2.8 ether.

The creator behind Ordinal Shards, a collection of 100 shards inscribed to the Bitcoin blockchain, said sales have been in both ETH and BTC. Besides the collections talked about on social media, theres a great number of Ordinal inscriptions on the chain, that could be collections in the future or have some unknown meaning.

Theres also text, numbers, odd writings, 1kb gold bars, quotes, videos, animations, and audio messages. There have been some critics of the Ordinals trend who have called it spam in comparison to older generation Counterparty-issued assets. Some have also questioned the veracity of OTC sales tied to Ordinal inscriptions.

What do you think about all the Ordinal inscriptions and collections on the Bitcoin blockchain? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Jamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 6,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Ordinal Inscription Collections on Bitcoin Blockchain Grow as ... - Bitcoin News

Dissecting Elon Musks tweets: memes, jokes, private parts and an echo chamber – Deccan Herald

The day after Thanksgiving, nearly one month after Elon Musk became the owner of Twitter, he returned to one of his hobby horses. Im just fighting for free speech in America, he wrote in a tweet.

One of 28 that he posted that day beginning just after midnight, following messages about how tasty his holiday meal was the free speech tweet was in response to two followers who were aggrieved about how Musk was being treated since acquiring the social network in late October. The post was liked more than 46,000 times.

Musk has often said that Twitter needs to be more open and filled with a greater diversity of voices and points of view. But Musks Twitter feed is often an echo chamber. He regularly sees, likes and replies to messages that are about him or are posted from accounts that often act as his cheerleaders, according to a New York Times review of his activity on the platform.

Also Read |Twitter to charge users to secure accounts via text message

In order to assess how the social network may evolve under Musks watch, the Times reviewed nearly 20,000 of his public tweets, analyzing posts from recent years and images he published over the past decade, as well as the relatively small number of users that he follows.

What Musk says on Twitter has a huge reach, now more than ever. His audience is one of the largest, with more than 129 million accounts following him. It is where he solicits advice, conducts polls, condemns censorship and announces sweeping policy changes on the platform. As a power user who now controls the company he recently called himself the chief twit Musk has vowed to remake the social network in his vision.

Of the 177 accounts that Musk followed at the start of February, most were related to his businesses, or have expressed admiration of his business style, the Times review found. The list is heavily male: Only two dozen that are not institutional or organizational accounts belong to women. He is related to two of them his mother, Maye, and sister, Tosca and was married to a third.

Amid discussions of Twitter policies, internet satellites from SpaceX and Tesla software updates, his posts have a freewheeling quality to them. He traffics in juvenile humor and vulgar jokes (pictures of tape dispensers laid in sexual positions), scientific marvels (the Large Hadron Collider), popular subjects on far-right sites (Pepe the Frog) and critiques of divisive cultural issues (Im not brainwashed!!).

Musks posting style is conversational, and regularly satirical. He messages with former Democratic Cabinet officials, criticizes news organizations and trades barbs with venture capitalists.

Also Read |Judge hears final arguments in suit over Elon Musks Tesla pay

The purchasing of Twitter was a power move, politically, said Joan Donovan, the research director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard. He is one of the richest men in the world buying a social media company in a move that is expressly about politics and influence on culture and on media.

Often, his updates are limited to just memes joking images or videos that are copied and widely shared. Many have origins on fringe sites or cryptocurrency message boards that are popular with his followers. Some are about him. Some appear to be original.

Through the end of 2022, Musk shared 1,181 images on Twitter. Since October 2018, at least 47% of them have been memes. The use of memes, Donovan said, is a way for Musk to signal to his followers that he is in the know and keeping up with internet culture.

During Musks early use of Twitter, he regularly posted photos that promoted his businesses, from SpaceX rocket launches to Tesla car assembly lines.

But in 2018, as he struggled to hit ambitious production targets at Tesla, his posting behavior shifted. In October that year, he shared an image of a fake news article that said he had bought the popular video game Fortnite in order to save these kids from eternal virginity.

Since then, Musks meme use has accelerated.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment about his activity. At Twitter, as with many of his other companies, Musk has no traditional press team. Instead, he tweets.

Since he created his account in June 2009, Musk has posted more than 23,000 times. In recent years, that has meant posting all hours of the day, most days of the week.

Musk has made himself unignorable by becoming king of Twitter, Donovan added.

Over a 48-hour period in November, a moment when he touted record activity on the social network under his leadership, Musk posted 60 times. His posts included commentary on the collapse of a cryptocurrency and combative responses to critiques about his workplace policies. In one instance, he issued a decree about parody accounts after users changed their profile names to imitate him.

Many of his missives quickly became popular among his followers.

It is unclear exactly what Musk sees in his feed. The exact sequence depends on whether he has chosen to receive algorithmic recommendations or just tweets from accounts he follows. (He has previously tweeted that people are being manipulated by the algorithm.)

His activity increasingly consists of replying to users who have mentioned him. When he responds to accounts that he does not follow, he frequently chooses those that have complimented or praised him: In dozens of instances over six months, according to the Times analysis, he replied to tweets from users whose account descriptions mention that they support or invest in companies owned by Musk, or that they are fans of his leadership.

There are times when he second guesses what he broadcasts.

Over the past two years, he has deleted hundreds of tweets within hours of posting them. According to the PolitiTweet website, which archives all of Musks tweets, he has also deleted dozens of tweets in the months since he acquired Twitter.

On Nov. 14, for example, Musk tweeted that he would be working & sleeping at Twitters headquarters in San Francisco until the site was fixed.

A website tracking Musks private jet movement suggested that he traveled away from San Francisco around that time. He deleted the tweet 18 hours after first posting it.

But for a person with as large a follower base as Musk has, deleting tweets may do little to change how widely seen or influential those posts become when they are first published.

Millions of people see his tweets; not many will notice when they are deleted, Donovan said.

Many tweets that have landed Musk in hot water remain online.

In 2018, a few weeks after Musk had smoked marijuana during an on-camera interview for Joe Rogans podcast, Musk tweeted that he had the funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share.

Experts began to question whether his entire feed was being produced in jest, and pointed out the repeated marijuana references in his tweets (including his proposed funding price).

That incident led to charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and later a settlement that included monitoring of what Musk could post about Tesla on Twitter. The incident also led to a lawsuit from shareholders seeking billions of dollars in damages after the takeover proposal never materialized. On Friday, a jury ruled in Musks favor.

Last month, Musk joined an investor call as Tesla reported its recent quarterly earnings, which showed a respectable jump in profits despite a growing list of problems plaguing the company. The automakers mixed performance last year had led many to question whether Musks focus and attention on Twitter had meant that he was neglecting his duties at Tesla.

Musk deflected that criticism on the earnings call, suggesting that his millions of Twitter followers were a sign of his popularity.

I might not be popular with some people, he said, but for the vast majority of people, my follower count speaks for itself.

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Dissecting Elon Musks tweets: memes, jokes, private parts and an echo chamber - Deccan Herald

Pepe the Frog – ADL

ALTERNATE NAMES: Sad Frog

Pepe the Frog is a cartoon character that has become a popular Internet meme (often referred to as the "sad frog meme" by people unfamiliar with the name of the character). The character first appeared in 2005 in the on-line cartoon Boy's Club. In that appearance, the character also first used its catchphrase, "feels good, man."

The Pepe the Frog character did not originally have racist or anti-Semitic connotations. Internet users appropriated the character and turned him into a meme, placing the frog in a variety of circumstances and saying many different things. Many variations of the meme became rather esoteric, resulting in the phenomenon of so-called "rare Pepes."

The majority of uses of Pepe the Frog have been, and continue to be, non-bigoted. However, it was inevitable that, as the meme proliferated in on-line venues such as 4chan, 8chan, and Reddit, which have many users who delight in creating racist memes and imagery, a subset of Pepe memes would come into existence that centered on racist, anti-Semitic or other bigoted themes.

In recent years, with the growth of the "alt right" segment of the white supremacist movement, a segment that draws some of its support from some of the above-mentioned Internet sites, the number of "alt right" Pepe memes has grown, a tendency exacerbated by the controversial and contentious 2016 presidential election. Though Pepe memes have many defenders, the use of racist and bigoted versions of Pepe memes seems to be increasing, not decreasing.

However, because so many Pepe the Frog memes are not bigoted in nature, it is important to examine use of the meme only in context. The mere fact of posting a Pepe meme does not mean that someone is racist or white supremacist. However, if the meme itself is racist or anti-Semitic in nature, or if it appears in a context containing bigoted or offensive language or symbols, then it may have been used for hateful purposes.

In the fall of 2016, the ADL teamed with Pepe creator Matt Furie to form a #SavePepe campaign to reclaim the symbol from those who use it with hateful intentions.

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Groypers – Wikipedia

Loose group of white nationalist activists, provocateurs, and internet trolls

Groypers, sometimes called the Groyper Army, are a group of white nationalist and far-right activists, provocateurs, and internet trolls who are notable for their attempts to introduce far-right politics into mainstream conservatism in the United States, their participation in the 2021 United States Capitol attack and the protests leading up to it, and their extremist views. They are known for targeting other conservative groups and individuals whose agendas they view as too moderate and insufficiently nationalist.[3][4] The Groyper movement has been described as white nationalist, homophobic, nativist, fascist, sexist, antisemitic, and an attempt to rebrand the declining alt-right movement.[2][5][6][7]

Presently, Groypers are a loosely defined group of followers and fans of Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist, far-right political commentator, and livestreamer.[8][2] After Fuentes, there is no clear second in the Groyper hierarchy.

Michelle Malkin, a conservative blogger and political commentator, has referred to herself as the "mommy" of the Groyper movement, though she plays a minor role in the cause.[9][10]

In February 2021, the Groyper movement splintered between Nick Fuentes and Patrick Casey over fears of infiltration by federal informants and doxing at the 2021 America First Political Action Conference, held by Fuentes. Jaden McNeil of America First Students joined in support of Fuentes' conference and accused Casey of disloyalty to Fuentes.[11][12] In May 2022, McNeil distanced himself from Fuentes in an "interpersonal clash of egos" following conflict over his former position as treasurer of Fuentes' America First Foundation.[13]

Groypers are extremely conservative and critical of more mainstream conservative organizations, which they believe to be insufficiently nationalist and pro-white; thus, appealing to racist and xenophobic individuals.[14] Groypers and their leaders have tried to position the group's ideology as being based around "Christian conservatism", "traditional values", and "American nationalism". Some Groypers downplay the extremism of their positions, and instruct others on how to engage in entryism and radicalization tactics such as slowly introducing their targets to increasingly extreme ideas. Despite attempts to brand themselves more moderately, the group is widely recognized as white nationalist, antisemitic, and homophobic.[1][17]

Fuentes claimed that he had been "oppressed" by "the Jews" and blamed antisemitic actions as being the Jewish community's own fault, claiming that matters "tend to go from zero to sixty" and that "the reason is them". Fuentes declared that matters would get "a lot uglier" for their community if they did not begin to support "people like us".[18][19] According to the Anti-Defamation League, Groypers blame the mainstream conservative movement as well as the political left for what they view as "destroying white America". They oppose immigration and globalism. Groypers support "traditional" values and Christianity and oppose feminism and LGBTQ rights.[1]

Describing the relationship between Groypers and the Republican Party, Nick Fuentes has stated, "We are the right-wing flank of the Republican Party." He summarized his political ambitions by stating, "We have got to be on the right, dragging [moderate Republicans] kicking and screaming into the future. Into a truly reactionary party."[20] In 2022, Fuentes advocated for a political "white uprising" to bring Donald Trump back to power and "never leave," wanting America to "stop having elections" and abolish the United States Congress.[21][22]

Groypers are named after a cartoon amphibian named "Groyper", which is a variant of the Internet meme Pepe the Frog. Groyper is depicted as a rotund, green, frog-like creature, often in a sitting position with its chin resting on interlocked fingers.[23][24] There is some disagreement around the specifics of Groyper: it is alternatively said to be a depiction of the Pepe character,[5] a different character from Pepe but of the same species,[25] or a toad.[23] The Groyper meme was used as early as 2015, and became popular in 2017.[26]

In 2018, a group of computer scientists studying hateful speech on Twitter observed the Groyper image being used frequently in account avatars among the accounts identified as "hateful" in their dataset. The researchers observed that the profiles tended to be anonymous and collectively tweeted primarily about politics, race, and religion. Similarly, they detected that the users were not "lone wolves" and the individuals could be identified as a community with a high network centrality.[27] The same year, Right Wing Watch reported that Massachusetts congressional hopeful Shiva Ayyadurai had created a campaign pin featuring a variation of the Groyper image, which RWW described as an attempt to appeal to the far-right activists on 4chan, Gab, and Twitter who had adopted the meme.[28]

Followers of Nick Fuentes began to be known as Groypers beginning in 2019. Fuentes' followers are also sometimes called "Nickers".[2][29] In September 2019, Ashley St. Clair, a "brand ambassador" for the conservative student group Turning Point USA, was photographed at an event featuring several allegedly white nationalist and alt-right figures, including Fuentes, Jacob Wohl, and Anthime Gionet, better known as "Baked Alaska". After Right Wing Watch brought the photographs to Turning Point USA's attention, the organization issued a statement declaring that it had severed ties with St. Clair, and condemning white nationalism as "abhorrent and un-American".[30][31] At the 2019 Politicon convention, Fuentes tried to access several of the Turning Point USA events featuring its founder Charlie Kirk, including a line to take photos with Kirk and Kirk's debate with Kyle Kulinski of The Young Turks. Security repeatedly barred him from being allowed anywhere near Kirk, with Fuentes accusing Kirk of deliberately suppressing him in order to avoid a confrontation, as Fuentes had grown critical of Kirk's positions, which he believes are too weak.[24]

In the fall of 2019, Kirk launched a college speaking tour with Turning Point USA titled "Culture War", featuring himself alongside such guests as Senator Rand Paul, Donald Trump Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, Lara Trump, and Congressman Dan Crenshaw.[1] In retaliation for the firing of St. Clair and the Politicon incident, Fuentes subsequently began organizing a social media campaign asking his followers to go to Kirk's events and ask provocative and controversial leading questions regarding his stances on immigration, Israel, and LGBT rights during the question-and-answer sessions, for the purpose of exposing Kirk as a "fake conservative". At a Culture War event hosted by Ohio State University on October 29, eleven out of fourteen questions during the Q&A section were asked by Groypers.[32] Groypers asked questions including, "Can you prove that our white European ideals will be maintained if the country is no longer made up of white European descendants?", and directed the question "How does anal sex help us win the culture war?" at Kirk's co-host Rob Smith, a gay black veteran of the Iraq War.[33] Fuentes' social media campaign against Kirk became known as the "Groyper Wars".[5][23] Kirk, Smith, and others at Turning Point USA, including Benny Johnson, began labeling the questioners as white supremacists and anti-Semites.[24][34]

Another Turning Point USA event targeted by the Groypers was a promotional event for Donald Trump Jr.'s book Triggered, featuring Trump, Kirk, and Guilfoyle at the University of California, Los Angeles in November 2019. Anticipating further questions from Fuentes' followers, it was announced that the originally planned Q&A portion of the event would be canceled, which led to heckling and boos from the mostly pro-Trump audience.[35] The disruptions eventually forced them to cut the event short after 30 minutes, when it was originally scheduled to last for two hours.[36][37][8]

Groypers' targets for heckling quickly expanded beyond Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA.[23] Groypers began targeting other mainstream conservative groups and individuals, which they sometimes collectively call "Conservative Inc.", including events hosted by Young America's Foundation and their student outreach branch Young Americans for Freedom, which included such speakers as Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire, and Jonah Goldberg of The Dispatch.[3] Questions posed to their opponents often focus on topics including United StatesIsrael relations, immigration policy, affirmative action, and LGTBQ conservatives.[4][5] They regularly use anti-Semitic dogwhistles in their confrontations with other conservatives, including numerous questions about the USS Liberty incident, and references to the "dancing Israelis" conspiracy theory alleging Israeli involvement in the September 11 attacks.[41][1]

In December 2019, Fuentes announced and held the Groyper Leadership Summit in Florida. A small group attended the event in person, and attendees also joined via livestream. The event was held at the same time and in the same city as Turning Point USA's Student Action Summit (SAS); Groypers argued with SAS attendees outside of their venue, and Fuentes, Patrick Casey, and some Groypers were removed from the SAS venue after attempting to enter. At the Groyper Leadership Summit, Fuentes, Casey, and former InfoWars contributor Jake Lloyd spoke about the Groypers' strategy and ideology. While outside of a venue where a Turning Point USA event was being held, Fuentes crossed paths with Ben Shapiro, who was on his way to the event with his pregnant wife and two children. Fuentes confronted Shapiro over his past public speaking comments, while Shapiro refused to acknowledge him.[43] Fuentes faced widespread condemnation from politicians and various punditsincluding Nikki Haley, Meghan McCain, Sebastian Gorka, Megyn Kelly, and Michael Avenattifor confronting Shapiro while he was with his family.[44]

In January 2020, Groyper and former leader of Kansas State University's Turning Point USA chapter Jaden McNeil formed the Kansas State University organization America First Students. The group, which shares a name with Fuentes' America First podcast, was conceived at the Groyper Leadership Summit, and Groyper leaders have helped promote the group. The America First Students organization, which states it was formed "in defense of Christian values, strong families, closed borders, and the American worker", is considered to push the Groyper movement.[6][7]

In February 2020, Fuentes spoke at several events that were held as rival events to the Conservative Political Action Conference. One such event, hosted by the online publication National File, featured Fuentes, Alex Jones of InfoWars, and Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes.[45][46] Fuentes hosted the first annual America First Political Action Conference, which included such speakers as Patrick Casey, former Daily Caller author Scott Greer, and Malkin.[47]

Groypers are very active online, particularly on Twitter, and have engaged in targeted harassment against opponents.[32] Financial Times reported that many Groypers use "deceptively anodyne" Twitter biographies, describing themselves in terms that downplay their extremism, like "Christian conservative".[48] In April 2020, The Daily Dot reported that Fuentes and other Groypers had begun to move to the video sharing platform TikTok, where they streamed live and used the "duet" feature to respond to Trump supporters. Groypers particularly targeted one left-wing teenage girl for harassment, which began on TikTok but spread across platforms.[48][49] Fuentes and some other Groyper accounts were banned from TikTok shortly after the Daily Dot article was published.[50]

The Groyper Wars earned widespread media attention after the UCLA incident with Donald Trump Jr. Chadwick Moore of Spectator USA commented that the ordeal revealed deep divisions within the American right among young voters, particularly with regards to the political beliefs of Generation Z, or "Zoomers". This divide, Moore claims, is due to the Groypers viewing Charlie Kirk and others in the mainstream conservative movement as "snatching the baton and appointing themselves the guardians of 2016's spoils", despite holding beliefs that Fuentes and his followers believe to be in conflict with then-President Trump's "Make America Great Again" agenda.[51] Another Spectator author, Ben Sixsmith, claimed that Turning Point's unwillingness to respond to controversial questions, and subsequent use of insults to dismiss their critics, revealed the organization's hypocrisy after having "promoted themselves as the debate guys".[52]

Several mainstream conservative commentators also weighed in on the matter. Addressing the increase in attention towards the far-right due to the aggressive questioning of Kirk, Ben Shapiro gave a speech at Stanford University in which he attacked Fuentes (without naming him) and his followers as essentially being a rebranded version of the alt-right.[53][54][55] Representative Dan Crenshaw similarly referred to the questioners as "alt-right 2.0" while American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp said that "there is no place in our conservative movement for those interested in fomenting hate, mob violence, or racist propaganda."[56] Conversely, conservative commentator Michelle Malkin wrote an article for American Greatness attacking Kirk for his immigration policies, and particularly his stance that green cards should be awarded to immigrants who graduate from American universities.[57] After defending Fuentes and his followers, Malkin was fired as a speaker for Young America's Foundation, a rival organization to Turning Point whose events had also been targeted by Groypers.[58] Malkin later would refer to herself as a mother figure among and a leader of the Groypers.[59]

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Pepe The Frog GIFs | 80 Animated Images of This Meme – ACEGIF.com

Pepe the Frog has been with us since 2005 and has become quite popular as a meme and reactions in chat rooms. We have collected 80 of the best gifs of this meme. Sad, crying or cheerful Pepe, anger, dancing frog and much more. Download for free and use as you please.

Classic crying frog

Pensive smile

Sad dance on transparent background

Pepe winks and offers a drink

Its too sad

Pepe cries with closed eyes and raises his hands up

Rage

When someone wrote that you werent a sweet bun

Pepes Endless Middle Finger Show

Pepe the Frog is hypnotized and spit rainbow-colored. Transparent background

Sad frog on a rainbow background

When you sit under a blanket in front of the computer during a snowfall outside the window

Sweats trying to make a decision

Stingy smile

Sad Pepe the Frog Begins to Cry

Sad Pepe dancing on a black background

Joy gives way to sadness

Pepe Crying Liquid Animation

Rainbow Pepe

Playful mood

Smooth dance animation, many frames per second. Transparent background

Sad dance of love

Pepe in a black robber mask shoots with two pistols

Three-dimensional face of a frog on a transparent background

Spinning frog coin

Suicidal Pepe

Joy in front of TV

Pepe fires a Kalashnikov assault rifle

Frog face on black background

Pepe is sadly holding a cigarette

Multiple rage and surprise

Funny dance on transparent background

Funny embarrassment

Pepe hits you

Dance with a dazzling smile on a blue background

Pepe happy with a mug of tea

Sad Pepe the Frog Wears the Mask of Happiness

Nods

Rotates palms left and right

Head spins clockwise

Pepe the Frog Performs the Party Parrot Dance

Pepe is composed of numbers and letters, like in the Matrix

Smiling frog in the Jacuzzi

Dance in sunglasses

Appears from different directions

Pepe the Frog Prays

Dubbing in rainbow suit

The frog sits in a black chair under a red blanket and moves its legs

Shows fists

The butterfly flies to sad Pepe and makes him more fun

Sad Pepe in a brilliant green performance

Pepe is looking for the ghost that can be seen outside the window

Hurrah!

Pepe in a formal suit. He saw something incredible

Pepe listens to music

Pensive smile on the background of a circular rainbow

We run

Red eyes from social networks

Dance in simple clothes

Martial arts master

Applause

When you saw something magnificent

Dancing Plant with Pepes Face

Pepe with a glass of wine

Doubts, but claps his hands

Dubbing in formal suit

Dubbing jersey 10

Pixel Pepe Crying

Im leaving

Im going to cry

Dubbing at a fast pace

Joy with open eyes

The ghost of the frog Pepe

Party Parrot style dance

Sweaty frog points to the hole

Pepe the child

Pepe washes his hands and wears a medical mask

Pepe the frogs head becomes cheerful, but quickly becomes sad

Antichrist go away

Pepe shoots you with a pistol

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There’s Something Strange About How These Stars Are Moving, Scientists Say

Astronomers are puzzled by the strange behavior of a crooked cluster of stars, which appears to be following an alternative theory of gravity.

Astronomers are puzzled by the strange behavior of certain crooked clusters of stars, which appear to be violating our conventional understanding of gravity.

Massive clusters of stars usually are bound together in spirals at the center of galaxies. Some of these clusters fall under a category astrophysicists call open star clusters, which are created in a relatively short period of time as they ignite in a huge cloud of gas.

During this process, loose stars accumulate in a pair of "tidal tails," one of which is being pulled behind, while the other moves ahead.

"According to Newton’s laws of gravity, it’s a matter of chance in which of the tails a lost star ends up," Jan Pflamm-Altenburg of the University of Bonn in Germany, co-author of a new paper published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, in a statement. "So both tails should contain about the same number of stars."

But some of their recent observations seemingly defy conventional physics.

"However, in our work we were able to prove for the first time that this is not true," Pflamm-Altenburg added. "In the clusters we studied, the front tail always contains significantly more stars nearby to the cluster than the rear tail."

In fact, their new findings are far more in line with a different theory called "Modified Newtonian Dynamics" (MOND).

"Put simply, according to MOND, stars can leave a cluster through two different doors," Pavel Kroupa, Pflamm-Altenburg's colleague at the University of Bonn and lead author, explained in the statement. "One leads to the rear tidal tail, the other to the front."

"However, the first is much narrower than the second — so it’s less likely that a star will leave the cluster through it," he added. "Newton’s theory of gravity, on the other hand, predicts that both doors should be the same width."

The researchers' simulations, taking MOND into consideration, could explain a lot. For one, they suggest that open star clusters survive a much shorter period of time than what is expected from Newton's laws of physics.

"This explains a mystery that has been known for a long time," Kroupa explained. "Namely, star clusters in nearby galaxies seem to be disappearing faster than they should."

But not everybody agrees that Newton's laws should be replaced with MOND, something that could shake the foundations of physics.

"It’s somewhat promising, but it does not provide completely definitive evidence for MOND," University of Saint Andrews research fellow Indranil Banik told New Scientist. "This asymmetry does make more sense in MOND, but in any individual cluster there could be other effects that are causing it — it’s a bit unlikely that would happen in all of them, though."

The researchers are now trying to hone in on an even more accurate picture by stepping up the accuracy of their simulations, which could either support their MOND theory — or conclude that Newton was, in fact, correct the first time around.

More on star clusters: Something Is Ripping Apart the Nearest Star Cluster to Earth

The post There's Something Strange About How These Stars Are Moving, Scientists Say appeared first on Futurism.

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There's Something Strange About How These Stars Are Moving, Scientists Say

This Deepfake AI Singing Dolly Parton’s "Jolene" Is Worryingly Good

Holly Herndon uses her AI twin Holly+ to sing a cover of Dolly Parton's

AI-lands in the Stream

Sorry, but not even Dolly Parton is sacred amid the encroachment of AI into art.

Holly Herndon, an avant garde pop musician, has released a cover of Dolly Parton's beloved and frequently covered hit single, "Jolene." Except it's not really Herndon singing, but her digital deepfake twin known as Holly+.

The music video features a 3D avatar of Holly+ frolicking in what looks like a decaying digital world.

And honestly, it's not bad — dare we say, almost kind of good? Herndon's rendition croons with a big, round sound, soaked in reverb and backed by a bouncy, acoustic riff and a chorus of plaintive wailing. And she has a nice voice. Or, well, Holly+ does. Maybe predictably indie-folk, but it's certainly an effective demonstration of AI with a hint of creative flair, or at least effective curation.

Checking the Boxes

But the performance is also a little unsettling. For one, the giant inhales between verses are too long to be real and are almost cajolingly dramatic. The vocals themselves are strangely even and, despite the somber tone affected by the AI, lack Parton's iconic vulnerability.

Overall, it feels like the AI is simply checking the boxes of what makes a good, swooning cover after listening to Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" a million times — which, to be fair, is a pretty good starting point.

Still, it'd be remiss to downplay what Herndon has managed to pull off here, and the criticisms mostly reflect the AI's limited capabilities more than her chops as a musician. The AI's seams are likely intentional, if her previous work is anything to go off of.

Either way, if you didn't know you were listening to an AI from the get-go, you'd probably be fooled. And that alone is striking.

The Digital Self

Despite AI's usually ominous implications for art, Herndon views her experiment as a "way for artists to take control of their digital selves," according to a statement on her website.

"Vocal deepfakes are here to stay," Herndon was quoted saying. "A balance needs to be found between protecting artists, and encouraging people to experiment with a new and exciting technology."

Whether Herndon's views are fatalistic or prudently pragmatic remains to be seen. But even if her intentions are meant to be good for artists, it's still worrying that an AI could pull off such a convincing performance.

More on AI music: AI That Generates Music from Prompts Should Probably Scare Musicians

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This Deepfake AI Singing Dolly Parton's "Jolene" Is Worryingly Good

Greta Thunberg Says UN Climate Conference Is a Scam and She’s Not Attending

The UN's upcoming COP27 climate conference in Egypt is basically a

COP Out

Ever since she lambasted world leaders at a UN conference in 2018 when she was only 15 years old, Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg has had the ear of the international community.

Now, Thunberg says she's skipping out on next week's COP27 UN climate summit in Egypt. Why? Because it's rife with "greenwashing."

"I'm not going to COP27 for many reasons, but the space for civil society this year is extremely limited," Thunberg said at a press event for her book, "The Climate Book," as quoted by The Guardian. "The COPs are mainly used as an opportunity for leaders and people in power to get attention, using many different kinds of greenwashing."

Ultimately, in Thunberg's view, the COP conferences "are not really meant to change the whole system" and instead only promote incremental change. Bluntly put, they're feel-good events that don't accomplish much, so she's bowing out.

Wasted Breath

It's not an unfair assessment. For all the pledges made to drastically cut back emissions and achieve net carbon zero by 2050, very few nations have followed through in the short term. And in Europe, the energy crisis in the wake of the war in Ukraine has further sidelined those climate commitments.

So we can't blame her for not going. But it's a bit disheartening that even a tenacious young spokesperson like Thunberg has given up on convincing world leaders at the biggest climate summit in the world.

Maybe it's indicative of the frustrations of her generation at large. When Thunberg was asked what she thought about the recent wave of Just Stop Oil protests that included activists throwing soup on a Van Gogh painting, she said that she viewed what many detractors perceived as a dumb stunt to be symptomatic of the world's failure to effect meaningful environmental change.

"People are trying to find new methods because we realize that what we have been doing up until now has not done the trick," she replied, as quoted by Reuters. "It's only reasonable to expect these kinds of different actions."

Maybe the real question is: if even a UN climate conference isn't the place to get the message out and change hearts, where's the right place, and what's the right way? If the headlines are any indication, zoomers are struggling to figure that out.

More on Greta Thunberg: Greta Thunberg Thinks Germany Shutting Down Its Nuclear Plants Is a Bad Idea

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Greta Thunberg Says UN Climate Conference Is a Scam and She's Not Attending

Manslaughter Case Has a Strange Twist: Tesla That Killed Couple Was on Autopilot

A court case is about to kick off in Los Angeles later this month, involving a fatal crash caused by a Tesla vehicle, which was on Autopilot.

A provocative manslaughter case is about to kick off in Los Angeles later this month, involving a fatal crash caused by a Tesla vehicle that had the company's controversial Autopilot feature turned on.

It's the first case of its kind, and one that could set a precedent for future crashes involving cars and driver-assistance software, Reuters reports.

We won't know the exact defense until the case gets under way, but the crux is that the man who was behind the wheel of the Tesla is facing manslaughter charges — but has pleaded not guilty, setting up potentially novel legal arguments about culpability in a deadly collision when, technically speaking, it wasn't a human driving the car.

"Who's at fault, man or machine?" asked Edward Walters, an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University, in an interview with Reuters. "The state will have a hard time proving the guilt of the human driver because some parts of the task are being handled by Tesla."

The upcoming trial is about a fatal collision that took place in 2019. The crash involved Kevin George Aziz Riad, who ran a red light in his Tesla Model S, and collided with a Honda Civic, killing a couple who were reportedly on their first date.

According to vehicle data, Riad did not apply the brakes but had a hand on the steering wheel. Perhaps most critically, though, the Tesla's Autopilot feature was turned on in the moments leading up to the crash.

Riad is facing manslaughter charges, with prosecutors arguing his actions were reckless.

Meanwhile, Riad's lawyers have argued that he shouldn't be charged with a crime, but have so far stopped short of publicly placing blame on Tesla's Autopilot software.

Tesla is not directly implicated in the upcoming trial and isn't facing charges in the case, according to Reuters.

A separate trial, however, involving the family of one of the deceased is already scheduled for next year — but this time, Tesla is the defendant.

"I can't say that the driver was not at fault, but the Tesla system, Autopilot, and Tesla spokespeople encourage drivers to be less attentive," the family's attorney Donald Slavik told Reuters.

"Tesla knows people are going to use Autopilot and use it in dangerous situations," he added.

Tesla is already under heavy scrutiny over its Autopilot and so-called Full Self-Driving software, despite conceding that the features "do not make the vehicle autonomous" and that drivers must remain attentive of the road at all times.

Critics argue that Tesla's marketing is misleading and that it's only leading to more accidents — not making the roads safer, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk has argued in the past.

In fact, a recent survey found that 42 percent of Tesla Autopilot said they feel "comfortable treating their vehicles as fully self-driving."

Regulators are certainly already paying attention. The news comes a week after Reuters revealed that the Department of Justice is investigating Tesla over Autopilot.

Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced an investigation of accidents in which Teslas have smashed into emergency response vehicles that were pulled over with sirens or flares.

This month's trial certainly stands the chance of setting a precedent. Was Riad fully at fault or was Tesla's Autopilot at least partially to blame as well?

The answer now lies in the hands of a jury.

READ MORE: Tesla crash trial in California hinges on question of 'man vs machine' [Reuters]

More on Autopilot: Survey: 42% of Tesla Autopilot Drivers Think Their Cars Can Drive Themselves

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Manslaughter Case Has a Strange Twist: Tesla That Killed Couple Was on Autopilot

NASA Sets Launch Date for Mission to $10 Quintillion Asteroid

After disappointing setbacks and delays, NASA has finally got its mission to an invaluable asteroid made of precious metals back on track.

Rock of Riches

After disappointing setbacks and a delay over the summer, NASA says it's finally reviving its mission to explore a tantalizing and giant space rock lurking deep in the Asteroid Belt.

Known as 16 Psyche, the NASA-targeted asteroid comprises a full one percent of the mass of the Asteroid Bet, and is speculated to be the core of an ancient planet. But Psyche's size isn't what intrigues scientists so much as its metal-rich composition, believed to be harboring a wealth of iron, nickel, and gold worth an estimated $10 quintillion — easily exceeding the worth of the Earth's entire economy. Although, to be clear, they're not interested in the metals' monetary value but rather its possibly planetary origins.

Back On Track

Initially slated to launch in August 2022, NASA's aptly named Psyche spacecraft became plagued with a persistent flight software issue that led the space agency to miss its launch window that closed on October 11.

But after surviving an independent review determining whether the mission should be scrapped or not, NASA has formally announced that its spacecraft's journey to Psyche will be going ahead, planned to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket as early as October 10, 2023.

"I'm extremely proud of the Psyche team," said Laurie Leshin, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in a statement. "During this review, they have demonstrated significant progress already made toward the future launch date. I am confident in the plan moving forward and excited by the unique and important science this mission will return."

Although the new launch date is only a little over a year late, the expected arrival at the asteroid Psyche is set back by over three years — 2029 instead of 2026 — due to having to wait for another opportunity to slingshot off of Mars' gravity.

Peering Into a Planet

Once it arrives, the NASA spacecraft will orbit around the asteroid and probe it with an array of instruments, including a multispectral imager, gamma ray and neutron spectrometers, and a magnetometer, according to the agency.

In doing so, scientists hope to determine if the asteroid is indeed the core of a nascent planet known as a planetesimal. If it is, it could prove to be an invaluable opportunity to understand the interior of terrestrial planets like our own.

More on NASA: NASA Announces Plan to Fix Moon Rocket, and Maybe Launch It Eventually

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NASA Sets Launch Date for Mission to $10 Quintillion Asteroid

Twitter Working on Plan to Charge Users to Watch Videos

According to an internal email obtained by The Washington Post, Musk wants to have Twitter charge users to view videos posted by content creators.

Now that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken over Twitter, the billionaire has been frantically shuffling through ambitious plans to turn the ailing social media platform into a revenue-driving business.

Case in point, according to internal email obtained by The Washington Post, Musk is plotting for Twitter to charge users to view videos posted by content creators and take a cut of the proceeds — a highly controversial idea that's already been met with internal skepticism.

The team of Twitter engineers has "identified the risk as high" in the email, citing "risks related to copyrighted content, creator/user trust issues, and legal compliance."

In short, Musk is blazing ahead with his infamously ambitious timelines — a "move fast and break things" approach that could signify a tidal change for Twitter's historically sluggish approach to launching new features.

Musk has already made some big structural changes to Twitter, having fired high-up positions at the company and dissolved its board of directors.

The company will also likely be facing mass layoffs, according to The Washington Post.

The new feature detailed in the new email, which is being referred to as "Paywalled Video," allows creators to "enable the paywall once a video has been added to the tweet" and chose from a preset list of prices, ranging from $1 to $10.

"This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators," Musk tweeted on Tuesday, adding that "creators need to make a living!"

But whether Twitter users will be willing to pay for stuff that was previously free remains anything but certain.

Musk has already announced that he is planning to charge $8 a month for Twitter users to stay verified, which has been met with derision.

The billionaire CEO is facing an uphill battle. Now that the company is private, he has to pay around $1 billion in annual interest payments, a result from his $44 buyout, according to the WaPo.

Compounding the trouble, Reuters reported last week that Twitter is bleeding some of its most active users.

Meanwhile, Musk's chaotic moves are likely to alienate advertisers, with the Interpublic Group, a massive inter-agency advertising group, recommending that its clients suspend all paid advertising for at least the week.

That doesn't bode well. It's not out of the question that a paywalled video feature may facilitate the monetization of pornographic content, which may end up scaring off advertisers even further — but Twitter's exact intentions for the feature are still unclear.

According to Reuters, around 13 percent of the site's content is currently marked not safe for work (NSFW).

It's part of Musk's attempt to shift revenue away from advertising on the platform. In a tweet last week, he promised advertisers that Twitter wouldn't become a "free-for-all hellscape."

But that hasn't stopped advertisers from already leaving in droves.

All in all, a paywalled video feature could mark a significant departure for Twitter, a platform still primarily known for short snippets of text.

For now, all we can do is watch.

READ MORE: Elon Musk’s Twitter is working on paid-video feature with ‘high’ risk [The Washington Post]

More on Twitter: Elon Musk Pleads With Stephen King to Pay for Blue Checkmark

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Twitter Working on Plan to Charge Users to Watch Videos

Cats May Be Tampering With Crime Scenes, Scientists Say

Cats, ever the mischievous and frisky pets, may be harboring a lot more human DNA than once thought, possibly tampering crime scenes, a new study says.

Cat Burglar

Cats are known for not really minding their own business, getting their furry paws on just about anything they can.

And it turns out, this makes them effective vectors for DNA evidence, according to a study published last month in the journal Forensic Science International: Genetic Supplement Series.

Researchers collaborating with the Victoria Police Forensic Services Department in Australia found detectable human DNA in 80 percent of the samples collected from 20 pet cats, with 70 percent of the samples strong enough that they could be linked to a person of interest in a crime scene investigation.

"Collection of human DNA needs to become very important in crime scene investigations, but there is a lack of data on companion animals such as cats and dogs in their relationship to human DNA transfer," said study lead author Heidi Monkman, a forensic scientist at Flinders University, in a statement.

"These companion animals can be highly relevant in assessing the presence and activities of the inhabitants of the household, or any recent visitors to the scene."

Here Kitty

One possible takeaway is that cats — and other companion pets like dogs — could be harboring DNA that could help solve a case.

The bigger issue, though, is that pets could introduce foreign DNA that muddles a crime scene, possibly leading to an innocent person being implicated. A pet could be carrying the DNA of a complete stranger, or it might bring the DNA of its owner into a crime scene that they had nothing to do with.

Monkman's colleague and co-author of the paper, Maria Goray, is an experienced crime scene investigator and an expert in DNA transfer. She believes their findings could help clear up how pets might tamper a crime scene by carrying outside DNA.

"Are these DNA findings a result of a criminal activity or could they have been transferred and deposited at the scene via a pet?" Goray asked.

It's a question worth asking — especially because innocent people have been jailed off botched DNA science far too often.

More on DNA evidence: Cops Upload Image of Suspect Generated From DNA, Then Delete After Mass Criticism

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Cats May Be Tampering With Crime Scenes, Scientists Say

Scientists Use Actual Lunar Soil Sample to Create Rocket Fuel

A team of Chinese researchers claim to have turned lunar regolith samples brought back by the country's Chang'e 5 mission into a source of fuel.

Fill 'Er Up

A team of Chinese researchers say they managed to convert actual lunar regolith samples into a source of rocket fuel and oxygen — a potential gamechanger for future space explorers hoping to make use of in-situ resources to fuel up for their return journey.

The researchers found that the lunar soil samples can act as a catalyst to convert carbon dioxide and water from astronauts' bodies and environment into methane and oxygen, as detailed in a paper published in the National Science Review.

"In situ resource utilization of lunar soil to achieve extraterrestrial fuel and oxygen production is vital for the human to carry out Moon exploitation missions," lead author Yujie Xiong said in a new statement about the work. "Considering that there are limited human resources at extraterrestrial sites, we proposed to employ the robotic system to perform the whole electrocatalytic CO2 conversion system setup."

That means we could have a much better shot at carrying out longer duration explorations of the lunar surface in the near future.

Set It, Forget It

According to the paper, which builds on previous research suggesting lunar soil can generate oxygen and fuel, this process can be completed using uncrewed systems, even in the absence of astronauts.

In an experiment, the team used samples from China's Chang'e-5 mission, which landed in Inner Mongolia back in December 2020 — the first lunar soil returned to Earth since 1976.

The Moon soil effectively acted as a catalyst, enabling the electrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide into methane and oxygen.

"No significant difference can be observed between the manned and unmanned systems, which further suggests the high possibility of imitating our proposed system in extraterrestrial sites and proves the feasibility of further optimizing catalyst recipes on the Moon," the researchers conclude in their paper.

Liquified

But there's one big hurdle to still overcome: liquifying carbon dioxide is anything but easy given the Moon's frosty atmosphere, as condensing the gas requires a significant amount of heat, as New Scientist reported earlier this year.

Still, it's a tantalizing prospect: an autonomous machine chugging away, pumping out oxygen and fuel for future visitors. But for now, it's not much more than a proof of concept.

READ MORE: Scientists investigate using lunar soils to sustainably supply oxygen and fuels on the moon [Science China Press]

More on lunar soil: Bad News! The Plants Grown in Moon Soil Turned Out Wretched

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Scientists Use Actual Lunar Soil Sample to Create Rocket Fuel

Elon Musk Meeting With Advertisers, Begging Them Not to Leave Twitter

Advertisers are fleeing Twitter in droves now that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken over control. Now, he's trying to pick up the pieces and begging them to return.

Advertisers are fleeing Twitter in droves now that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has taken over control.

Ever since officially closing the $44 billion deal, Musk has been busy gutting the company's executive suite and dissolving its board. Senior executives, as well as Twitter's advertising chief Sarah Personette, have departed as well.

After all, Musk has been very clear about his disdain for advertising for years now.

The resulting uncertainty has advertisers spooked — major advertising holding company IPG has already advised clients to pull out temporarily — and the billionaire CEO is in serious damage mode.

Now, Reuters reports, Musk is spending most of this week meeting with advertisers in New York, trying to reassure them that Twitter won't turn into a "free-for-all hellscape."

According to one of Reuters' sources, the meetings have been "very productive" — but plenty of other marketers are far from satisfied.

Advertisers are reportedly grilling Musk over his plans to address the rampant misinformation being spread on the platform, a trend that Musk himself has been actively contributing to since the acquisition.

And if he's succeeding in ameliorating advertisers in private, he's antagonizing them publicly. On Wednesday, Musk posted a poll asking users whether advertisers should support either "freedom of speech," or "political 'correctness'" — a type of false dichotomy that echoes the rhetoric of far-right conspiracy theorists and conservative pundits.

"Those type of provocations are not helping to calm the waters," an unnamed media buyer told Reuters.

Some are going public with the same sentiment.

"Unless Elon hires new leaders committed to keeping this 'free' platform safe from hate speech, it's not a platform brands can/should advertise on," Allie Wassum, global media director for the Nike-owned shoe brand Jordan, wrote in a LinkedIn post.

So far, Musk's plans for the social media platform remain strikingly muddy. In addition to the behind-the-scenes advertising plays, he's also announced that users will have to pay to retain their verification badge, though he's engaged in a comically public negotiation as to what the cost might be.

He's also hinted that previously banned users — former US president Donald Trump chief among them — might eventually get a chance to return, but only once "we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks."

The move was seen by many as a way to wait out the impending midterm elections. After all, Twitter has played a huge role in disseminating misinformation and swaying elections in the past.

While advertisers are running for the hills, to Musk advertising is clearly only a small part of the picture — even though historically, social giants like Twitter have struggled to diversify their revenue sources much beyond display ads.

Musk nodded to that reality in a vague open letter posted last week.

"Low relevancy ads are spam, but highly relevant ads are actually content!" he wrote in the note, addressed to "Twitter advertisers."

Big picture, Twitter's operations are in free fall right now and Musk has yet to provide advertisers with a cohesive plan to pick up the pieces.

While he's hinted at the creation of a new content moderation council made up of both "people from all viewpoints" and "wildly divergent views," advertisers are clearly going to be thinking twice about continuing their business with Twitter.

With or without advertising, Twitter's finances are reportedly in a very deep hole. The billions of dollars Musk had to borrow to finance his mega acquisition will cost Twitter around $1 billion a year in interest alone.

The company also wasn't anywhere near profitable before Musk took over, losing hundreds of millions of dollars in a single quarter.

Whether that picture will change any time soon is as unclear as ever, especially in the face of a wintry economy.

But, of course, Musk has proved his critics wrong before. So anything's possible.

READ MORE: Advertisers begin to grill Elon Musk over Twitter 'free-for-all' [Reuters]

More on the saga: Elon Musk Pulling Engineers From Tesla Autopilot to Work on Twitter

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Elon Musk Meeting With Advertisers, Begging Them Not to Leave Twitter

Scientists Found a Way to Control How High Mice Got on Cocaine

A team of neuroscientists at the University of Wisconsin claim to have found a way to control how high mice can get on cocaine.

A team of neuroscientists at the University of Wisconsin claim to have found a way to control how high mice can get on a given amount of cocaine.

And don't worry — while that may sound like a particularly frivolous plot concocted by a team of evil scientists, the goal of the research is well-meaning.

The team, led by University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Santiago Cuesta, was investigating how the gut microbiome can influence how mice and humans react to ingesting the drug.

The research, detailed in a new paper published this week in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, sheds light on a vicious feedback loop that could explain cases of substance abuse disorders — and possibly lay the groundwork for future therapeutic treatments.

In a number of experiments on mice, the researchers found that cocaine was linked to the growth of common gut bacteria, which feed on glycine, a chemical that facilitates basic brain functions.

The lower the levels of glycine in the brain, the more the mice reacted to the cocaine, exhibiting abnormal behaviors.

To test the theory, the scientists injected the mice with a genetically modified amino acid which cannot break down glycine. As a result, the behavior of mice returned to normal levels.

In other words, the amino acid could curb cocaine addiction-like behaviors — at least in animal models.

"The gut bacteria are consuming all of the glycine and the levels are decreasing systemically and in the brain," said Vanessa Sperandio, senior author, and microbiologist from the University of Wisconsin, in a statement. "It seems changing glycine overall is impacting the glutamatergic synapses that make the animals more prone to develop addiction."

It's an unorthodox approach to treating addiction, but could be intriguing — if it works in people, that is.

"Usually, for neuroscience behaviors, people are not thinking about controlling the microbiota, and microbiota studies usually don't measure behaviors, but here we show they’re connected," Cuesta added. "Our microbiome can actually modulate psychiatric or brain-related behaviors."

In short, their research could lead to new ways of treating various psychiatric disorders such as substance use by adjusting the gut microbiome and not making changes to the brain chemistry.

"I think the bridging of these communities is what's going to move the field forward, advancing beyond correlations towards causations for the different types of psychiatric disorders," Sperandio argued.

READ MORE: How gut bacteria influence the effects of cocaine in mice [Cell Press]

More on addiction: Study: Magic Mushrooms Helped 83% of People Cut Excessive Drinking

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Scientists Found a Way to Control How High Mice Got on Cocaine

Scientists Spot "Stripped, Pulsating Core" of Star Caused By Horrific Accident

In a

Core Dump

Scientists studying a group of stars made an astonishing but "serendipitous" discovery when they realized that Gamma Columbae, a fairly average celestial body, might actually be the "stripped pulsating core of a massive star," according to a study published this week in Nature Astronomy.

If true, that means Gamma Columbae is missing the envelope, or vast shroud of gas, that hides a star's nuclear fusion powered core.

What caused the stripping of this atmospheric envelope is not definitively known, but the scientists posit that Gamma Columbae running out of hydrogen could've caused its envelope to expand and swallow up a nearby star, likely its binary partner. But in the middle of that relatively common process, something appears to have horrifically gone wrong and ejected the envelope — and possibly even led to the two stars merging.

Naked Core

Before the disaster, the scientists believe Gamma Columbae could have been up to 12 times the mass of our Sun. Now, it's a comparatively meager 5 stellar masses.

Although a naked stellar core missing its envelope has been theorized to exist, it's never been observed in a star this size.

"Having a naked stellar core of such a mass is unique so far," said study co-author Norbert Pryzbilla, head of the Institute for Astro- and Particle Physics at the University of Innsbruck, in an interview with Vice.

Astronomers had an idea of what the cores of massive and low mass stars looked like, Pryzbilla continued, but there wasn't "much evidence" for cores of masses in between.

Star Power

It's an exceedingly rare find because the star is in a "a short-lived post-stripping structural re-adjustment phase" that will only last 10,000 years, according to the study.

That's "long for us humans but in astronomical timescales, very, very short," Przybilla told Vice. "It will always stay as a peculiar object."

The opportunity to study such a rarely exposed stellar core could provide scientists an invaluable look into the evolution of binary star systems. And whatever astronomers learn from the star, it's a fascinating glimpse at stellar destruction at a nearly incomprehensible scale.

More on stars: Black Hole Spotted Burping Up Material Years After Eating a Star

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Scientists Spot "Stripped, Pulsating Core" of Star Caused By Horrific Accident