Monthly Archives: February 2021

The United Nations announced on Thursday that Syria is set to be elected to a senior post on a UN decolonization committee charged with upholding human rights including the subjugation, domination and exploitation of people.

The Syrian regime headed by dictator Bashar Assad has waged a bloody civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people since it started in 2011. The regime is believed to have committed widespread war crimes, including by using chemical weapons and barrel bombs against civilians.

Also on Thursday, the UN released a report that said actions by the regime during the war likely constituted crimes against humanity, war crimes and other international crimes, including genocide.

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Syria will be elected to the UNs Special Committee on Decolonization, a 24-nation body that aims to decolonize the US Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa, and other areas, according to the UN Watch NGO, which reported Syrias election to the forum.

Syrias new UN envoy, Bassam al-Sabbagh, is set to join the forum in June, the UN announced at its opening session.

The Special Committee will take up, at a later date, the election of the Special Rapporteur of the Committee pending the arrival in New York of His Excellency Ambassador Bassam al-Sabbagh, nominated by the Syrian Arab Republic, said Keisha McGuire, permanent representative of Grenada to the UN.

Al-Sabbagh was unable to attend the opening session of the forum, McGuire said.

A Syrian representative at the meeting said, My country has always supported the proceedings of the special committee, as well as the efforts of the committee to reinforce the right to self-determination.

The UN has brought up violence perpetrated by both sides of the civil war in Syria, but Russia, an ally to Damascus, has blocked many efforts to target the regime.

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Syria set to be elected to top post in UN human rights forum - The Times of Israel

Frys Electronics, a big-box retailer that nurtured a generation of do-it-yourself tech fans and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, announced on Wednesday that it was shutting down operations, effective immediately.

The company, which is based in San Jose, Calif., replaced the contents of its website with a statement that said it had ceased operations and had begun winding down. The retailer, which built a cult following on the West Coast but was unable to compete with the rise of Amazon, blamed the shutdown on changes in the retail industry and the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is hoped that undertaking the wind-down through this orderly process will reduce costs, avoid additional liabilities, minimize the impact on our customers, vendors, landlords and associates, and maximize the value of the companys assets for its creditors and other stakeholders, the statement said.

The pandemic has taken a heavy toll on retailers, with restrictions meant to reduce the spread of the coronavirus causing foot traffic to nosedive. Several large retail chains, including Brooks Brothers, Neiman Marcus and JCPenney, have filed for bankruptcy since the pandemic hit. Macys, the department store chain with more than 700 stores, said on Tuesday that its sales last year plummeted 29 percent and that it posted a net loss of $3.9 billion, compared with a $564 million profit the prior year.

Frys has 31 stores across nine states and has been in business for nearly 36 years, according to the statement. Founded in 1985 by the three Fry brothers, the business was intended to provide a one-stop-shopping environment for the high-tech professional, the company wrote on its LinkedIn profile. The stores ranged in size from 50,000 square feet to more than 180,000 square feet, each stocked with an eclectic assortment of gadgets and parts.

The chain was famous for its elaborate store themes. Its location in Phoenix had an Aztec temple, for instance; its store in Burbank, Calif., was inspired by 1950s science fiction movies; and the Frys in Woodland Hills, Ca., was a page out of Alice in Wonderland, decorated with figurines as tall as 15 feet of the storys characters.

The retailer was particularly beloved by Silicon Valley executives, who found the stores to be a nostalgic haven and source of creative inspiration.

Going to a Frys store is entertainment in itself; for a geek, it could be recuperative, Jean-Louis Gasse, a former Apple executive, wrote in a blog post in 2019.

Fans took to Twitter on Wednesday to mourn the stores closing.

RIP Frys Electronics, wrote one user. u were my favorite Aztec-themed electronics superstore with a random movie theatre, and I will always cherish the memories of loitering there so me & my friends could play rock band after school.

It was a piece of heaven for me, wrote another fan. I was there for hours.

More here:
Fry's Electronics Is Closing, Another Retail Victim of Pandemic - The New York Times

Press Trust of IndiaFeb 24, 2021 19:29:20 IST

While Indian tigers have the highest genetic variation compared to other subspecies of the feline across the world, their populations continue to be fragmented by loss of habitat, leading to inbreeding and potential loss of this diversity, says a new study that may inform conservation strategies. "As human population started expanding, so also their signatures on the land. We know that some of these signatures would result in disrupting the ability of tigers to move," Uma Ramakrishnan, co-author of the research, published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, told PTI.

According to Ramakrishnan, molecular ecologist and assistant professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, this habitat loss from human activities leads to tigers being "hemmed into their own protected area."

"Now, they can only mate with the other tigers in their own population. Over time, this will result in inbreeding, they will end up mating with their relatives," she explained. "Whether this inbreeding compromises their fitness, their ability to survive, we do not yet know," the molecular ecologist added.

While genetic diversity across a population improves their chances of survival in the future, the study said population fragmentation of tigers can decrease this variation, and endanger them further.

Although tigers have received significant conservation attention, the scientists said very little is known about their evolutionary history and genomic variation, especially for Indian tigers.

With 70 percent of the world's tigers living in India, the researchers said understanding the genetic diversity of tigers in the country is critical to the feline's conservation worldwide.

The results of their three-year long study offer insights into genomic variation in tigers and the processes that have sculpted it.

Based on the results, the scientists believe there have been relatively recent divergences between subspecies, and intense population bottlenecks that may have contributed to inbred individuals.

According to the NCBS scientist, maintaining structural connectivity, enabling tigers to move between protected areas can help overcome these bottlenecks.

"This would require the right types of habitat between protected areas, for example having densely populated human settlements would not work. Further, there also needs to be functional connectivity, that tigers do actually move," Ramakrishnan added.

In the study, the scientists sequenced whole genomes from 65 individual tigers from four subspecies of the feline, and conducted a variety of population genomic analyses that quantify genetic variability.

They investigated the partitioning of genetic variation, possible impacts of inbreeding, and demographic history, and possible signatures of local adaptation.

Tiger roaming grasslands in the Bandhavgarh National Park.

While the total genomic variation in Indian tigers was higher than in other subspecies, the study found that several individual tigers in the country had low variation, suggesting possible inbreeding.

According to the research, tigers from northeast India were the most different from other populations in India

"Given our results, it is important to understand why some Bengal tigers appear inbred and what the consequences of this are," said Anubhab Khan, co-first author of the research.

The study showed recent divergences between tiger subspecies, within the last 20,000 years, which the scientists believe is concordant with increasing human impacts across Asia and a transition from glacial to interglacial climate change in the continent.

However, the scientists believe this finding needs to be investigated further with expanded data and analyses of more tiger genomes.

"Most studies focusing on species of conservation concern use limited numbers of specimens to try to gain understanding into how genomic variation is partitioned," said Ellie Armstrong, co-first and co-corresponding author of the study from Stanford University in the US.

"It is clear from our work here, and a growing number of other studies, that it is crucial to increase our sampling efforts and use caution when interpreting results from limited sample sizes," Armstrong added.

According to Ramakrishnan, the genomic variation of Indian tigers continues to be shaped by the ongoing loss of connectivity.

"Population management and conservation action must incorporate information on genetic variation. I hope doing so will help India maintain the gains in tiger conservation achieved so far," Ramakrishnan added.

See original here:
Indian tigers losing their rich genetic variation, habitat loss and inbreeding to blame: Study - Firstpost

Closed for good? Not so fast...

As we walk past so many stores with for lease signs in our neighborhoods, its tough to be optimistic about the future of retail. The slow, but inevitable erosion of traditional shopping experiences, aka the retail apocalypse, was long catalyzed by digital Darwinism. The consumerization of technology and its effects on consumer behaviors, preferences, and loyalty has been disrupting retailers going back to the 90s and the launch of Amazon.com. With every new digital trend, retailers and all players in the retail industry were forced to adapt or die. Unfortunately, many moved too slow or in unproductive directions, hastening demise rather than adaptation. Then came Covid-19.

Since the early days of the pandemic and the forced lockdowns of non-essential in-store shopping, retailers were dealt a blow that only deepened years of disruption. With the enduring outbreak, digital commerce soared, shoppers tended to stay home for their safety, and the rolling lockdowns only advancedthe effects of digital Darwinism. These disruptive factors not only curbed physical shopping behaviors, they birthed a new genre of digital-first, conscious consumerism, and opened the door to a new world of hybrid retail opportunities for a post-pandemic economy.

Even with vaccines in circulation, an alternate retail universe continues to emerge and it represents a ctrl-alt-del moment for the future of retail. Whatever innovation plans that were in place prior to March 2020, are now outdated and irrelevant. The next normal as it takes shape will now solve the ills of retail that were long unfolding. In the U.S., for example, there was just too much square footage against too little differentiation and allure for an evolving customer. But, a unique opportunity exists now to get to know who your customer is becoming and innovate in a way that meets and exceeds their demands, online and in store.

The Future of Retail isnt What It Used to Be

The reality is that digital isnt new. Its been chipping away at traditional retail for over 20 years. The pandemic, though, forced 10 years of e-commerce adoption and consumer change in the span of just 90 days at the dawn of Covid-19 according to McKinsey research. And, according to Salesforce research, 88% of customers now expect companies to accelerate digital initiatives. Those that do not, will fall to digital Darwinism.

More than 60 percent of global consumers have changed their shopping habits, and they intend to ... [+] stick with them.

McKinseys research found that the pandemic is accelerating further disruption beyond store closures. Customers are, en masse, seeking better, more intuitive, and digital native experiences. Retention and loyalty are on the line now as never before. In the U.S., according to McKinsey, 73% of customers have tried new shopping behaviors. This includes shopping for new brands, sites, and retailers. Whats more, 75-83% report that they intend to continue their newly adopted behavior. This pattern is consistent in countries around the world.

The future of retail then comes down to 1) personalized acquisition and retention at scale, 2) continually earned loyalty, and 3) adaptability and innovation.

Those retailers who prioritize customer experiences over shareholders and quarterly performance can officially break the shackles that hold them to the past. Leaders must quickly learn how to organize around customers, shift how they understand and how they attract them, and uncover creative, modern, and experiential ways to shop and get goods into their hands.

Were talking about sweeping operational business model innovation and digital transformation for a new world. This takes creating a customer 360, data-driven culture to better understand shoppers as they evolve. It means empowering digitally-literate teams to reimagine physical, digital, and hybrid shopper journeys, and continually piloting promising experiences to learn what customers seek-out, time and time again.

IKEAs Chief Digital Officer Offers a Glimpse into Rapid Transformation and Innovation

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Umesh Sripad, Chief Digital Officer, USA of IKEA, at AppsFlyers virtual digital transformation series, Retail Rebooted (its available to watch on-demand).

IKEA is a global retail brand that was massively disrupted by Covid-19 and found a future forward through data and innovation.

Heres what I learned from Umesh...

Five steps toward reimagining retail innovation and customer experiences:

Customer-centricity, cultures of data and innovation, and the practice of creativity and discovery are critical enablers of a future of retail without using yesterdays playbooks.

The pandemics effects will be with us for quite some time. But digital Darwinism, too, will only persist with every new technology trend. Its never-ending. You can see it as disruption or as an opportunity to take this time when everyone is disrupted, and change the game moving forward.

The good news is that technology and innovation are already on your side to bring to life new experiences in store, online and in hybrid applications. It all starts with a customer 360 perspective, creativity and imagination, and the ability to test and learn.

Just look at the incredible list of disruptive technologies that are in play now, Edge computing, IoT and IIoT, 5G, computer vision, augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality, deep learning, real-time and predictive data analytics, AI, automation, cognitive computing, and modern CRM and cloud computing represent the future of retail and business, today. Imagine creating stores, sites, augmented and virtual experiences, and digital-first journeys that personalize engagement online and in the real world, every step of the way.

Its already happening. Now, imagine your role in shaping retails future.

Read the original post:
Ending The Retail Apocalypse And The Next Era Of Post-Pandemic Retail Innovation: Insights From IKEAs Chief Digital Officer - Forbes

Facebook said will invest $1 billion in the global news industry over the next three years but came out swinging Wednesday over its news blackout of Australia, which it reversed yesterday after Aussie lawmakers agreed to modify a proposed law.

In a blog post entitled The Real Story of What Happened With News on Facebook in Australia, VP of Global Affairs Nick Clegg blamed media conglomerates for trying to squeeze on Facebook to make up for losses created by the shift of advertising from print to digital that disrupted the economics of the news business. (Facebook, Google and Amazon make up about two-thirds of total U.S. digital ad spending.)

The [news] industry was forced to adapt. Some have made this transition to the online world successfully, while others have struggled It is understandable that some media conglomerates see Facebook as a potential source of money to make up for their losses, but does that mean they should be able to demand a blank check? he said.

Related StoryFacebook Lifts Australia News Ban After Tweaks To Proposed Law

Its like forcing car makers to fund radio stations because people might listen to them in the car and letting the stations set the price, Clegg lashed out.

It is ironic that some of the biggest publishers that have long advocated for free markets and voluntary commercial undertakings now appear to be in favor of state sponsored price setting. The events in Australia show the danger of camouflaging a bid for cash subsidies behind distortions about how the internet works.

Many in the industry, however, see a power imbalance. The legislation close to passage in Australia intended to tilt the field towards publishers by forcing Facebook and big Internet services to negotiate with them on financial terms for use of content. The proposal required arbitration if no deal could be reached and, among other features, allowed for collective bargaining by the publishers.

Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook reversed course on its news blackout and the standoff ended after concessions, including a shift to softer mediation to resolve any disputes with arbitration only a last resort.

Clegg said the blackout might have appeared sudden but that the company had warned of it six months ago and has been in discussions with the Australian government for three years.

He believes theres a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between Facebook and news publishers.

Its the publishers themselves who choose to share their stories on social media, or make them available to be shared by others, because they get value from doing so. Thats why they have buttons on their sites encouraging readers to share them. And if you click a link thats shared on Facebook, you are directed off the platform to the publishers website. In this way, last year Facebook generated approximately 5.1 billion free referrals to Australian publishers worth an estimated AU$407 million to the news industry.

The assertions repeated widely in recent days that Facebook steals or takes original journalism for its own benefit always were and remain false. We neither take nor ask for the content for which we were being asked to pay a potentially exorbitant price.

View original post here:
Facebook To Invest $1B In News Industry Over 3 Years, Slams Publishers For Demanding Blank Check To Help Ailing Business As Australia News Standoff...

We check out Amazons new smart home device, Airbnb adds flexible search and Hopin is raising even more money. This is your Daily Crunch for February 24, 2021.

The big story: We review the Amazon Echo Show 10

Brian Heater spent some time with Amazons new smart home device, paying particular attention to the screen that rotates based on the users location. He reports that the screen works smoothly and silently, but also feels unnecessary, and in some cases downright unnerving (especially from a privacy perspective).

Ultimately, Brian concludes that the $249 device is a well-constructed, nice addition to the Show family and one I dont mind moving around the old-fashioned way.

The tech giants

Airbnb plans for a new kind of travel post-COVID with flexible search The feature will allow users to forgo putting in exact dates when they look to book lodging on the platform.

YouTube to launch parental control features for families with tweens and teens YouTube announced a new experience for teens and tweens who are now too old for the schoolager-focused YouTube Kids app, but who may not be ready to explore all of YouTube.

Google Cloud puts its Kubernetes Engine on autopilot This new mode turns over the management of much of the day-to-day operations of a container cluster to Googles own engineers and automated tools.

Startups, funding and venture capital

VCs are chasing Hopin upwards of $5-6B valuation According to multiple sources who spoke with TechCrunch, the company may be nearing the end of a fundraise in which its seeking to raise roughly $400 million.

Primary Venture Partners raises $150M third fund to back NYC startups The firms portfolio includes Jet.com (acquired by Walmart for $3.3 billion), Mirror (acquired by Lululemon for $500 million) and Latch (which is planning to go public via SPAC).

Joby Aviation takes flight into the public markets via a SPAC merger Joby has spent more than a decade developing an all-electric, vertical take-off and landing passenger aircraft.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

Four essential truths about venture investing Observations from Alex Iskold of 2048 Ventures.

Dear Sophie: Which immigration options are the fastest? The latest edition of Dear Sophie, the advice column that answers immigration-related questions about working at technology companies.

Can solid state batteries power up for the next generation of EVs? For the last decade, developers of solid state battery systems have promised products that are vastly safer, lighter and more powerful.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

Europe kicks off bid to find a route to better gig work The European Union has kicked off the first stage of a consultation process involving gig platforms and workers.

The Equity podcast is growing More Equity!

Techstars Neal Sles-Griffin will join us at TechCrunch Early Stage 2021 to talk accelerators Neal has seen this industry from just about every angle as a teacher, advisor, investor and repeat co-founder.

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunchs roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If youd like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 3pm Pacific, you can subscribe here.

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Daily Crunch: We review the Amazon Echo Show 10 - TechCrunch

When in 2018, Smash Ventures showed up as an investor in a $1.25 billion round for Epic Games reportedly the largest ever investment in a video game company at the time it was the first time many had heard of the investing outfit.

When the brand showed up again last summer in an even bigger round for Epic last August, the games giant announced $1.78 billion in fresh funding at a post-money equity valuation of $17.3 billion a diner near Epics Cary, North Carolina headquarters that sells smash waffles started getting calls from reporters, says Eric Garland, who used to lead venture and growth deals for The Walt Disney Company after selling his company, BigChampagne, to Live Nation in 2011.

Some reporters really turned over rocks, he says.

Garland knows this, he says, because he co-founded Smash Ventures with Evan Richter, a former member of Disneys corporate strategy and business development team (and who, before that, was an investor at Insight Partners).

The pair say they werent trying to duck the press after striking out on their own a few years ago; they were mostly just trying to get their firm off the ground, which theyve seemingly done and then some. First, theres the newly closed $75 million debut fund from strategic partners and notable investors like Kevin Mayer, the former CEO of TikTok and the former Disney executive; Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull; and journalist Willow Bay, who is now dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Yet its just a small piece of what they have assembled.

Indeed, at a time when money is more of a commodity than ever and can be accessed easily by many founders, Smash has a few tricks up its sleeve, Richter and Garland suggest.

One thing to know, for example, is that the two apparently have little trouble spinning up side vehicles when they wedge their way into an interesting deal. While they got to know Epic Games through Disney (it made an investment in the company in 2017 when Epic took part in its accelerator program), when they persuaded founder Tim Sweeney to take a bigger check from Smash Ventures in 2018, they were able to package together several hundred million dollars from their LPs for a stake in the business.

They also flexed up with the help of their limited partners to put a separate $200 million into others of its handful of portfolio companies. These include DraftKings, before it went public through a blank-check company last year; the footwear, apparel and accessory brand Nobull; the mens grooming company Manscaped; and Indias biggest e-learning startup, Byjus.

Disney one of the worlds most powerful brands is a common thread throughout. In addition to inviting Epic into its accelerator program, Disney began work on an education app with Byjus back in 2018 and it owned 6% of DraftKings when it went public last year.

Mayer, the former Disney exec who more recently began launching special purpose acquisition vehicles, credits Richter and Garland with finding a lot of really cool companies like Epic while inside Disney, saying he has been supporting them ever since, because I think theyre great.

Underscoring the strength of that former Disney network another apparent advantage here Mayer says that in addition to being a limited partner, he will sometimes try and talk to their CEOs, give strategic advice, and talk about exits and M&A with some of their portfolio companies. (Catmull, who was the president of Walt Disney Animation Studios after Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, was also pulled in to help seal the Epic deal, says Garland.)

As for whether Smashs dealings have irritated current execs at Disney it isnt hard to imagine the entertainment giant would have liked a bigger stake in Epic Garland says no, adding that, Outside of its accelerator, Disney is not generally in the venture business.

In the meantime, Smash also says its getting into deals by helping companies tell stories to their respective, captive audiences. As Richter explains it, The leading consumer software and internet businesses are building massive, and dedicated, user bases, and media, whether its a Travis Scott experience within Epic Games, or an IP collaboration between Marvel or Disney [and Byjus], or whether its doing something with the UFC [which last year partnered with Manscaped], can be an incredible way to keep and grow a user base.

The firm certainly appears to spend a lot of time with its portfolio companies on these efforts. While Smash wrote its first check in 2018, it has just five portfolio companies to date, and it plans only to invest in 10 to 12 companies altogether with that $75 million pool of capital, writing checks as small as $5 million to $10 million, with the ability to write far larger checks when the opportunity arises and its LP network says yes to it.

Its because the firm is on the hunt now for that next big thing that Smash is suddenly going public with its efforts, Richter suggests. Not that a lot of public speaking is in the partners future, seemingly. We like to stay focused, Garland says. We make a lot of noise for our portfolio companies, but we are ourselves very heads down.

Originally posted here:
Meet Smash Ventures, the low-flying outfit that has quietly funded Epic Games among others - TechCrunch

EXCLUSIVE: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard wont be facing off in a Virginia courtroom anytime soon, it seems. In yet another delay in the trial start of the former Pirates of the Caribbean stars acetous $50 million defamation lawsuit against the Aquaman actress, the former couple now will trade barbs and evidence starting April 11, 2022. The trial is expected to last about two weeks.

Already rescheduled several times, the trial had been set to start May 7, which was looking like the final mad rush of discovery and depositions.

The new date was decided Tuesday by Fairfax County Circuit Court Chief Judge Bruce White. The last time the fuming matter was postponed was back in September of last year. While Depp had been advocating for a new delay then because of his Fantastic Beasts 3 shooting schedule, White actually pushed the date from January 2021 to May due to backlogs in the states court system because of the coronavirus pandemic.

And, to the frustration of some involved, thats kind of the reason this time too, as the April 2022 date was the first available slot for a civil jury trial, I hear.

As with last September, criminal cases are still the priority in Virginia. In that context, and with proceedings slowly starting up again as Covid-19 continues to rage across the nation, a murder trial with a defendant who is already behind bars was given the Depp-Heard May 7 date.

With Depps UK lawyers anticipating an oral hearing next month in their attempt to appeal their loss in the actors libel suit against The Sun tabloid, the significant date shift in Virginia barely lowers the volume in the loud matter. For once thing, Heard countersued her ex-husbandfor $100 million last summer after failing to get the initial suit dismissed.

In fact, in the UK, Heards team recently filed an opposition to the appeal there, and Depps barristers have until February 28 to reply.

Having been axed from the Fantastic Beasts franchise in November, mere days after Judge Andrew Nicols damning wife-beater ruling against Depp, the actor has been on a subpoena binge in the U.S. of late. The ACLU and Elon Musk were pulled into the Virginia case earlier this month, by Depp. That follows Heard dragging Pirates studio Disney and the LAPD into the matter in January for basically everything that they might or might not have on her ex.

Among those high-profile names in this very high-profile case, free speech nonprofit the ACLU is in the spotlight again in the case because the group was among the two organizations to which Heard said five years ago she was donating half of her $7 million divorce settlement. Despite years of insisting on the donation and an ACLU Ambassador for womens rights role for Heard, it turns out that big-bucks payments have been delayed, according to what the actress attorney Elaine Bredehoft told Deadline in January.

This all started when Depp sued Heard in Virginia state court for $50 million in March 2019 after she wrote a Washington Post op-ed about being a victim of domestic abuse. The December 2018 piece never actually named the actor, but the already fairly litigious Depp alleged that the op-ed damaged his already tainted rep and cost him a well-paying gig in Disneys planned Pirates of the Caribbean reboot.

The filed paperwork went on to say that in fact it was Depp who was the real victim in the couples short-lived marriage that ended in full public view in 2016. Ms. Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator, the suit read in part.

Obviously, Heard disagreed.

As depositions are taken and more motions are to be decided in the case, this latest delay may ended up cranking up the volume on the near ear-splitting matter all the more and could be pushed back again.

Here is the original post:
Delayed Again! Johnny Depps $50M Defamation Trial Against Amber Heard Pushed To Next Year - Deadline

The second season of the reboot of The Twilight Zone was submitted for your approval, to borrow the famous phrase of original sci-fi creator Rod Serling. Apparently, there wasnt enough approval, as sources have confirmed to Deadline that the CBS All Access show wont continue on Paramount+ for a third season.

The series end was revealed on Wednesday when The Twilight Zone was not listed among the CBS All Access series set to continue on the service as it transforms into Paramount+.

Julie McNamara, executive VP and head of programming for Paramount+, praised the series as the network bids farewell. Jordan Peele, Simon Kinberg and the entire production team truly reimagined The Twilight Zone for the modern age. They upheld the classic series legacy of socially conscious storytelling and pushed todays viewers to explore all new dimensions of thought-provoking and topical themes that we hope will resonate with audiences for years to come.

Cancellations/Renewals Scorecard: TV Shows Ended Or Continuing In 2020-21 Season

The 10-episode second season of the anthology series, reimagined by Jordan Peele and Simon Kinberg, gad such stars as Kylie Bunbury, Sky Ferreira, Topher Grace, David Krumholtz, Thomas Lennon, Natalie Martinez, Gretchen Mol, Paula Newsome, Jurnee Smollett, and Damon Wayans Jr. on board. Apparently, it wasnt enough.

The season two cast and episode titles, in no particular order, included:

Episode: 8Starring (previously announced) Joel McHale (Community, Stargirl) and Brandon Jay McLaren (UnREAL, Graceland)Written by Glen MorganDirected by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead

Episode: A Small TownStarring Damon Wayans Jr. (Happy Endings, Lets Be Cops), David Krumholtz (The Deuce, Evel), Natalie Martinez (Reminiscence, The I-Land), and Paula Newsome (Barry, Chicago Med)Written by Steven Barnes and Tananarive DueDirected by Alonso Alvarez-Barreda

Episode: Try, TryStarring Topher Grace (Blackkklansman, Black Mirror) and Kylie Bunbury (When They See Us, Pitch)Written by Alex RubensDirected by Jen McGowan

Episode: You Might Also LikeStarring Gretchen Mol (Boardwalk Empire, Manchester by the Sea) and Greta Lee (Russian Doll, High Maintenance)Written and Directed by Osgood Perkins

Episode: OvationStarring Jurnee Smollett (Birds of Prey, Lovecraft Country), Tawny Newsome (Space Force, Lower Decks), Sky Ferreira (Baby Driver, Twin Peaks), Paul F. Tompkins (BoJack Horseman, Comedy Bang! Bang!), and Thomas Lennon (Reno 911! Night at the Museum franchise)Written by Emily C. Chang and Sara AminiDirected by Ana Lily Amirpour

Episode: Downtime

Starring Morena Baccarin (Deadpool franchise, Homeland), Colman Domingo (If Beale Street Could Talk, Fear the Walking Dead) and Tony Hale (Veep, Toy Story 4)Written by Jordan PeeleDirected by JD Dillard

Episode: The Who of YouStarring Ethan Embry (Grace and Frankie, Blindspotting), Daniel Sunjata (Graceland, Rescue Me), and Billy Porter (Pose, Like a Boss)Written by Win RosenfeldDirected by Peter Atencio

Episode: A Human FaceStarring Jenna Elfman (Fear the Walking Dead, Dharma & Greg), Chris Meloni (The Handmaids Tale, 42), and Tavi Gevinson (Person to Person, Enough Said)Written by Alex RubensDirected by Christina Choe

Episode: Among The UntroddenIntroducing Abbie Hern and Sophia MacyWritten by Heather Anne CampbellDirected by Tayarisha Poe

Episode: Meet in the MiddleStarring Jimmi Simpson (Westworld, Black Mirror: USS Callister) and Gillian Jacobs (Community, Love)Written by Emily C. Chang and Sara AminiDirected by Mathias Herndl

Dominic Patten and Dino Ramos contributed to this report

Read the original here:
The Twilight Zone Reboot Canceled By CBS All Access After 2 Seasons - Deadline

Climate change is profoundly altering our oceans and marine ecosystems. Some of these changes are happening quickly and are potentially irreversible. Many are taking place silently and unnoticed.

In recent years, tipping points thresholds where a small change could push a system into a completely new state have increasingly become a focus for the climate research community.

However, these are typically thought of in terms of unlikely changes with huge global ramifications often referred to as low probability, high impact events. Examples include the slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and the rapid disintegration of the West Antarctic ice sheet.

In a new paper, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, my co-authors and I instead focus on the potential for what we call high probability, high impact tipping points caused by the cumulative impact of warming, acidification and deoxygenation.

We present the challenge of dealing with these imminent and long-lasting changes in the Earth system, and discuss options for mitigation and management measures to avoid crossing these tipping points.

The ocean is a giant reservoir of heat and carbon. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, the oceans have taken up around 30-40% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) and 93% of the heat added to the atmosphere through human activity.

Without ocean uptake, the scale of atmospheric warming would already be much larger. But this comes with a high cost in the form of ocean warming, acidification where the alkaline ocean becomes more acidic and deoxygenation where the oxygen content of the ocean falls.

The potential impact of these processes on the marine environment is well documented. However, in some cases, they could trigger a number of regional tipping points with potentially widespread consequences for marine ecosystems and ocean functioning.

Here are some examples:

Warming

Each species has an optimal temperature range for their physiological functioning. Like humans, most marine organisms are vulnerable to warming above their optimal temperature. Without adaptation, some species will be hit hard by ocean warming. A well-known example is the threat to tropical coral reef systems, such as Australias Great Barrier Reef, to mass coral bleaching from extreme heat.

These coral reef systems play an important role for fisheries, for coastal protection, as fish nurseries, and for a number of other ecosystem services. This serves as an example of how the impact of ocean warming extends far beyond the most sensitive marine organisms, with range shifts being observed across the food web from phytoplankton to marine mammals.

Deoxygenation

Most marine organisms can only exist in seawater with sufficiently high concentrations of dissolved oxygen. Warming of the ocean decreases the solubility of oxygen in the water and slows down ocean mixing, which, in turn, decreases oxygen transport from the surface into the ocean interior.

In addition, run-off of nutrients from the land such as from agriculture and domestic waste increases the biological productivity in coastal areas, disrupting ecosystems and enhancing deoxygenation. Consequences for marine organisms are huge, with species distribution, growth, survival and ability to reproduce negatively affected.

Acidification

Besides being the primary driver of global warming, CO2 also changes ocean chemistry, causing the acidification of seawater. Many marine organisms have shells or skeletal structures made of mineral forms particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification. A well-known example are pteropods free-swimming sea snails and sea slugs that live in the upper 10 metres of the ocean, which are a keystone species in the marine food web.

Currently observed acidification conditions are already unprecedented within the last 65m years, and are projected to continue and aggravate for many centuries even with the reduction of carbon emissions to net-zero.

While these different processes are individually a danger to marine life, in combination with other threats such as overfishing, high nutrient input from land and invasive species they have the potential to cause ecosystem-wide regime shifts.

In addition, extreme events such as marine heatwaves or high-acidity, low-oxygen events lead to severe consequences for marine biodiversity. Across the globe, the observed local and regional changes already add up to a substantial regional and possibly global problem. Examples include coastal acidification and anoxic ocean dead zones.

The figure below highlights some of the regions of the world ocean that are under threat from these impacts.

While these impacts already need dealing with today, ocean circulation patterns mean that they are also being stored up for the future.

The upper ocean mixes on a timescale of decades, while the deep ocean water masses are renewed from the surface on a much longer timescale from hundreds to thousands of years. The present-day accumulation of heat and carbon are initially largest at the ocean surface. But, through mixing and ocean currents, this excess of heat and carbon is transported away from the surface and into deeper layers.

These short and long-term timescales have two consequences. The first is that mixing is not fast enough to prevent the accumulation of heat and carbon in the upper ocean.

The second is that deep mixing transports some of the surface excess heat and carbon to greater depths, where long-lasting changes can gradually build up. Consequently, the deep ocean can be altered by climate change irreversibly for thousands of years, even under strong emission reduction scenarios. These impacts are incredibly difficult to monitor at such depths.

While the threats to the ocean from human-caused climate change are many and varied, there is still time for them to be minimised. We highlight a few action points where scientists are contributing to the development and implementation of mitigation actions.

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First, scientists are using models and observations to determine the regions where the most severe hazards have occurred, are occurring, and may occur in the future. Laboratory and in-situ experiments can help identify vulnerabilities in organisms and ecosystems.

Second, progress is being made to define important thresholds in the physiological tolerance of key organisms for changes in temperature, oxygen concentration, nutrient levels and acidity. This also draws attention to the need for metrics of global change that go beyond atmospheric CO2 concentration and global average surface temperature. Keeping a close watch on potential ocean tipping points means tracking ocean temperature changes, acidification, deoxygenation and marine productivity.

Third, communication of these threats is improving. While there is still much progress to be made for example, in building climate and ocean literacy and working with indigenous groups research into empowering science communication to address global challenges is growing.

While headway is being made, much more action is needed. We suggest four system management and societal transformation actions for minimising the likelihood of encountering high-probability, high-impact ocean tipping points:

Heinze, C. et al. (2021) The quiet crossing of ocean tipping points, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, doi:10.1073/pnas.2008478118

This work received funding from the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 820989. The contents of this article reflect only the authors views the European Commission and their executive agencies are not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

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Guest post: The threat of high-probability ocean 'tipping points' - Carbon Brief