Category Archives: Cloning

The idea of a mechanicalrobotgiving birth to a child seems absurd. However, many of the technologies we use today began as outlandish concepts at one point or another. Arobotis a machine that resembles a human person and is capable of autonomously replicating some human actions and activities. The majority of us have preconceptions about what arobotis and how it should behave.

Our understanding of mechanical machines will develop through time, from purely mechanical devices to hybrid mechanical-organic contraptions, primarily alive machines, and pure synthetic life forms, with the process of creating machines being superseded by the process of growing them.Artificial intelligence(AI) will be phased out in favor of degrees of synthetic intelligence, which will be followed by what many would regard as a better kind of genuine intellect.

The term biot, which means biological robot, is a smart adjective. Several new disciplines are bridging the gap between biology androbotics. Cybernetics, bionics, biomimicry, and synthetic biology are only a few examples. 3D printers will be used to create human tissue, stem cells, and even artificial blood cells in this scenario. Bone, cartilage, muscle, teeth, organs, blood arteries, and even ears may be printed using other 3D manufacturing equipment.

With the cloning of Dolly, the sheep in 1996, the science of cloning became well known. Hundreds of other animals, including camels, dogs, deer, horses, monkeys, cows, frogs, rabbits, and many others, have been closed since then. Human cloning has long been considered a logical outgrowth of animal research, offering an identical genetic clone of any individual. Theres a distinction to be made between natural clones and manufactured clones, which appear like identical twins in humans and other species. Gene cloning, reproductive cloning, and therapeutic cloning are the three forms of artificial cloning.

Emanuel Greenberg invented the first artificial womb in 1955, which was more than 60 years ago. Japanese researchers succeeded in nurturing goat babies in a machine containing artificial amniotic fluid for weeks in the mid-1990s. The lowest gestational age for human embryos to survive has been pushed down to less than 22 weeks thanks to recent advances in neonatal intensive care. This is only about halfway through a typical 40-week pregnancy. The technology isnt nearly as far-fetched as it appears. As a replacement organ, an artificial uterus might be used in a variety of ways.

With this quick rundown of some of the most recent developments, the thought of arobotgiving birth to a baby, whether a baby human or a babyrobot, no longer seems so far-fetched. Controlling weather, gravity, and time have long been theoretical sciences that have progressed from science fiction to science realities, and the notion of robots giving birth to robots is approaching the same point.

Victoria, created by Miami, FL-based Gaumard scientific and initially unveiled in 2014, is the firstrobotto give birth to a childrobot. Victorias eyes can now concentrate and engage with her caregivers, allowing users to do a neurological evaluation that looks for symptoms of a stroke, head trauma, drug use, cranial nerve damage, and other disorders in her eye movements. Most significantly, Victoria pushes the boundaries of labor and delivery education. Now arobot also can celebrate mothers day and enjoy motherhood.

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Will A Robot be Able to Give Birth to A Child Robot of Her Own? - Analytics Insight

The business intelligence report of the Cloned Competent Cells market entails key growth drivers, opportunities, and challenges that will influence industry expansion in the near future.

According to the research literature, the industry is projected to record XX% CAGR between 20XX-20XX and reach a valuation of USD XX by the end of the forecast period.

However, the covid-19 pandemic has greatly influenced market conditions worldwide. Industries all over the world are channeling their resources into addressing the impact of the pandemic which is likely to be felt for years to come. In view of this, the report includes an in-depth analysis of market conditions which will facilitate investors and other stakeholders to formulate robust action plans to deal with this crisis.

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The research document studies the industry at a granular level by dividing it into several segments and regions to provide insights on top revenue prospects for the upcoming years.

Key inclusions in the Cloned Competent Cells market report:

Cloned Competent Cells Market segments covered in the report:

Regional fragmentation: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa, South East Asia

Product gamut: 20*100I 1/4 l , 50*100I 1/4 l , 100*100I 1/4 l and Other

Application scope: Subcloning & Routine Cloning , Phage Display Library Construction , Toxic/Unstable Dna Cloning and High-Throughput Cloning

Competitive dashboard: Merck KGaA , Yeastern Biotech , Takara Bio , Thermo Fisher Scientific , GeneScript Corporation , Agilent Technologies , QIAGEN N.V. , Beijing TransGen Biotech , Promega Corporation , New England Biolabs , Bioline , OriGene Technologies , Bio-Rad Laboratories , Lucigen and Zymo Research

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The scope of the Report:

The report offers a complete company profiling of leading players competing in the global Cloned Competent Cells marketwith a high focus on the share, gross margin, net profit, sales, product portfolio, new applications, recent developments, and several other factors. It also throws light on the vendor landscape to help players become aware of future competitive changes in the global Cloned Competent Cells market.

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Cloned Competent Cells Market Analysis and Demand with Forecast Overview To 2026 - Northwest Diamond Notes

The new Cloned Competent Cells market research report consists of a granular analysis of the business landscape and covers a detailed overview related to market share, market size, and growth opportunities for the Cloned Competent Cells market. Also, the report elaborates on various market segmentations.

In addition to this, the report emphasizes on the impact of COVID-19 outbreak on the growth prospects of the Cloned Competent Cells market.

Key pointers included in Cloned Competent Cells market report:

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Regional Analysis of Cloned Competent Cells market:

Cloned Competent Cells Market Segmentation: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East & Africa, South East Asia

Overview of the regional terrain of Cloned Competent Cells market:

Product types and application scope of Cloned Competent Cells market:

Product segment:

Product types: 20*100I 1/4 l , 50*100I 1/4 l , 100*100I 1/4 l and Other

Key factors enclosed in the report:

Application Landscape:

Application segmentation: Subcloning & Routine Cloning , Phage Display Library Construction , Toxic/Unstable Dna Cloning and High-Throughput Cloning

Details stated in the report:

Other details specified in the report:

Competitive spectrum of the Cloned Competent Cells market:

Competitive landscape of Cloned Competent Cells market: Merck KGaA , QIAGEN N.V. , Thermo Fisher Scientific , Takara Bio , Promega Corporation , Agilent Technologies , Yeastern Biotech , Beijing TransGen Biotech , New England Biolabs , GeneScript Corporation , OriGene Technologies , Bio-Rad Laboratories , Zymo Research , Bioline and Lucigen

Major features cited by the report:

The scope of the Report:

The report offers a complete company profiling of leading players competing in the global Cloned Competent Cells market with a high focus on the share, gross margin, net profit, sales, product portfolio, new applications, recent developments, and several other factors. It also throws light on the vendor landscape to help players become aware of future competitive changes in the global Cloned Competent Cells

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To conclude, Cloned Competent Cells Industry report mentions the key geographies, market landscapes alongside the product price, revenue, volume, production, supply, demand, market growth rate, and forecast, etc. This report also provides SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.

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Cloned Competent Cells Market: Qualitative Analysis Of The Leading Players And Competitive Industry Scenario, 2026 - Northwest Diamond Notes

A couple of decades from now when golf historians look back on Jon Rahms inevitably remarkable Ryder Cup record, this years edition of the matches at Whistling Straits might serve as something of a coming out party.

Although, whats a party with a European performance on Friday that, save for Rahm, was as flat as three-day old Champagne? Unless European captain Padraig Harrington can locate a cloning laboratory in Sheboygan, Wisc., from which to replicate his Spanish star, it could be an empty week for the reigning Cup holders.

Still, much like the late Seve Ballesteros, and the leading point-scorer in the history of the event, Sergio Garcia, the 26-year-old and current world No.1 is proving that he is built for the Ryder Cup. Especially if his play on Friday is any indication of whats to come, the rest of this week and the rest of the years ahead.

Europe with mountain to climb after dire day

Former Ryder Cup star hits out at fan behaviour

Playing alongside Garcia in the first foursomes match of the day, the two Spaniards blitzed Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, 3&1, in a match that wasnt as close as the score. Then he marched back out to nab a halve with Tyrrell Hatton in the afternoons four-ball match against Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler.

US 6, Europe 2, with Rahm contributing one-and-a-half of those points.

A little bit of pressure to play with somebody like that, Rahm said of Garcia, who is playing in his tenth Ryder Cup and has scored a career 26.5 points. But at the same time, with his ball-striking, I knew my job was going to be to make some putts, and that's exactly what I did early on, and we kept the vibe going.

Indeed.

After Spieth and Thomas took a 1-up lead on the second hole, Rahm responded by pouring in a 12-footer for birdie on the par-3 third to square the match. One hole later, he bombed in another, from 60 feet. Three more birdies followed on Nos. 7, 8 and 10 for the Spaniards to take a commanding 3-up lead and they never looked back.

With birdies on Nos. 15 and 17 to bring their total to eight on the day, they closed out the match without much of a sweat.

Harry Potter star collapses at Ryder Cup

Then, Rahm, with he and Hatton 1 down on the 16th and Europe seemingly bleeding out, drained an 18-footer for birdie to keep hope alive. Scheffler responded by matching him but Rahms putt helped get the match to the 18th, where Hatton slid in a short putt to nab a half point.

In the end, though, it was Rahm who was one of the few players whose games showed up for Europe - by contrast Rory McIlroy, a veteran of now six Ryder Cups and lynchpin in and out of the team room, got annihilated in both of his contests Friday and is now to just 2-6 in his last eight matches dating back to singles in 2016.

Things didn't look great on 16 for a while, Rahm said. Glad we could get that halve. Almost feels like a win and now hoping we end strong as a team.

That Rahm was Europes best player was not a surprise. He has 13 career worldwide wins, including a major, and is the top-ranked player in the world.

But the birth of his Ryder Cup prowess didnt occur on Friday, or in winning all those titles, though they surely helped. Instead, it likely took place in the 2018 matches outside Paris.

Brandel Chamblee takes swipe at Ian Poulter

After having contributed zero points in two matches over his first two days in that Ryder Cup - his first - Rahm was faced with the daunting task of taking on Tiger Woods in Sundays singles. Unnerved by his play to that point, he leaned on teammate Tommy Fleetwood and spent 30 minutes on the phone with his mental coach. Then he went out and beat his boyhood idol Woods, 2&1, clinching the victory with what he later called the best drive of his life on the 17th hole and a sensational approach to five feet to set up an easy birdie.

The fourth match of the day that afternoon, the victory helped stanch a comeback by the Americans, who began the day four points behind but had cut into the deficit by winning two-and-a-half points in the first three matches of the day.

Rahm's victory that day was worth just a point but felt like more to him given the circumstances. The same could be said about his afternoon halve with Hatton on Friday. Rahm's play was one of the few bright spots for Europe on an otherwise sunny day along the windswept shores of Lake Michigan.

"We can come back from 6-2," said McIlroy.

Only if everyone else starts playing like Rahm.

Read this article:

Ryder Cup: Rahm rises to the occasion - and just as - bunkered

Cloning your voice using artificial intelligence is simultaneously tedious and simple: hallmarks of a technology thats just about mature and ready to go public.

All you need to do is talk into a microphone for 30 minutes or so, reading a script as carefully as you can (in my case: the voiceover from a David Attenborough documentary). After starting and stopping dozens of times to re-record your flubs and mumbles, youll send off the resulting audio files to be processed and, in a few hours time, be told that a copy of your voice is ready and waiting. Then, you can type anything you want into a chatbox, and your AI clone will say it back to you, with the resulting audio realistic to fool even friends and family at least for a few moments. The fact that such a service even exists may be news to many, and I dont believe weve begun to fully consider the impact easy access to this technology will have.

The work of speech synthesis has improved massively in recent years, thanks to advances in machine learning. Previously, the most realistic synthetic voices were created by recording audio of a human voice actor, cutting up their speech into component sounds, and splicing these back together like letters in a ransom note to form new words. Now, neural networks can be trained on unsorted data of their target voice to generate raw audio of someone speaking from scratch. The end results are faster, easier, and more realistic to boot. The quality is definitely not perfect when rolling straight out the machine (though manual tweaking can improve this), but theyre only going to get better in the near future.

Theres no special sauce to making these clones, which means dozens of startups are already offering similar services. Just Google AI voice synthesis or AI voice deepfakes, and youll see how commonplace the technology is, available from specialist shops that only focus on speech synthesis, like Resemble.AI and Respeecher, and also integrated into companies with larger platforms, like Veritone (where the tech is part of its advertising repertoire) and Descript (which uses it in the software it makes for editing podcasts).

These voice clones have simply been a novelty in the past, appearing as one-off fakes like this Joe Rogan fake, but theyre beginning to be used in serious projects. In July, a documentary about chef Anthony Bourdain stirred controversy when the creators revealed theyd used AI to create audio of Bourdain speaking lines hed written in a letter. (Notably, few people noticed the deepfake until the creators revealed its existence.) And in August, the startup Sonantic announced it had created an AI voice clone of actor Val Kilmer, whose own voice was damaged in 2014 after he underwent a tracheotomy as part of his treatment for throat cancer. These examples also frame some of the social and ethical dimensions of this technology. The Bourdain use case was decried as exploitative by many (particularly as its use was not disclosed in the film), while the Kilmer work has been generally lauded, with the technology praised for delivering what other solutions could not.

Celebrity applications of voice clones are likely to be the most prominent in the next few years, with companies hoping the famous will want to boost their income with minimal effort by cloning and renting out their voices. One company, Veritone, launched just such a service earlier this year, saying it would let influencers, athletes, and actors license their AI voice for things like endorsements and radio idents, without ever having to go into a studio. Were really excited about what that means for a host of different industries because the hardest part about someones voice and being able to use it and being able to expand upon that is the individuals time, Sean King, executive vice president at Veritone One, told The Vergecast. A person becomes the limiting factor in what were doing.

Such applications are not yet widespread (or if they are, theyre not widely talked about), but it seems like an obvious way for celebrities to make money. Bruce Willis, for example, has already licensed his image to be used as a visual deepfake in mobile phone ads in Russia. The deal allows him to make money without ever leaving the house, while the advertising company gets an infinitely malleable actor (and, notably, a much younger version of Willis, straight out of his Die Hard days). These sorts of visual and audio clones could accelerate the scales of economy for celebrity work, allowing them to capitalize on their fame as long as theyre happy renting out a simulacrum of themselves.

In the here and now, voice synthesis technology is already being built into tools like the eponymous podcast editing software built by US firm Descript. The companys Overdub feature lets a podcaster create an AI clone of their voice so producers can make quick changes to their audio, supplementing the programs transcription-based editing. As Descript CEO Andrew Mason told The Vergecast: You can not only delete words in Descript and have it delete the audio, you can type words and it will generate audio in your voice.

When I tried Descripts Overdub feature myself, it was certainly easy enough to use though, as mentioned above, recording the training data was a bit of a chore. (It was much easier for my colleague and regular Verge podcast host Ashley Carman, who had lots of pre-recorded audio ready to send the AI.) The voice clones made by Overdub are not flawless, certainly. They have an odd warble to their tone and lack the ability to really charge lines with emotion and emphasis, but theyre also unmistakably you. The first time I used my voice clone was a genuinely uncanny moment. I had no idea that this deeply personal thing my voice could be copied by technology so quickly and easily. It felt like a meeting with the future but was also strangely familiar. After all, life is already full of digital mirrors of avatars and social media feeds that are supposed to embody you in various forms so why not add a speaking automaton to the mix?

The initial shock of hearing a voice clone of yourself doesnt mean human voices are redundant, though. Far from it. You can certainly improve on the quality of voice deepfakes with a little manual editing, but in their automated form, they still cant deliver anywhere near the range of inflection and intonation you get from professionals. As voice artist and narrator Andia Winslow told The Vergecast, while AI voices might be useful for rote voice work for internal messaging systems, automated public announcements, and the like they cant compete with humans in many use cases. For big stuff, things that need breath and life, its not going to go that way because, partly, these brands like working with the celebrities they hire, for example, said Winslow.

But what does this technology mean for the general public? For those of us who arent famous enough to benefit from the technology and are not professionally threatened by its development? Well, the potential applications are varied. Its not hard to imagine a video game where the character creation screen includes an option to create a voice clone, so it sounds like the player is speaking all of the dialogue in the game. Or there might be an app for parents that allows them to copy their voice so that they can read bedtime stories to their children even when theyre not around. Such applications could be done with todays technology, though the middling quality of quick clones would make them a hard sell.

There are also potential dangers. Fraudsters have already used voice clones to trick companies into moving money into their accounts, and other malicious uses are certainly lurking just beyond the horizon. Imagine, for example, a high school student surreptitiously recording a classmate to create a voice clone of them, then faking audio of that person bad-mouthing a teacher to get them in trouble. If the uses of visual deepfakes are anything to go by, where worries about political misinformation have proven largely misplaced but the technology has done huge damage creating nonconsensual pornography, its these sorts of incidents that pose the biggest threats.

One things for sure, though: in the future, anyone will be able to create an AI voice clone of themselves if they want to. But the script this chorus of digital voices will follow has yet to be written.

Read more:

Everyone will be able to clone their voice in the future - The Verge

Despite a growing demand for coconuts worldwide, the trees grow slowly and are challenging to clone. Coconut trees are also facing many different threats, including climate change, disease, and rising sea levels.

In a new study led by KU Leuven, researchers have developed a method to multiply coconut trees faster and store them more efficiently in gene banks.

The research was inspired by another fruit the banana. Based on previous work with banana plants, study co-author Bart Panis predicted that a certain plant hormone could also be successful in coconut trees.

Coconut plants do not form side shoots. They put all their energy into one shoot that has to grow as fast and as tall as possible. This makes it very difficult to clone and store the plants, said Panis.

First, the scientists extracted the coconut tree embryo from the coconut. Next, they applied the plant hormone to the meristem contained in the embryo. This caused the embryo to form not only one shoot, but several side shoots.

Nobody thought we could do it. But we persevered with determination, said Panis. There are other methods of vegetatively propagating coconut trees but we are confident that this is the first method that is also time- and cost-efficient.

The teams top priority is to safeguard the coconut trees genetic diversity as efficiently as possible. The researchers explained that it is very crucial to preserve as many varieties of the coconut plant because each variety has specific characteristics some are resistant to a particular disease, while others are more resistant to heat or drought.

Currently, the coconut tree is kept as a tree in field collections. But some of these collections are threatened by Lethal Yellowing Disease, said study lead author Hannes Wilms.

Our technique now also allows the shoots of the coconut plant to be preserved for eternity by cryopreservation, in liquid nitrogen at a temperature of -196C.

This is important for the future: if a new disease was to affect coconut production, there may be a variety in the gene bank that is resistant to this disease and can be planted out in the affected areas, said Panis.

Theres a huge demand for coconut. The existing plantations are old and need to be replanted in the short term. So our technique meets the great demand for healthy plant material.

The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports.

By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

Originally posted here:

Scientists have had a breakthrough in cloning coconut trees - Earth.com

New research published in PLOS One provides evidence that duplicated human faces tend to elicit negative emotions in viewers. The findings serve as a warning that future robotic or cloning technology could provoke unpleasant psychological reactions.

The rapid development of humanoid technology is very exciting for people. However, when I imagined the future mass production of androids, I thought that we might be surrounded by human-like entities with the same face (like Agent Smith in the Matrix), said study author Fumiya Yonemitsu of Kyushu University, who is also a research fellow at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

I love science fiction stories that frequently include such situations, but I was horrified to think that this is what the imagined future world would actually look like. I was also curious if this is an emotional response that humans have in general.

Our previous cognitive psychological research has repeatedly shown that unfamiliar and unknown objects evoke an uncanny feeling (e.g., Yamada et al., 2013), and the scene with all the same faces is exactly the kind of unfamiliar and unknown situation that violates our expectations of what a real scene should be like, Yonemitsu explained. I believe that such a situation also evokes a sense of uncanny, and this is the reason why I wanted to try to conduct this study.

In six experiments, which included 2,135 Japanese adults, the researchers consistently found evidence that clone human faces induced a sense of eeriness and improbability. The main finding in this research is that we have an eerie impression of people that have faces with the exact same appearance, which is named the clone devaluation effect, Yonemitsu told PsyPost.

This suggests an ironic future. Even if technology is highly advanced enough to overcome the uncanny valley, if we implement a large number of mass-produced humanoid robots all over the world, as we do with todays consumer electronics, there will be new uncanny phenomena.

The researchers found that as the number of the clone faces in a scene increased, so did subjective ratings of eeriness. Seeing four clone faces was viewed as stranger than viewing two clone faces. But the results appear to be limited to humanoid faces. Clone dog faces were not associated with heighted eeriness ratings, possibly because humans have difficulties in distinguishing the individual faces of other species. In addition, clone human faces drawn in anime and cartoons images were viewed as less eerie and improbable than clone faces in photographic images.

In our experiment, both the clone and non-clone faces used as stimulus images were edited by swapping the facial parts. Therefore, the amount of collage was the same in both conditions, and it is unlikely that the failure of image editing caused the clone devaluation effect, Yonemitsu explained.

Yonemitsu and his colleagues also examined the faces of famous twins. They found that the subjective eeriness of twins faces tended to be lower than that of clone non-twins faces. This could indicate that the duplication of identity, rather than just the duplication of facial features, is what induces eeriness.

This research does not argue that multiplets (e.g., twins) are eerie. As shown in the paper, the research provides findings that clone faces are less eerie when they are multiplets. I would like to strongly emphasize this point, as it is easily misleading, Yonemitsu explained.

But the study like all research includes some limitations.

The clone faces presented in this study were images only. We know that some concerns exist in this regard in terms of construct validity and practicality. The ideal measurement would be to actually produce a number of cloned humans or androids with the same face beyond the uncanny valley and ask people for their impressions. But that is realistically impossible, Yonemitsu said.

So should we just leave this problem alone? We did not think so. Therefore, future research will have to consider its limitations and go beyond them. For example, it will be necessary to have the participants look at the faces of the clones in a more realistic environment, for example, by using virtual reality or by using actual human beings who have been given special makeup to make them look the same.

The findings highlight the need to think critically about introducing new technology because of the potential for unpleasant psychological reactions, the researchers said.

Although our research suggests that the great development of technology may bring us rather unpleasant situations in some aspects, we believe that research from a psychological point of view, such as this one, which anticipates future situations, plays an important role in order for people to smoothly accept the results of technological innovation and enjoy its benefits, Yonemitsu told PsyPost.

If we imagine the future, there could be a large number of psychological phenomena that we have not yet explored, and we can find many hints of them in science fiction works. I would like to end by saying that psychologists can greatly expand the scope of their research beyond the current realm.

The study, The clone devaluation effect: A new uncanny phenomenon concerning facial identity, was authored by Fumiya Yonemitsu, Kyoshiro Sasaki, Akihiko Gobara, and Yuki Yamada.

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Psychologists have uncovered a new uncanny phenomenon called the "clone devaluation effect" - PsyPost

Photo: Daniel Eskridge/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Messing with megafauna usually doesnt work out for the human parties involved, whether its a fictional island theme park overrun by killer dinosaurs or its Florida, where, in 1992, Hurricane Andrew released scores of exotic species held as pets, resulting in invasive Burmese pythons living in over 1,000 square miles of the state.

Into this legacy steps a company called Colossal, which plans to jumpstart natures ancestral heartbeat by cloning and re-introducing thousands of wooly mammoths in Siberia. Led by Harvard Medical School biologist George Church, the plan is to edit mammoth hair and tendencies into elephant DNA and produce mammoth embryos within several years.

There are potential benefits for the larger state of the world, if they can pull it off. Some researchers suggest that wooly mammoths helped transformed the now-mossy tundra into a fertilized grassland; if the Frankenstein version were able to achieve this feat again, the tundra could serve as a buffer against erosion and a potential carbon-dioxide sink to combat global warming. Colossal, which describes itself as the de-extinction company, also hopes the reanimation of the wooly mammoth could serve as a first step toward further genetic alterations to save endangered species on a planet threatened by biodiversity collapse by rewriting their DNA to allow them to adapt to a changing climate.

But as the New York Times notes, there are some obvious concerns with the ambitious venture:

If Colossal does manage to produce baby mammoth-like elephants, the company will face serious ethical questions. Is it humane to produce an animal whose biology we know so little about? Who gets to decide whether they can be set loose, potentially to change the ecosystems of tundras in profound ways?

Heather Bushman, a philosopher at the London School of Economics, said that whatever benefits mammoths might have to the tundra will need to be weighed against the possible suffering that they might experience in being brought into existence by scientists.

You dont have a mother for a species that if they are anything like elephants has extraordinarily strong mother-infant bonds that last for a very long time, she said. Once there is a little mammoth or two on the ground, who is making sure that theyre being looked after?

Considering the recent controversy surrounding much simpler gain-of-function research, perhaps its best to leave this idea in the ground for now or, even better, to actually put political resources toward preventing theworst outcomes of the climate crisis rather than play around with deep adaptation schemes that intentionally riff on Jurassic Park.

Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world.

The rest is here:

Maybe Lets Not Try to Clone Wooly Mammoths Right Now - New York Magazine

The Circle just loves to pull stunts. Anything that makes the already trying experience of total isolation even more stressful and/or ridiculous, thats what The Circle is here for. And now that were in Season 3 of the Netflix reality series, we know that this show rarely pulls the same stunts twice and players cant predict which way the Circle is gonna zig or zag.

But if youre a US fan and have figured out how to watch the hard-to-find original UK Circle seasons (were still waiting, Netflix!), then these twists will look awfully familiar. One of The Circle USs Season 2 twiststhe merging of Emily/Jack and Lance Bass/Lisa into psychic gay Santa Claus Johnoriginated in the UK, and the same is true of Season 3s big twist. SPOILERS AHEAD for The Circle US Season 3, Episodes 1-4 andif you can find itThe Circle UK Season 3, Episodes 1-4.

The US Season 3 premiere ends with blocked sisters Ava and Chanel given a chance to re-enter the game. The catch: they have to clone one of the players still in the game! Ava and Chanel pick 52-year-old Southern mom/stand-up Michelle because she ranked lowest and because people already suspected her of being a catfish.

Players last season thought a gay, psychic Santa was real but a country lady cant do stand-up? Come on. Anywaythe players wake up to a surprise: theres a Blue Michelle and an Orange Michelle.

This moment sent a chill down the spine of everyone who watched The Circle UK Season 3 when it aired just six months ago, because this cloning madness debuted on that series when the first-blocked player, Yolanda, chose to clone Tally.

But even though the stunt was the same, the outcome was drastically different. Frustratingly different. Horrifically different. I thought that Tallys experience was an existential nightmare until I saw what happened to Michelle. Lets compare and contrast, because some fatal mistakes were made.

First, Tally and Michelle are about as different as can be. Theres the UK/US thing, sure, but Tallys 29 years younger than Michelle. Youth and Tally being way more used to emoting through text helped gave her an advantage. In the first group chat after the clone reveal, Tally came out swinging and Michelle forgot a key bit of punctuation that is essential to emoting online: an exclamation point.

Tally also had one advantage that Michelle ultimately didnt have: an ally. This proves how important those day one interactions are! Tally had already formed a crazy close bond with Manrika, her fellow geezer bird. Checking the ol Too Hot to Handle dictionary: geezer bird means a babe whos into bro-y dudes. Manrika clocked that Blue Tally was the real Tally from that first message and did not waver. She even got chat requests from Orange and Blue Tally at the same time and she chose to talk to the right Tally! #GeezerGirlsOfTheCircle!

Michelle, however, didnt have such a strong, immediate bond with any player. There was a potential regional connection with Kai, since Kais from Nashville and Michelles from South Carolina. Ava and Chanel are from New York City! Surely Kai could ask some deep-fried country questions that only Michelle would know. But that opening message made Kai doubt the real Michelle, and when Ava and Chanel used bless your heart incorrectly, Kai somehow didnt clock that!

Bless your heart is the worst thing a Southern woman can say to someone! Blue Michelle used it sincerely! Things went from bad to worse when Michelle used her first post-Circle Chat DM to hit up Daniel instead of Kai. Remember, Tally went straight to Manrika. That solidified Tally and Manrikas alliance further. Daniel wasnt exactly a bad choice for Michelle. He did come in third in the first ratings. But Kai placed first and, again, the Southern connection. Michelle at least convinces Daniel that shes the real deal for now.

Even though she had someone in her corner, Tally wasnt having a good time being duped. Her responses to all of Yolandas saccharine and earnest Orange Tally comments were downright iconic.

Yolanda even DMed with Tally and did not cop to being a catfish. She kept playing as Tally to Tally in a Tally on Tally chat. Real Twilight Zone moment, and Tally was not having it.

Fast forward to the US Season 3, and Michelles private chat with her clone was also heated.

You gotta give Ava and Chanel some credit here. They at least didnt act like Michelle while chatting with Michelle. And credit where its due: Yolanda did drop the act in her second private chat with Tally. Oh yeahthey talked twice in the UK. They dragged this drama out even longer than in the US!

Now were at the point where Michelle gets absolved of all blame and the look of scorn targets the other US players. In both seasons, the Orange and Blue players had to share the story behind one some of Tally/Michelles profile photos. The UK players used their heads. Tally gave them personality and solid details, like knowing the breed of her dog Cleo and the correct driving time from Manchester to Brighton. These Brits loved the details.

The Americans? Netflix owes me a new television, because I threw mine out the window. Michelles cast thought that she was giving too many detailseven though the whole point of this photo game is to share details. Truly maddening! Even worse was the wedding photo that somehow everyone thought was a prom picture? Because they could not believe that this photo was taken circa 2000.

Do people not remember what photos looked like before we all had iPhones or digital cameras? They looked like this. The quality of consumer-level photography did not drastically increase all that much until well into the 2000s. The only way to tell the difference between a 1980s photo and a photo from 2000 is the clothesand everyones calling Michelles dress and hairdo straight from the 80s? Do all of these 20-somethings seriously think that Pacolet, South Carolinaa town with a population of one large apartment building in Queensis on the cutting-edge of fashion? So many people in my Tennessee hometown are still rocking the old Paige Davis cut today! What are we doing here, people?!

And that game seals their fates. In the UK, Tallys emotionally draining clone saga had a happy ending; four players voted to block Yolanda, the clone Tally. Only two players voted to block the real Tally. Tally did it, with the help of an exclamation point, a ride-or-die named Manrika, details, and players who understand that details are a good thing when you are trying to prove you are not a clone!

But Michelle? God, what a heartbreaker. Every single one of these people voted to block her, even Danielthe one person who Michelle thought she had definitely convinced. Seeing a gosh darn delight like Michelle get taken out in such a surreal, hopeless way really stung.

Michelle deserved better, and at least Ava and Chanel felt bad about taking part in this grueling game within a game.

As for everyone who voted to block the real Michelle, well bless your hearts!

Stream The Circle on Netflix

More here:

'The Circle's' Clone Saga Actually Debuted in the UKand the Brits Fared Way Better - Decider

Photo: Lionel Bonaventure (Getty Images)

Furthering its quest to suddenly become every other app, Twitter is now introducing Facebook Group/Reddit subreddit-like groups called Communities that revolve around shared interests.

Twitter Communities appear to function very similarly to a direct message group with a few key differences. Each community will have its own feed that appears separately from the main timeline on the site, and for now, theyre invite-only, so administrators can control who can tweet to them. Only members of Communities can reply to or like other tweets posted to the group. However, anyone can click into a community feed and view every single tweet thats been posted, as theyre public by default.

Communities are self-moderated, which is to say that deputized community moderators will have control over group membership and rules instead of being forced to rely solely on the same broken moderation process as the rest of Twitter. The first Communities available to join are broadly mundane topics like #AstroTwitter, #DogTwitter, #SkincareTwitter, and #SoleFood, though cryptocurrency is also on the list (of course). Twitter also shared a link where users can apply to form their own interest-based group.

In an announcement post, Twitter staff product manager David Regan wrote, Some conversations arent for everyone, just the people who want to talk about the thing you want to talk about. When you join a Community, you can Tweet directly to that group instead of to all your followers. Only members in the same Community are able to reply and join the conversation so it stays intimate and relevant.

... Think of Communities as places created for conversation where the vibe and tone is set by people who share the same interests and want to have relevant conversations, Regan added.

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For now, only Twitter users on iOS and desktop can access Communities through a dedicated tab, although Android users are able to read tweets posted to them. Regan wrote in the post that more functionality is coming soon.

Twitter has long had a problem with rampant harassment and proliferation of toxic groups like white supremacists and Gamergate trolls across the site, so its natural to wonder whether Communities could be used to organize harassment campaigns. But private group DMs that would allow users to do so outside of public view already exist, and at least for now, Twitter is manually approving the the creation of Communities on a case-by-case basis.

The biggest ramification for Twitter will likely be that interest-based groups open up the company to more lucrative targeted advertising opportunities. As the Verge noted, Twitter has also struggled to retain new users and the new interest-based groups may help the company lure them into staying. For example, there could be Twitter Communities based around discussing a show like White Lotus or for Taylor Swift fans.

Ever since CEO Jack Dorsey narrowly survived an attempted coup by vampiric hedge fund Elliot Management last March, the company seems to have internalized that it needs to make money and rapidly pivoted from maintaining a largely static experience for users to throwing crap at the wall to see what sticks. This has mostly taken the form of cloning popular features on other social media apps. In the past year, Twitter has rolled out Fleets, its version of the auto-deleting Stories feature ubiquitous on every other site; Spaces, a replica of audio chat app Clubhouse that now has paid ticketing; Super Follows, a Patreon-like service that allows users to charge for access to premium posts; and Twitter Blue, a subscription-based premium version of the app.

So far, its had mixed results. Of the above list, only Fleets and Spaces have had full-scale rollouts. Fleets proved to be utterly useless (according to Twitters head of product Ilya Brown, people mostly used it to promote tweets) and the company canned them in July. How successful Spaces has been is still unclear, but Clubhouse doesnt seem to be doing so hot. Super Follows seems like the clearest path to success, but is as of yet only available on iOS.

Continued here:

Twitters New Communities Feature Gives Laser-Eyed Bitcoin Bros and Dog Lovers a Space to Talk Among Themselve - Gizmodo