How Worried Should You Be About Those Tom Cruise Deepfakes?

Are the TikTok deepfake videos of Tom Cruise doing magic and playing golf a threat to global democracy? Not exactly. “[T]he reality is that they took a lot of time, technical expertise, and the skilled performance of a real actor,” reports VICE News. “Rather than predicting a dark future of disinformation for the masses, they’re simply another example of what can…

World’s oldest DNA sheds light on mammoth evolution

A mammoth tooth uncovered from the Siberian permafrost yields the oldest DNA yet discovered and provides insight into the evolution of the giant beasts. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/worlds-oldest-dna-mammoth-evolution-video…

Apple’s Powerful M1 MacBooks are Lowering The Resale Value of Older MacBooks

“The impressive performance and battery life gains of the new M1 MacBooks have created a historic discontinuity in the normally placid resale market,” reports ZDNet: Should you spend $800 for a one year old MacBook Air when for $200 more you could get a MacBook Air with several times the performance and 50 percent better battery life? That’s a question savvy…

Astrophysicists design ‘radically different’ world map

You know the old problem of how to portray the round globe of Earth on a flat map? Now a trio of map experts has worked together to solve this problem. Their new map is 2-sided and round. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/astrophysicists-new-design-world-map…

Amazon Prime Video Direct and the Dystopian Decision To Stop Accepting Documentaries

When Amazon made a unilateral decision in early February to stop accepting documentaries and short films via Prime Video Direct (a policy that also covers “slide shows, vlogs, podcasts, tutorials, filmed conferences, monologues, toy play, music videos, and voiceover gameplay”), the announcement also served as a quiet purge. Amazon also has been dropping long-running documentary titles from the service, with stakeholders…

Nearby black hole Cyg X-1 more massive than thought

New research suggests that the famous black hole Cygnus X-1 – first black hole ever detected and one of the closest to Earth – is farther away and much more massive than previously believed. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/cygnus-x-1-black-hole-more-massive-farther…

Swarm of black holes discovered

For the first time, astronomers have detected the presence of a throng of black holes crowding near the center of an ancient globular cluster. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/group-black-holes-found-globular-cluster-ngc-6397…