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Las Vegas was a small railroad town when Nevada formally established it in 1905. Five years after its founding, the U.S. census recorded only 800 residents. Yet by the 1950s, it was known as a gambling tourist haven, where visitors could see a show with celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. in between trips to the baccarat tables. Although Nevada’s legalization of gambling in 1931 opened the doors for this transformation, that…

Prosecutors called them the “Amazon” of organised crime. The thieves, most of them from Chile, allegedly raked in millions of dollars as they criss-crossed the US, stealing Rolex watches, Gucci handbags, iPads and debit cards on what one source described as the “road-trip from hell”. According to a federal complaint filed last year, the operation was run out of a Los-Angeles car dealership where ringleaders of the gang provided vehicles for…

Aspirin is one of the most well-known over-the-counter drugs, but there are a lot of misconceptions about it. For example: While it’s true that willow bark played a role in the history of aspirin, the tablets in your cabinet do not come from tree bark—modern aspirin is made with benzene derived from petroleum. Aspirin was never really made directly from willow bark, either. The first known person to produce acetylsalicylic acid—aka…

The world's first "biological computer" that fuses human brain cells with silicon hardware to form fluid neural networks has been commercially launched, ushering in a new age of AI technology. The CL1, from Australian company Cortical Labs, offers a whole new kind of computing intelligence – one that's more dynamic, sustainable and energy efficient than any AI that currently exists – and we will start to see its potential when it's in users'…

*Free digital platform offers practical resources for managing climate risks* Climate Connect Aotearoa, a hub for collaborative climate innovation established by Tātaki Auckland Unlimited (the region’s economic and cultural agency) on behalf of Auckland Council, has launched a new digital tool called ClimateWise, designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adapt to climate change. The free platform provides practical tools and…

The rise of ‘dark advertising’ — personalised advertisements increasingly powered by artificial intelligence that evade public scrutiny — means Australians face a murky information landscape going into the federal election. It’s already happening and, combined with Australia’s failure to enact truth-in-advertising legislation and big tech’s backtracking on fact-checking, means voters are left vulnerable to ad-powered misinformation campaigns.…

Winston Peters is calling for New Zealand to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord, arguing the country is wasting billions while global superpowers ignore the deal. According to The Country host Jamie Mackay, Peters was blunt: “What’s the use of being in when the US, China, and Russia aren’t there?” Peters has long criticised the agreement, and with compliance costs estimated at billions of dollars, he is demanding a serious rethink. …

People who sit on the low or high side of normal vitamin B12 levels are still at risk of cognitive impairment, according to a new study. The researchers behind the study say we need to rethink the ‘healthy’ range for the vitamin that plays a key role in brain and nerve health. Vitamin B12, or cobalamin, is crucial in DNA synthesis, red blood cell formation, nervous system health and function, brain health, and energy production. It’s normally…

On December 25, 2024, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported Beijing’s approval for the construction of a hydropower project (HPP) in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo river in Tibet. This is the river whose lower course is known as the Siang in Arunachal Pradesh and, after a confluence with two other major tributaries, as the Brahmaputra in Assam. Since then, Indian and global media have produced hundreds of experts elaborating on the…

Walter Bolton, a 68-year-old Whanganui farmer, became the last person executed on 18 February 1957 in New Zealand. Convicted for the murder of his wife, Beatrice, he was hanged at Mt Eden prison following a controversial trial. Beatrice’s tea had contained traces of arsenic, and, over the best part of a year, she had consumed enough to kill her. Investigators found traces of arsenic in water on the Boltons’ farm, and in Walter and one of his…

Birds-of-paradise are known for their bright and colourful plumage, but it turns out they are even more dazzling than previously thought. Researchers have found 37 of the 45 species show biofluorescence – in other words, patches of their plumage or other body parts absorb UV or blue light, and emit light at lower frequencies. “At a minimum, it would make these biofluorescent areas brighter – a yellow feather may be more green-yellow, a white…

Fact-checking has gone out of fashion, at least for much of the social media 'broligarchy' — that billionaire tech group typified by Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and X's Elon Musk. Zuckerberg announced earlier this year that Meta had disbanded Facebook and Instagram's independent fact-checking programme. Meta will instead use a form of Community Notes, similar to that introduced by X after owner Musk dumped third-party fact-checking when he…

In a blistering letter to senior health leaders, Federal MP Russell Broadbent has accused the Australian government of wilful blindness over mounting evidence of DNA contamination in Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines. Broadbent slams the government’s repeated failure to engage with compelling scientific findings, instead offloading responsibility to officials lacking the necessary expertise. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Health Minister…

Acute respiratory infections are a serious public health concern across the world.  Every year, around 13 million children under the age of five die from these infections. Unsurprisingly, a majority of them – 95 per cent – are from developing nations; acute respiratory infections are responsible for one-third of all deaths.  One among a host of viruses causing these infections is Human metapneumovirus (hMPV), which has been in the news…

It has taken a long time for a motorcycle to break the million-dollar barrier at auction, and it was almost done twice within a few minutes today in Las Vegas. First up, the world record for a motorcycle at auction was obliterated when a 1915 Cyclone V-Twin sold for US$1,320,000, surpassing the previous high prices of $935,000 (a 1908 Harley-Davidson ‘Strap Tank’) and $929,000 (a 1951 Vincent Black Lightning). Just a few minutes later, a…

At the advent of his second term in office, Donald Trump announced his intention to transform the US into “the world capital of artificial intelligence (AI)”. The great American AI revolution will begin, he declared, with Stargate, the largest project of its kind “by far in history”. The joint venture between tech firms OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle, will invest $500 billion (£405 billion) in AI infrastructure over the next four years. But…

In 2022, Elon Musk famously declared his pronouns were “Prosecute/Fauci,” blaming Anthony Fauci for overseeing numerous policy failures during the pandemic. But Musk won’t get his wish. In the final hours of Joe Biden’s presidency, Fauci was granted clemency, shielding him from prosecution for any potential crimes dating back to 2014. Biden was clear that this was not an admission of guilt, but for someone who spent years as the authoritative…

Across sectors such as healthcare, education, human resources and even the military, games — from board games to apps on our smartphones and computers — are being used to inform, educate and train people in specific skills. They are called serious games because their purpose goes beyond pure entertainment. Rather, these games are being used to help users adopt healthy lifestyle changes, develop social skills, be persuaded and recruited to…

Daesh’s influence and capabilities have been severely degraded in the past few years. In the Iraqi and Syrian contexts, the group is a shadow of its former self, particularly when compared with its apex between 2014 and 2017. Yet, despite the coordinated efforts of the Global Coalition against Daesh and the sacrifices endured by the Iraqi and Syrian peoples, the organisation known as Islamic State (IS) continues to pose a significant…

Centuries before the arrival of Europeans, Indigenous people in the Western United States learned how to live with fire. They knew the recipe for catastrophic seasonal wildfires—bone-dry grasses, fallen logs and other forest debris, and high winds—and took measures to protect old-growth stands of trees. In many cases, those methods involved using fire to prevent fire. In the late winter and spring, when conditions were cooler and wetter,…