Facebook Parent Meta, Twitter, YouTube Asked to Archive Evidence of Suspected Russian War Crimes

Four Democratic lawmakers on Thursday asked the CEOs of YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook owner Meta to archive content that could be used as evidence of suspected Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

Ukraine and the West say Russian troops have committed war crimes in its 11-week invasion of its neighbor, in which thousands of civilians have been killed. Russia denies the allegations and says it does not target civilians.

In a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the lawmakers, including the leaders of the House Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees, Carolyn Maloney, and Gregory Meeks, encouraged the company to preserve content posted on its sites.

That content “could potentially be used as evidence as the US government and international human rights and accountability monitors investigate Russian war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other atrocities in Ukraine,” the letter said.

The letters were also signed by two subcommittee chairmen, William Keating, and Stephen Lynch.

The UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution on Thursday to establish an investigation into possible war crimes by Russian troops in places near the capital Kyiv and beyond, a move that Russia said amounted to political score-settling.

Meanwhile, Facebook parent Meta Platforms said on Wednesday it has withdrawn a request for policy guidance from its Oversight Board about the content moderation of posts related to Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine.

“This decision was not made lightly — the PAO (policy advisory opinion) was withdrawn due to ongoing safety and security concerns,” the company said in a blog post.

The board, which can make binding decisions on specific thorny content moderation appeals and give policy recommendations, said it was “disappointed” by the decision.

A Meta spokesman declined to give more information about the policies on which it was seeking guidance or about the specific concerns.

Russia banned social media platforms Facebook and Instagram in March, finding Meta guilty of “extremist activity” amid Moscow’s crackdown on social media during its invasion of Ukraine. Meta’s messaging service WhatsApp is not affected by the ban. Russia has also throttled Twitter by slowing its service.

© Thomson Reuters 2022


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Xbox Series X India Restock: Amazon to Take Pre-Orders at 12pm Noon Today

Xbox Series X restock is happening today in India. In a rare move, Amazon has revealed that the Xbox Series X will be available for pre-order in the country today at 12pm (noon). The pre-orders of the Xbox Series X are notably going live at the time when Sony is once again making its PlayStation 5 consoles and bundles available in the country for pre-order. Xbox Series X was launched back in November 2020 globally, alongside Xbox Series S, as Microsoft’s latest gaming consoles. It comes in a svelte tower PC-like design and is based on the Xbox velocity architecture.

Xbox Series X pre-orders in India

Amazon has revealed on its video game home page and the dedicated Series S/X page that the Xbox Series X will be available for pre-orders in India from 12pm (noon) on Friday. It is unclear whether the console will also go on pre-orders through other channels. Gadgets 360 has reached out to Microsoft for clarity on that front and will update this article when the company responds.

Considering supply constraints, just a few Xbox Series X units are likely to be available for pre-orders. It is, therefore, recommended to log in on the e-commerce site on time to secure your order.

Since its debut in late 2020, Microsoft has rarely publicly revealed any details about Xbox Series X restocks in the country. The sales channels for the latest Xbox console have also remained silent about its availability most of the times. This is unlike the case of PlayStation 5 where we regularly get pre-order details through its sales channels, as well as Sony Centre’s official ShopAtSC website.

In October 2020, Xbox chief Phil Spencer said in an interview that the initial Xbox Series X/S pre-orders in India that took place in September of that year sold out instantly. He added: “We’ve hardly ever sold consoles in markets like that before,” without revealing the exact number of units sold.

Xbox Series X price in India

Xbox Series X price in India has been set at Rs. 49,990. In contrast, the Xbox Series S, which is available much easily, is priced at Rs. 34,990.


PS5 vs Xbox Series X: Which is the best “next-gen” console in India? We discussed this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

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PS5 India May 13 Restock: How to Pre-Order PlayStation 5, PS5 Digital Edition, and PS5 Gran Turismo 7 Bundle

PS5’s May restock is here. Today at 12pm noon, both variants of Sony’s elusive next-gen console — the Rs. 49,990 Blu-ray-equipped PS5, and its Rs. 39,990 disc-less counterpart PS5 Digital Edition — will be up for pre-order in India. Alongside, just as in April, some retailers will also offer a Rs. 54,490 bundle of the Blu-ray PS5 and Gran Turismo 7 that represents a Rs. 499 saving if you were to buy them separately. Gran Turismo 7 released back in March — to heavy backlash from fans owing to microtransactions and grind-based economy — and with Sony India still bundling it, it seems like Sony has more Gran Turismo 7 copies that have remained unsold. Even after last month’s PS5 restock.

If you are trying to buy PlayStation 5 online, you can do that on Amazon, Croma, Flipkart, Game Loot, Games The Shop, Reliance Digital, Sony Center, and Vijay Sales. You can also check out game stores near you. Those tend to be a better shot at times. Though as has been the case for over a year now — the PS5 celebrated its first birthday in India earlier in 2022 — the big concern is whether you can actually manage to buy one, given Sony India’s continued inventory struggles.

The May 13 PlayStation 5 restock is just the 16th time Sony’s flagship console is being made available for pre-order in India, since its launch last February. Its Blu-ray-devoid sibling PS5 Digital Edition has fared even poorer, with this being only the 10th time interested buyers have had the opportunity to pre-order one. Of course, that is far from the only hassle with buying a PlayStation 5 in India. Every single time, the likes of Croma and Games The Shop have shown themselves to be unable to handle the load. Even Amazon has had trouble a few times. Additionally, Croma, Flipkart and Reliance Digital are also known for cancelling PS5 pre-orders due to their own technical challenges.

Curiously, Sony Center website ShopAtSC hasn’t given us an expected shipping date for the May 13 PS5 restock. At the time of writing, its FAQ page — which continued to carry a COVID-19 boilerplate long after delivery restrictions had been removed — hasn’t been updated this time around. Going by earlier estimations, the shipping date for the new PS5 pre-orders should be a week to 10 days from May 13. Whatever it is, all official PS5 online retailers — including Amazon, Croma, Flipkart, GameLoot, Games The Shop, Reliance Digital, and Vijay Sales — should be in line with Sony Center. Though at times, we have seen some online retailers ship out their PS5 pre-orders prior to the announced delivery date too.

PlayStation 5 Review: New Era, Half Jump

Gran Turismo 7 Review: Passion Without Flair

How to pre-order PS5 on ShopAtSC

Sony India’s retail shops Sony Center have their own website through which you can buy PlayStation 5. ShopAtSC offers free home delivery from the nearest Sony Center, but you can also choose to pick up from the nearest store once the first orders are shipped.

You will need an account to buy the PS5 from ShopAtSC. Create one in advance to speed up checkout. If you previously bought a PS5 or PS5 Digital Edition, you won’t be able to buy another from the same account, ShopAtSC says. The site does have a notify me button in case you want to set that up.

Shop at SC offers low-cost EMIs on select credit cards, and easy EMI options on most debit and credit cards.

Buy PlayStation 5 at ShopAtSC

Buy PlayStation 5 + Gran Turismo 7 bundle at ShopAtSC

Buy PlayStation 5 Digital Edition at ShopAtSC

How to pre-order PS5 on Amazon India

The PS5 restock is also available on Amazon’s India affiliate that will offer free home delivery across India. You don’t need to be an Amazon Prime member to get free delivery.

You will need an account to buy the PS5 or PS5 Digital Edition from Amazon. Create one in advance to speed up checkout.

Amazon offers no-cost EMI on the Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card, and easy EMI options on most debit and credit cards. You can get 5 percent unlimited cashback with the Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card.

Buy PlayStation 5 at Amazon India

Buy PlayStation 5 Digital Edition at Amazon India

How to pre-order PS5 on Vijay Sales

Mumbai-headquartered Vijay Sales is also offering the PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition on its website — its stores have also opened up across India. It too will offer free home delivery on every purchase.

You do not need an account to buy the PS5 from Vijay Sales, but you will need to provide your mobile number and email address as a guest.

Vijay Sales offers 7.5 percent instant discount up to Rs. 7,500 or Rs. 3,000 on EMI transactions with HSBC and Standard Chartered credit cards respectively, and 10 percent instant discount up to Rs. 2,000 on OneCard credit cards. There’s also a 5 percent instant discount up to Rs. 2,000 on EMI transactions with IndusInd Bank credit cards.

You can also avail 5 percent cashback up to Rs. 2,000 on RBL credit and debit cards, and with EMI transactions on RBL credit cards, and 10 percent cashback up to Rs. 2,000 on AU Small Finance Bank debit and credit cards.

There are easy EMI options on HDFC Bank debit cards and select credit cards. You can also earn Rs. 375/ Rs. 300/ Rs. 409 as part of the complimentary MYVS Rewards programme.

Buy PlayStation 5 at Vijay Sales

Buy PlayStation 5 + Gran Turismo 7 bundle at Vijay Sales

Buy PlayStation 5 Digital Edition at Vijay Sales

How to pre-order PS5 on Flipkart

Walmart-owned Flipkart also has PlayStation 5 and PS5 Digital Edition restocked for pre-orders in India. It will also offer free home delivery across India.

It’s worth noting that Flipkart has had trouble servicing both PS5 and Xbox Series X pre-orders in the past, with customers claiming they were bullied by Flipkart Support to cancel their orders.

You will need an account to buy the PS5 or PS5 Digital Edition from Flipkart. Create one in advance to speed up checkout.

Flipkart offers 5 percent unlimited cashback on Flipkart Axis Bank credit cards, and 10 percent instant discount up to Rs. 1,500 with Citi credit and debit cards.

There are also easy EMI options on most debit and credit cards.

Buy PlayStation 5 at Flipkart

Buy PlayStation 5 Digital Edition at Flipkart

How to pre-order PS5 on Croma

Tata-owned Croma will also offer the PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition online. Its stores are open everywhere, but PlayStation 5 can only be pre-ordered on its website. Free home delivery will be available for every order.

You will need an account to buy the PS5 from Croma. Create one in advance to speed up checkout.

Croma offers 10 percent instant discount up to Rs. 2,000 on ICICI Bank credit and debit cards, 10 percent cashback up to Rs. 2,500 on EMI transactions with ICICI Bank credit cards if you spend over Rs. 50,000, and 10 percent cashback up to Rs. 1,250 on EMI transactions with ICICI Bank credit cards if you spend less than Rs. 50,000.

You can also avail easy EMI options on most credit cards. Croma also offers a year’s worth of extended warranty for PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition at Rs. 11,499 and Rs. 8,999, respectively.

Buy PlayStation 5 at Croma

Buy PlayStation 5 Digital Edition at Croma

How to pre-order PS5 on Reliance Digital

Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Digital will also offer the PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition in India. All orders will qualify for free home delivery.

It’s worth noting that Reliance Digital has had trouble servicing both PS5 and Xbox Series X pre-orders, going so far to cancel many orders because it had overbooked.

You will need an account to buy the PS5 or PS5 Digital Edition from Reliance Digital. Create one in advance to speed up checkout.

Reliance Digital offers Rs. 1,500 cashback on EMI transactions with IndusInd Bank credit cards, and 15 percent cashback up to Rs. 1,000 with Simpl. You can also avail easy or no-cost EMI options with most popular banks’ credit and debit cards.

Buy PlayStation 5 at Reliance Digital

Buy PlayStation 5 Digital Edition at Reliance Digital

How to pre-order PS5 on Game Loot

Game reseller Game Loot is also offering the PS5 on sale, including both the disc and digital variant. It too offers free home delivery all over India.

You do not need an account to buy the PS5 or PS5 Digital Edition from Game Loot, but you will need to provide an email address and phone number. Game Loot offers a notify-me option that will alert you when the restock happens.

Game Loot also offers six months of extended warranty for PS5 and PS5 Digital Edition at Rs. 4,799 and Rs. 3,999, respectively.

Buy PlayStation 5 at Game Loot

Buy PlayStation 5 Digital Edition at Game Loot

How to pre-order PS5 on Games The Shop

Dedicated games store Games The Shop will let you pre-order the PS5, replete with free home delivery across India. If its website manages to stay up, that is.

You do not need an account to buy the PS5 or PS5 Digital Edition from Games The Shop, but you will need to provide an email address. It too has a notify me button for stock availability.

Buy PlayStation 5 at Games The Shop

Buy PlayStation 5 + Gran Turismo 7 bundle at Games The Shop

Buy PlayStation 5 Digital Edition at Games The Shop


PS5 vs Xbox Series X: Which is the best “next-gen” console in India? We discussed this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

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New Patent-Pending Technology Transforms Diluted Waste Carbon Into Valuable Compounds

Biofuel researchers have been constantly working to develop a self-sustaining technique for converting renewable carbon sources into fuels while excluding carbon out of our environment and water. Despite significant advances, finishing the cycle using clean energy has proven to be difficult. Now, a group of researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has developed a system that does exactly that. The PNNL electrocatalytic oxidation fuel recovery system turns diluted waste carbon into valuable compounds while also producing useable hydrogen, which was previously thought to be unrecoverable. The procedure is carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative because renewable energy is used.

An elegantly designed catalyst combines billions of infinitesimally small metal particles and an electric current to accelerate energy conversion at room temperature and pressure.

Juan A. Lopez-Ruiz, a PNNL chemical engineer and project lead, said that the current methods of treating biocrude necessitate the use of high-pressure hydrogen, which is typically generated from natural gas. This system can generate hydrogen while also treating wastewater at near-atmospheric temperatures using excess renewable energy, making it cheap to operate and potentially carbon-neutral.

The research team put the system through its paces in the lab, using a sample of wastewater from an industrial-scale biomass conversion process for over 200 hours of continuous operation without losing efficiency. The only limitation was that the research team’s wastewater sample had depleted.

The patent-pending system, according to Lopez-Ruiz, solves several problems that have plagued efforts to make biomass an economically viable source of renewable energy.

Lopez-Ruiz said that though people understand how to convert biomass into fuel, they continue to struggle to make the process energy-efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable, particularly on small, distributed scales. However, this new system is powered by electricity, which can be generated from renewable sources. It also produces its own heat and fuel to keep running. It may be able to complete the energy recovery cycle.

The Clean Sustainable Electrochemical Treatment—or CleanSET—technology is available for licencing by other companies or municipalities interested in developing it for industry-specific applications in municipal wastewater treatment plants, dairy farms, breweries, chemical manufacturers, and food and beverage producers.


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Sonos Ray Budget Soundbar With Dolby Digital Support Launched: Details

Sonos Ray was unveiled on Thursday as the latest offering from the American audio brand. Offered in two colour options, the new soundbar comes with touch controls along with support for Apple AirPlay 2. Compared to other offerings from the brand, the Sonos Ray can be considered as part of the entry-level audio segment. It packs two tweeters and four class-d digital amplifiers to reproduce high frequencies. The Sonos Ray can be paired with a TV or laptop via an optical cable and it offers support for Dolby Digital audio. It is compatible with the Sonos app that lets users adjust the bass of the Sonos Ray directly from their mobile phones.

Sonos Ray price, availability

The new Sonos Ray comes with a price tag of $279 (roughly Rs. 21,600) in the US. The soundbar comes in Black and White colour options and is currently available for pre-reservations in the US via the company website, with its deliveries starting from June 7.

Details about the launch of the Sonos Ray in Indian and other global markets have not been announced yet.

Sonos Ray specifications, features

The new soundbar from Sonos features two mid-woofers, four class-d digital amplifiers and two tweeters to ensure bass and create a high-frequency response. The Sonos Ray features capacitive touch controls on the body to play, pause, adjust the volume, skip, and replay. It is powered by a quad-core processor with a maximum clock speed of 2.4GHz. Further, the soundbar sports LED indicators for connection and mute status.

The Sonos Ray soundbar can be connected with the Sonos app that is available on the Google Play store or Apple’s App Store to modify bass, treble, and loudness and use other services. It offers Wi-Fi 802.11/b/g/n connectivity and allows users to stream audio from platforms like Spotify Connect, and Amazon Music among others. It can be connected to TVs or PCs via an optical cable that is included in the box.

Apple users can use AirPlay 2 on the Sonos Ray to use it with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac over Wi-Fi. Further, it can work with the TV remote through its IR receiver.

Sonos Ray is capable of decoding Stereo PCM, Dolby Digital v5.1 and DTS Digital Surround. The device support company’s Trueplay tuning feature that optimises the sound based on the surroundings with the help of the microphone of an iOS device. Further, it supports the Night sound feature that reduces the intensity of loud sounds while increasing the level of quieter sounds. Users can group the device with other Sonos speakers for multi-room playback as well. The soundbar measures 71x559x95mm and weighs 1.95 kilograms.


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Samsung Galaxy A31 Starts Receiving Android 12-Based One UI 4.1 Update: Report

Samsung Galaxy A31 is reportedly receiving its Android 12-based One UI 4.1 update in Russia. Launched in March 2020, the smartphone initially came with the Android 10-based One UI. The update is currently rolling out in Russia and is expected to reach more countries over the next few days. The new update will add a redesigned user interface with colour palette feature, better stock applications and more. The Samsung device received the Android 11-based One UI 3.1 update in April last year and is currently listed to receive biannual security updates.

According to a report by SamMobile, the Samsung Galaxy A31 has started receiving its Android 12 update along with the South Korean company’s One UI 4.1 in Russia. The report further added that the new update is expected to reach users in more countries over the next few days. However, there are no details on when the update will be available for users in India.

Samsung Galaxy A31 Android 12 update features

The Samsung Galaxy A31’s Android 12-based One UI 4.1 update will bring several new features to the mid-range smartphone.

The update brings the April 2022 Security Patch to the smartphone that fixes over 80 privacy and security vulnerabilities. It also brings the firmware version A315FXXU1DVD8 to the Samsung device. Along with the security patch, the update comes with a renewed user interface design with Colour Palette feature and improved stock applications.

Along with the cosmetic and security updates to the user interface, the update also offers better privacy and performance improvements.

The Samsung Galaxy A31 should update to Android 12 automatically, but if it hasn’t, you can manually update it by heading over to Settings > Software update > Download and Install.

The smartphone started receiving the Android 11-based One UI 3.1 update in April 2021 starting with South Korea and later expanding to the international market. The Samsung Galaxy A31 is currently listed on Samsung’s website under the list of phones which are supposed to get security updates biannually.

Recently, Samsung had also reportedly started rolling out the Android 12-based One UI 4.1 update for Samsung Galaxy A51 in Saudi Arabia and South Africa as part of a broader plan to push updates for the smartphone.


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OnePlus Nord 2T Launch Date Set for May 19, Now Deleted Official YouTube Video Tips

OnePlus Nord 2T launch date has reportedly been set for May 19. A week after the upcoming smartphone’s specifications, design and price were leaked via an unboxing video, the company briefly listed the official launch event on its YouTube channel, as per multiple reports. The handset is expected to debut alongside the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G and OnePlus Nord Buds in global markets — these have already been launched in India. The OnePlus Nord 2T is tipped to be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 1300 SoC, and feature a 50-megapixel triple rear camera setup.

The company posted a video for the upcoming launch event on its YouTube channel earlier today, spotted by tipster Mukul Sharma. The video revealed that that the launch event for the OnePlus Nord 2T will be held on May 19 at 4pm CEST (7:30pm IST). The video has since been taken down, but the screenshot captured by the tipster reveals the time of the event. According to Sharma, the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G, and OnePlus Nord Buds will also be launched in Europe during the event. OnePlus is yet to officially make an announcement regarding the launch of the OnePlus Nord 2T in India and other markets. Yet another tipster, Abhishek Yadav, also shared a similar screenshot.

OnePlus Nord 2T price in India (expected)

OnePlus Nord 2T was recently spotted in an AliExpress listing that suggested the upcoming smartphone would come with a $399 (roughly Rs. 30,900) price tag. Meanwhile, according to tipster Abhishek Yadav, the OnePlus Nord 2T will be priced at EUR 399 (roughly Rs. 32,200). The handset was recently spotted in an unboxing video on YouTube, where the price of the OnePlus Nord 2T was shown to be Rs. 30,000 for the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant. The company is yet to officially announce the price of the upcoming smartphone.

OnePlus Nord 2T specifications (expected)

According to previous reports, the OnePlus Nord 2T is tipped to run on Android 12-based OxygenOS 12.1 out of the box. The smartphone could feature a 6.43-inch full-HD+ (1,080×2,400 pixels) Fluid AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support. The OnePlus Nord 2T is said to be powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 1300 SoC, paired with up to 12GB of RAM.

For photos and videos, the smartphone is tipped to feature a triple camera setup, comprised of a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 primary camera with OIS support, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera, and a 2-megapixel tertiary camera. For selfies and video chats, the OnePlus Nord 2T is said to sport a 32-megapixel front facing camera. The OnePlus Nord 2T could offer up to 256GB of storage, according to reports. The handset is tipped to pack a 4,500mAh battery with support for 80W fast charging.




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Black Hole Image of Sagittarius A* Unveiled by Scientists, From the Centre of the Milky Way Galaxy

Scientists on Thursday provided the first look at the monster lurking at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy, unveiling an image of a supermassive black hole that devours any matter wandering within its gargantuan gravitational pull.

The black hole — called Sagittarius A, or SgrA — is only the second one ever to be imaged. The feat was accomplished by the same Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) international collaboration that in 2019 unveiled the first-ever photo of a black hole – that one residing at the heart of a different galaxy.

Sagittarius A* possesses 4 million times the mass of our sun and is located about 26,000 light-years — the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km) — from Earth.

Black holes are extraordinarily dense objects with gravity so strong that not even light can escape, making viewing them quite challenging. A black hole’s event horizon is the point of no return beyond which anything — stars, planets, gas, dust and all forms of electromagnetic radiation — gets dragged into oblivion.

Project scientists have looked for a ring of light — super-heated disrupted matter and radiation circling at tremendous speed at the edge of the event horizon — around a region of darkness representing the actual black hole. This is known as the black hole’s shadow or silhouette.

The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy that contains at least 100 billion stars. Viewed from above or below it resembles a spinning pinwheel, with our sun situated on one of the spiral arms and Sagittarius A* located at the centre.

The image released in 2019 of the supermassive black hole in a galaxy called Messier 87, or M87, showed a glowing ring of red, yellow and white surrounding a dark centre. The M87 black hole is far more distant and massive than Sagittarius A*, situated about 54 million light-years from Earth with a mass 6.5 billion times that of our sun.

The researchers said that Sagittarius A*, despite being much closer to our solar system than M87, was harder to image.

The diameter of Sagittarius A* is about 17 times that of the sun, meaning it would sit within the innermost planet Mercury’s solar orbit. In contrast, M87’s diameter would encompass the entirely of our solar system.

“Sagittarius A* is over a thousand times less massive than the black hole at M87, but since it is in our own galaxy it is much closer and should appear just slightly larger on the sky,” said radio astronomer Lindy Blackburn, an EHT data scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

“However the smaller physical size of Sgr A also means that everything changes about a thousand times faster for Sgr A than M87. We must also peer through the messy disk of our own galaxy to view Sgr A*, which blurs and distorts the image,” Blackburn added.

The Event Horizon Telescope is a global network of observatories working collectively to observe radio sources associated with black holes. The project was begun in 2012 to try to directly observe the immediate environment of a black hole.

There are different categories of black holes. The smallest are so-called stellar-mass black holes formed by the collapse of massive individual stars at the ends of their life cycles. There also are intermediate-mass black holes, a step up in mass. And finally there are the supermassive black holes that inhabit the centre of most galaxies. These are thought to arise relatively soon after their galaxies are formed, devouring enormous amounts of material to achieve colossal size.

Thursday’s announcement was made in simultaneous news conferences in the United States, Germany, China, Mexico, Chile, Japan and Taiwan.


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Parkinson’s Disease Might Find Potential Treatment in These Designer Neurons

Parkinson’s disease is one of the most talked-about and serious neurodegenerative diseases on Earth. The illness already scars the lives of 10 million people around the world. But now we have a new research that suggests potential treatment. The process involves non-neuronal cells and their transformation. Once they change into neurons, they can stay in the brain and do the regular functions like linking to other nerve cells making the neural tissue, forming synapses, and dispensing dopamine. These cells would help repair the damage done by the disease to the dopaminergic cells.

Parkinson’s disease targets a region in the midbrain and affects the deterioration of the neurons in that region. As a result, there is less dopamine left for the brain to feed on. Dopamine, being a neurotransmitter, affects the functioning and life of the neurons.

Degeneration and the gradual loss of dopaminergic neurons cause many mental and physical symptoms. These include rigidity, tremor, and postural instability, which are characteristic symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. It can also show signs of depression, anxiety, memory loss, hallucinations, and dementia.

The research was conducted by Jeffrey Kordower, the founding director of the ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center at Arizona State University. The study is published in the current issue of the journal Nature Regenerative Medicine.

A press release issued by Arizona State University states that experimentally engineered cells were planted in the brains of rats. These “designer” cells performed optimally for survival, growth, neural connectivity and production of dopamine.

The futuristic approach will soon be put to test in the first clinical trial of its kind, which will be conducted on a specific population of Parkinson’s disease patients. This trial, for obtaining the best results, will be performed at different locations, including the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, where Kordower would act as the principal investigator. The aim of such neural grafting techniques is to reverse motor symptoms that are caused by Parkinson’s disease.

Kordower said in a statement that they were overjoyed at the prospect of being able to help people suffering from this genetic form of Parkinson’s disease, but the lessons learned from this trial will also have a direct impact on patients suffering from sporadic, or non-genetic, forms of the disease.


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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 Leaked Renders Hint at a Lighter Device, to Miss Built-in S Pen Slot

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 renders and specifications have been leaked, indicating that the premium foldable smartphone might still miss out on a built-in S Pen slot. Based on the leaked renders, a report has claimed that the new Samsung smartphone will be lighter than its predecessor. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is reportedly expected to launch between August and September this year and will likely come with three rear cameras — as seen before on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. The foldable phone is also rumoured to feature a 108-megapixel primary, 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle, and 10-megapixel telephoto cameras at the back. The next-generation Samsung foldable is expected to get two batteries with a combined capacity of 4,270mAh.

What Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 renders and leaks tell us

According to tipster Ice Universe, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 will likely be lighter than its predecessor. The tipster alleged that the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 will be lighter than 260g.

Separately, in concept renders shared by Steve Hemmerstoffer aka @OnLeaks in collaboration with SmartPrix, we see that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is expected to sport similar dimensions as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3. It will reportedly feature a 6.2-inch cover display and a 7.6-inch folding display, but will come with a redesigned rear camera configuration.

The leak indicated that the smartphone might not get an in-built housing for the S Pen this time either. There has been no official announcement regarding the launch date of the smartphone from Samsung’s side, but the smartphone is expected to launch in either August or September as the South Korean giant announced the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 in early August last year.

A leaked render of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4
Photo Credit: SmartPrix/ OnLeaks

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 rumoured specifications

Although not much has been leaked about the foldable smartphone’s specifications, there have been leaks in the past regarding its enhanced performance, battery capacity, and rear cameras.

According to a recent leak, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is expected to come with three rear cameras as seen before on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. The smartphone is said to feature a 108-megapixel primary, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide shooter, and a 10-megapixel telephoto camera at the back.

Another leak from May 6 by Ice Universe alleged that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 will come with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ chipset.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is said to feature two batteries with a combined capacity of 4,270mAh. The first battery may come with 2,002mAh capacity, and the second with 2,268mAh capacity, according to Korean Certification Database. A report by TheElec said that Samsung is considering Amperex Technology Limited manufactured batteries for the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4 smartphones.




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