Sunday 12th May 2024

Fusion reactors could create ingredients for a nuclear weapon in weeks - New Scientist (No paywall)

Concern over the risks of enabling nuclear weapons development is usually focused on nuclear fission reactors, but the potential harm from more advanced fusion reactors has been underappreciated

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Nintendo Just Quietly Released One of the Most Underrated Puzzle Games

Indie puzzle game Hand in Hand is delightfully understated, and so it would make sense if its May 11 release on Nintendo Switch escapes your notice. Trust us, you don’t want to let it. Hand in Hand is a fantastic Switch port offering something rare to video game — a seamless split-screen that is required even for single players.

Games don't feature a solo split-screen often, presumably, because controlling two characters at once is complicated. It can even feel overwhelming. Butt Hand in Hand, which plays gently with the idea of "soulmates," challenges that feeling gracefully. It takes cues from 2013 adventure game Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, probably the most popular instance of simultaneously controlling characters, and it heightens the drama; instead of mapping two different joysticks to two different characters, the way Brothers does, Hand in Hand makes you move both characters with the same joystick. Local co-op controls, however, are mapped to both joysticks the way Brothers is.

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'Doctor Who's Future is "Going to be Brilliant," Jodie Whittaker Says

The 13th Doctor couldn’t be more excited about the future — even if she’s a bit jealous.

Before the Disney+ era, before the 60th anniversary specials, bi-generation, and before Ncuti Gatwa got cast as the first Black actor cast in the lead role, Jodie Whittaker made Doctor Who history. After more than half a century of the Doctor portrayed as a man, she took on the role of the world-weary Time Lord with a newfound sense of childlike wonder and whimsy. “I never get bored of talking about it,” she tells Inverse. “I love it. It's my happiest time.”

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55 Weird Things on Amazon That Make Your Home Look 10x More Impressive

I love sprucing up my space to make it look more impressive. Whether I want to wow new friends or do it all for myself, I’m all about picking out things that will take my place to the next level. If you want to do the same, the Amazon finds on this list will add a touch of personality to your home, making you proud to show it off or stay in and enjoy it all to yourself.

This power scrubber is about to be your favorite cleaning sidekick with its ability to effectively clean grout lines, drains, and other tight spots in your home. The oscillating head is a force to be reckoned with, scrubbing a whopping 60 times per second for a deep clean with minimal effort on your part. It’s no wonder this battery-powered scrubber is backed by over 16,000 five-star ratings on Amazon.

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The Most Surreal Ghost Movie of the Year Just Quietly Dropped on Digital

So says the bedraggled British archaeologist Arthur (a terrific Josh O’Connor) to the head of a perfectly preserved Etruscan statue he and his crew of tomb raiders have found in a forgotten grave. Well, less found than pilfered — Arthur and his ragtag team are no more than common thieves who spend their days robbing graves and selling their stolen goods to a mysterious and powerful art collector Spartaco (Alba Rohrwacher). But this wistful little sentiment feels like it could apply to La chimera itself, Alice Rohrwacher’s haunting, elegiac drama that seems like it was lost to the sands of time — and was only just now unearthed for our viewing pleasure.

A heist story, a ghost story, and a love story all at once, La chimera is an entrancing trip through the Italian countryside in the ‘80s that feels something like a waking dream. It might be because it opens with Arthur dreaming of his deceased love Beniamina (Yile Vianello), reliving a memory that will haunt him through the rest of the film. But it is also likely because there’s a hazy sense of unreality to the entire film. La chimera doesn’t quite have the same level of magical realism as Rohrwacher’s last film Happy as Lazzaro, but it dances between life, and the afterlife, the past, and the present in a way that blurs together these planes of existence until you wonder whether those memories of Beniamina really might be apparitions, beckoning Arthur towards death. It might be why he spends his time searching through graves for skeletons that are no longer there, and rifling through these buried treasures for a glimpse of the divine. “Everyone’s searching for their chimera,” one of the crew remarks, and it’s clear that Beniamina is Arthur’s chimera.

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This Wild, Believable Theory Suggest AI Is Blocking Us From Alien Contact

What if AI represents a formidable bottleneck in the development of all civilizations, one so challenging that it thwarts their long-term survival?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has progressed at an astounding pace over the last few years. Some scientists are now looking towards the development of artificial superintelligence (ASI) — a form of AI that would not only surpass human intelligence but would not be bound by the learning speeds of humans.

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How a Groundbreaking Sci-Fi Franchise Defied a Lazy Hollywood Trend

It's no secret that Hollywood's biggest studios have become increasingly reliant on pre-existing properties. The industry’s never been shy about repetition, but we’ve seen more sequels, prequels, and reboots come out of Hollywood over the past 20 years than ever before. As a result, plenty of franchises have gone on well past their expiration dates and begun to bore viewers. One of the few rebooted franchises to avoid that fate is the Planet of the Apes.

In 2011, the classic series was given new life with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the first installment in a trilogy that ended with 2017's War for the Planet of the Apes. All three of the trilogy’s installments were received well by critics and moviegoers alike, and now Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which jumps into the future, is set to hit theaters this week.

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This Type of Coffee Is the Least Likely to Stain Your Teeth, According to Science

For all the good coffee does, it’s not easy on our teeth. The components in our favorite morning beverage can discolor our pearly whites with every sip. However, not all coffees stain equally. And it turns out that one type of coffee will induce far less teeth discoloration than the rest.

Based on how they’re roasted, some coffees are more prone to tinting our teeth than others. While it might seem counterintuitive, light-roast coffees are, in fact, the worst offenders when it comes to staining our teeth.

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Netflix Just Quietly Released The Strangest Crime Thriller of 2024

The small-town mystery is as quaint and prevalent as the locked-room mystery: the more tight-knit a community seems, the more secrets it hides. From classic examples like Twin Peaks to more modern series like Mare of Easttown and Sharp Objects, peeling back layer after layer of a town’s history and scandals makes perfect material for a TV series.

Bodkin, the latest true crime-inspired series on Netflix, is a murder mystery for the modern age. Instead of following a professional investigator or an intrepid amateur detective, it follows Gilbert (Will Forte) a true-crime podcaster looking for the next story to follow his first smash hit.

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The Next Star Wars Movie Is Using Sci-Fi's Best Secret Weapon

She’s defeated an interdimensional destroyer known as Gozer, vanquished the violently destructive xenomorphs more than once, and fought alongside the Na’vi on the planet Pandora. And now, it seems almost totally confirmed that Sigourney Weaver will be dealing with the Force, and at least one person known as a Mandalorian.

In what can only be described as a science fiction fandom fever dream, it appears Weaver is all but confirmed to appear in the next Star Wars feature film, The Mandalorian & Grogu. According to the Hollywood Reporter, it is “confirmed” that Weaver is “in talks” to join the cast of the film, which is thought to go into production this year. If this happens, The Mandalorian & Grogu will gain a kind of pre-established star power the Star Wars franchise arguably hasn’t had since casting household names like Liam Neeson and Samuel L. Jackson in the prequels.

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