- Ryan Reynolds’ Junk Proclaims Deadpool 3 Filming Complete Gizmodo
- ‘Deadpool 3’ Wraps Filming, Ryan Reynolds Celebrates | THR News The Hollywood Reporter
- ‘Deadpool 3’ Wraps Filming After Strike Delay, Ryan Reynolds Announces: ‘It’s Mostly Tears’ Yahoo Entertainment
- ‘Deadpool 3’ Wraps Filming After Strike Delay, Ryan Reynolds Announces: ‘It’s Mostly Tears’ Variety
- DEADPOOL 3 Officially Wraps Shooting; Ryan Reynolds And Hugh Jackman Share New BTS Photos And Comments DEADPOOL 3 Officially Wraps Shooting; Ryan Reynolds And Hugh Jackman Share New BTS Photos And Comments CBM (Comic Book Movie)
Tag Archives: junk
Ozempic craze sends shares of junk food companies plunging – with stock in the makers of Jell-O, Fritos and Pringles all hitting new one-year lows – Daily Mail
- Ozempic craze sends shares of junk food companies plunging – with stock in the makers of Jell-O, Fritos and Pringles all hitting new one-year lows Daily Mail
- Walmart says weight loss drug users are buying less food NBC News
- Walmart: Weight-loss drugs are slightly impacting food demand Detroit Free Press
- How healthy is America’s renewed love affair with weight loss medications? The Guardian
- Coca-Cola and PepsiCo’s stocks fall after Walmart says weight-loss drugs have customers cutting back on calories MarketWatch
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Bank of America accused of opening fake accounts and charging illegal junk fees – CNN
- Bank of America accused of opening fake accounts and charging illegal junk fees CNN
- Bank of America accused of opening fake accounts, charging junk fees WESH 2 Orlando
- CFPB Takes Action Against Bank of America for Illegally Charging Junk Fees, Withholding Credit Card Rewards, and Opening Fake Accounts Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Bank of America fined for junk fees, opening accounts without authorization, CFPB says WSB Atlanta
- Bank of America accused of opening accounts without customer consent, double-dipping fees KOMO News
- View Full Coverage on Google News
2 pieces of space junk nearly collide in orbital ‘bad neighborhood’
Low Earth orbit was the site of a near-miss today (Jan. 27) that had the potential to create thousands of pieces of hazardous space debris.
Satellite monitoring and collision detection firm LeoLabs spotted a near-miss between two defunct Soviet space objects, a rocket body and dead spy satellite, that missed one another by an incredibly small margin. According to a LeoLabs statement posted to Twitter (opens in new tab) on Friday (Jan. 27), the two objects missed one another by a distance of 20 feet (6 meters), with a margin of error of “only a few tens of meters.”
While the two objects luckily did not collide, LeoLabs says the incident was very close to being a “worst-case scenario” that could have generated thousands of more pieces of space debris in a ripple effect. As low Earth orbit (LEO) becomes increasingly crowded, such close calls are becoming more common, highlighting the very real threat to the environment in which the International Space Station (ISS) and thousands of critical satellites operate.
Related: Getting space junk under control may require an attitude shift
According to LeoLabs, the two objects that narrowly missed one another were a defunct SL-8 rocket body and Cosmos 2361, a now-dead Russian spy satellite designed to intercept electronic signals such as radio communications or radar transmissions. Cosmos 2361 was launched in 1998, according to NASA, while the SL-8 is a U.S. Department of Defense nomenclature for the Kosmos-3 family of Soviet rockets that first entered service in 1964 and continued flying through 2009.
Too close for comfort… 😳Two large, defunct objects in #LEO narrowly missed each other this morning — an SL-8 rocket body (16511) and Cosmos 2361 (25590) passed by one another at an altitude of 984km. 🚀⚠️ #SpaceDebris pic.twitter.com/pF9o6BuZ5QJanuary 27, 2023
The near-miss happened in what LeoLabs calls a “bad neighborhood” in LEO that spans from 590 to 652 miles in altitude (950 to 1050 kilometers). “This region has significant debris-generating potential in #LEO due to a mix of breakup events and abandoned derelict objects,” LeoLabs wrote in another Twitter post (opens in new tab) Friday (Jan. 27). “In particular, this region is host to ~160 SL-8 rocket bodies along with their ~160 payloads deployed over 20 years ago.” LeoLabs added that there were 1,400 similar near-misses in this region of LEO between June and September 2022 alone.
Incidents such as these underscore the need for new strategies at mitigating or removing orbital debris from LEO. There are currently close to 30,000 pieces of orbital debris being tracked by the Department of Defense, but many more are lurking that are too small to be detected, according to NASA (opens in new tab).
The threat that orbital debris poses routinely makes itself known. The ISS, which orbits lower than this recent near miss at around 254 miles (408 km), has had to perform numerous avoidance maneuvers in recent months to dodge space junk. A minuscule object, possibly a piece of orbital debris, is thought to be responsible for a leak aboard a Soyuz spacecraft currently docked at the ISS.
As more and more pieces of debris accumulate in Earth orbit, collisions between them can generate even more fragments in a frightening theoretical ripple effect known as the Kessler Syndrome. If left unmitigated, the theory proposes that cascading space debris impacts could someday hinder humanity’s space ambitions by rendering the space around Earth unpassable. To try and remedy the situation, a large number of concepts for how to decrease space debris are currently being proposed and tested worldwide.
Follow Brett on Twitter at @bretttingley (opens in new tab). Follow us @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab), or on Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab).
Space Debris Game: Why space junk is a growing problem
(Illustrations by Ibrahim Rayintakath)
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik. Since then, the space above Earth has been flooded with thousands of satellites, spent rocket stages and the debris from several catastrophic events. As a result, Earth’s lower orbit has been littered with an increasing amount of junk that is careening through space at intense speeds, threatening satellites and even the International Space Station.
Last year, the problem became serious enough to prompt the Biden administration to call for the abolishment of tests that destroy satellites in orbit. The announcement came after Russia blew up a dead satellite in 2021, creating a massive debris field that threatened the ISS astronauts along with other satellites.
In the future, if the international community cannot come up with a way to regulate the Wild West of space, the debris problem will get worse. Every year there are dozens of near-collisions between active satellites or pieces of debris. The more satellites that flood Earth’s orbit, the greater the chances that one will happen. The more collisions, the more debris — all of which fuels what many fear could become a destructive cycle.
Earth’s lower orbit is crowded by a number of objects — including working satellites as well as space debris like defunct satellites, spent rocket stages, and the detritus from missile strikes and collisions.
Working satellites
There are more than 6,000 active satellites rotating around Earth as of Jan. 9, according to LeoLabs, a company that tracks satellites and debris in Earth’s lower orbit. Some are small, the size of a shoebox; others are much larger. Their functions vary widely, from providing television and Internet service, to GPS and weather monitoring.
Defunct satellites
Satellites can’t live forever. They run out of fuel eventually, or malfunction and become giant pieces of garbage whizzing around the Earth. Currently, there are more than 1,800 defunct satellites in lower orbit. Under the current rules, the United States requires satellites to deorbit — or burn up in Earth’s atmosphere — after 25 years. But many think that regulation is far too lax and that satellites should be deorbited earlier.
Fragments
Over the years, astronauts on spacewalks have dropped a camera lens cap, a screwdriver and even a spatula — adding to the curious collection of things in orbit, which includes eroded spacecraft parts and baseball-sized chunks of garbage.
Even small pieces of debris — a nut or even a fleck of paint — can cause enormous damage in space.
Spent rocket stages
As rockets launch to orbit, they often discard upper stages that have their own engines and propellant. If they don’t burn up in the atmosphere or fall back to Earth, they join the cloud of space debris in low Earth orbit. Several of these are the size of a school bus, spinning wildly as they move through space. In total, there are nearly 1,000 spent rocket stages of varying sizes in Earth’s lower orbit.
The United States and private companies like LeoLabs track tens of thousands of pieces of space debris, including operational and non-operational satellites, rocket stages and unknown objects. But there are many more pieces too small to see. NASA estimates that there are roughly 500,000 objects between 1 and 10 centimeters in diameter orbiting Earth, and that there are more than 100 million particles larger than 1 millimeter. (The agency said that as of January last year, the amount of material in orbit was more than 9,000 metric tons.)
And as more companies flood Earth’s orbit with an increasing number of satellites, there is growing concern that collisions — which would only make more debris — are inevitable, as theorized by NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler in 1978.
If nothing is done, space could become so polluted that it is unsafe for human exploration and could leave some of the world’s most sensitive satellites, which are used for GPS and missile warnings, at risk.
Despite the growing amount of launches and space debris, there are very few rules of the road in space. While the Pentagon issues warnings about possible collisions, it cannot order one spacecraft operator to move out of the way.
Thankfully, there are a number of steps governments and companies are taking to curb the problem of space junk. The Biden administration has called for a ban on all destructive antisatellite tests, and recently, the Pentagon launched a program, called Orbital Prime, under the U.S. Space Force that will give companies seed money to develop the technology needed to clean up space.
That includes grappling large bodies and pulling them out of orbit (one company that is working with the European Space Agency proposes using a spacecraft with large arms that would function like a Venus’ flytrap), or refueling or repairing them so they can last longer and maneuver in space.
To track orbital debris, the Pentagon and commercial companies rely on a network of ground-based radar and optical telescopes. Radars can measure the distance to their targets and some can even track more than one object at a time, according to the Secure World Foundation, a think tank. Telescopes collect light reflected by debris and can cover large areas quickly and at high altitudes. The U.S. Space Force says it tracks more than 40,000 objects in space the size of a fist or larger. But there are at least 10 times as many smaller objects in orbit that the Pentagon can’t reliably track.
Ultimately, many space officials say that cleaning up space will require foreign governments to work together.
About this story
Study shows junk food can lead to an elevated risk of allergies
Is this why childhood allergies are on the rise? Additives in junk food crosses the placenta during pregnancy and warps their immune systems
- Researchers in France warned billions of nanoparticles from food reach infants
- These can change their gut microbiome and damage gut cells, they said
- This is likely to raise their allergy risk, with allergy levels surging in children
Additives in junk food can seep into babies in the womb and trigger changes linked to the development of allergies, a study claims.
The finding — based on a review of around 170 studies — may partly explain why allergy rates have rocketed in the US and Britain over the past two decades.
Researchers found that tiny particles added to sugars, sweeteners and preservatives used to make sweets, cakes and syrups can cross the placenta and reach the fetus. The nanoparticles accumulate in the gut and disrupt the babies’ microbiome, they say.
Mountains of research show that high-fat diets during pregnancy can wreck babies’ immune systems and leave them prone to a host of health issues.
The above graphic, made by the researchers, shows nanoparticles being ingested by a mother (black dots) reaching infants via the placenta and through drinking breastmilk. In turn, it suggests that this raises the risk of an immune disorder
A total of 5.6million American schoolchildren have allergies. The US has seen its rates double in about a decade, rising from two percent in 2007 to eight percent today. The UK has seen a similar rise.
Scientists argue the surge is being triggered because they are growing up in an increasingly sterile world, free of many germs that help build a robust immune system.
In the latest research, scientists combed through databases for studies on the effect of additives in food on the body’s bacteria and immune system.
A total of 168 research papers were extracted, including studies carried out in the lab, on rodents and in humans.
They focused on three additives found in many processed foods — including titanium dioxide, which is used in popular candies, salad dressing and chewing gum to give a smooth texture or to work as a white colorant.
The study also looked at silicon dioxide, which stops foods from caking or sticking together, and nanosilver, a preservative used in food packaging to extend the shelf-life of snacks.
The scientists found lots of evidence that, in mice, nanoparticles found in these additives can cross the placenta and enter the gut of children. But they said there were also some signs this can happen in humans, too.
The gut does not absorb the tiny particles; instead, they clump together and disrupt the surrounding bacteria.
Because the microbiome is so connected to the immune system, the researchers theorize it could be playing a role in the development of allergies.
Because allergies in children are more common than in adults, researchers argue this boosts their theory.
The review article was published today in Frontiers in Allergy.
Dr Karine Adel-Patient, a human health expert at Université Paris-Saclay, warned: ‘The impact of such exposure on the development of food allergy has not been assessed to date.
‘Our review highlights the urgent need for researchers to assess the risk related to exposure to foodborne inorganic nanoparticles during a critical window of susceptibility and its impact on children’s health.’
She added: ‘Such agents can cross the placental barrier and then reach the developing fetus.
‘Excretion in milk is also suggested, continuing to expose the neonate.’
Peanuts and tree nuts are behind most allergies in children, whereas in the general population shellfish, milk and peanuts were the main cause of allergies.
Over 900 food products include at least one additive or component that is defined as a nanoparticle.
The most common sub-sectors are infant formula (26 percent), confectionery (16 percent), breakfast cereals (15 percent), cereal bars (13 percent) and frozen pastries and desserts (11 percent).
DR MICHAEL MOSLEY: I’m addicted to sugary junk food – and this is how I deal with it
Despite everything I know and say about junk food’s effect on health, there are certain foods that once I start, I just can’t stop — that’s crisps, chocolate and biscuits.
If there is a pack of biscuits in the house, then I won’t just eat one or two but scoff the lot.
And as for milk chocolate, well, there are times when I have broken up a whole bar and thrown it in a bin to stop myself eating it — only minutes later to be rooting around inside looking for it.
A particularly low point was when I ate my then six-year-old daughter’s Easter egg. She’s now 23 but still hasn’t forgiven me.
The idea that you can be ‘addicted’ to food has been a controversial one — with the case against it including that food doesn’t alter brain function in the way that alcohol or drugs do.
But a team at the University of Michigan in the U.S. recently argued, in the journal Addiction, that highly processed sugary foods, such as ice cream, chocolate, doughnuts and biscuits, should be considered addictive in the same way that tobacco is.
And that’s because, like cigarettes, some foods trigger intense urges and cravings to the point where you will go on eating them even though you know this increases your risk of life-threatening diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
The idea that you can be ‘addicted’ to food has been a controversial one — with the case against it including that food doesn’t alter brain function in the way that alcohol or drugs do
The researchers also point out that highly processed foods can cause changes in the brain that are of a similar magnitude to those of nicotine.
Something like this happened to a friend of mine, Dr Chris van Tulleken, when he went on a diet that was 80 per cent ultra-processed food for a month for a BBC documentary.
His diet included foods such as cocoa-flavoured breakfast cereals, chicken nuggets and microwaveable lasagnes.
Perhaps not surprisingly, he gained 6.5kg (over a stone) but he also found himself craving more and more junk food.
And scans showed that in that short space of time, eating all that junk had literally rewired his brain —there were lots of new neural pathways, many of them linking the reward centres and the cerebellum, an area that controls automatic behaviours.
It seems he had been reprogrammed by his new diet to seek out and eat even more of these unhealthy foods on autopilot. Which is good news if you’re a food manufacturer, but not such good news for the rest of us.
If you accept that some foods are addictive, then what are the worst offenders?
In 2015, in another study by the University of Michigan, 120 students were asked to fill in the Yale Food Addiction Scale (a measure of how addictive you find a particular food) and rank 35 foods according to how addictive each one was for them.
Not surprisingly, top of the list of ‘most addictive foods’ was chocolate, followed by ice cream, fries, pizza, biscuits, crisps, cake, buttered popcorn and cheeseburgers.
Somewhere in the middle were cheese, bacon and nuts, while at the bottom were salmon, brown rice, cucumber and broccoli.
So what do the addictive foods have in common?
Well, first they are highly processed, designed to be absorbed rapidly and give your brain an almost immediate rush of dopamine (a brain chemical linked with reward). They are also a mixture of fats and carbs.
And not any old mixture. Broadly speaking, whether it is chocolate or crisps, cake or cheeseburger, they are all made up of roughly 1g fat to 2g carbs.
It is a ratio that we humans seem to find particularly irresistible.
Top of the list of ‘most addictive foods’ was chocolate, followed by ice cream, fries, pizza, biscuits (file photo), crisps, cake, buttered popcorn and cheeseburgers
To see if you are ‘addicted’ to a particular food, try my quiz (right), adapted from the Yale Food Addiction Scale.
So what can you do if you are hooked on sugary junk food?
The first thing is to make sure you don’t keep any in the house, or you will crack and eat it.
Next, seek out alternatives that might, at least in part, satisfy your cravings; I’ve found switching from milk chocolate to dark chocolate helps a bit because I still get the chocolate hit, but less sugar and that makes it less moreish.
I also find eating an apple or pear can sometimes satisfy that urge for sweetness.
Another trick I use is to ‘surf the urge’, which helps the craving pass. Surfing the urge means that rather than trying to fight it, I try to ride it out by drinking a large glass of water, practising deep breathing and trying to focus on other things. It normally takes about 30 minutes before I am back in control.
Do look for support from family and friends. I’m lucky that my wife, Clare, doesn’t have a sweet tooth, so if we are given a box of chocolates as a present, she either gives it away or doles the chocolates out in meagre quantities.
Finally, when I’m sleep-deprived I crave sugary carbs, big time.
In a study, published earlier this year in the journal Sleep, nearly 100 teenagers were asked to cut their sleep down to 6.5 hours a night, for a week. During that week they ate far more sugary, carb-rich foods than normal, perhaps because they were unconsciously looking for a quick hit of energy to keep them going.
So, once again, the message is to make sure you get enough sleep.
ARE YOU ADDICTED TO CERTAIN FOODS?
Answer the following questions. More than three ‘yes’ answers and you may be in trouble.
1. When I start eating this food, I can’t stop and end up eating much more than I intended.
2. I keep on eating this food even when I am no longer hungry.
3. I find myself craving this food when I’m stressed.
4. If it isn’t in the house, I will go to the nearest shop that sells it.
5. I hide this food so even those close to me don’t know how much of it I eat.
6. Eating it causes anxiety and feelings of self-loathing and guilt.
7. Although I no longer get much pleasure from eating it, I keep on doing so.
8. I have tried to give this food up but failed.
Listening to bird sounds can lift your mood
As it gets colder, wetter and darker, I make a special effort to get out for a walk in the morning. It helps that we have a dog, Tari, who gets excited when I head for the front door.
Going for walks, particularly in green spaces, is really good for your mental and physical health.
In Japan, where I was recently filming, they have a concept of ‘shinrin-yoku’, or forest bathing — spending time in woods and forests, taking in the sights, sounds and smells to reduce stress.
Where I live there are lots of magnificent red kites (pictured) swooping through the sky, with their distinctive mewing call
You also get the benefit of breathing in phytoncides, essential oils that trees produce, which boost our immune system.
One other benefit is seeing and hearing birds.
Where I live there are lots of magnificent red kites swooping through the sky, with their distinctive mewing call.
Seeing them makes my heart soar, and it seems I’m not alone. More than 1,200 people took part in a recent study of the impact of birds on mental health.
Using an app designed by researchers at King’s College London, the volunteers reported whether they could see or hear birds and answered questions about their mental well-being.
The study showed that bird life can affect how we feel, particularly in those with depression.
Yet another good reason to pull on the wellies and explore the great outdoors.
Nits are an age-old problem
Our children are grown up and have left home, and I miss having them around.
What I don’t miss are the little friends they used to bring back from primary school. I’m talking about head lice.
I was reminded of these by a recent study by archaeologists in Israel who revealed that, written on an ivory comb from over 3,000 years ago, were these immortal lines: ‘May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.’
The oldest known sentence, written in the world’s first alphabet, turns out to be a guide on how to get rid of head lice.
The oldest known sentence, written in the world’s first alphabet, turns out to be a guide on how to get rid of head lice (file photo)
The archaeologists know the comb was actually used for that purpose as there were nits among its teeth.
There are lots of special potions for getting rid of head lice, but a study by researchers at Ghent University Hospital in Belgium showed that ordinary conditioner, a comb and patience are your best weapons.
If you’re worried that robots will one day take over the world, you might find it reassuring that even the most advanced artificial intelligence (AI) systems sometimes need a nap.
We humans need sleep to consolidate our memories — but it turns out a new type of AI, called spiking neural networks, which closely mimic how human brains work, also need downtime if they are to learn and remember what they have learnt.
PIctured: An UBTech Robotics Inc. Walker robot plays Chinese chess during 2021 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai
Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the U.S. have shown that if they don’t get ‘the equivalent of a ‘good night’s sleep’, they tend to become unstable.
The researchers suspect the same will be true of androids and other AI machines created in the future.
For sleep apnea, cut back on junk food and alcohol, research shows
The findings are important because sleep apnea is one of the most common causes of bad sleep, affecting an estimated 1 in 5 people worldwide. The condition occurs when the muscles in the back of your throat relax and block your airway as you’re sleeping, causing you to stop breathing. These apnea episodes can last for more than 10 seconds and occur many times a night, leading to gasping, snoring and frequent, abrupt awakenings as your body struggles for air.
Because of the heavy strain it puts on your body, sleep apnea can raise your blood pressure and increase your risk of developing diabetes and heart disease.
Obesity is a particularly strong risk factor because excess tissue in the mouth and throat can block your airway at night. But the new research shows that lifestyle and diet changes can reduce sleep apnea, even if you don’t lose weight.
In one recent study published in JAMA Network Open, researchers in Spain recruited 89 overweight and obese men who had moderate to severe sleep apnea and split them into two groups. One underwent a simple diet, exercise and lifestyle intervention. The participants were counseled to eat more healthy whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, beans, olive oil, seafood, poultry, eggs and herbs. They were also encouraged to avoid ultra-processed foods, processed meats, salty snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages.
“It wasn’t a restrictive, low-calorie diet,” said Almudena Carneiro-Barrera, the lead author of the study and a researcher at Loyola University Andalusia in Spain. “We just taught them how to eat a healthy diet.”
The participants were encouraged to reduce their nightly alcohol consumption, and those who smoked were urged to stop. They were also advised to increase their daily step count by 15 percent a week.
The second group of participants, meanwhile, served as controls: They did not receive the lifestyle intervention.
Participants in both groups used a medical device called a CPAP machine, which delivers a gentle and steady flow of pressurized air through a tube and a mask that users wear while they sleep. CPAP is the standard treatment for sleep apnea. It prevents apnea episodes, but it can be uncomfortable, and many people stop using it or struggle to keep it on at night.
After just eight weeks, the group that adopted healthier habits had a 51 percent reduction in the number of apnea episodes they experienced during each hour of nightly sleep. About 15 percent achieved complete remission of their sleep apnea, and 45 percent no longer needed their CPAP machines.
On average, the healthy habits group lost about 16 pounds — roughly 7 percent of their body weight. By six months, they had sustained their weight loss, and the number of participants whose sleep apnea went into remission doubled. Roughly 62 percent of them no longer needed their CPAP machines.
They also had significant reductions in blood pressure, which, according to the researchers, lowered their risk of dying from a stroke or heart disease by more than 30 percent.
By comparison, the control group lost on average less than a pound of body weight and had little or no improvement in the severity of their sleep apnea.
“The results were far better than we expected,” Carneiro-Barrera said. She and her colleagues are now recruiting 500 women with sleep apnea for a larger, follow-up study.
Improvements without weight loss
Carneiro-Barrera noted that even people who did not lose much weight on the lifestyle program still saw reductions in the severity of their sleep apnea.
There could be many reasons for this. Sleep apnea has been linked to chronically high levels of inflammation. But a healthy diet and physical activity can reduce the amount of inflammatory substances circulating in your blood, said Susan Redline, a senior physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School who has studied diet and its link to sleep apnea.
Studies show that different diets can work. In a recent study, a group of overweight men and women improved their sleep apnea and experienced less insomnia and daytime sleepiness by following a Mediterranean diet rich in fish, whole grains, plants and foods high in unsaturated fats. The study found that the participants experienced improvements in their sleep apnea regardless of whether they lost weight.
A randomized trial published in July showed that a paleo diet rich in lean meat, fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables, berries, nuts, avocado and olive oil helped a group of overweight women lose weight and reduce the severity of their sleep apnea. The diet they followed restricted dairy products, cereals and foods with added salt or sugar and refined fats like corn and soybean oil.
Cutting back on how much alcohol you drink in the evening can improve your sleep because alcohol reduces muscle tone in your throat, making your airway more likely to collapse as you sleep. One meta-analysis found that high levels of alcohol consumption increased the risk of sleep apnea by 25 percent.
Studies show that regular exercise can also ease sleep apnea symptoms because it prevents fluid from accumulating in your neck and constricting your airway at night.
So how do you know if you have sleep apnea? Some telltale signs are loud snoring, abrupt awakenings at night and waking up in the morning with a dry mouth, sore throat or a headache. If you have a bedmate, they may notice you gasping or choking in your sleep. Fatigue, irritability and daytime sleepiness are common signs as well.
If you suspect you do have sleep apnea, contact a doctor or a sleep medicine specialist. They can schedule you for a sleep test that can be done at home or in a lab. “Unfortunately, untreated sleep apnea is very common in the population,” Redline said.
Hyped Mystery Square Enix Game Turns Out To Be NFT Junk
While several big gaming companies have flirted with the idea of non-fungible tokens, none has embraced the crypto scam with as much blind confidence as Square Enix. Now the Final Fantasy maker has finally revealed its first NFT stunt, Symbiogenesis, crushing fan hopes that the previously leaked name was actually for a long-awaited resurrection of cult-hit horror RPG Parasite Eve.
“NFT Collectible Art Project SYMBIOGENESIS Untangle the Story Spring 2023,” Square Enix tweeted on Thursday. A short teaser revealed the logo art alongside some upbeat electronic jazz. Announced at the Web3 Conclave event at India’s Game Developers Conference, Symbiogenesis will be hosted on the Ethereum blockchain and allegedly tell a story about characters whose art players can own as NFTs.
“The art can be used for social media profile pictures (PFP) and as a character in a story that takes place in an alternate world where the player can ’untangle’ a mystery by completing missions that revolve around questions of the monopolization and distribution of resources,” a press release reads. You can’t make this up.
G/O Media may get a commission
While the beloved JRPG publisher’s crypto ambitions are nothing new—the company announced a Cloud Strife NFT as an expensive collectible add-on earlier this year—the Symbiogenesis reveal is hitting some fans especially hard because they thought the name hinted at the return of Parasite Eve. The RPG thriller literally revolves around the symbiosis of a parasite and its host, and despite a brilliant PS1 game and decent sequel, the series has been dormant since The 3rd Birthday on the PSP back in 2010.
Today’s Square Enix tweet has already been roundly ratio’d, with Parasite Eve fans collectively shaking their heads in disbelief. But will it cause the publisher to finally revaluate its plans and put the NFT cringe pipeline on hold? Who can say. Square Enix is clearly having an identity crisis of sorts at the moment.
This year it sold sold its American studios behind Deus Ex and Tomb Raider, told investors it was open to partial buyouts of its other studios, and flooded the market with a ton of JRPG sequels, remakes, and remasters, while barely giving any of them time to breathe or, apparently, a marketing budget. And now: Symbiogenesis.
ISS Had to Shift Its Orbit to Dodge Russian Space Junk
In 2021, Russia blew up a defunct Cosmos 1408 satellite in orbit in a widely condemned missile test. On Monday night, the ISS conducted an avoidance maneuver to steer clear of space junk the test left behind.
“This evening, the International Space Station’s Progress 81 thrusters fired for five minutes, five seconds in a pre-determined debris avoidance maneuver to provide the complex an extra measure of distance away from the predicted track of a fragment of Russian Cosmos 1408 debris,” NASA said in a statement. Progress 81 is a Russian cargo craft docked to the ISS. The spacecraft’s thrusters can be used to move the station around in orbit.
Without the maneuver, the debris fragment was expected to pass within 3 miles (5 kilometers) of the station, which would have been too close for comfort. The thrusters moved the ISS into a higher-altitude orbit.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson had called the missile test “irresponsible.” The ISS crew was forced to take emergency shelter shortly after the test was conducted in 2021. Earlier in 2022, the European Space Agency’s Earth-observing Sentinel-1A satellite barely escaped a collision with Cosmos 1408 debris.
Space junk is a worsening problem. The debris field ranges from nonfunctional full-size satellites to tiny bits of trash. Even small pieces can damage satellites, spacecraft and space stations. Space agencies are constantly tracking debris so corrections can be made to keep space assets safe.
NASA said Monday’s repositioning maneuver didn’t impact ISS activities.