Russian researchers are suggesting we could send hordes of satellites into space to <a href="https://www.skoltech.ru/en/2022/10/ad-block-this-space-advertisers-ready-to-display-commercials-in-the-sky/">display commercials in the night sky</a> over cities by reflecting sunlight in vast formations.
It's a deeply obnoxious vision of the future that's bound to irritate astronomers — who are <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-starlink-satellites-ruining-night-sky">already struggling</a> with highly reflective satellite constellations ruining their observations — as well as anyone who appreciates an unobstructed view of the night sky.
In a <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2226-4310/9/8/419">new paper</a> published in the journal Aerospace, researchers from the Moscow-based technical institute Skoltech and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology concluded that sending a formation of satellites into orbit to display commercials above population centers could not only be feasible, but cost a mere $65 million per mission.
"We’ve been studying some of the more technical aspects of space advertising for a while now," said first author Shamil Biktimirov, a research intern at Skoltech’s Engineering Center, in <a href="https://www.skoltech.ru/en/2022/10/ad-block-this-space-advertisers-ready-to-display-commercials-in-the-sky/">a statement</a>. "This time we looked at the economic side of things and, as unrealistic as it may seem, we show that space advertising based on 50 or more small satellites flying in formation could be economically viable."
Each individual "pixel" or satellite of the space billboard would have to be pretty massive to reflect enough light and make the whole thing financially feasible.
Biktimirov suggested each cubesat satellite could be as large as a 350-square-foot solar sail, referencing the area of <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/lightsail-2-snaps-amazing-photos">LightSail 2</a>, the largest solar sail to have ever been sent to space so far.
Biktimirov and his colleagues calculated that revenues would depend on a number of factors, including "cloudiness, cold weather keeping folks indoors, and the city’s demographic composition."
The satellites wouldn't be displaying a single ad from a single brand, rotating through a number of different ads over the next most profitable city within reach.
But the approach has one big drawback as well. Since the satellites work by reflecting sunlight, they'd only really be visible around sunrise and sunset, and not at night.
That could also stop these satellites from messing with ground-based observations of the night sky, the researchers conclude in their paper.
But under ideal circumstances, they claim, a 91 day campaign could generate $111 million after expenses.
Would brands even be willing to take a plunge, though, by using their slogans and logos to litter the sky? If past efforts are anything to go by, that's far from a given.
In 2019, Russian startup StartRocket <a href="https://futurism.com/startrocket-giant-ads-night-sky-cubesats">similarly suggested</a> displaying massive billboard-style advertisements in the night sky.
"We are ruled by brands and events," project leader Vlad Sitnikov told Futurism at the time. "The Super Bowl, Coca Cola, Brexit, the Olympics, Mercedes, FIFA, Supreme and the Mexican wall. The economy is the blood system of society."
Three months later, StartRocket announced it had <a href="https://futurism.com/pepsi-orbital-billboard-night-sky">signed a contract with PepsiCo</a> to send an "orbital billboard" into space — but the beverage maker <a href="https://spacenews.com/pepsi-drops-plans-to-use-orbital-billboard/">revealed soon after</a> that it had dropped any plans to pursue such a venture with the startup.
The idea of sending microsatellites into orbit purely to have them display advertisements has already proven controversial to say the least, with astronomers advocating "for a night sky that is free of this kind of activity and remains as accessible to all humanity as possible," as University of Michigan astronomer Patrick Seitzer <a class="underline hover:text-the-byte hover:no-underline transition-all duration-200 ease-in-out" href="http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/01/billboards-in-space">told Astronomy</a> back in 2019.
Whether advertisers will be willing to be associated with such a practice remains to be seen — but it's probably unlikely.
More on space billboards:<a href="https://futurism.com/pepsi-orbital-billboard-night-sky"> Pepsi Plans to Project a Giant Ad in the Night Sky Using Cubesats</a>

Space Billboards

It might be economically feasible — but it's a terrible idea.

Russian Scientists Propose Plan to Launch Huge Advertisements Into Orbit Over Cities

As anyone who's taken it will probably tell you, organic chemistry is notoriously difficult. It's widely recognized as a "weed out" course — disproportionately high failure and withdrawal rates are common, if not expected, and many argue that such rigorousness is an effective filter for keeping certain students from entering professions, like medicine, that they arguably shouldn't.
But not all share that sentiment. They often counter that these brutal courses are difficult for the sake of it, working to gatekeep rather than teach. And this debate, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/us/nyu-organic-chemistry-petition.html?partner=slack&amp;smid=sl-share">The New York Times reports</a>, may have just reached a precedent-setting boiling point at New York University, where a notable chemistry professor, Dr. Maitland Jones Jr., was recently let go after 82 of his 350 students filed a scathing petition against him, arguing that his class was simply too hard.
"We are very concerned about our scores, and find that they are not an accurate reflection of the time and effort put into this class," read the petition, according to the NYT. "We urge you to realize that a class with such a high percentage of withdrawals and low grades has failed to make students' learning and well-being a priority and reflects poorly on the chemistry department as well as the institution as a whole."
Of course, this is a complicated issue. As the NYT reports, the disgruntled students' complaints have been met with swift and harsh backlash by supporters of Dr. Jones, who taught at Princeton for decades and even wrote a course-changing textbook before making his way to NYU. And again, organic chemistry is infamous for its difficulty everywhere, not just under one professor — after all, this is a course that many believe should separate those who should make and prescribe medications from those who should probably pursue something else.
"Unless you appreciate these transformations at the molecular level," Kent Kirshenbaum, another professor in Dr. Jones' department, told the NYT, "I don't think you can be a good physician, and I don't want you treating patients."
To that note, some of Dr. Jones' allies believe that NYU's surprising decision to terminate a storied faculty member at the behest of its students is more a business decision than anything else. Colleges are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/podcasts/the-daily/college-student-debt.html">profit-seeking enterprises</a>, after all, and failing grades don't make students — or, perhaps more importantly, the parents who bankroll them — very happy. And in fact, in an email detailing his firing, the university reportedly explained to Dr. Jones that in letting him go, they were extending a "gentle but firm hand to the students and those who pay the tuition bills."
"The deans are obviously going for some bottom line," Dr. Paramjit Arora, a chemistry professor who has worked closely with Dr. Jones, told the NYT, "and they want happy students who are saying great things about the university so more people apply and the US News rankings keep going higher."
That being said, there's absolutely something to be said for the challenges presented by online learning, especially during the <a href="https://medicine.umich.edu/dept/psychiatry/michigan-psychiatry-resources-covid-19/adults-specific-resources/coping-covid-19-pandemic-college-student">anxiety-triggering global trauma</a> of the COVID-19 pandemic. Students — and teachers — were made to adapt very quickly to the crisis, both in life and in school, and course matter didn't always translate in this new and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8797148/">often inaccessible</a> mediation.
It's also worth noting that Dr. Jones, at 84, is said to be old-fashioned. His teaching style — which the petition reportedly calls "condescending and demanding" — may no longer connect with a younger generation.
"He hasn't changed his style or methods in a good many years," Dr. James W. Canary, a former NYU department chairman, told the NYT. "The students have changed, though, and they were asking for and expecting more support from the faculty when they're struggling."
But while universities do need to work with a post-pandemic, younger generation of students — especially when it comes to the challenges wrought by online courses — it's possible that NYU's decision to fire Dr. Jones might be sending the wrong message. At the end of the day, organic chemistry is hard. Should that change?
"[Dr. Jones] learned to teach during a time when the goal was to teach at a very high and rigorous level," Dr. Arora's comments continued. "We hope that students will see that putting them through that rigor is doing them good."
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/us/nyu-organic-chemistry-petition.html?partner=slack&amp;smid=sl-share">At NYU, Students Were Failing Organic Chemistry. Who Was to Blame?</a>
More on academic drama: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/nature-retracts-study-room-temperature-superconductors">Journal Retracts Study on Room Temperature Superconductors</a>

Weed-Out Course

"Unless you appreciate these transformations at the molecular level, I don't think you can be a good physician..."

University Fires Chem Professor After Students Complain His Course Was Too Hard

At Tesla's <a href="https://youtu.be/Gm6dZ1q06ks">artificial intelligence event</a> on Friday, the company showed off two early prototypes of its Optimus humanoid robot, a walking automaton meant to <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-tesla-bot">take care of the "boring" tasks</a> in life.
Perhaps <a href="https://futurism.com/tesla-humanoid-robot-next-year-nonsense">as expected</a>, what the company unveiled on stage was far from impressive — especially considering just how far ahead the competition is.
The first robot, a "rough development" model dubbed Bumble C, awkwardly shuffled onto the stage with its wires and electronics exposed.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk also unveiled a next-generation version, which had to be carried onstage because, he said, "we just didn’t want it to fall on its face."
In short, the demos were of a very early-stage product, especially compared to its competitors that have been working on humanoid robotics for much longer.
Take Boston Dynamics' Atlas for instance, a robot that can <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/video-boston-dynamics-robots-busting-impressive-dance-moves">bust impressive dance moves</a>, <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/boston-dynamics-atlas-robot-parkour">do parkour</a>, and even <a href="https://youtu.be/tF4DML7FIWk">backflip off a platform</a>.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Atlas | Partners in Parkour" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tF4DML7FIWk?start=1&feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Sorry, folks — but after watching that robotic wizardry, take a gander at Tesla's attempt. It'd be an impressive student project, but for now, it looks more like something you'd buy on Alibaba than a serious research project.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Elon Musk showcases humanoid robot" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7yhQiy4phjc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Sure, Tesla has come a long way in a relatively brief period of time — "Elon Musk speedruns robotics 101," <a href="https://www.theverge.com/23384703/tesla-optimus-bot-elon-musk-specs-hype-reaction?utm_campaign=theverge&amp;utm_content=chorus&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter">The Verge wrote</a> — but that doesn't make the car company's flashy event last week particularly impressive.
Critics were quick to point out Optimus' shortcomings. AI researcher Filip Piekniewski <a href="https://twitter.com/filippie509/status/1576021712054800384">called the demo</a> "next level cringeworthy. Complete and utter scam."
"None of this is cutting edge," robotics expert Cynthia Yeung <a href="https://twitter.com/ctwy/status/1576028966237806593">tweeted</a>. "Hire some PhDs and go to some robotics conferences Tesla."
Others stopped short of ridiculing the company.
"Am I blown away? No," Christian Hubicki, robotics professor at Florida State University <a href="https://twitter.com/chubicki/status/1576087848499171329">wrote</a>. "Am I laughing? No."
Hubicki argued that Tesla is likely relying on a decades old walking method in robotics, forcing the robot to slowly shift its balance from one foot to the next in a semi-crouched position.
"They are very similar in concept to Honda’s Asimo robots, the development of which is now abandoned," Will Jackson, CEO of Engineered Arts, the company behind <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/gpt-3-ameca-robot-facial-expressions">that robot with eerily human</a> facial expressions, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/23384703/tesla-optimus-bot-elon-musk-specs-hype-reaction?utm_campaign=theverge&amp;utm_content=chorus&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter">told The Verge</a>. "The overall design is heavily built, clumsy and power inefficient — the hands are very basic, the only redeeming feature is a clutch mechanism in the finger actuation."
Those kinds of criticisms echo sentiments from experts after Musk's brain computer interface startup Neuralink showed off a monkey playing a game of ping pong with its mind — a demonstration that experts called "<a href="https://observer.com/2022/01/elon-musks-neuralink-brain-implant-tech-outdated-bci-expert/">outdated</a>" and "<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56688812">not exactly new.</a>"
Musk's penchant for hyperbole doesn't exactly help. As he's done many times before, he offered up some hard-to-believe numbers on Friday.
According to the billionaire, a production-ready Optimus will go on sale for "much less than a car — much less than $20,000" and "within three years, probably not more than five years."
Sure, Tesla has come some way since having a <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-tesla-bot">dancer in a spandex suit masquerade</a> as a humanoid robot on stage just over a year ago.
But given Musk's abysmal track record when it comes to his predictions — he <a href="https://futurism.com/tesla-humanoid-robot-next-year-nonsense">originally promised</a> that Tesla would be selling the robot by next year — we'll believe it when we see it.
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.theverge.com/23384703/tesla-optimus-bot-elon-musk-specs-hype-reaction?utm_campaign=theverge&amp;utm_content=chorus&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter">Experts’ judgment on the much-hyped Tesla Bot: Elon Musk speedruns robotics 101</a> [The Verge] 

More on Optimus: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-autopilot-team-optimus">As Deadline Looms, Elon Musk Re-Assigns Autopilot Team to Humanoid Robot</a>

Quacks Like a Duck

"None of this is cutting edge."

Watching Elon Musk's Robot Back to Back With Boston Dynamics Is... Something

Chernobyl is best known as the site of the worst nuclear reactor meltdown in history. But since the residents left after the 1986 catastrophe, it's also become one of the biggest nature reserves in Europe — and within the confines of its Exclusion Zone, frogs are now showing just how unique the area is.
A group of Spanish zoological researchers <a href="https://theconversation.com/chernobyl-black-frogs-reveal-evolution-in-action-191034">wrote in The Conversation</a> how they became intrigued by strange, black-tinted Eastern tree frogs found near and around the Exclusion Zone, since the critters are usually a snazzy lime green.
In 2016, after the first swarthy amphibian was found, the team out of Spain's University of Oviedo and the Doñana Biological Station decided to study the Eastern tree frogs. They found that critters in the preserve now range in coloration from pitch-black to forest green, as images from the researchers show.
<img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-271275 size-full" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2022/10/Screen-Shot-2022-10-03-at-4.21.06-PM.png" alt="Five Eastern tree frogs found in Northern Ukraine, ranging in darkness from pitch-black on the left to lime green on the right." width="1956" height="692" /> The zoologists wrote in their Conversation essay that they captured 200 male Eastern tree frogs, known sometimes as "Saint Anthony" or "San Antonio" frogs, from 12 separate breeding ponds "along a wide gradient of radioactive contamination."
They found that in the 36 years since the tragic accident at Chernobyl, the Eastern tree frogs in the regions surrounding the now-abandoned nuclear reactor seem to have undergone a sort of rapid evolution that caused them to develop more melanin in order to withstand the heightened and prolonged radiation from the disaster.
As researchers Germán Orizaola and Pablo Burraco wrote in their Conversation essay, which is based on findings <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/eva.13476">published recently in the journal Evolutionary Applications</a>, they believe the darker colored frogs — a genetic minority normally — were better protected from the meltdown's radiation due to the melanin in their skin. In turn, they reproduced more successfully, creating more and more darker-tinted tree frogs in their wake.
In other words, we're watching natural selection play out in front of our eyes. That's pretty cool.
"More than ten generations of frogs have passed since the accident and a classic, although very fast, process of natural selection may explain why these dark frogs are now the dominant type for the species within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone," the researchers wrote in the essay.
The researchers, who also in 2019 detailed the <a href="https://theconversation.com/chernobyl-has-become-a-refuge-for-wildlife-33-years-after-the-nuclear-accident-116303">astonishing biodiversity of the Chernobyl region</a>, added that they "hope the current war in Ukraine will end soon" because it's put an understandable damper on scientific study in the region.
READ MORE: <a href="https://theconversation.com/chernobyl-black-frogs-reveal-evolution-in-action-191034">Chernobyl black frogs reveal evolution in action</a> [The Conversation]
More on Chernobyl: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/un-watchdog-radiation-abnormal">UN Watchdog Says Radiation from Chernobyl "Abnormal" After Russian Attack</a>

Lil Dudes

These little guys are as cute as they are fascinating. 

Something Cool Is Happening to the Frogs at Chernobyl

In an uncharacteristically brazen Twitter outpour, Tesla CEO Elon Musk suggested that Ukraine should give up parts of its territories and other rights to reach a peace agreement with Russia — or else risk a bloody end to the conflict, culminating in a full blown "<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1576973049277992974">nuclear war</a>."
In short, <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/elon-musk-coronavirus-public-health-risk">even for Musk</a>, it's exactly the kind of opinion absolutely nobody asked for. Even his most ardent supporters were taken aback.
"Please snap out of it, E," <a href="https://twitter.com/ArtfulTakedown/status/1577005468723339264?s=20&amp;t=a_-rLZyyHQkNAo5PjmHu1Q">suggested</a> SpaceX aerospace engineer Sid Chambers.
"You are using [P]utin propaganda talking points," she <a href="https://twitter.com/ArtfulTakedown/status/1576999049848565760">added</a>. "Fix this."
Renata Konkoly, one of Musk's most outspoken boosters on Twitter, issued a <a href="https://twitter.com/RenataKonkoly/status/1576994728448471041">rare rebuke</a>.
"You are assuming that I wish to be popular," Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1576995429094285313">snapped in reply</a>. "I don’t care. I do care that millions of people may die needlessly for an essentially identical outcome."
Pseudonymous Dogecoin cocreator Shibetoshi Nakamoto, another noted Musk ally, weighed in with a <a href="https://twitter.com/BillyM2k/status/1577004264408293376">meme</a> seemingly chastising Musk as well. Even Whole Mars Catalog, a Tesla superfan whose tweets Musk sometimes interacts with, <a href="https://twitter.com/Podolyak_M/status/1576981720854802433">retweeted a message</a> from a Ukrainian official pushing back against Musk's outburst.
Musk kicked things off around midday today, when he <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1576969255031296000">posted a poll</a> calling for a Ukraine-Russia peace that would give numerous concessions to Russian president Vladimir Putin including water rights and some territory.
He followed up with another <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1576994262226702336?s=20&amp;t=_Bzii7a2RsJwIlOY82l5MQ">Twitter poll</a>, asking if the people of the Donbas and Crimea regions — both the sites of heavy military offensives in eastern Ukraine — "should decide whether they’re part of Russia or Ukraine."
Surprising nobody, the polls generated quite some buzz, with Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1576976391597617153">accusing Twitter bots</a> of swaying the vote.
The timing couldn't have been worse, as the news comes after Russia attempted to ratify its advances in Ukraine with sham referendums, which weren't exactly <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/09/putin-russia-referendum-election-results-domestic-propaganda/671595/">going to fool literally anybody</a>.
Musk's solution: open elections "under UN supervision" — an unrealistic suggestion at best. And if Russia refused those supervised elections?
"Then war it is," Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1577013999782498305">concluded</a>.
The big question is why Musk decided to start burning bridges now. He had already accrued a significant amount of good will after <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/starlink-terminals-arrive-ukraine">shipping thousands of Starlink internet satellite terminals</a> to Ukraine, which have reportedly had a <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/ukraine-starlink-saving-lives">significant impact</a>.
Reactions from officials started to pour in as well, with Ukrainian diplomat Andriy Melnyk <a href="https://twitter.com/MelnykAndrij/status/1576977000178208768">telling</a> the richest man in the world to "f*** off."
"Which Elon Musk do you like more?" Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky <a href="https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1577006943499350016?s=20&amp;t=lEsHAxH6Gzp8bjMDWJmNwQ">wrote in his own poll</a>, with the two options being "one who supports Ukraine" and "one who support Russia."
More on Elon Musk: <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/elon-musk-coronavirus-public-health-risk">Elon Musk Is a Public Health Risk</a>

Read the Room

"You are assuming that I wish to be popular."

Elon Musk Fans Horrified as He Suggests Ukraine Give in to Putin's Demands

Researchers say they've found new evidence of an "ocean" deep inside the Earth.
After analyzing an extremely rare diamond believed to have been formed at a depth of around 410 miles below Botswana, an international team of researchers concluded in a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-022-01024-y">new study</a> published in the journal Nature Geoscience that the boundary between our planet's upper and lower mantle — a region known as the transition zone, which reaches hundreds of miles into the Earth's interior — holds far more trapped water and carbon dioxide than previously thought.
The research could have far-reaching implications on our understanding of the Earth's water cycle and how it evolved into the oceanic world we know today over the last 4.5 billion years.
"In this study we have demonstrated that the transition zone is not a dry sponge, but holds considerable quantities of water," said Frank Brenker, researcher at the Institute for Geosciences at Goethe University in Frankfurt, in <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220926200712.htm">a statement</a>. "This also brings us one step closer to Jules Verne's idea of an ocean inside the Earth."
While this vast reservoir is likely a dark slurry of sediment and hydrous rock — and at near-inconceivable pressures — it may be extraordinary in total volume.
"These sediments can hold large quantities of water and CO2," Branker added. "But until now it was unclear just how much enters the transition zone in the form of more stable, hydrous minerals and carbonates — and it was therefore also unclear whether large quantities of water really are stored there."
In fact, according to the statement, the transition zone alone may contain up to six times the amount of water present in all of the Earth's oceans combined.
The diamond the team analyzed came from a region in the Earth's mantle where ringwoodite — an element that only forms under high levels of pressure and temperatures in the Earth's mantle, but can hold water quite well — is the most prevalent. The researchers' smoking gun: the analyzed gem contained ringwoodite, and therefore water as well.
Scientists had already suspected that the Earth's transition zone held plenty of water after analyzing a <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rare-diamond-confirms-that-earths-mantle-holds-an-oceans-worth-of-water/">similar diamond back in 2014</a>, but the latest research adds credence to the theory.
"If you only have one sample, it could just be a local hydrous region," Suzette Timmerman, a mantle geochemist and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alberta, who was not involved in the study, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/oceans-worth-of-water-hidden-deep-in-earth-ultra-rare-diamond-suggests/">told Scientific American</a>, "whereas now that we have the second sample, we can already tell it’s not just a single occurrence."
READ MORE: <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220926200712.htm">An ocean inside Earth? Water hundreds of kilometers down</a> [Goethe University Frankfurt] 

More on the Earth's mantle: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/earth-blobs-puzzle-scientists">Scientists Puzzled by Two Huge Masses Inside the Earth</a>

Soggy Earth

"This also brings us one step closer to Jules Verne's idea of an ocean inside the Earth."

Scientists Find Evidence of "Ocean" Hundreds of Miles Below Earth's Surface

FROM THE DEPT. OF THINGS TO BUY

Best MagSafe Cases in 2022

When it comes to environmental harm, Bitcoin mining is worse than extracting gold and comparable to the environmentally destructive industries tied to crude oil and cattle farming, a new study has found.
Published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-18686-8">the journal Scientific Reports</a>, new research out of the University of New Mexico makes a bold assertion that runs counter claim that the <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-mining-becomes-more-sustainable-mining-council-s-q4-survey">crypto mining is becoming more sustainable</a>.
"We find no evidence that Bitcoin mining is becoming more sustainable over time," Professor Benjamin Jones of UNM's economics school said in a <a href="https://news.unm.edu/news/technology-unm-researchers-find-bitcoin-mining-is-environmentally-unsustainable">university press release</a>. "Rather, our results suggest the opposite: Bitcoin mining is becoming dirtier and more damaging to the climate over time."
The researchers suggested that Bitcoin mining is as energy-intensive as <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-ways-the-meat-on-your-plate-is-killing-the-planet-76128">beef farming</a> and <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-environmental-impacts-of-exporting-more-american-crude-oil/">crude oil drilling and refining</a>, two of the most environmentally destructive industries on Earth.
"In short," Jones added, "Bitcoin’s environmental footprint is moving in the wrong direction."
Though the researchers admitted that there's still a lot to be learned about the extent of the damage done by the king of crypto, their approach — categorizing the mining energy usage as a share of Bitcoin's market price — does provide a jarring perspective on just how serious its environmental impacts appears to be.
What's worse: given how wildly the cryptocurrency's value has fluctuated between 2016 and 2021, the research window the UNM economists studied, there were times when the coin was literally not worth the damage mining it would cause.
"We find several instances between 2016-2021 where Bitcoin is more damaging to the climate than a single Bitcoin is actually worth," the economics researcher and paper co-author said in the UNM statement. "Put differently, Bitcoin mining, in some instances, creates climate damages in excess of a coin’s value."
Since 2016, the researchers calculated that Bitcoin's electricity-generating missions have increased a whopping 126 percent, from 0.9 tons per coin in 2016 to 113 tons/coin in 2021.
"Calculations suggest each Bitcoin mined in 2021 generated 11,314 US Dollars (USD) in climate damages, with total global damages exceeding 12 billion USD between 2016 and 2021," the statement continued. "Damages peaked at 156% of the coin price in May 2020, suggesting that each 1 USD of Bitcoin market value generated led to 1.56 USD in global climate damages that month."
With Ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency, making its groundbreaking "merge" shift away from the energy-intensive proof-of-work mining methodology and towards the greener proof-of-stake system, there may be a path out of the outrageous environmental harm caused by Bitcoin mining.
But for now, there's nothing stopping anyone from mining mining Bitcoin — whereas oil drilling, at least, requires some very expensive equipment.
READ MORE: <a href="https://news.unm.edu/news/technology-unm-researchers-find-bitcoin-mining-is-environmentally-unsustainable">Technology: UNM researchers find Bitcoin mining is environmentally unsustainable</a> [University of New Mexico]
More on greening crypto: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/ether-fork-merge-pollutes-crashes">Miners Forked Ether So They Can Still Pollute After the Merge, But It's Already Crashing in Value</a>

Crypto Inferno

"In short, Bitcoin’s environmental footprint is moving in the wrong direction."

Bitcoin Mining as Bad for Planet as Oil Drilling, Scientists Say

Mark Zuckerberg, <a href="https://futurism.com/facebook-changes-name-meta">Facebook-turned-Meta CEO</a> and noted <a href="https://futurism.com/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-eye-sauron">Eye of Sauron</a>, likes to fight. We know this. He's absolutely a <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/mark-zuckerberg-hunts-hunts-wild-boar-bow-arrow">hobby guy</a>, and <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/mark-zuckerberg-mma-sparring">recently revealed MMA-style sparring</a> to be one of his wide-ranging pastimes. And we must admit, as several experts did, that he's pretty good at it.
But just because you're okay at a pastime doesn't mean that you should take said hobby to unnecessary next levels — you know, the type of next level that screams "I Am Going Through Something." And with that, let's examine the strange, swirling, and unfortunately compelling rumors that Zuckerberg... is fighting at a UFC show on Saturday?
As <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvmy3v/is-mark-zuckerberg-fighting-at-this-weekends-ufc-show">Vice explains</a>, the UFC organization very suddenly announced earlier in the week that it would be closing its Saturday fight card at the Apex, located in Las Vegas, to the press and public. That's an unusual move, and UFC president Dana White didn't give a firm explanation for the closure other than wanting to give the hardworking fighting press "night off." Aw.
That story didn't hold up for long, though. On Wednesday, MMA talking head Ariel Helwani <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxqkpOxSApo&amp;ab_channel=MMAFightingonSBN">revealed on his Wednesday radio show</a> that a "very good source, very close to the event" had said that the closure had "something to do with Mark Zuckerberg." Record scratch!
Then later that day, UFC strawweight Mackenzie Dern — who's slated to fight that night — seemingly confirmed that theory.
"I know Mark Zuckerberg rented out the whole event," Dern <a href="https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/34686536/ufc-closes-saturday-card-apex-facility-media-public">said at a Wednesday press briefing</a>, adding that she doesn't really know much else but is "driven to put on a good show, for Mark and whoever's gonna be there."
So, one would imagine that Zucko might in fact be renting the Apex. But then, in a major twist, White took to Twitter to seemingly strike down those claims.
"Mark Zuckerberg did NOT rent out the UFC Apex," the UFC chief <a href="https://twitter.com/danawhite/status/1575286424022044672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1575286424022044672%7Ctwgr%5E46ce67492eaeda1bf163e0251a05e563da4221ad%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vice.com%2Fen%2Farticle%2Fbvmy3v%2Fis-mark-zuckerberg-fighting-at-this-weekends-ufc-show">wrote in a scathing tweet</a>. "That's total bullshit."
The UFC has yet to comment on the Zuckerberg rumor, while Meta, in another strange turn, apparently responded to Vice and ESPN requests for comment by just referring reporters to White's angry tweet. But given that Dern is the person actually scheduled to fight, she's in a position to know, and it would be strange to promote a rumor that the UFC president is aggressively denying.
And honestly, it's believable. Zuckerberg doesn't keep his many hobbies in the shadows — he loves to talk about them and seems to enjoy showing them off, though jury's still out on whether that's just a ploy to seem more relatable-slash-human. Maybe that <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CiDIrIkLY53/">Instagram video</a> posted at the beginning of the month, where he spars with his trainer — and actual MMA fighter — Khai "The Shadow" Wu, was some kind of teaser?
Still, the secrecy here, especially for someone who tends to keep his hobbies and self-inflicted challenges front and center, is strange. Plus, there's the timing. This exceedingly weird UFC debacle comes after a tumultuous week for the founder, who after officially <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/mark-zuckerberg-big-trouble">dropping from third richest person</a> in the world to twentieth, reportedly announced a major Meta "<a href="https://futurism.com/facebook-headcount-zuckerberg-vision">restructuring</a>" — and with it, layoffs and a hiring freeze. Overall it's just <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/27/technology/meta-earnings-revenue-decline.html">not been a great year</a> for Meta, and there's something about this whole thing that, sadly, feels very <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/winklevoss-twins-singing-dont-stop-believin">Winklevoss depression band</a>.
But that being said, Zuckerberg is nearing the promised Quest Pro launch date, so this could be <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/mark-zuckerberg-augmented-reality-swordfighting">another sports-related metaverse promo</a>. Who knows. But since media isn't allowed on Saturday, we will not be watching.
More on Zuck's fighting skills: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/mark-zuckerberg-mma-sparring">Experts Surprised by Mark Zuckerberg's Skill in MMA Sparring Video</a>

Midlife Crisis

"I know Mark Zuckerberg rented out the whole event..."

Rumors Swirl That Mark Zuckerberg Is Fighting at a UFC Show

It's not every day the public gets to read the private communications sent between the world's richest man and his fellow movers and shakers — but then again, <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/09/elon-musk-caught-deleting-messages-about-the-twitter-deal.html">Twitter v Musk</a> is far from a normal trial.
Take one of the biggest bombshells dropped in the case's history to date, which came yesterday as court-mandated discovery required SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk to <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23108357/redacted-version-of-exhibits-a-j-to-letter-to-the-honorable-kathaleen-st-j-mccormick-from-edward-b.pdf">reveal his text messages</a> regarding his flip-floppy Twitter-buying bid, which has landed him in legal hot water after he unexpectedly decided to pull out.
There's some seriously unhinged stuff in these court documents. But luckily, we've rounded up the best of them to titillate you in a timely manner.
<h2>1. Boss Baby</h2>
"Frankly, I hate doing mgmt stuff," Musk told Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal in April, <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23108357/redacted-version-of-exhibits-a-j-to-letter-to-the-honorable-kathaleen-st-j-mccormick-from-edward-b.pdf">per court documents</a>. "I kinda don’t think I should be the boss of anyone. But I love helping solve technical/product design problems."
Oh my god, he admitted it!
<h2>2. New New</h2>
At one point following Musk's announcement that he was going to try to buy Twitter — and before he decided he didn't want to, actually — company cofounder Jack Dorsey told the SpaceX and Tesla CEO that he thinks the right move would be to <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/trumps-social-network-banned-google-play">pull a Donald Trump</a> and start his own social network.
"Yes, a new platform is needed," Dorsey told Musk. "It can’t be a company. This is why I left."
Musk responded with an "OK" and a question about what such a platform would look like, with Dorsey saying that he thinks it should be "open-source" but encrypted, like the Signal messaging platform, and should run without ads.
"Twitter started as a protocol," he continued. "It should have never been a company. That was the original sin."
Tell us how you really feel, Jack!
<h2>3. Shut Downs</h2>
On multiple occasions in the unredacted texts, Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale sent Musk politically tinged messages that Musk seemed totally nonplussed by.
In one sent on April 4, Lonsdale lauded Musk for buying stake in the company and joining its board before offering his take on the issues the world's richest man had raised — specifically regarding "censorship decisions and little cabals going on there."
"The lefties on the board likely want plausible deniability!" he jokingly added. Instead of responding, Musk simply "Liked" the message — just one click from leaving his fellow tech founder <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Left%20on%20read">on read</a>.
In a text sent later in April, Lonsdale texted Musk to tell him he'd been on the phone with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, offering him a line through which to speak to the Republican presidential hopeful. In response, Musk just said "Haha cool." Ouch!
<h2>4. Plan B</h2>
Shortly after announcing to the Twitter board that he wasn't going to be joining the board after all and was planning to take the company private, Musk let Steve Davis of The Boring Company in on his alternative plans.
"My Plan B is a blockchain-based version of twitter, where the 'tweets' are embedded in the transaction as comments," he wrote. "So you’d have to pay maybe 0.1 Doge per comment or repost of that comment."
In response, Davis said he was "not sure" of which plan he should root for, and offered to put Musk in touch with blockchain engineers.
<h2>5. Gayle's Gall</h2>
On multiple occasions, CBS talking head Gayle King reached out to Musk in search of an interview. In her first communiqué, sent not long after news of the deal went public, she told Musk that she is in favor of a tweet edit feature because, as she put it "we all say shit we regret want to take back [sic] in the heat of the moment."
Later, after Musk announced that he wasn't joining the Twitter board after all, she sent him another message, complete with more interesting typographical choices.
"ELON! You buying twitter or offering to buy twitter  Wow!" King's text reads. "Now Don’t you think we should sit down together face to face  this is as the kids of today say a 'gangsta move'  I don’t know how shareholders turn this down ..like I said you are not like the other kids in the class." 
There are, of course, hundreds more texts in the <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23108357/redacted-version-of-exhibits-a-j-to-letter-to-the-honorable-kathaleen-st-j-mccormick-from-edward-b.pdf">court-mandated cache</a> released yesterday, not to mention emails, to chew on — and we highly suggest you peruse them yourself if you find yourself in, shall we say, boring company and need a distraction.
More Musk: <a href="https://futurism.com/elon-musk-futurism-cartoon">Elon Musk Cropped The Credit Out of Our Cartoon and Tweeted It Out</a>

Elon Leaks

"[T]his is as the kids of today say a 'gangsta move.'"

Here's The Wildest Elon Musk Texts That Were Just Released in Court

It's happening. Just days after <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-reportedly-layoffs-restructuring">layoff rumors</a> began to swirl, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-29/meta-announces-hiring-freeze-warns-employees-of-restructuring?sref=YfHlo0rL#xj4y7vzkg">Bloomberg reports</a> that Facebook-turned-Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has, for the first time in the company's nearly 20-year history, announced a sweeping restructuring — the latest sign that the Silicon Valley giant's days of nonstop growth are over.
Per Bloomberg's sources, the cost-cutting decision — reportedly announced at the company's weekly Q&amp;A meeting — will include an indefinite hiring freeze and what Zuckerberg carefully phrased as a plan to "manage out people who aren't succeeding."
"For the first 18 years of the company, we basically grew quickly basically every year," the founder reportedly told his staff, adding that Meta will be a smaller company in 2023, "and then more recently our revenue has been flat to slightly down for the first time."
Zuckerberg's <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/03/facebooks-232billion-drop-in-value-sets-all-time-record.html">certainly right</a> about those "flat" financial woes. Apple's <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/06/apple-is-gaining-on-facebook-and-google-in-online-ads-after-ios-change.html">revamped privacy protections</a> have thrown a major wrench in Facebook's data-driven business model, while TikTok, to which Meta-owned Instagram's much-hated Reels <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/instagram-reels-tiktok-meta-facebook-documents-11662991777">simply cannot compete</a>, has rolled its way through the social media landscape like The Blob, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/tiktok-is-eating-facebook-inside-2022-04-27/">sucking users away</a> from Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms as it goes.
There's also the money pit that is Zucko's metaverse, the very expensive "North Star" that the founder has <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/horizon-metaverse-head-leaves-company">tacked his company's future to</a>. While Zuckerberg's been clear that it would take money and time to build the <a href="https://futurism.com/facebook-changes-name-meta">augmented reality scape</a> of his dreams, so far he has <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/zuckerbergs-metaverse-crap">shockingly little</a> to show for the project, at least for the amount of cash it's already consumed. With that in mind, it's not terribly surprising that he <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/mark-zuckerberg-augmented-reality-swordfighting">chose to tease</a> the company's new-and-improved AR goggles just before the layoff news broke — gotta throw the investors a bone, right?
The company's steep losses are reflected in Zuckerberg's personal wealth as well. In the past year, the founder has <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/mark-zuckerberg-big-trouble">lost a shocking $71 billion</a> — he's still very rich, but going from third wealthiest in the world to twentieth is a big move down the ladder.
Still, according to Bloomberg, Zuck appears to be using the restructuring to direct company efforts more narrowly towards his metaverse vision and — sigh — somehow making Reels successful. And in the meantime, <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-ceo-employees-perks">just like the rest of 'em</a>, the chief metamate is apparently soothing his remaining soldiers with a spoonful of macroeconomic blame.
"I had hoped the economy would have more clearly stabilized by now," Zuckerberg reportedly said. "But from what we're seeing it doesn't yet seem like it has, so we want to plan somewhat conservatively."
Sure, to be fair, the economy isn't great. But something tells us that a square share of the blame lies with the company's strategy and execution — and its synonymous leader — instead.
More on Zuckerberg financial woes: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/mark-zuckerberg-big-trouble">Mark Zuckerberg Is in Big, Big Trouble</a>

Mark's Bad Year

The Silicon Valley giant's days of nonstop growth might be over.

Layoffs Hitting Facebook as Zuckerberg's Vision Stumbles

Earlier this year, we learned the heartbreaking news that Bruce Willis would be halting his storied acting career due to his <a href="https://futurism.com/neoscope/bruce-willis-aphasia">diagnosis with aphasia</a>, a neurological disorder that deteriorates the affected person's ability to communicate.
But it may not be the last time we’ll see his mug on the silver screen — or in ads. According to <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/09/28/deepfake-tech-allows-bruce-willis-return-screen-without-ever/">reporting by The Telegraph</a>, Willis has become the first living Hollywood actor to sell their rights to allow a "digital twin" to be used — and monetized — on screen.
The buyer, a US firm not-so-cleverly called Deepcake, has already used its form of deepfake tech to render the 67 year old actor's digital twin in a <a href="https://metro.co.uk/video/deepfake-bruce-willis-old-russian-phone-commercial-2782557/">phone ad</a> last year for Russian telecom provider MegaFon. Calling it a "digital twin" may sound like they’ve got the actor’s whole body in store, but really it’s just the usual case of transplanting their face onto another actor’s.
And look: in a chintzy phone ad only half paid attention to by audiences, sure, it’s convincing enough. But it’s not the real Bruce, not the real man with his iconic bald pate, his demeanor like a walking bruise.
Still, Willis had some nice things to say in a statement on the company’s <a href="https://deepcake.io/">website</a>.
"I liked the precision of my character. It's a great opportunity for me to go back in time. The neural network was trained on content of ‘Die Hard’ and ‘Fifth Element’, so my character is similar to the images of that time," Willis said.
"With the advent of the modern technology, I could communicate, work and participate in filming, even being on another continent. It's a brand new and interesting experience for me, and [I’m] grateful to our team."
While this should help Willis and his family earn extra cash, it’s an ominous precedent. With an already golden legacy and a filmography dense with classics like "Die Hard," "Pulp Fiction," and "The Sixth Sense," is this really how Willis should be drawing out the end of his career?
It’s not the first time deepfake adjacent tech has cropped up in movies. One ill-fated production planned to digitally resurrect the long dead actor and Hollywood legend James Dean, to <a href="https://ew.com/movies/2019/11/07/celebrities-criticize-james-dean-new-movie/">plenty of backlash</a>.
And while not deepfakes per se, Disney made use of eerie CGI puppets to bring back Carrie Fisher and Peter Cushing, both of whom had already passed away.
Similarly, James Earl Jones, the iconic voice of Darth Vader, allowed for his deep baritones to be <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/darth-vader-ai-voice">imitated by an AI</a>, and you can bet Disney will be taking advantage of that for endless sequels and reboots to come. But for the sake of both actors and moviegoers: let's not have our stars replaced by lifeless reconstructions.
More on deepfakes: <a href="https://futurism.com/the-byte/scammers-deepfake-crypto-exec-to-steal-money">Scammers Deepfake Crypto Exec to Steal Money From People</a>