Are ‘alpha males' a myth? For most primates, the answer is yes.
But a sweeping analysis of power dynamics between male and female primates confirms that the alpha male is in fact relatively rare across 121 species of primates, finding that sex-based hierarchies across the vast order are more fluid — and successfully contested more frequently — than was historically assumed.
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Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
AI developed a new rare-earth-free magnet 200 times faster than humans
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, BGR may receive an affiliate commission. If you want to buy an electric vehicle or another device with an electric motor, chances are that motor will contain a magnet made with rare-earth minerals. These are compounds like neodymium and dysprosium that are difficult to find and expensive to mine and refine. Rare-earth minerals are a potential bottleneck for EV manufacturers and other companies, and it's not just the costs involved with obtaining them. China controls the lion's share of the world's rare earths, with 70% of mining operations and 90% of processing. That can be a problem in a world where economic warfare is the new norm. Today's Top Deals XGIMI Prime Day deals feature the new MoGo 4 and up to 42% off smart projectors Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Best Ring Video Doorbell deals There is an alternative to China's monopoly: New alloys for strong magnets that can be created using other compounds instead of rare earths. That's the theory, at least. In practice, finding the right recipe for rare-earth-free magnets can be a lengthy and challenging ordeal. It involves a trial-and-error process in which scientists try to combine all sorts of minerals and materials to create magnets. And there's no guarantee of success. However, add AI and you might end up with an expedited process that yields results. That's what researchers from Materials Nexus did. They used AI to find the recipe for a magnet that doesn't use any rare earths and came up with MagNex. The process was 200 times faster than traditional research avenues in this field. More impressive is that MagNex, the alloy they discovered, can be processed at 20% of the cost of rare-earth magnets. Even better, manufacturing drops carbon emissions by 70% compared to rare-earth magnets. The finding is not surprising when you stop to consider that medical professionals are using AI to repurpose existing drugs for other conditions or to find therapies for issues that are more difficult to treat. For example, researchers recently used AI to come up with a drug to treat a specific type of blindness. The AI system looked at the problem, then quickly came up with ideas to treat it, and proposed molecules that might work. It eventually settled on a drug that's used to treat other eye conditions. The same principle can apply to anything. An AI trained in a specific field can understand the problem you're trying to fix and potentially speed up some of the research process. The Materials Nexus scientists used their AI platform to analyze more than 100 million rare-earth-free material alloys to find MagNex. The AI looked at various factors for creating this type of magnet, including cost, supply chain security, performance, and the environment. Materials Nexus then partnered with the Henry Royce Institute at the University of Sheffield to create and test MagNex. As New Atlas explains, the company needed only three months to discover the new material. The same process would have taken years without the use of AI. It's unclear what the MagNex mix is. Understandably, that recipe is proprietary. Also, it's unclear which companies might want to use MagNex to power electric motors they need for their machines, including EVs. It wouldn't be surprising to hear that other labs are employing similarly customized AIs to speed up the work of rare-earth-free magnet discovery. 'I am delighted to share the news of MagNex, a significant milestone in the use of AI to design materials of the future which are cheaper, higher-performing, and more sustainable than existing options,' CEO of Materials Nexus, Dr. Jonathan Bean, said in a statement. 'AI-powered materials design will impact not only magnetics but also the entire field of materials science – we have now identified a scalable method for designing new materials for all kinds of industrial needs. Our platform has already attracted widespread interest for various products with applications that include semiconductors, catalysts, and coatings. I look forward to seeing the role it will play in supporting market demand for the creation of novel materials to help address increasingly pressing supply chain and environmental issues.' If MagNex becomes a viable alternative to rare-earth magnet use in the auto industry, we'll hopefully see some EV makers pass some of the magnet-related savings to the consumer. Whether or not permanent MagNex magnets are available commercially, the discovery is very exciting. Like the experiments involving AI-based drug discoveries, the use of AI to create new materials is proof that AI can be a force for good. It might help us create novel alloys that are easier to manufacture and can have immediate commercial applications. These findings also show that AI can improve our lives beyond increasing productivity at the office or improving one's meme-generation game. Remember that we're still in the early days. AI can't make discoveries on its own, as humans are still involved in the process. But we might see AI coming up with scientific breakthroughs on its own. Hopefully, those will be aligned with our interests, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Don't Miss: Today's deals: Nintendo Switch games, $5 smart plugs, $150 Vizio soundbar, $100 Beats Pill speaker, more More Top Deals Memorial Day security camera deals: Reolink's unbeatable sale has prices from $29.98 See the
New York Times
6 hours ago
- New York Times
Wednesday Briefing: Rare Earths, Made in Europe?
Good morning. I'm subbing in for Justin Porter today. We have some exciting changes coming to this newsletter, so you'll be hearing a lot more from me soon. For now, I have some thoughts I want to share on rare earths. The world can have non-Chinese rare earths — for a price Here's what I thought I knew about rare earths: One, they're important. (They're in our smartphones! We can't live without smartphones!) Two, they're rare. Three, they come mostly from China, which mines and processes them in ways that are both dirty and ethically problematic. They're certainly important: They're needed not just in phones but in cars, semiconductors, medical imaging chemicals, robots, offshore wind turbines and a wide range of military hardware. But it turns out they're not all that rare: They can be found all over the world. They're just very spread out and hard to refine. And as it happens, the world doesn't have to depend on China for them either. As I learned from reading two stories about rare earths by my colleagues this past week — one from China and one from France — relying on China for these strategically important resources was a choice: For Western countries, it outsourced pollution; for everyone, it kept production costs down. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Fast Company
8 hours ago
- Fast Company
Scientists are holding a ‘science fair' in the lobby of a Congressional building to show what the US stands to lose with cuts
All's fair on Capitol Hill. In response to the Trump administration's wide-ranging science cuts and grant cancellations, researchers and scientists staged a 'science fair' in the lobby of a Congressional building in Washington D.C. to bring awareness to what potential knowledge the United States could miss out on as a result. The fair is being held just days after Trump signed the 'Big, Beautiful Bill' into law, which codifies many spending cuts and funding cancellations for scientific endeavors of all types—from climate research to medical trials. Billions of dollars that were destined for researchers and scientists in the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and other organizations. In effect, the U.S. is ceding its place as a leader in research and development—a role it has held for decades, and which has led to the development of cures for diseases and disorders, advanced military technology, and, of course, put a man on the moon. The funding cuts and cancellations are widespread, and it's difficult to lasso them all. But even with what's been cancelled or clawed back so far, Trump is looking to reduce spending on science further. In the budget request he released in May, billions more would be cut from NIH, NSF, the Department of Education, and completely eliminate funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, and more. In response, Sudip Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), released a statement saying just how dangerous the cuts could be. 'If enacted, the FY26 budget request would end America's global scientific leadership. The cuts to science would imperil our nation's future health, security and prosperity. This budget proposal stands in stark contrast to the President's call for a renewed commitment to American scientific leadership,' he wrote. 'Congress has demonstrated a bipartisan commitment to investment in research and must do so again to answer the President's call. That's all to say that despite the demonstrations by scientists, and the potential long-term economic effects of cuts, the Trump administration may still not be done. Just within the past couple of days, Trump cut off researchers in the U.K. from utilizing data collected by U.S. satellites to study pollution and climate change, according to reporting from the U.K.-based The i Paper. Per that report, Rachel Cauley, OMB communications director at the White House, responded to worried scientists by saying that 'President Trump ran on defunding woke, weaponized, and wasteful government and his budget proudly does that by cutting funding for the Green New Scam, projects like 'gender-responsive agricultural adaptation' in Guatemala and Mexico, and 'Equity Climate and Health' workshops for 'transgender women, and those who identify as non-binary.' Under Trump's leadership, the US is funding real science again.'
