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Don’t disrespect Alan Turing by reanimating him with AI

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New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.
New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Alan Turing was many things: a wartime hero, a computer scientist who pre-dated computers, the father of artificial intelligence and a persecuted gay man. Now, 70 years after his death, he will also become a museum exhibit in chatbot form.

Bletchley Park, the site where he worked as a code breaker during the second world war, is working with a UK company called 1956 Individuals to create an AI model that can “converse naturally with visitors” as Turing himself. The idea is to tell his story in an interactive way that grabs audiences. But is such a project ethical,…

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ExxonMobil deceived the public with plastic recycling, lawsuit claims

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ExxonMobil deceived the public with plastic recycling, lawsuit claims

ExxonMobil has misled consumers for years by perpetuating a “myth” about plastic recycling, according to a new lawsuit filed by the state of California.

ExxonMobil is the world’s leading producer of single-use plastics that become waste, according to the state attorney general’s office. To encourage people to buy products made with single-use plastics, the suit alleges, ExxonMobil “deceived Californians for almost half a century by promising that recycling could and would solve the ever-growing plastic waste crisis.”

“They clearly knew this wasn’t possible.”

Plastic is quite difficult to reuse, which is why very little of it is ever recycled. Promoting recycling as a cure-all for plastic waste can actually lead to more of it becoming trash, experts warn. Now, the state of California wants to hold industry accountable for the plastic pollution that has accumulated in the environment, animals, and even people’s bodies.

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“For decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a press release yesterday.

The AG’s office launched an investigation into the petrochemical industry’s role in creating a plastic “pollution crisis” in 2022. It says it unearthed new documents over the past two years that led the state to file suit this week. The lawsuit alleges that ExxonMobil has violated state public nuisance, natural resources, water pollution, false advertisement, and unfair competition laws through misleading marketing about recycling.

The state is suing for civil penalties and disgorgement, which would force the company to turn over any profits it gained illegally. California also wants to set up an abatement fund and injunctive relief to stop the company from promoting plastics as recyclable the way that it has for years. The attorney general’s office points to a 12-page ad in Time magazine in 1989 on “the urgent need to recycle” as one example of the company’s “campaign of deception.” “Americans have entered an era in which landfilling will no longer be the primary method of garbage disposal,” the ad says.

By 2015, less than 10 percent of plastic waste had ever been recycled. Nearly 80 percent of the 6,300 million metric tons of plastic waste that had been created around the world ended up in landfills or littering the environment.

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Even when plastic is rehashed, it’s typically “downcycled” because the quality of the material deteriorates with each use. Plastic bottles are turned into fibers used in carpeting instead of new plastic bottles, for example. And gadgets made with recycled plastic typically have to be reinforced with fresh plastic. It’s often just cheaper for a company to use new plastic rather than recycled materials.

Newer claims from industry about “advanced” or chemical recycling are just as flawed, the attorney general claims, since the majority of plastic waste that goes through that process becomes fuel. The state also claims that plastics produced using ExxonMobil’s “advanced recycling” technology contain such little amounts of used material that “they are effectively virgin plastics.”

ExxonMobil shifted the blame to California in an emailed response to The Verge. “For decades, California officials have known their recycling system isn’t effective. They failed to act, and now they seek to blame others. Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills,” the statement says.

One of the selling points for plastic is that it’s lightweight and easy to transport — a characteristic that also makes it easier for plastics to drift into the environment. Once it’s there, it breaks down into tiny particles called microplastics that have flooded the world’s oceans and have been found in everything from seafood to baby poop. Around 21 million pounds of plastic garbage has been collected from California’s beaches and waterways since 1985, according to Bonta’s office.

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Plastics are made from fossil fuels and are responsible for 4.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions — more than the climate pollution from global shipping.

“While greenwashing certainly isn’t new, the fossil fuel industry in particular has frequently downplayed the impacts that their sector has on climate change,” Cornell University climate and environment legal scholar Leehi Yona said in an emailed statement. “In my view, this latest lawsuit builds on the sustained efforts of many governments to hold fossil fuel companies accountable to the myriad ways they have misled the public on the risks of their products.”

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AI just made a mockery of CAPTCHA and that’s bad news for real people

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AI just made a mockery of CAPTCHA and that’s bad news for real people

Filling out CAPTCHA puzzles is tedious, but using them as (imperfect) shields against malicious bots made sense, at least until now. Artificial intelligence can now defeat those puzzles every time, according to new research from ETH Zurich. CAPTCHA, an acronym for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart,” is employed across an enormous range of websites. 

However, the tool may need renaming based on how well the AI model created by the Swiss researchers solved the security measure’s word and object identification puzzles.

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Smartphone flaw allows hackers and governments to map your home

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A man standing in modern apartment and using a smart phone
A man standing in modern apartment and using a smart phone

AI can be used to detect where you are and what you are doing from GPS data

South_agency/Getty Images

Hackers, app developers and even government agencies could be using your smartphone to create a map of the room you are in and determine what you are doing. The security vulnerability uses data in the GPS signal and doesn’t require access to data from the camera, microphone or accelerometer.

Soham Nag and Smruti Sarangi at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi have been researching whether any information other than location could be extracted from GPS signals when Android smartphone…

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How to watch SpaceX’s Crew-9 launch to the ISS

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How to watch SpaceX's Crew-9 launch to the ISS

SpaceX and NASA are gearing up for the Crew-9 launch that will carry an American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the capsule and its crew could lift off as early as Thursday, September 26, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. However, following a flight readiness review carried out on Monday, NASA officials have noted that the launch could be delayed by a gathering storm.

“NASA, SpaceX, and the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron are closely monitoring potential Tropical Cyclone Nine and its approach toward the Gulf of Mexico and Florida’s west coast ahead of launch,” the space agency said.

Despite this, the Falcon 9 rocket is is still scheduled to roll out to Kennedy’s Space Launch Complex-40 on Tuesday for a static fire and final dress rehearsal in preparation for launch.

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The original plan was for NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to fly to the ISS alongside NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, but Cardman and Wilson were recently removed from the flight as their seats are needed to bring home Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore at the end of the Crew-9 mission in February. Williams and Wilmore were supposed to travel home on Boeing Starliner’s spacecraft, but technical problems with the Starliner prompted NASA to bring the vehicle back to Earth empty, leaving Williams and Wilmore without a ride home.

Crew-9 is the ninth crew rotation mission to the space station with SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Hague and Gorbunov will spend about five months at the station, conducting experiments, research demonstrations, and spacewalks to perform maintenance on the orbital outpost.

How to watch

NASA is currently targeting 2:05 p.m. ET on Thursday, September 26, for the launch of the Crew-9 mission.

You can watch the build-up to the launch, the liftoff, and the early stages of the ISS-bound flight on NASA’s YouTube channel, which we’ve embedded at the top of this page.

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We’ll update here if NASA makes any changes to the launch schedule, but be sure to check its social media channels for the very latest information.






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Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Google Pixel 9 Pro

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Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Google Pixel 9 Pro

Both Apple and Google released compact flagship smartphones recently. Apple’s arrived earlier this month, while Google’s landed in mid-August. We’re here to compare those two phones, the Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Google Pixel 9 Pro. Not only are both of them compact phones, but they actually have the same display sizes. To make things even more similar, they also have flat sides, and so on. There are a lot of differences between them, though, so there’s plenty to talk about here.

As per usual, we will first list their specifications and will take it from there. Following that, we’ll be comparing their designs, displays, performance, battery life, cameras, and audio output. These two phones are just as powerful as their larger siblings. Neither company decided to cut corners with the smaller flagships this year, which is always nice to see. So… let’s get to it, shall we?

Specs

Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Google Pixel 9 Pro, respectively

Screen size:
6.3-inch LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED ( flat, 120Hz, HDR, 2,000 nits max brightness)
6.3-inch QHD+ OLED (120Hz, HDR, 3,000 nits)
Display resolution:
2622 x 1206
2856 x 1280
SoC:
Apple A18 Pro (3nm)
Google Tensor G4
RAM:
8GB
16GB (LPDDR5X)
Storage:
128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB (NVMe)
128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB (UFS 3.1)
Rear cameras:
48MP (wide, f/1.8 aperture, 1/1.28-inch sensor, 1.22um pixel size, sensor-shift OIS), 48MP (ultrawide, f/2.2 aperture, 0.7um pixel size, PDAF), 12MP (periscope telephoto, f/2.8 aperture, 1/3.06-inch sensor, 1.12um pixel size, 3D sensor-shift OIS, 5x optical zoom)
50MP (wide, f/1.7 aperture, 1.2um pixel size, OIS, EIS), 48MP (ultrawide, f/1.7 aperture, 123-degree FoV), 48MP (periscope telephoto, f/2.8 aperture, OIS, EIS, 5x optical zoom)
Front cameras:
12MP (f/1.9 aperture, PDAF, 1/3.6-inch sensor size, OIS)
42MP (f/2.2 aperture)
Battery:
3,582mAh
4,700mAh
Charging:
38W wired, 25W MagSafe wireless, 15W Qi2 wireless, 7.5W Qi wireless, 5W reverse wired
27W wired, 21W wireless (Pixel Stand), 12W Qi wireless, 5W reverse wireless (no charger)
Dimensions:
149.6 x 71.5 x 8.3 mm
152.8 x 72 x 8.5 mm
Weight:
199 grams
Connectivity:
5G, LTE, NFC, Wi-Fi, USB Type-C, Bluetooth 5.3
Security:
Face ID (3D facial scanning)
Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner
OS:
iOS 18
Android 14
Price:
$999+
$999+
Buy:
Apple iPhone 16 Pro
Google Pixel 9 Pro (Best Buy, Google Store)

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Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Google Pixel 9 Pro: Design

Both of these phones are made out of metal and glass. The thing is, the iPhone 16 Pro has a frame made out of titanium, with some aluminum in the mix. The Pixel 9 Pro’s is made out of aluminum. Titanium is the stronger material, but aluminum is better when it comes to heat dissipation. Both phones have flat sides all around, though they do curve a bit towards the very edges, for comfort’s sake. You’ll also notice rounded corners on both smartphones.

The front and back sides on both devices are flat too. The iPhone 16 Pro includes a pill-shaped cutout at the top of the display, the so-called ‘Dynamic Island’. Google’s handset has a display camera hole instead. The bezels are very thin on both of these devices, and they’re also uniform on top of that. On the iPhone 16 Pro, you’ll find the power/lock key and the ‘Camera Control’ buttons on the right-hand side. On the left, the volume rocker buttons are located, and the ‘Action Button’.

The Pixel 9 Pro includes all of its physical keys on the right-hand side. The power/lock button sits there, and below it you’ll find the volume up and down buttons. Apple’s handset has a camera island in the top-left corner of its back, with three cameras in there. Apple’s well-known rear camera design is included here. The Pixel 9 Pro has a pill-shaped camera island at the top, which is centered. That design makes the Pixel 9 Pro sit nicely on the table, without wobbling, unlike the iPhone 16 Pro.

Apple’s handset is a couple of millimeters shorter than the Pixel 9 Pro. It’s also ever so slightly narrower and thinner, but the difference is less than a millimeter. The two smartphones have the exact same weight, they weigh 199 grams. They’re both also IP68 certified for water and dust resistance.

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Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Google Pixel 9 Pro: Display

The iPhone 16 Pro features a 6.3-inch 2622 x 1206 LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED display. That panel is flat, and it offers an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. HDR content is supported here, and the same goes for Dolby Vision. The peak brightness of this panel is 2,000 nits. The screen-to-body ratio is at around 90%, while the display aspect ratio is 19.5:9. This display is protected by the Ceramic Shield glass.

Google Pixel 9 Pro AM AH 23

Google’s handset, on the other hand, features a 6.3-inch 2856 x 1280 LTPO OLED display. This panel also offers an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120Hz. It supports HDR10+ content, and the peak brightness here is 3,000 nits. The screen-to-body ratio is at around 87%, while the display aspect ratio sits at 20:9. The Gorilla Glass Victus 2 from Corning is included on top of the display here.

Both of these displays are great. They’re bright, vivid, and more than sharp enough. The touch response is good on both panels, and the viewing angles are great. The blacks are also quite deep, as you’d expect out of OLED displays. Neither display offers high-frequency PWM dimming, though, if that’s something you care about. They both do get bright enough for outdoor use but are not the brightest around.

Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Google Pixel 9 Pro: Performance

The Apple A18 Pro SoC fuels the iPhone 16 Pro. That is Apple’s brand-new flagship processor. It’s a 3nm chip, in case you were wondering. Apple paired that up with 8GB of RAM and NVMe flash storage. The Pixel 9 Pro is fueled by the Google Tensor G4 processor. That is Google’s new 4nm chip. That processor is paired with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 3.1 flash storage. Neither phone offers expandable storage, by the way.

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Apple’s chip is more powerful than Google’s, quite a bit more powerful. Google’s processor is adapted for Pixel phones, though, and it’s made with AI tasks in mind. In regular, day-to-day use, both of these smartphones are outstanding. They do everything you need them to without skipping a beat. Browsing, messaging, emailing, image editing, video processing, basically anything you can think of.

What about gaming? Well, the iPhone 16 Pro is the more powerful smartphone here, both in terms of the CPU and the GPU. It can easily run any game you’ll find on the App Store, even the most demanding ones. The Pixel 9 Pro does not have that much CPU and GPU prowess, but it can still run pretty much every game. Even the most demanding ones are playable, but you may not want to play them at the very highest details, as you’ll notice some limitations. Both smartphones do get quite warm during gaming, but not too warm.

Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Google Pixel 9 Pro: Battery

The iPhone 16 Pro features a 3,582mAh battery. That is not something Apple confirmed, but something that had to be checked once the phones became available. The Pixel 9 Pro, on the other hand, has a 4,700mAh battery on the inside. Android phones usually have larger batteries, so that’s perfectly normal. The thing is, both of these smartphones do offer really, really good battery life, so that’s not something you need to worry about.

At this point in time, we’re still working on our iPhone 16 Pro review, but have been using the phone for a while, and do know what to expect in terms of battery life. Both of these devices can get you through the day, even if you’re using them quite a bit. Getting to over 7 hours of screen-on-time is possible on both smartphones, depending on your usage. Do note that we didn’t really play games on the day we reached such numbers. Your mileage may, of course, vary, as there are many factors involved.

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The iPhone 16 Pro supports 38W wired charging, along with 25W MagSafe wireless, 15W Qi2 wireless, and 7.5W Qi wireless charging. On top of that, 5W reverse wired charging is also supported. The Pixel 9 Pro, on the other hand, supports 27W wired, 21W wireless with Pixel Stand, 12W Qi wireless, and 5W reverse wireless charging. Neither of these two phones includes a charger in the retail box, only the charging cable.

Apple iPhone 16 Pro vs Google Pixel 9 Pro: Cameras

You’ll find three cameras on the back of both of these smartphones. A 48-megapixel main camera (1/1.28-inch sensor) sits on the back of the iPhone 16 Pro. It’s backed by a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera, and a 12-megapixel periscope telephoto camera (1/3.06-inch sensor, 5x optical zoom). The Pixel 9 Pro includes a 50-megapixel main camera (1/1.31-inch sensor), a 48-megapixel ultrawide unit (1/2.55-inch sensor, 123-degree FoV), and a 48-megapixel periscope telephoto camera (5x optical zoom).

Google Pixel 9 Pro AM AH 31

Both of these smartphones are very capable in the camera department. The thing is, they do provide considerably different results. The iPhone 16 Pro prefers to offer images that have warmer color temperatures, images that are yellowish. The Pixel 9 Pro does the exact opposite, it prefers cooler tones, so the images do pull more towards the blue side of things. That’s a jarring difference that you’ll notice in many photos compared side-by-side. Google’s handset also loves to offer contrasty photos, while the iPhone 16 Pro tends to brighten up the shadows even during the day.

Both smartphones do a great job of keeping the photos vivid and sharp, though. Their secondary cameras do a good job of keeping the same color profile as their main cameras. We did prefer Google’s telephoto camera, though it was a close call. Both ultrawide cameras did a fantastic job. Both smartphones also do great when it comes to macro photography, though the iPhone 16 Pro left more of a positive experience there. The same goes for video recording.

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Audio

You will find a set of stereo speakers on both of these phones. Those speakers are more than loud enough on both phones, and they do offer audio output that is good in terms of quality too… well, for smartphones.

There is no audio jack on either one of these two phones. You can, however, take advantage of the Type-C port that sits on the bottom of both smartphones. If you prefer wireless connectivity instead, Bluetooth 5.3 is supported on both devices.

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How to stream using a VPN on your Google TV or Chromecast

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How to stream using a VPN on your Google TV or Chromecast

Google TV is an easy to use operating system that provides access to all of the best streaming services in one centralized location. But even if your smart TV runs a different OS, you can get access to Google TV easily by buying a Chromecast for as little as $30, or a new Google TV box for closer to $100. You may also not know that if you use a VPN with your Google TV set or Chromecast, you can access even more content. Here’s how to set up a VPN on Google TV or a Chromecast and why you may want to use one.

For streaming purposes, VPNs have one clear benefit: spoofing your IP address to that of a different country so that you can access geo-restricted content. If you use a VPN and connect to a different country’s server, you can access its content library on any streaming platform.

Let’s say you live in the US but want to watch some award-winning BBC documentaries on the BBC iPlayer streaming service. All BBC iPlayer content is free if you live in the UK, but blocked everywhere else. Using a VPN, you can connect to a UK VPN server and stream to your heart’s content.

VPNs also have considerable security benefits if you use them on your smartphone or PC. Purchasing a single subscription means you can use your VPN on any supported device, so we recommend you purchase one for its flexibility.

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Google TV doesn’t have many apps to install compared to other smart TV systems like Amazon’s Fire TV OS. Although this may seem like a disadvantage, it’s actually a blessing in disguise.

With VPNs, you want to ensure you invest in a quality and trustworthy product. There are many untested or free VPNs available that sell your data or falsify their encryption claims. Although this might not be a huge issue for streaming purposes alone, it generally poses massive security and privacy risks.

When installing a VPN on Google TV or Chromecast, we recommend the following VPN services:

We also have a guide to the best VPNs where we explain why we recommend them.

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It’s easy to use a VPN on your Google TV (and perhaps even easier on a Chromecast). Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to install one:

  1. Navigate to the Google Play Store on your Google TV.

  2. Search for the VPN you want to install (alternatively, search for the keyword “VPN” to view your options).

  3. Install the VPN.

  4. Log in or sign up.

  5. Navigate the country server list and connect.

Note that you can use your VPN on as many devices as it supports. So, once you’ve purchased a subscription, it’s wise to download it on as many platforms and devices you can to maximize your investment.

If you have a Chromecast, you can still enjoy the benefits of a VPN — you just need to use your smartphone or laptop in tandem with the streaming device. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Install a VPN on your smartphone or laptop.

  2. Make sure your Wi-Fi is enabled.

  3. Turn on the VPN on your smartphone/laptop.

  4. Connect your smartphone or laptop to your TV via Chromecast.

  5. Begin streaming your content.

Additional tip: VPNs also work with screencasting. As long as your smart TV is under the same Wi-Fi as the device you’re screencasting from, you can use the VPN securely.

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Don’t have Google TV? Good news: Robust VPN options (or alternatives) exist for the other major streaming platforms, too.

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