A study suggests pigeons navigate using iron-rich immune cells in their livers that can respond to Earth’s magnetic field. The findings may solve a decades-old mystery about bird navigation and reveal a surprising new sensory role for the immune system. Pigeons are famous for their ability to travel long distances and still find their way [...]Anthropic expanded the reach of its Mythos AI model to an additional 150 companies across 15 countries but stated each will need to meet its security requirements before they gain access.
Anthropic introduced its Claude Mythos model on 7 April, under the auspices of its Project Glasswing to a limited number of technology companies including Amazon Web Services, Apple, T-Mobile US, AT&T, Nvidia and Google, instead of making it publicly available.
The company stated the new cohort features industries which were underrepresented in the first batch. It now includes power grids, water systems, healthcare networks, communications providers, and hardware manufacturers.
Anthropic stated for most of the Project Glasswing partners, a successful cyberattack on their codebases could affect more than 100 million people.
It also noted many of the new partners are vendors, companies or nonprofits that maintain codebases which are relied upon by numerous organisations around the world, including governments.
The company expects within six-to-12 months, many other AI developers will have models comparable to Mythos Preview and stated, “they could release them without safeguards that prevent misuse”.
Results from the first cohort are already in. Project Glasswing partners have collectively surfaced more than 10,000 high-or critical-severity security vulnerabilities in the first few weeks.
The AI player stated the bottleneck in cybersecurity is now verifying, disclosing, and patching the large numbers of vulnerabilities which Mythos-class models can surface.
It noted many of Project Glasswing’s partners now use the model to write patches, as well as for pre-release checks which prevent vulnerabilities from appearing in the first place.
The expansion came a day after the Anthropic stated it will start offering Mythos access to the European Union’s cybersecurity division.
It also confidentially filed its initial public offering prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of rival OpenAI.
The post Anthropic expands Mythos access to 150 new companies appeared first on Mobile World Live.
The chief executive of Blue Origin, whose large New Glenn rocket exploded spectacularly less than a week ago at the company's launch site in Florida, vowed Monday night that the company would launch again before the end of 2026.
Writing on the social media site X, Blue Origin's Dave Limp said the company had been able to complete a preliminary survey of the LC-36A launch site.
"Now that we’ve had access to the pad and integration facility, we can share a bit of good news," Limp said. "The propellant farm, oxygen, liquid hydrogen and LNG tanks are all in good shape. This is good luck because these are very long lead items. The water tower is also good."
© Blue Origin
For captive animals, engaging in natural behaviour is a pillar of the animal welfare framework. But when it comes to sex, one important behaviour has been largely ignored, and sometimes even punished: masturbation.
Solo sex is surprisingly common across the animal kingdom. It is well documented in primates. Tortoises are surprisingly vocal during their solo lovemaking endeavours, if not very graceful. Camels masturbate by rubbing their penises in the sand and porcupines make inventive use of all sorts of objects.
Our new study could change how other scientists view masturbation in birds and improve their welfare.
Masturbation also seems to be common in birds. A quick internet search brings up an abundance of video clips on social media and dedicated posts on bird-keeping forums, largely from worried or bemused hobbyist bird keepers.
It has often been treated as an abnormal problem behaviour in captive birds (particularly parrots). Folklore husbandry has assumed it is the undesirable outcome of stress, bad health or poor environment. Bird keepers often therefore discourage masturbation via punishment or veterinary interventions such as diet or care changes and, sometimes, even drugs and surgery. Despite the welfare implications, masturbation in birds had been largely unexplored by the scientific community.
We set out to change that, by investigating the distribution and evolutionary history of masturbation in birds for the first time. We studied 120 species of bird across 22 major groups, gathering data from the scattered scientific literature, online reports and community forums, and surveys of bird experts.
Our study found that masturbation is widespread across birds with a strong evolutionary history, meaning that it’s an ancient trait probably similar in closely related species. Although we found more records of masturbation in male birds, it occurs in both sexes and across all age groups.
Solo sex also seems to be linked to species that mate with multiple partners, supporting the idea that it might help to increase reproductive success when there is a high degree of competition over fertilisation. For instance, in males it may flush out old sperm to leave newer (better condition) sperm for mating. In females it may increase sexual arousal to help with sneak mating with males other than their partner.
Crucially, we discovered that masturbation is actually less common in captivity than the wild, and more common in birds reared by their own parents than by humans. What this tells us is that masturbation in birds is neither an unnatural behaviour, nor a consequence of captivity. Given this finding, it is important that birds are not prevented from masturbation. Of course, as with any behaviour, there may be extreme cases where chronic masturbation could indicate underlying health or husbandry issues.
Avian self-pleasure is usually a rather inelegant affair, in which a bird rubs their cloaca (a shared orifice for both excretion and reproduction) against an object, like a branch, twig or toy. This is often accompanied by a lot of flapping and self-satisfied vocalisation.
One potential reason for the lack of scientific studies exploring avian masturbation may be because the cloaca is thought to have fewer nerve clusters, and therefore lower sensitivity, than our own genitals.
Clearly however, birds are getting some satisfaction from masturbation, so perhaps there is more to a bird’s sensations during sex than has previously been recognised. Further exploration of this could have important implications for both welfare and captive breeding programmes. While sexual pleasure may not be exactly the same experience as for mammals, it is wildly premature to dismiss the idea that birds also feel pleasure.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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New evidence suggests calcium and vitamin D supplements may do far less to prevent fractures and falls than widely believed. Calcium and vitamin D supplements, whether taken separately or together, provide little to no meaningful benefit in preventing fractures or falls in most older adults, according to a major review published in The BMJ. Nearly [...]
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