Trees are known for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thus benefiting the climate. New research shows that they offer one more benefit. Microbes living in tree bark or in the wood itself remove atmospheric methane – a powerful greenhouse gas – on a scale equal to or above that of soil. This makes trees 10% more beneficial for climate overall than previously thought. The methane absorption was strongest in tropical forests, probably because microbes thrive in the warm, wet conditions found there.

Methane is responsible for around 30% of global warming, and emissions are currently rising fast, driven largely by human-related activities.

Until now, soil had been thought of as earth’s only terrestrial sink for methane, as soils are full of bacteria that absorb the gas and break it down for use as energy. But trees may be as important or more so. The study is the first to quantify the volume of atmospheric methane that, on a global scale, trees can remove – 24.6 to 49.9 million tonnes annually.

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Picture this: you’re relaxing in Trinity Bellwoods Park, Toronto (Canada), and you’re feeling hungry. Instead of using food delivery apps or waiting in long lines, you pull out your phone, and voilà! You’re greeted with floating ice creams, enticing food and drinks in 3D space, thanks to the WenuEats platform that lets chefs, bakers and culinary creators set up virtual storefronts. Stickers with QR codes are scattered around the park. Scan them with the Elysium app, and your phone transforms the park with realistic food and drinks, courtesy augmented reality (AR). Click on an item and it’s delivered to your spot in the park free of charge.

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Embark on an adventure in Roia – your goal is to guide a river from its humble beginnings all the way down to the sea. Sculpt the landscape by increasing or decreasing the terrain levels to create a perfect riverbed, guiding the water’s descent. A tiny bird flies alongside you, leading you through a variety of landscapes like mountains, forests and meadows. The bird will land at key areas, tweeting to let you know where in the terrain you should be aiming to guide the water. Accompanied by a piano score, Roia’s gameplay is challenging and relaxing at the same time.

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Friend is an AI-powered, always-listening, wearable, mostly an AI chatbot that lives inside a pendant. It doesn’t require a subscription and connects over Bluetooth. It always has an opinion to share about what’s going on around it, which it communicates to you via text messages and push notifications on the phone it’s paired to. Its onboard microphone listens to everything happening around you by default. You can tap and hold it to ask it a question, or sometimes it will send messages about the conversation you just had, unprompted. No audio or transcripts are stored past Friend’s context window, and data is end-to-end encrypted. All memories can be deleted with one click on the Friend app. Powered by Anthropic AI’s Claude 3.5 large language model, Friend has around 15 hours of battery life and comes in an array of colours. It is meant to develop a personality that complements you and is always there to encourage you, chat, brainstorm, analyze a problem, or just offer pure companionship.

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The oldest optical illusion in the world is in Tamil Nadu’s Airavatesvara Temple. The rishabha-kunjara (bull and elephant in Sanskrit) carving from Chola architecture is said to be 900 years old. In the carving, a bull and an elephant share the same head. The bull is Nandi, the sacred vehicle of Lord Shiva, while the elephant, Airavat, symbolizes the divine mount of Lord Indra, the king of heaven. The temple, located in Kumbakonam, was built by Rajaraja Chola II and is on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list of Great Living Chola Temples.

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Scientists have discovered the fossils of Haliskia peterseni, a formidable pterosaur (flying reptile), in the Australian state of Queensland.

Haliskia, meaning “sea phantom”, boasted a bony crest at the tip of its upper and lower jaws and a mouthful of spike-shaped teeth ideal for snaring fish and other marine prey, and soared above the now-vanished Eromanga Sea. It had a wingspan of 15 feet and lived about 100 million years ago.

22% of Haliskia’s skeleton was unearthed, with complete lower jaws, the tip of the upper jaw, throat bones, 43 teeth, vertebrae, ribs, bones from both wings and part of one leg.

Pterosaurs were the first of three vertebrate groups to achieve powered flight, appearing about 230 million years ago. They were wiped out in the same mass extinction event as the dinosaurs, 66 million years ago, following an asteroid strike.

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Otherweb provides handpicked news using advanced AI models to detect and filter misinformation, propaganda and clickbait titles. Select your interests to receive suggested relevant news. Swipe right if you like the suggestion, and swipe left if you don’t. Every article is first summarized in a few sentences to help you decide if you want to read it. Otherweb learns your preferences from your usage habits. Each article has a ‘nutrition’ label — you decide to ‘consume’ it based on metrics like article tone, hate speech, offensive language, attention-grabbing headline, etc. Use the adjustable sliders to increase quantity for more content from a category, or prioritize quality to only read the best articles. Free for iOS and Android.

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89-year-old Japanese retiree, Tomiji Suzuki, defied traditional views of retirement to embrace the complex world of programming and use ChatGPT to improve his skills. He has developed 11 free iPhone apps to help his fellow seniors, including his latest: a slideshow of items to remember when leaving the house, from a wallet and hearing aids to patient registration cards. He was inspired to create “Outing Prep Voice Slide Show” after realising he had forgotten his dentures just before boarding a bullet train. To develop the app, Suzuki asked ChatGPT approximately 1,000 coding-related questions. He hails ChatGPT as a “great teacher” and has even published a book on using it as a programming mentor.

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Designed for productivity, entertainment and companionship, Rux Robot aims to make your workspace fun. Android/Linux-powered and integrated with ChatGPT, Rux develops a unique personality after interacting with you over time. It can walk around your desktop, recognize your gestures and respond with a variety of expressions and actions on its 2.1” touchscreen. Its facial recognition and voice interaction capability allows you to communicate with it, initiate tasks, ask questions and receive responses in real-time. Boost your productivity with its built-in Pomodoro timer. Its Utility Screen displays weather updates, reminders, events, notifications and daily schedules. Rux connects to calls and messages; you can also make high-quality video calls directly from the robot. Relax your mind with its Meditation Assistance or enjoy games, jokes, singing, dancing and trivia. Rux integrates with smart devices, and supports Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 6. Its antenna or “ear” has a magnetic design, allowing for personalization with 3D printing. Rux’s appearance, voice, expressions, actions and sound effects can be tailored to match your style. Rux has 32GB internal storage, 4GB RAM, a 2650 mAh battery and a quad-core processor. Rux Home provides a wireless charging pad to which Rux can return to on its own.

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Gol Gumbaz in Bijapur, Karnataka, is known as the Taj Mahal of South India. One of the biggest free-standing domes and one of the largest single-chamber structures in the world, Gol Gumbaz was built as a mausoleum for Sultan Mohammed Adil Shah of the Adil Shahi dynasty in the mid-17th century. The structure features a cube (measuring 47 metres on each side) topped by a dome with a diameter of 44 metres supported by interlocking arches without any columns. A “whispering gallery” rings the interior of the dome, where the faintest sound is amplified, echoing back several times. Its single chamber covers 1,700 sq metres and sits atop the basement tombs of the sultan, his two wives, his mistress, his daughter and his grandson. Each corner of the tomb is guarded by a seven-storey-tall minaret.

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