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Scientists film footage of extremely ancient deep sea creatures

Mashable

A deep sea mission, undertaken by the Ocean Exploration Trust aboard their 223-foot vessel (E/V) Nautilus, recently spotted four nautilus individuals. Creatures similar to these modern-day nautiloids -- swimming mollusks residing in large shells -- have been around on Earth for some 500 million years, evolving much earlier than the dinosaurs. Today, the creatures aren't easy to find. The Ocean Trust explorers have endeavored into the deep sea for 15 years and taken over 1,000 dives with their remotely operated vehicle. But these are the first nautiloids they've spotted.


Latest drone footage captures 'sophisticated' UFOs interacting with each other over New Jersey

Daily Mail - Science & tech

The latest footage of bizarre drones in New Jersey captured several craft orbiting each other over Somerset County, while at least 12 counties have reported sightings. The video, released this week, shows three'mystery drones in the air' as two move extremely close as if they are interacting with each other and the third hovered for'about 15 minutes.' New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said Monday night that the drones are'very sophisticated, explaining: 'The minute we get eyes on them [the drones], they go dark.' 'I don't blame people for being frustrated,' Gov Murphy continued, adding that he had spent most of Sunday coordinating on the issue with both the White House and the US Department of Homeland Security in the hope of getting answers. He said that the state received 49 sighting reports on Sunday night alone, with hundreds of locals sharing experiences on social media platforms. On Monday, Picatinny Arsenal, the Army facility in Morris County, confirmed it has had 11 sightings of'UFOs' over in its airspace in recent weeks.


Chinese citizen charged with flying drone over key US military, NASA rocket launch base, taking photos

FOX News

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., opens up about the aerial systems spotted in the Garden State on'The Story.' A Chinese citizen living in Los Angeles allegedly flew a drone and took aerial images of Vandenberg Space Force Base last month, federal prosecutors said Monday. Yinpiao Zhou, 39, was arrested this week at the San Francisco International Airport prior to boarding a China-bound flight, the Justice Department said. He is charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation and violation of national defense airspace. On Nov. 30, drone detections systems at the military installation in Santa Barbara County detected a drone flying over the base, prosecutors said.


General Motors pulls plug on robotaxi project

BBC News

GM attributed the change of strategy to "the considerable time and resources that would be needed to scale the business". The company did not say how many Cruise employees could be moved over to GM. GM, which owns about 90% of Cruise, said it has agreements with other shareholders that will raise its ownership to more than 97%. In December 2023, Cruise said it would cut 900 jobs, about a quarter of its workforce. The announcement came as safety officials were investigating the firm after reports of injuries to pedestrians. Cruise had earlier pulled all of its US vehicles from testing after California halted its driverless testing permit.


Multi-agent path finding in continuous environments

AIHub

Imagine if all of our cars could drive themselves – autonomous driving is becoming possible, but to what extent? To get a vehicle somewhere by itself may not seem so tricky if the route is clear and well defined, but what if there are more cars, each trying to get to a different place? And what if we add pedestrians, animals and other unaccounted for elements? This problem has recently been increasingly studied, and already used in scenarios such as warehouse logistics, where a group of robots move boxes in a warehouse, each with its own goal, but all moving while making sure not to collide and making their routes – paths – as short as possible. Multi-agent path finding describes a problem where we have a group of agents – robots, vehicles or even people – who are each trying to get from their starting positions to their goal positions all at once without ever colliding (being in the same position at the same time).


General Motors Cuts Funding to Cruise, Nixing Its Robotaxi Plan

WIRED

Since General Motors acquired the San Francisco self-driving-tech developer Cruise in 2016, the Detroit automaker has poured more than 8 billion into creating a robotaxi service. Now GM is turning off the spigot. On a call with investors today, General Motors CEO Mary Barra said the company would no longer invest in Cruise and its robotaxi services. Instead, GM says it will combine Cruise's efforts on autonomy with its own teams focused on driver-assistance features. Eventually, the combined team will build "personal" autonomous vehicles, the chief executive said.


Jets' Aaron Rodgers shares thoughts on drones flying over New Jersey: 'What the hell is that?'

FOX News

Fox News Flash top sports headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers lives in New Jersey and has noticed the drones recently flying throughout the state. "Do you know what's been going on in Jersey lately? There's been some crazy things going on. There is some drones in the sky," Rodgers said during a recent appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show."


GM ends support for Cruise robotaxis

Engadget

GM is giving up on its Cruise robotaxi subsidiary. The company announced today that it will fold Cruise into its own in-house technical team. Under the new strategy, this single unit will focus for now on developing advanced driver assistance programs, and in the future on fully autonomous personal vehicles. GM acquired Cruise in 2016. However, the robotaxi brand faced intense scrutiny last year after a pedestrian in San Francisco was struck and dragged by one of its driverless cars.


China's sci-fi spherical Death Star-like robot cop uses AI, facial recognition to track criminals

FOX News

Kepler's Forerunner K2 represents the fifth generation of its humanoid robot technology. Footage from the streets of China captured a scene straight from a science fiction novel – spherical drones alongside patrolling law enforcement. Chinese robotics company, Logon Technology, unveiled the RT-G autonomous spherical robot in a release, saying it was a "technological breakthrough" designed to assist and even replace humans in dangerous environments. The spherical robots are capable of operating both on land and water. The robots can reach speeds of up to 35km/h (approximately 22 mph) and withstand impact damage of up to 8,818 pounds (4 tons), the company said.


FBI leader says it's 'concerning' how little his agency knows about mysterious drones seen over New Jersey

FOX News

Fox News contributor Brett Velicovich discusses House Subcommittee on Aerial Systems' role in investigating multiple sightings in the Garden State on'America Reports.' A top FBI leader revealed the agency knows concerningly little about the mysterious drones that have been seen hovering over New Jersey. Asked if Americans are "at risk," FBI Assistant Director of the Critical Incident Response Group Robert Wheeler told Congress: "There is nothing that is known that would lead me to say that, but we just don't know. Dozens of drones have been spotted flying near sensitive sites like a military research facility in recent weeks. The FBI has been investigating the incidents and has called on the public for additional information. According to Gov. Phil Murphy, there were 49 reports of drones on Sunday alone, mostly in Hunterdon County. The FBI assistant director's comments came during a joint hearing of two Homeland Security subcommittees on unmanned aerial systems. "We do not attribute that to an individual or a group yet.