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Climate Change Made Hurricane Melissa 4 Times More Likely, Study Suggests

WIRED

Unusually warm ocean temperatures fueled one of the worst hurricanes on record. New research finds climate change increased the storm's likelihood. Fueled by unusually warm waters, Hurricane Melissa this week turned into one of the strongest Atlantic storms ever recorded. Now a new rapid attribution study suggests human-induced climate change made the deadly tropical cyclone four times more likely. The storm, which reached Category 5, reserved for the hurricanes with the most powerful winds, has killed at least 40 people across the Caribbean so far.


Hurricane Melissa Has Meteorologists Terrified

WIRED

The storm, which is set to make landfall in Jamaica Tuesday, has stunned meteorologists with its intensity and the speed at which it built. Meteorologists who have spent the past few days monitoring the rapid development of Hurricane Melissa in the Atlantic Ocean are sounding the alarm about the storm, which is set to make landfall in Jamaica today as a Category 5 hurricane. The sustained--and growing--intensity of the storm is remarkable, experts say, and has the makings of a historic hurricane. "When I look at the cloud pattern, I will tell you as a meteorologist and professional--and a person--it is beautiful, but it is terrifying," says Sean Sublette, a meteorologist based in Virginia. "I know what is underneath those clouds."


This Is the Nuclear-Powered Ship Deployed in Trump's War on Drug Boats

WIRED

This Is the Nuclear-Powered Ship Deployed in Trump's War on Drug Boats The USS is a $13 billion aircraft carrier sailing to the Caribbean with nuclear propulsion, an electromagnetic plane launcher, and 90 aircraft onboard. The Pentagon has deployed the USS Gerald R. Ford in an anti-drug trafficking mission in the Caribbean. The USS, the US Navy's most advanced aircraft carrier, is heading to the Caribbean Sea as part of a Pentagon strategy it says is meant to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking in South America. The news was confirmed late last week by Sean Parnell, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, through his social networks . In his message, he explained that the deployment of the "will strengthen the United States' ability to detect, monitor and dismantle illicit actors and activities that compromise the security and prosperity of US territory, as well as our stability in the Western Hemisphere."


Storm Melissa to explode into Category 5 hurricane as models reveal its 'life-threatening' path to the US

Daily Mail - Science & tech

Billionaire Illinois Democrat governor caught in lie live on Fox News while trying to downplay Chicago's murder capital status Storm Melissa to explode into Category 5 hurricane as models reveal its'life-threatening' path to the US JAN MOIR: The Queen was blindly devoted to Prince Andrew... she raised a monster. The final hours of chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky - friends' desperate attempts to save him, warnings in final monologue and how he was haunted by sinister figure in hidden underworld. My wife won't get a job and I feel broken trying to provide for our family. Hold on, says DEAR CAROLINE... that's bad enough but your letter raises a MUCH bigger red flag Wild resurfaced Gilbert Arenas'snitching' claim goes viral in the wake of NBA mafia gambling scandal Inside the nondescript Virginia warehouse that wiped out the internet with one outage... and the neighbors who warn the next one is just a matter of time Fury as'insane' GM kills much-loved feature from upcoming cars as rival Ford doubles down I know all the secrets of the NBA legends' betting scandal. I think I've discovered Meghan's secret plan for if - or when - William strips away the Sussexes' royal titles: SHARON HUNT Disney fans left devastated after theme park dramatically'scales back' on its villains Doctor's $1M show of loyalty for murderer husband after he let adorable daughter, 2, die in roasting car as he watched adult videos Storm Melissa to explode into Category 5 hurricane as models reveal its'life-threatening' path to the US Tropical Storm Melissa is expected to strengthen into a life-threatening Category 5 hurricane that could swerve into the northeastern US in just days.


Warning over 'life-threatening' storm brewing in Atlantic that could hit US

Daily Mail - Science & tech

Doctor's husband'was watching X-rated videos in his house while daughter, two, died in roasting car outside' Dems hand out'Is he dead yet?' bracelet to child at Wisconsin farmers' market Warning over'life-threatening' storm brewing in Atlantic that could hit US Bella Hadid's health battle takes dark turn: Loved ones reveal hellish new details about'missing' model... as ominous texts emerge Florida's housing market is flashing a warning for the rest of the US America's saddest lost soul can no longer SPEAK and spends days hitting herself'after years of unspeakable abuse by gangs of men' Pete Hegseth's jet makes emergency landing after high-stakes NATO summit on Russia-Ukraine war'You will DIE if you do not remove your breasts', doctors screamed at me. I refused and tried a new experimental therapy instead... now I'm cancer-free Now scientists redefine'obese' - and they've made up to 60% more people'fat' Will Trump's Gaza peace deal fail? Policy expert MARK DUBOWITZ breaks down all the forces at play... and how the president can actually pull this off Shocking moment brazen gunman opens fire at Michigan businessman's Land Rover in daylight attack Astonishing interactive map lays bare where MILLIONS of homes will be submerged by water within a few years... are YOU at risk? America's most renowned'prophet' makes startling prediction about alien'mothership' Ugly divorce war between Mitt Romney's wealthy brother and estranged wife before she was found dead Virginia Guiffre calls Prince Andrew'entitled' and claims duke saw having sex with her as his'birthright' in autobiography released after her death Warning over'life-threatening' storm brewing in Atlantic that could hit US Meteorologists issued an alert on Thursday, warning of a tropical system forming in the Atlantic that could pose a threat in the coming weeks . AccuWeather is tracking a tropical wave off the coast of Africa, which is expected to reach the eastern Caribbean islands late this weekend. Tropical waves are clusters of scattered showers and thunderstorms that form over Africa or the Indian Ocean and slowly move west across the Atlantic Ocean.


Latam-GPT: The Free, Open Source, and Collaborative AI of Latin America

WIRED

Latam-GPT is new large language model being developed in and for Latin America. The project, led by the nonprofit Chilean National Center for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA), aims to help the region achieve technological independence by developing an open source AI model trained on Latin American languages and contexts. "This work cannot be undertaken by just one group or one country in Latin America: It is a challenge that requires everyone's participation," says Álvaro Soto, director of CENIA, in an interview with WIRED en Español. "Latam-GPT is a project that seeks to create an open, free, and, above all, collaborative AI model. We've been working for two years with a very bottom-up process, bringing together citizens from different countries who want to collaborate. Recently, it has also seen some more top-down initiatives, with governments taking an interest and beginning to participate in the project."


Data Enrichment Work and AI Labor in Latin America and the Caribbean

Williams, Gianna, Santos, Maya De Los, To, Alexandra, Savage, Saiph

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

The global AI surge demands crowdworkers from diverse languages and cultures. They are pivotal in labeling data for enabling global AI systems. Despite global significance, research has primarily focused on understanding the perspectives and experiences of US and India crowdworkers, leaving a notable gap. To bridge this, we conducted a survey with 100 crowdworkers across 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries. We discovered that these workers exhibited pride and respect for their digital labor, with strong support and admiration from their families. Notably, crowd work was also seen as a stepping stone to financial and professional independence. Surprisingly, despite wanting more connection, these workers also felt isolated from peers and doubtful of others' labor quality. They resisted collaboration and gender-based tools, valuing gender-neutrality. Our work advances HCI understanding of Latin American and Caribbean crowdwork, offering insights for digital resistance tools for the region.


Back Home: A Machine Learning Approach to Seashell Classification and Ecosystem Restoration

Valverde, Alexander, Solano, Luis

arXiv.org Artificial Intelligence

In Costa Rica, an average of 5 tons of seashells are extracted from ecosystems annually. Confiscated seashells, cannot be returned to their ecosystems due to the lack of origin recognition. To address this issue, we developed a convolutional neural network (CNN) specifically for seashell identification. We built a dataset from scratch, consisting of approximately 19000 images from the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. Using this dataset, the model achieved a classification accuracy exceeding 85%. The model has been integrated into a user-friendly application, which has classified over 36,000 seashells to date, delivering real-time results within 3 seconds per image. To further enhance the system's accuracy, an anomaly detection mechanism was incorporated to filter out irrelevant or anomalous inputs, ensuring only valid seashell images are processed.


A Controversial Facial-Recognition Company Quietly Expands Into Latin America

TIME - Tech

For the past three months, a small encrypted group chat of Latin American officials who investigate online child-exploitation cases has been lighting up with reports of raids, arrests, and rescued minors in half a dozen countries. The successes are the result of a recent trial of a facial-recognition tool given to a group of Latin American law-enforcement officials, investigators, and prosecutors by the American company Clearview AI. During a five-day operation in Ecuador in early March, participants from 10 countries including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Peru were given access to Clearview's technology, which allows them to upload images and run them through a database of billions of public photos scraped from the Internet. "Normally it takes at least several days for a child to be identified, and sometimes there are victims that have not been identified for years," says Guillermo Galarza Abizaid, the vice president in charge of partnerships and law enforcement at the Virginia-based nonprofit International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC), which organized the event. The group used the facial-recognition tool to analyze a total of 2,198 images and 995 videos, hundreds of them from cold cases.


Low-carbon milk to AI irrigation: tech startups powering Latin America's green revolution

The Guardian

Leo Prieto's passion for nature started during his childhood by the sea. "I was obsessed with what was under the surface. I'd anchor myself to a rock with my snorkel, and I was fascinated by all the little animals doing things that go unnoticed." His teenage years coincided with the arrival of the internet in Chile, where he became a web pioneer, launching and selling several startups. Inevitably, his interests in the environment, the internet and business merged, driven by the feeling that technological advances should not be wasted.