The Cognitive Buffer Hypothesis (CBH) posits that larger brains evolved to enhance survival in changing conditions. However, larger brains also carry higher energy demands, imposing additional metabolic burdens. Alongside brain size, brain organization plays a key role in cognitive ability and, with suitable architectures, may help mitigate energy challenges. This study evolves Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) used by Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents to investigate how environmental variability and energy costs influence the evolution of neural complexity, defined in terms of ANN size and structure. Results indicate that under energy constraints, increasing seasonality led to smaller ANNs. This challenges CBH and supports the Expensive Brain Hypothesis (EBH), as highly seasonal environments reduced net energy intake and thereby constrained brain size. ANN structural complexity primarily emerged as a byproduct of size, where energy costs promoted the evolution of more efficient networks.

The world's first assisted suicide pod wraps around the human body like a space capsule, tilting gently towards the sky. The device is designed to look as if the person inside is embarking on a journey, says its inventor, the Australian right-to-die activist Philip Nitschke. "It gives you the idea you're saying goodbye to the world." Last month, the 3D-printed pod was used for the first time. In a forest on the Swiss-German border, an unnamed 64-year-old American woman pressed the pod's button to release deadly nitrogen gas.

My colleague Charlotte embarked on an experiment during the pandemic. She created digital versions of her parents. They're voice assistants constructed by the company HereAfter AI, powered by more than four hours of conversations they each had with an interviewer about their lives and memories. Technology like this, which lets you "talk" to people who've died, has been a mainstay of science fiction for decades. While Charlotte's real, flesh-and-blood parents are still alive and well, their avatars offer a glimpse at a world where it's possible to converse with loved ones--or simulacra of them--long after they're gone.

Let me introduce you to Philip Nitschke, also known as "Dr. Death" or "the Elon Musk of assisted suicide." Nitschke has a curious goal: He wants to "demedicalize" death and make assisted suicide as unassisted as possible through technology. As my colleague Will Heaven reports, Nitschke has developed a coffin-size machine called the Sarco. People seeking to end their lives can enter the machine after undergoing an algorithm-based psychiatric self-assessment.

A coffin-size pod with Star Trek stylings, the Sarco is the culmination of Nitschke's 25-year campaign to "demedicalize death" through technology. Sealed inside the machine, a person who has chosen to die must answer three questions: Who are you? And do you know what will happen when you press that button? Here's what will happen: The Sarco will fill with nitrogen gas. Its occupant will pass out in less than a minute and die by asphyxiation in around five.

Microsoft on Monday reminded customers running Windows 7 that they have just three years of support remaining, told them that the aged OS was "long outdated" and urged them to upgrade to Windows 10. Windows 7 will exit what Microsoft calls Extended Support on Jan. 14, 2020; at that point, the company will stop all security updates. Microsoft used the three-years-and-counting milestone to simultaneously denigrate Windows 7 and promote its successor. "Windows 7 is based on long-outdated security architectures," said Markus Nitschke, the head of Microsoft Germany, in a post to a German-language company blog, adding that the OS "does not meet the requirements of modern technology, nor the high security requirements of IT departments." On the other hand, Nitschke continued, "with Windows 10, we offer our customers the highest level of security and functionality at the cutting edge." Three years ago, the company used some of the same tactics when it disparaged Windows XP, whose retirement was then quickly approaching, and trumpeted Windows 7 as its replacement.