More Extreme Heat Events Predicted As The World Warms
A climate model predicts more places worldwide will experience dangerous "non-compensable" heat events as global temperatures rise. At just 2°C of warming, 25% more locations could see 6+ hours of wet bulb temperatures exceeding survivable limits for humans.
Key Facts & Points
- Wet bulb temperatures above 35°C for 6+ hours are considered the limit of human survivability.
- Some places like the Middle East already experience these conditions occasionally.
- At 2°C of warming, an additional 25% of locations with weather station data are predicted to exceed the 6-hour survivable limit.
- Areas unaccustomed to extreme heat like parts of the U.S. Midwest and East Coast may start to experience these events with more warming.
- For already hot regions like the Middle East, such extremes could become annual events.
Musk's Twitter Limits UAW's Reach as Auto Workers Strike
Elon Musk's Twitter revoked UAW's paid verification badge as auto workers began striking, limiting their reach. After backlash, the badge was reinstated.
Key Facts & Points
- Nearly 13,000 Ford, GM, and Stellantis workers went on strike after failing to reach a deal with UAW.
- UAW's paid Twitter verification was removed without notice, limiting reach.
- Move seen as union-busting by Musk, who has clashed with UAW over Tesla wages.
- Twitter later reinstated UAW's blue verification checkmark after backlash.
- Tesla has history of labor law violations and union-busting attempts.
Stability AI releases AI audio platform Stable Audio
Stability AI launched a new AI audio platform called Stable Audio that lets users generate songs and audio using text prompts. It uses a diffusion model trained on over 800,000 audio files. Stable Audio has free and paid tiers with different usage limits.
Key Facts & Points
- Stable Audio lets users generate songs and audio with AI using text prompts.
- It uses a diffusion model, similar to Stable Diffusion but trained on audio data.
- The model was trained on over 800,000 audio files totaling 19,500 hours.
- There are free and paid subscription tiers with different usage limits.
- Other companies like Meta and Google also have AI audio generation platforms.
X Still Throttles Competitors Like Facebook and Substack
The platform formerly known as Twitter, now called X, still slows down loading competitor sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Substack by two and a half seconds.
Key Facts & Points
- X puts a delay in place for sites of competitors Elon Musk has publicly criticized.
- Sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Substack take over 60 times longer to load than normal sites.
- Slow load times increase the chance users abandon a site.
- Throttling competitors may be an illegal anti-competitive tactic under EU regulations.
