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Meet Henry Xie: The 17-year-old Portland student whose method made smaller AI models more empathetic in at least 90% of tests

A 17-year-old student from Portland, Oregon, has developed a two-step training method that helps small artificial intelligence models copy the empathetic communication style of much larger systems. The method achieved higher empathy ratings in at least 90 per cent of comparison tests. Henry Xie, a senior at Westview High School in Portland, created the computer…

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Former CIA official David Rush, found with 303 gold bars worth over $40 million, reaches plea agreement in principle as prosecutors cite classified-material litigation

Federal prosecutors and attorneys for former Central Intelligence Agency official David Rush have reached a plea agreement in principle, stopping proceedings before a grand jury indictment in a case involving $40 million in stolen gold bars and classified operations. A joint court filing submitted to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of…

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In 1837, New Zealand imported possums for a fur trade; 189 years later, aerial photos show they have damaged about half the vulnerable trees in one rare South Island forest

PossumsRepresentative image In 1837, New Zealand introduced Australian brushtail possums in the hope of building a profitable fur industry. The animals were expected to provide valuable pelts and help create a new rural economy, but the experiment had consequences that stretched far beyond anyone’s expectations. Nearly two centuries later, possums have become one of the…

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Palo Alto built San Francisco Bay’s first horizontal levee to reuse treated wastewater; the 500-foot living slope restores marsh habitat and tests defenses against sea-level rise

Palo Alto’s 500-foot living levee reuses treated wastewater to restore marsh habitat and fight seas (Image Credit: City of Palo Alto) A shoreline defence can be more than a wall. In Palo Alto, California, engineers have built a broad, gently sloping landscape designed to protect the coast while functioning like a living ecosystem. The project…

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In 1995, just 51 rare snakes survived on one tiny Caribbean island; 21 years later their population topped 1,100 | World News

In 1995, the Antiguan racer was perilously close to disappearing from the wild. Just 51 of these rare Caribbean snakes were estimated to survive, all confined to tiny Great Bird Island off the coast of Antigua. The species had little room to recover. Yet what followed became an extraordinary conservation turnaround. Over the next 21…

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Since 2000, Marc Benioff and his wife bought more than 600 acres in Hawaii worth nearly $100 million; they later donated 440 acres for affordable housing, starting with 43 homes

Benioff had been buying property in Hawaii for years, but his focus changed after the pandemic began (Bloomberg photo) Since 2000, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and his wife, Lynne Benioff, have bought more than 600 acres of land in Hawaii worth nearly $100 million. Much of the land is in and around Waimea, a rural…

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In 2023, Reed Hastings invested $100 million to become majority owner of Utah’s Powder Mountain; he is now spending another $200 million as the resort expands public and private skiing

Hastings became the controlling owner of Powder Mountain in 2023 after investing $100 million (Image Credit: Powder Haven) What happens when a Netflix co-founder turns his attention from streaming to skiing? For Reed Hastings, it has meant taking control of one of Utah’s largest ski areas and attempting to reshape how a mountain resort operates….

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In 2016, NSW began fencing feral cats and foxes out of three reserves; 10 years later, 13 locally extinct species had returned, some after 100+ years, and were breeding again

Thirteen native animal species that had become locally extinct in New South Wales have returned and started breeding again across three major conservation reserves. The recovery comes a decade after state authorities built large predator-proof fences to keep out feral cats and foxes. The results come from a 10-year conservation partnership involving the NSW National…

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