Lionsgate has released an action-packed trailer for The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping—a sequel to 2023’s Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and a prequel leading into the events of the first film, The Hunger Games (2012). In addition, Laika Studios released a trailer for its highly anticipated stop-motion animated feature, Wildwood.
(Some spoilers for The Hunger Games below.)
The main protagonist is a young Haymitch Abernathy, future District 12 mentor to Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). Woody Harrelson’s older Haymitch is a fan favorite who later becomes a jaded, drunken (yet secretly hopeful) cynic. Per the official synopsis:
Les banques de semences sont censées préserver une partie de notre patrimoine agricole pendant des décennies, voire bien davantage. Mais combien de temps ces graines peuvent-elles réellement rester capables de germer ? Une vaste analyse menée en Australie apporte une réponse moins rassurante...
The first console I ever bought, it was hyped as a threat to the PlayStation, then mocked as a flop. But now, as it marks its 25th anniversary, it’s looked back on with misty-eyed reverence
This week marks the 25th anniversary of the Nintendo GameCube, the first console I ever bought with my own money. I vividly remember getting on the bus after school with a year’s worth of savings safely zipped into the pocket of my bag and going to a branch of Currys, where I dumped a bunch of notes, coins and vouchers on the counter to collect my pre-order. (It turned out that some of the vouchers from the previous Christmas had expired, but the guy at the checkout clearly felt so sorry for me that he redeemed them anyway. If you’re out there, Currys guy: thank you for taking pity on a desperate 13-year-old.)
If it hadn’t been for the ill-fated Wii U console, whose failure to take off in 2012 resulted in the first unprofitable periods in Nintendo’s game-making history, the GameCube would be remembered as the company’s biggest flop aside from the infamous Virtual Boy, from 1995. Released in Japan this week in 2001 (and in May 2002 in Europe), this surprisingly powerful purple cube sold less than the Xbox and the PlayStation 2. With its squat, colourful form and unusual controller, arranged around a big traffic-light-green A button and small analogue sticks designed for small hands, it had a hint of Fisher-Price about it.
The virtual character, which is promoting its upcoming movie Misaligned, tries to evade politics by repetitively commenting on the clothes you’re wearing.
Stanford University scientists say experiments on ancient Chinesestone tools, including 15,000-year-old hand axes, have solved a longstanding mystery about the critical technological transition from rudimentary hand tools to more versatile ground-edged tools, suggesting these new technologies enabled uses beyond food harvesting.
The research team behind the new analysis said the discovery of ground-edged sickles and knives in Neolithic North China, likely used for fiber production and harvesting, combined with their replica-based experiments, highlights the growing technological capabilities of the transition between Paleolithic and Neolithic peoples.
“The combined experimental and archaeological evidence from the site of Peiligang indicates that the emergence of ground-edged tools marked a significant step in technological specialization from the Late Pleistocene to the Early Holocene,” the researchers write in a paper detailing the work.
Mysterious Technological Transition Hidden in 15,000-Year-Old Stone Tools
According to lead author Ran Chen and colleagues, archaeologists widely regard ground-edged cutting tools like the modern sickle as “technological hallmarks of early agriculture in North China.” However, they note, the functional foundations of this advanced toolmaking capability “remain insufficiently tested.”
The research team also noted that most analyses of the transition from the Upper Paleolithic to the Early Neolithic (ca. 15,000–8,000 BP) in ancient China have viewed tools through “the lens of food production.”
“Within this framework, cutting tools, including early flakes and blades and later ground-edged sickles and knives, are often interpreted primarily as implements for harvesting cereals through cutting stems and leaves,” they explained.
The researchers said these earlier findings made them wonder whether this “food-focused perspective” could have led researchers to miss the broader range of plant resource exploitation possibilities in some of the 15,000-year-old stone tools previously discovered, prompting their replica-based experiments.
“The development of stone tool technology in North China provides a framework for reassessing this long-term relationship between plant use and technological change,” they explained.
Experiments Reveal Ground-Edged Tools Were Multifunctional Implements
To test their hypothesis, Chen and colleagues analyzed 140 stone artifacts previously collected from the Peiligang site in Henan Province, China. This included some 15,000-year-old Upper Paleolithic flaked stone tools and several more advanced Early Neolithic flaked and ground-edged stone tools.
Rather than test irreplaceable artifacts, the study authors created realistic experimental replicas.
A researcher demonstrates the use of an experimental sickle replica to harvest velvet leaf (Image Credit: Ran Chen).
Testing the effectiveness of the oldest, most rudimentary stone flake designs and the more technologically advanced ground-edged tools for harvesting seed-bearing grasses, the researchers found little measurable advantage between the two designs.
However, when the researchers compared the 15,000-year-old stone flake tools against ground-edged tools made thousands of years later, they found the more technologically advanced tools were “significantly more efficient at cutting thick-stemmed weeds and fiber-yielding plants.”
“Upper Paleolithic flaked tools were multifunctional implements used for processing diverse plant and animal materials, and Early Neolithic flakes continued to serve similarly flexible roles,” the study authors explain. “In contrast, Early Neolithic ground- edged tools show marked specialization in plant- related tasks.”
More Advanced Tools Emerged Through Broader Functional Demands
When discussing the experimental results, the team noted that their findings were supported by microfiber and starch residues found on some of the ancient tools, suggesting that “ground- edged sickles and knives were used not only for plant foods but also for harvesting and processing fibrous plants.”
“These findings indicate that ground- edged cutting tools emerged through broader functional demands, including fiber production, and potentially vegetation clearance, rather than cereal harvesting alone,” they explained.
Beyond the food-harvesting uses of ground-edged tools, Chen and colleagues said their identification of non-food plant labor like fiber production as an important driver of technological evolution and specialization “reframes the emergence of ground- edged tools as part of a broader technological and economic reorganization in early Holocene East Asia.”
“These findings identify nonfood plant work as an important contributor to the adoption of ground-edged cutting tools and show that tools conventionally linked to early agriculture were shaped by broader demands than food production alone,” they explained.
Finally, the study authors suggested that their analysis of 15,000-year-old Chinese stone tools could “invite renewed attention” to ancient fiber-based economies and nonfood plant use during forager–farmer transitions and in early farming societies beyond China.
Christopher Plain has spent the last six years as Associate News Editor and Head Science Reporter at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his novels at plainfiction.com, or email him at christopher@thedebrief.org.
Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 novel, Station Eleven, turned her into something of a pandemic prophet. Her new novel, Exit Party, imagines two possible American futures—totalitarian state and post-civil-war chaos.
The distinctively British RPG is returning courtesy of the makers of Forza Horizon – with comedy talent such as Richard Ayoade and Natasia Demetriou voicing sweary characters. We had our first play and spoke to its developer
When Playground Games was founded in 2010, its objective was straightforward: to make the best cars in video games. Operating out of an unassuming white building in Leamington Spa, the studio sought to challenge Gran Turismo with its critically acclaimed British racing alternative: the acclaimed free-roaming Forza Horizon series. Yet as the team grew, so did their ambitions. Now they are making the most intriguing British fantasy game we have seen in many years.
For those who have never ventured into Albion, Fable is a quintessentially British role playing game. Created by Lionhead Studios for the original Xbox in 2004, it boasted cheeky charm alongside world-altering player choices, and its droll writing was brought to life in later iterations by national treasures such as Stephen Fry and Simon Pegg. Thanks to its unique blend of farce and fantasy, Fable grew into a globally beloved franchise – before Microsoft unceremoniously shuttered Lionhead in 2016, after mandating that the studio turn its star series into a multiplayer game. The result, Fable Legends, was never released.
The subversive bacchanal for San Francisco’s eccentric underground is ageing out amid an influx of the super-rich
Burning Man, the infamous arts festival in the Nevada desert, turned 40 this year, and it’s showing some distinct signs of middle age.
It’s not just the tech billionaires who show up to party, the chartered flights straight to the desert or the HBO documentary about behind-the-scenes power struggles. The tens of thousands of people who assemble each year to create a tent city in the wilderness appear to be growing older, and it doesn’t seem that they’re being replaced by as many younger “burners”, as festival participants are called.
Au début du XXe siècle, il reste encore sur Terre des endroits capables de nourrir tous les fantasmes d’exploration. Parmi eux, un désert blanc où le moindre choix peut décider de la survie. Plus d’un siècle après une course devenue mythique, une bande dessinée replonge dans cette aventure où...
Billions of people still suffer from hunger and food insecurity worldwide. Meanwhile, microbial contamination causes a third of global food waste annually, resulting in major economic losses and illnesses. Although antibiotics and pesticides help control contamination, their excessive use can promote bacterial resistance or leave toxic residues.
One alternative uses materials that generate highly reactive forms of oxygen when exposed to light, called photocatalysts, to prolong food freshness. These molecules kill bacteria by damaging their cell components in a process called photodynamic inactivation or PDI. However, current PDI systems rely on energy-intensive lasers and long exposure times because the bacteria’s protective cell membranes block reactive oxygen molecules. As a result, the systems don’t kill bacteria effectively and risk overheating food, affecting its freshness and nutritional value.
Scientists at Zhejiang University in China thought that it would be possible to achieve a PDI system using accessible, free sunlight with the right photocatalyst. Moreover, they also wanted to integrate this photocatalyst into food packaging to combat microbes during storage.
To make the photocatalyst, the researchers mixed water with a glue-like plant fiber that provides structural support, called pectin, and a chemical from plant seeds that supplies phosphorus, called phytic acid. Then they heated the mixture in a sealed reactor at 220ºC (428ºF) for 5 hours to form tiny structures composed of a carbon core surrounded by a phosphorus-rich shell called phosphorus-modified carbonized polymer dots or PCDs.
To incorporate the PCDs into film packaging, the researchers dissolved equal amounts of a plant fiber from konjac, called glucomannan,and another plant-derived molecule, called carboxymethylcellulose, in warm water to form a network of entangled molecular chains. Then, they added 1.5 milligrams of PCD per milliliter to this mixture, which linked the chains together like molecular fasteners. Finally, they added a moisture-binding chemical called glycerin to prevent brittleness. The researchers cast this mixture onto separate Petri dishes and dried them, forming thin, plastic-like PCD films.
To test the films, the researchers placed Escherichia coli bacteria between 2 sterilized film sheets and exposed the samples to either darkness or simulated sunlight for 20 minutes. They then transferred the microbes onto agar plates and incubated them for 15 hours, allowing surviving bacteria to form visible colonies. They compared the number of bacterial colonies with those of untreated samples to calculate the percentage of bacteria the films eliminated in each environment.
Tests under darkness showed that the films eliminated about 60% of the bacteria. The researchers attributed this result to the positive electrical charge of PCDs, which attracts the bacteria’s negatively charged cell surfaces. The electrical attraction stresses their cell membranes, interfering with essential life processes. This result suggested that the films use a separate charge-based antibacterial mechanism apart from PDI, which requires light to work.
Under simulated sunlight, the films eliminated nearly 100% of the bacteria. The researchers identified 2 principal mechanisms causing this. First, the PCDs acted as tiny heaters that generated localized heat, which stretched holes in the bacterial membranes, allowing contents to leak out of their cells through a process called photoporation. Second, the PCDs generated reactive oxygen molecules that could then penetrate the bacteria. Once inside the cells, these molecules irreversibly damage the bacteria’s internal components and genetic material through PDI.
The researchers also investigated whether PCD films could serve as food packaging by using them to wrap fresh strawberries. Compared with conventional nonbiodegradable polyethylene packaging where visible rotting occurred, the PCD films kept the strawberries fresh for more than 4 days by suppressing bacterial growth and regulating moisture levels. When the team tested whether the films were toxic, they found that the films are safe for humans and compatible for food applications. They also buried the films in soil for 24 days and found that they degraded by 78%, demonstrating biodegradability suitable for packaging fresh foods.
The team concluded that PCD films could be a biodegradable food packaging that combines plant-based materials with multiple antibacterial strategies. The films retained antibacterial activity in darkness and became more effective under sunlight through the combined effects of photoporation and PDI. These findings demonstrated that by combining multiple mechanisms into a single material, researchers can create multifunctional food packaging that remains effective across different storage conditions.
From a cappy-cafe owner in Japan to an escaped capybara in the UK, this homespun film takes the temperature of an international obsession
One of Midlands-based film-maker Sharon Walia’s previous works was The Keepers of the Pigs, proudly described on her production company’s website as “the first ever documentary about guinea pigs”. So it makes zoological sense that her latest film takes on capybaras, guinea pigs’ ridiculously cute semi-aquatic cousins that are indigenous to Latin America, and relatively recently became ubiquitous on social media in memes and short films alike. As glimpsed here, there was even a capybara in the recent Academy Award-winning animated feature Flow, some pro-cappy boosterism that captured the creatures’ chill vibe and snuffly sweetness.
Walia’s celebration of the species stays on script, rejoicing in the animals’ natural geniality, friendliness to other species in their natural habitat, and their compelling, remunerative charm that seems to have bolstered the fortunes of several animal attractions around the world.
Digital-age Australian psychodrama tracks the shut-in mania of dangerously disaffected male fan, but doesn’t get inside his mind
If the parasocial phenomenon is a kind of hell, then Max Wren, protagonist of this Australian digital-age psychodrama, resides in the ninth circle. Self-barricading in a basement room surrounded by screens, working on a documentary about the object of his disaffection (an enigmatic influencer called Lenore), this obsessive shut-in makes Eminem’s Stan look like the Dalai Lama. Touching on subjects including the attention economy, the male gaze, and incel isolation and misogyny, director David Ward feels both Max and Lenore’s pain. But his ungainly debut film doesn’t fully transcend its stage origins to capture the splintered headspace of the terminally online.
Like films about fictional pop stars that feature unconvincing music, it doesn’t help that the quickfire résumé of Lenore’s career only half-conveys her magnetism. A one-time beauty influencer called Veronica Brand, she later graduates to more extreme performance art-type stunts, such as livestreaming her miscarriage; a move that, spliced without her knowledge into a children’s TV broadcast, forced her into hiding. But this performative vulnerability, including hints of her abusive dad, apparently won her legions of OnlyFans-style acolytes. Not just Max, but also his colleague Sam (Sam Macdonald), a brash interloper outraged to find he was nothing special to Lenore and who turns up at Max’s door offering exclusive footage of her.
Login
