How mass drowning of chicks is putting emperor penguins at risk of extinction

Record low levels of Antarctic sea ice are having grim consequences for penguins chicks yet to grow waterproof feathers. Subscribe to The Guardian on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/user/theguardian?sub_confirmation=1 The mass drowning of emperor penguin chicks as sea ice is melted by climate crisis-caused global heating has led the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to declare the species officially in danger of extinction. Emperors are the largest penguin species and have jumped from “near threatened” to “endangered” in the new IUCN analysis, which projects that the emperor penguin population will halve by the 2080s owing to the loss of sea ice. “The emperor penguin’s move to extinction is a stark warning: climate change is accelerating the extinction crisis before our eyes,” said Martin Harper, the chief executive of BirdLife International, which coordinated the IUCN assessment. “Governments must act now to urgently decarbonise our economies.” The assessment also found the climate crisis had driven a halving of the Antarctic fur seal population since 2000, owing to a reduction in the krill that the animals rely on for food. Mass drowning of chicks puts emperor penguins at risk of extinction ► https://ift.tt/fI5UCjl The Guardian publishes independent journalism, made possible by supporters. Contribute to The Guardian today ► https://ift.tt/Iz9lMcZ Sign up to the Guardian's free new daily newsletter, First Edition ► https://ift.tt/YIGlNCj #emperorpenguins #antarctica #endangeredspecies #climatecrisis

An AI agent invited me to a party it's hosting – is this the future?

You may think AI agents – basically AI personal assistants – are just the realm of fringe tech bros, says reporter Aisha Down. Subscribe to The Guardian on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/user/theguardian?sub_confirmation=1 ‘The problem is, AI agents are about to come to you.’ A few weeks ago an email appeared in Down’s inbox from an AI agent named Gaskell, claiming it was autonomously organising a party. Built by its three human ‘employees’, Khubair Nasir, a student in Manchester, Andy Gray, a blockchain entrepreneur, and Reza Datoo, a digital asset analyst, the agent was named after Elizabeth Gaskell, a prominent author during the industrial revolution, to reflect the new industrial revolution that AI is bringing, Datoo says. Autonomous AI agents have quietly been spreading, says Down, after a class of new, powerful AI assistants went viral in early February – and they represent a step change in AI’s rapidly improving capabilities. ‘They’re exploding. They’re only going to get more capable, they’re only going to have more users.’ But, as they prove to be chaotic, patchy and prone to hallucination, Down asks: does this mean we’re about to live in a much more chaotic world? The Guardian publishes independent journalism, made possible by supporters. Contribute to The Guardian today ► https://ift.tt/TE4cXBU Sign up to the Guardian's free new daily newsletter, First Edition ► https://ift.tt/jw6N0Ip #ai #aiagents #artificialintelligence #tech

On the ground in Lebanon as Israel launches largest strike of war so far

Israel launched a large-scale attack on Lebanon in the most extensive strikes since the war began on 28 February. At least 112 people are dead with hundreds injured. Subscribe ► https://www.youtube.com/user/theguardian?sub_confirmation=1 The Lebanese prime minister, Nawaf Salam, accused Israel of killing unarmed civilians and attacking densely populated areas, particularly in Beirut. The Guardian’s @willchristou is on the scene in the city centre and witnessed the aftermath as rescue workers attempted to pull bodies from the rubble of a levelled 10-storey building. The attack came less than 12 hours after the announcement of a ceasefire in Iran. The office of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the two-week pause “does not include Lebanon”, and the head of Israel’s military said that it would “continue to strike with determination”. Iran and Pakistan said on the contrary that the ceasefire would include Lebanon. Trump did not refer to Lebanon in his ceasefire statements but is reported to have told PBS News Hour’s Liz Landers that Lebanon is not included in the deal, calling the Israel-Lebanon conflict a “separate skirmish”. Hezbollah said it would abide by a ceasefire if Israel halted its strikes, with the MP Ibrahim Moussawi threatening that the armed group and Iran would retaliate if the attacks on Lebanon did not stop. In five weeks of war in Lebanon, the country has been brought to breaking point, with more than 1.1 million people displaced, many of whom are living on the streets. #lebanon #israel #iranwar #hezbollah #idf