Free Republic

For years, we've been asking whether artificial intelligence can write like us, draw like us, code like us, or eventually replace us. Anthropic just gave us a more interesting question: Can AI notice something in nature that human scientists have been staring past?On Wednesday, Anthropic announced that its Claude AI had identified what researchers believe is previously unrecognized biological system hidden in the DNA of bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria. The system contains a reverse transcriptase, a nearby partner gene, and a long array of repeating DNA sequences. Anthropic calls it ART, short for array-associated reverse transcriptases.From Anthropic:Today, we’re sharing...

Trump wants to preserve relations with Xi, but Iranian customs data show Chinese entities have made thousands of shipments of components used in drones and missiles This summer, when the U.S. and Iran signed a temporary truce, China touted its role in easing tensions in the Middle East. It said its foreign ministry made dozens of calls to nudge peace along, and that President Xi Jinping himself had intervened with suggestions to end the fighting.That same day, a plane from China landed in Tehran. It carried a shipment for Iran’s Ministry of Defense that included electronics components that can be...

Kent Weeks explores the tomb of Ramses the greats 100 children in the valley of the kings. Ancient Egypts Largest Tomb: KV5 (DOCUMENTARY) | 48:59 History Documentary Archives | 2.78K subscribers | 2,087 views | February 29, 2024

President Trump is offering a warm welcome to Chinese President Xi Jinping this week as the U.S. tries to choke China's supply of semiconductor chips for artificial intelligence advancement, as the two countries determine whether their fragile truce on tariffs will continue, and as concerns mount about China's relationships with Iran and Russia. Xi's visit to the White House, the first in more than a decade, features a state arrival ceremony Wednesday, with Mr. Trump taking part along with U.S. military personnel. Thursday will bring a formal meeting of the two presidents and a state dinner. Xi's wife, Peng Liyuan,...

My outlook on the upcoming mid-terms is bleak. With so many Socialists running throughout the United States, one would think that this is a great time die for the Republican candidates to talk about the U.S. Constitution. Instead, it seems that once again, the Republicans are steadfast in their ways to give this election to the Democrats. What say you fellow Freepers?

Judge Judy is doubling down on her love of America, telling people who want to fundamentally change the country to "go somewhere else." During an interview with USA Today, Judy Sheindlin, 83, opened up about her views on America and the enduring popularity of her courtroom television persona. "I have a house, and I have a home. I consider America my home. America has been good to me. I think that it’s the greatest country in the world," Sheindlin said. "If you don’t like this country, go somewhere else," she continued. "Don’t come to the greatest country in the world,...

At Meta Connect, the Facebook co-founder revealed on Wednesday the Meta VR Glasses, a smaller and slimmer device compared to the company’s older Quest-branded family of VR headsets, and a handheld device called the Muse Charm that works with the company’s recently released Muse AI personal agent. He revealed the products while speaking on stage at the annual Connect conference for developers. The Meta VR Glasses are slimmer and lighter than the company’s older Quest-branded VR headsets, but they are also more expensive, costing $1,299 when they go on sale in spring 2027. They represent Meta’s first VR device since...

Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei struck again, this time in a fiery speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, calling the body "useless" and made up of "fatally arrogant parasites." Milei began by commending the U.N.’s founding mission of resolving conflict peacefully and promoting universal freedom and dignity as "noble words." However, he went on to say that "today, regrettably, it is time to acknowledge that, in practice, that sacred covenant has been broken." "That’s to say, it has become a useless organization whose only purpose is to sustain a caste of fatally arrogant parasites masquerading as...

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., questioned Wednesday whether the Trump administration provided due process when it barred three major media outlets from access to the White House. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said the administration's process did not appear to comply with two earlier D.C. Circuit rulings, Sherrill v. Knight and Karem v. Trump, requiring due process before reporters' hard passes can be revoked, the Washington Examiner reported. "The government said those cases were wrongly decided," Kelly, an appointee of President Donald Trump, said at the hearing. "Maybe they were wrongly decided, maybe they weren't. But as a district...

WASHINGTON – For most of Wednesday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on protecting women's sports, not a single Democratic senator was in attendance. The only two Democrats to show up at all were ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. Both of them left within the first hour of the hearing and Klobuchar never spoke. The Democrats also did not host a single witness for the hearing. Durbin's devoted much of his opening testimony to dismissing the issue of trans athletes in women's sports, bringing up issues like affordability, getting cell phones out of the hands of...

CNN Staffers Panic over Paramount Merger: ‘Bloodbath Coming,’ Newsroom Is ‘Like a Funeral’ CNN news anchor Jake Tapper (C), flanked by Univision's news anchor Ilia Calderón (R), waMandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Simon Kent23 Sep 20263,997 2:47 Paramount’s looming acquisition of CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery is reportedly sending shivers down the collective spines of news gathers at the 46-year-old legacy outlet. As Breitbart News reported, Paramount reached a deal with 12 state attorneys-general Monday that surmounted a major hurdle to closing its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery which will now go ahead. This clears the way for...

Women in Gaza are being traded for food and forced into marriages with their rapists, according to a pair of reports from the United Nations — underscoring the critical importance of President Trump’s Board of Peace in the war-torn enclave. There was a 123% increase in the number of early and forced marriage incidents across Gaza in the first quarter of 2026, with women between the ages of 18-59 suffering 68% of all gender-based violence (GBV) in the Palestinian enclave, the United Nations’ Population Fund (UNFPA) found. Researchers spoke to women who said young girls were married off to rapists,...

Researchers have begun drilling into a mysterious, boat-shaped formation in the mountains of eastern Turkey, hoping an underground robot will unearth the answer to one of biblical history’s biggest mysteries. Members of the Noah’s Ark Scans expedition believe the Durupinar formation, located in eastern Turkey near Mount Ararat, could mark the final resting place of the vessel described in Genesis. “Good morning from the outer rims of Noah’s ark,” the project’s marketing and fundraising director, divisive Christian activist Lauren Witzke, wrote in a Tuesday update. “Core drilling has begun and the big bang evolutionists are already in damage control mode,”...

The French actor and director had been in unbearable pain since a polypropylene prosthesis was fitted in 2023 after a right groin hernia. Aged 43, he was euthanised this Tuesday in Namur, Belgium. Actor and director Arnaud Denis, left severely disabled after the insertion of an anti-hernia implant, chose to end his life by euthanasia in Belgium on Tuesday at the age of 43 to put a stop to his suffering, his lawyer Philippe Courtois told AFP. "The decision taken by Arnaud Denis was made in consultation with three doctors in Namur. His body could no longer carry him. He...

ransomnote: I'm concerned about potential abuse of Apple's ear bud technology, carefully designed with extensive built-in electrodes to obtain 'Mind Tapping' information from consumers. With voter ID gaining popularity, might Apple's 2023 patent point to the next gen 'alternative' to stealing elections?In a 2023 patent, Apple identified technology for a "Biosignal Sensing Device Using Dynamic Selection of Electrodes (Your earbudes can acquire information from your brain in a 'non-ivasive' manner.) Below I pulled together some information (Apple's patent, Grok, related articles) to try to determine if this patent was just the sensing portion of what actually became 'sensing-responding' technology (e.g.,...

As Xi Jinping visits President Trump in Washington, his country lags behind the United States on A.I. development in key areas — but Beijing has advantages elsewhere.There is no shortage of issues on the table for possible discussion as President Trump prepares to welcome the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, for a state visit beginning Wednesday evening, including the Iran war, Taiwan and tariffs.But no topic has captured global fascination in recent weeks more than whether the two sides can reach any agreements around the pace of artificial intelligence development. The rapidly shifting debate about the risks of A.I. has so...

Vice President JD Vance was reportedly the anonymous White House source behind a story that President Donald Trump’s administration is now pointing to as evidence for why Politico deserved to lose its White House access. The revelation, first reported Wednesday by Oliver Darcy’s Status, adds a striking wrinkle to the administration’s defense of its Friday decision to boot Politico from the White House grounds alongside CNN and MS NOW. The Washington Post reported just minutes earlier that the White House had identified six Politico stories in a Tuesday letter laying out its case against the outlet, accusing it of reporting...

The designer who became famous for her “Tax the Rich” message allegedly still hasn’t learned a basic financial lesson: pay your debts. Aurora James, who outfitted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in her jaw-dropping 2021 Met Gala gown — a floor-length, ivory white dress with the words “Tax the Rich” emblazoned on the back in a stunning shade of red — allegedly owes more than $1 million for a ritzy gala benefitting her nonprofit, court records show. James, 42, and her nonprofit the 15 Percent Pledge are facing a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court from high-end event planning company The Gathery,...

A medical watchdog group is asking the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate Planned Parenthood’s medical coding practices, which they say could point to fraud. Do No Harm says Planned Parenthood affiliates may have used improper billing codes when prescribing cross-sex hormones to gender-confused young people, according to a new investigation. “Planned Parenthood affiliates may be deliberately miscoding services to mask their true purpose and to facilitate the improper reimbursement of cross-sex hormone treatments,” Do No Harm wrote in a letter to HHS Inspector General Thomas Bell that was exclusively reviewed by The Daily Wire. The watchdog group...

An island meeting, texts between the leaders of Canada, France and Norway reveal an emerging alliance: ‘We’re in’Norway’s prime minister thumbed out a text message to an increasingly familiar contact on his phone—a fellow head of government he hoped would join a nascent plan of Western leaders to design a new framework to regulate artificial intelligence.Jonas Gahr Støre said that within 10 minutes, Canada’s Mark Carney had texted back: “Of course. We’re in.”Around the same time, Carney was discussing AI regulation with French President Emmanuel Macron on the French Atlantic archipelago of St. Pierre and Miquelon just off Newfoundland, as...