fidzu : nerd

The Telegraph reports that the nutritional value of fruit and vegetables has fallen by up to 50% since the Sixties, according a new study from researchers at startup studio Deep Science Ventures. The study "found that humans needed to consume twice the number of vegetables to get the same level of minerals such as potassium, magnesium or copper as would have been present in their food 60 years ago." The study found that many crops had lost 20% to 50% of several key nutrients... The decrease in nutrient and vitamin value is thought to be down to declining soil quality and crops being selectively bred for their ability to grow quickly, rather than there being any focus on their health benefits... It raises the prospect that the advice to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, introduced in the UK in 2003, may need to be updated. The report added that people on weight-loss drugs could be most at risk from the lack of nutrients, as the treatments could cause them to consume less food... Nature-friendly farming techniques, such as planting crops that restore nutrients to the soil, could help improve the health benefits of vegetables, according to the researchers. In short, according to Will Summers, a senior associate at the firm, "we've been quietly hollowing out what's inside our food." Thanks to Slashdot reader Bruce66423 for sharing the article.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

11 Oct 2026 1:34am GMT

Comments

11 Oct 2026 1:17am GMT

Comments

11 Oct 2026 12:47am GMT

Comments

11 Oct 2026 12:46am GMT

Top executives at Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI companies "are privately gaming out scenarios for a public and political revolt after a catastrophic AI event," reports Axios, one that turns "an already wary public further against the technology and its leaders..." These AI company executives "anticipate a large-scale event, most likely a cyberattack, that shuts down access to financial services, internet connectivity, or even power and water..." the article points out. "Many top AI researchers and executives believe a major incident is inevitable. "OpenAI conducts preparedness exercises where teams discuss and work through a range of potential scenarios," a company spokesperson said. "These scenarios are not treated as inevitable, but are meant to help us prepare for a variety of circumstances." Anthropic declined to comment... Top AI planners assume Democrats, ascendant after the midterms, will move fast to shut down AI but will face significant challenges... The planning involves red-teaming for worst-case scenarios. It focuses mainly on racing to educate members of Congress. Company executives know regulation has no chance of passing right now, but still want to shape the legislation and policies U.S. leaders will turn to after a first catastrophic event.... Many AI industry insiders told Axios they believe a major event will occur in the next six to 12 months. "Even with Democrats in control of the House and Senate, the companies see fractured politics as the norm, including within the Democratic Party."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

10 Oct 2026 11:59pm GMT

"Nicolas Cage is speaking out against Amazon," reports Variety. Amazon developed the series Spider-Noir for Prime Video, but then allegedly asked Cage to sign an AI waiver: "Amazon is a very AI-friendly company, to the tune of $50 billion invested in OpenAI," Cage said Saturday during a panel on the Empire Stage at New York Comic Con. "I am not an AI-friendly actor, so it's like, connect those dots! I'm not a member of their club. I didn't sign the waiver to let him use AI on 'Spider-Noir.' I'm probably not going to be working with that studio again, but that's okay." Last month Amazon canceled Spider-Man Noir after just one season, Variety reports. And the cancellation was just days before the Emmy Awards, where it then earned 11 nominations (the most of any Prime Video program this year). ScreenRant reports: Spider-Noir was the actor's first TV role and was praised globally, with season 1 earning a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes rating from critics of 92% and a 90% rating from audiences. Critics stated that "This sharply written homage to classic film noir - which includes a standout Nicolas Cage performance - is the novel superhero project fans need," and "Spider-Noir is one of the standout shows of the year...." The cancellation was certainly a huge shock as it had earned 11 Emmy nominations and reached 2.6 billion minutes viewed within its first six weeks on Prime Video. More from Variety: Cage went on to tell the Comic-Con audience that he hopes to work with the rising class of Gen-Z filmmakers, praising Backrooms director Kane Parsons, who parlayed his YouTube fame into a Hollywood career... "I got to get with these young directors who are Gen Z, and they're going at it their own way, whether it's through the YouTube culture or whatever it is," Cage said. "They're doing it from scratch and by hand. I want to get with that."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

10 Oct 2026 10:59pm GMT

Let's Encrypt will reduce TLS certificate validity from 90 to 64 days starting February 10, 2027, with a further reduction to 45 days planned for 2028.

10 Oct 2026 6:27pm GMT

SQLite 3.54 delivers a 4% performance boost, query planner optimizations, command-line improvements, and new database analysis capabilities.

10 Oct 2026 3:05pm GMT

Participants meditated inside an MRI tube, with and without psilocybin.

10 Oct 2026 11:15am GMT

Python 3.15 introduces lazy imports, UTF-8 as the default encoding, faster experimental JIT performance, and new profiling tools.

10 Oct 2026 10:53am GMT

Dissolved rock precipitated around the tools, which then decayed.

09 Oct 2026 10:34pm GMT

One damaged data center has supercomputers used for training Yandex's AI model.

09 Oct 2026 10:04pm GMT