Month: April 2023

Enlarge / Image of worm that is genetically engineered so that certain neurons and muscles are fluorescent. Green dots are neurons that respond to cannabinoids. Magenta dots are other neurons. (credit: Stacy Levichev)

There is historical evidence that people knew as far back as 300 BCE about the ability of cannabis—which includes several different plants, such as sativa, indica, and ruderalis—to stimulate the appetite. The technical term is "hedonic amplification of feeding," but most of us know it more colloquially as "the munchies." Numerous scientific studies have found evidence in support of this effect. And now it seems like the humble roundworm, C. elegans, also experiences the munchies when dosed with cannabinoids, according to a new paper published in the journal Current Biology. We suspect it's not a coincidence that the paper was released on April 20.

The worms in the experiments showed a marked preference for the roundworm equivalent of potato chips or ice cream—high-calorie junk food. “We suggest that this increase in existing preference is analogous to eating more of the foods you would crave anyway,” said co-author Shawn Lockery, a neuroscientist at the University of Oregon in Eugene. “It’s like choosing pizza versus oatmeal.”

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) regulates and controls several critical bodily functions: learning and memory, sleep, temperature control, pain control, alertness, and appetite, for instance. It's basically a network of chemical signals and receptors running all through the brain and body. One of the most numerous receptors in the brain is called CB1, which helps control the levels and activity of neurotransmitters. The body naturally produces molecules called endocannabinoids to stimulate those CB1 receptors. There are also CB2 receptors that are mostly concentrated in the immune tissues that help keep the immune system functioning properly.

Enlarge / SpaceX's Starship rocket takes flight on Thursday morning above the Gulf of Mexico. (credit: SpaceX)

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas—It began with a bang, as big things often do.

On Thursday morning, with clearing skies overhead, SpaceX's Starship rocket slowly began to climb away from its launch pad. Fully laden with about 5,000 metric tons of liquid oxygen and methane propellant, the largest rocket ever built needed about 10 seconds to begin clearing the launch pad.

From a nearby vantage point, the rocket rumbled and the smoke billowed outward—but it seemed like an eternity before Starship poked its head above the smoke and dust. And then it climbed skyward, a brilliant silvery and fiery streak in the sky.

Enlarge / SpaceX's Starship rocket takes flight on Thursday morning above the Gulf of Mexico. (credit: SpaceX)

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas—It began with a bang, as big things often do.

On Thursday morning, with clearing skies overhead, SpaceX's Starship rocket slowly began to climb away from its launch pad. Fully laden with about 5,000 metric tons of liquid oxygen and methane propellant, the largest rocket ever built needed about 10 seconds to begin clearing the launch pad.

From a nearby vantage point, the rocket rumbled and the smoke billowed outward—but it seemed like an eternity before Starship poked its head above the smoke and dust. And then it climbed skyward, a brilliant silvery and fiery streak in the sky.

Enlarge / Longtime image hosting site Imgur will ban explicit material starting May 15—and will also remove older images not tied to an account. (credit: Imgur)

Imgur, an image-hosting site that has been one of the web's go-to spots for linking hi-res images since 2010, has told users that it intends to remove "explicit images" and "old, unused, and inactive content" as of May 15.

The new Terms of Service are somewhat expanded upon in a post in the Safety & Standards section of Imgur's help section.

"We will be focused on removing old, unused, and inactive content that is not tied to a user account from our platform as well as nudity, pornography, & sexually explicit content," the page reads. "Most notably, this would include explicit/pornographic content." Imgur notes that it will "employ automated detection software" alongside human moderators to identify explicit content.

Enlarge / Longtime image hosting site Imgur will ban explicit material starting May 15—and will also remove older images not tied to an account. (credit: Imgur)

Imgur, an image-hosting site that has been one of the web's go-to spots for linking hi-res images since 2010, has told users that it intends to remove "explicit images" and "old, unused, and inactive content" as of May 15.

The new Terms of Service are somewhat expanded upon in a post in the Safety & Standards section of Imgur's help section.

"We will be focused on removing old, unused, and inactive content that is not tied to a user account from our platform as well as nudity, pornography, & sexually explicit content," the page reads. "Most notably, this would include explicit/pornographic content." Imgur notes that it will "employ automated detection software" alongside human moderators to identify explicit content.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

The Microsoft Advertising platform will drop support for its Twitter integration starting on April 25, according to a recently updated support page. Microsoft allows advertisers to manage their campaigns, create posts, and view engagement data on multiple social sites via one centralized interface, and they'll still be able to do so for posts on Facebook, Instagram Business, and LinkedIn. But Twitter is no longer on that list.

The change comes a few days before Twitter plans to deprecate the old API tiers that allowed third-party apps and services to post to Twitter and access its data. The new Enterprise tier, which Microsoft would need to use to continue providing the same level of service to advertisers as before, can cost between $42,000 and $210,000 a month, depending on how many tweets per month you need to be able to access.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk apparently isn't happy about Microsoft's decision. Responding to a post about the news, Musk asserted that Microsoft has "illegally" used Twitter data to train AI models and that he plans to take legal action.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

The Microsoft Advertising platform will drop support for its Twitter integration starting on April 25, according to a recently updated support page. Microsoft allows advertisers to manage their campaigns, create posts, and view engagement data on multiple social sites via one centralized interface, and they'll still be able to do so for posts on Facebook, Instagram Business, and LinkedIn. But Twitter is no longer on that list.

The change comes a few days before Twitter plans to deprecate the old API tiers that allowed third-party apps and services to post to Twitter and access its data. The new Enterprise tier, which Microsoft would need to use to continue providing the same level of service to advertisers as before, can cost between $42,000 and $210,000 a month, depending on how many tweets per month you need to be able to access.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk apparently isn't happy about Microsoft's decision. Responding to a post about the news, Musk asserted that Microsoft has "illegally" used Twitter data to train AI models and that he plans to take legal action.