EXCLUSIVE The macho fantasy driving Elon Musk to father countless children... and why so many men are turned on by it too

If America is truly headed for civilizational collapse, Elon Musk surely sees his role as the 'deus ex machina.'
For years, Musk has demonstrated his fascination with the Roman Empire - from his affinity for gladiator garb, to his multi-million-dollar funding of the study of antiquity, to his obsession with siring Augustan 'legions' of offspring with a modern harem of baby mommas.

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The Sun

an hour ago

• The Sun

Mummified creature with human-like hands found next to severed head is linked to legend of blood-sucking beast

A MUMMIFIED creature with human-like hands was found, leaving scientists gobsmacked as they find out what it is. The creature, called the "Capacabra," was found at Michigan State University while Cook-Seevers Hall was being renovated in 2018. 5 5 Since then, it's become a spooky mascot for the school's Campus Archaeology Program, with some of them working to solve the mystery. "It is roughly the size of a small cat, and it's got a very long, skinny tail, which goes hand in hand with cat-like features," Jerielle Cartales, a PHD student, told the Daily Mail. "But it has very, like, almost human hands. There's five fingers, and nails, and everything – it looks almost humanoid." The creature is covered with a thin layer of tissue that Cartales said felt like "old parchment paper." "It has its nose and its ear still, but they're very dried out." Comparisons have been made to the chupacabra, a mythical, bloodsucking beast from American folklore, hence the nickname the "capacabra." Like its namesake, there's so much about the creature that's unknown, including its age, however, it can't predate 1889, which is when the building the constructed. "So the interesting thing is that it could have been there for a month, it could have been there for 50 years, we don't really know," said Cartales. "Theoretically, I guess we could try radiocarbon dating it, but the building itself isn't old enough for it to be worth it." THEORIES RUNNING AMOK Since the creature's discovery, there have been many theories on what it could possibly be, including one expert suggesting it could be an opossum However, Cartales doesn't agree. "And so we were throwing out a bunch of ideas about what it could be," she said. "We were throwing out like 'maybe it's a dog, maybe it's a cat,' but raccoon didn't even make the list. "And now, that's my very strong hunch." The mummy was X-rayed to compare its skeleton with other known species, providing a clearer picture of what it could be. So far, a dog, a cat, and a rat were quickly ruled out as possible theories. At first, a raccoon seemed like a possibility; however, it's hard to be sure without a dental comparison, said Cartales. "A raccoon has the same general cranium shape, and the same with the snout shape," she said. "But the osteology text doesn't have any good images of dentition for the raccoon because their example was edentulous. "So I'm trying to find an example of a raccoon I can use for dentition. That's the next step." How the creature ended up in the building is also a mystery, with Cartales thinking it may have gone inside an air duct and got trapped. Mummification can happen in dry environments, which is likely how the creature met its fate. "If it was found next to an air duct, which seems to me like the most accessible point for an animal to get in from the outside, then that would be a pretty regular supply of warm, dry air, especially in the colder months." She added that it gets very humid in the area, but the building offered the perfect environment for mummification to take place. For now, Cartales believes the creature is a raccoon, "I'm a scientist, I'm never going to say 100% on anything." 5

The Guardian

9 hours ago

• The Guardian

Trump's plan to ban US states from AI regulation will ‘hold us back', says Microsoft science chief

Microsoft's chief scientist has warned that Donald Trump's proposed ban on state-level guardrails on artificial intelligence will slow the development of the frontier technology rather than accelerate it. Dr Eric Horvitz, a former technology adviser to Joe Biden, said bans on regulation will 'hold us back' and 'could be at odds with making good progress on not just advancing the science, but in translating it into practice'. The Trump administration has proposed a 10-year ban on US states creating 'any law or regulation limiting, restricting, or otherwise regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems'. It is driven in part by White House fears China could otherwise win the race to human-level AI, but also pressure from tech investors, such as Andreessen Horowitz, an early investor in Facebook, which argues consumer uses should be regulated rather than research efforts. Its co-founder, the Trump donor Marc Andreessen, said earlier this month that the US was in a two horse race for AI supremacy with China. The US vice-president, JD Vance, recently said: 'If we take a pause, does [China] not take a pause? Then we find ourselves … enslaved to [China]-mediated AI.' Horvitz said he was already concerned about 'AI being leveraged for misinformation and inappropriate persuasion' and for its use 'for malevolent activities, for example, in the biology biological hazard space'. Horvitz's pro-regulation comments came despite reports that Microsoft is part of a Silicon Valley lobbying push with Google, Meta and Amazon, to support the ban on individual US states regulating AI for the next decade which is included in Trump's budget bill which is passing through Congress. Microsoft is part of a lobbying drive to urge the US Senate to enact a decade-long moratorium on individual states introducing their own efforts to legislate, the Financial Times reported last week. The ban has been written into Trump's 'big beautiful bill' that he wants passed by Independence Day on 4 July. Horvitz was speaking at a meeting of the the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence on Monday when he said: 'It's up to us as scientists to communicate to government agencies, especially those right now who might be making statements about no regulation, [that] this is going to hold us back. 'Guidance, regulation … reliability controls are part of advancing the field, making the field go faster in many ways.' Speaking at the same seminar, Stuart Russell, the professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, said: 'Why would we deliberately allow the release of a technology which even its creators say has a 10% to 30% chance … of causing human extinction? We would never accept anything close to that level of risk for any other technology.' Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion The apparent contradiction between Microsoft's chief scientist and reports of the company's lobbying effort comes amid rising fears that unregulated AI development could pose catastrophic risks to humanity and is being driven by companies prioritising short-term profit. Microsoft has invested $14bn (£10bn) in OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, whose chief executive Sam Altman who this week predicted that: 'In five or 10 years we will have great human robots and they will just walk down the street doing stuff … I think that would be one of the moments that … will feel the strangest.' Predictions of when human-level artificial general intelligence (AGI) will be reached vary from a couple of years to decades. The Meta chief scientist, Yann LeCun, has said AGI could be decades away, while last week his boss, Mark Zuckerberg, announced a $15bn investment in a bid to achieve 'superintelligence'. Microsoft declined to comment.

Glasgow Times

13 hours ago

• Glasgow Times

Celebrated physicist visits old Glasgow school nearly 40 years later

Dr Calum Torrie, associate director and chief engineer at the USA-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), visited Cardonald Primary School on Tuesday, June 17, to present a special piece of science-themed artwork and talk about his career. Dr Torrie, who now lives in Pasadena, California, said: "I was proud to come back to Cardonald Primary nearly 40 years after I left to meet pupils and present them with their fantastic artwork representing the first detection of gravitational waves. "Having the opportunity to meet young people and get them engaged with science is always welcome, but being able to meet pupils who are growing up where I did was particularly special." Read more: New Glasgow research centre launched to help advance sustainable shipping (Image: Supplied) (Image: Supplied) He spoke to pupils about his time at the school in the 1980s, his studies in physics and astronomy at the University of Glasgow, and his current work at LIGO. Martin Coogan, headteacher at Cardonald Primary School, said: "We were delighted to welcome Dr Torrie back to the school to meet pupils, discuss his career, and present us with the artwork. "The children thoroughly enjoyed Dr Torrie's presentation, which focused on gravitational wave astronomy and how the remarkable sensitivity of the LIGO detectors was enabled by research at a local university. "It's fantastic to think that an internationally recognised scientist attended our school and studied at the University of Glasgow. "I am sure Dr Torrie's visit to our school will inspire some of our pupils to start thinking about science as a possible future career path." During the visit, Dr Torrie showcased a framed mosaic created by pupils in 2023 as part of a University of Glasgow project. Gravitational waves, first predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916, were detected for the first time in 2015 by LIGO. This discovery opened a new frontier in astronomy and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017. The mosaic visualises one of the signals detected by LIGO and is composed of 1,156 individual drawings contributed by pupils and staff. Dr Torrie also presented the pupils with a framed A3 poster, celebrating their work. Dr Andrew Spencer, University of Glasgow researcher who helped lead the development of the mosaics, said: "The Cardonald mosaic celebrates how this ground-breaking discovery was the work of many people. "The individual squares are recycled from the work of many University of Glasgow researchers, past and present, and each one was decorated by students and staff at Cardonald Primary. "Working with the School to produce the mosaic was a brilliant experience, and it was great to return with Dr Torrie and the final artwork. "We hope that future generations of Glasgow children will grow up to continue the tradition of scientific innovation." Read more: Glasgow University urges unpaid carers to take part in new survey (Image: Supplied) (Image: Supplied) University of Glasgow scientists played a key role in the development of LIGO, particularly in the design of its mirror suspensions and data analysis. Dr Torrie's visit to Cardonald Primary School comes as the global gravitational wave research community prepares to mark the 10th anniversary of the first detection. Glasgow will host the International Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation and the Edoardo Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves from July 14 to 18. This conference, organised by the Institute of Physics and supported by the University of Glasgow, will see gravitational wave and relativity researchers from across the globe come together to talk about their research.