Alpine have announced the appointment of Jason Somerville as their new Deputy Technical Director, in a move that further strengthens the team’s technical leadership group.

On this day 10 years ago, Max Verstappen well and truly announced himself to the F1 world by winning on his Red Bull Racing debut at the Spanish Grand Prix. To mark the anniversary, F1.com gathered the thoughts of several people involved that day – from journalists to drivers – for a special trip down memory lane…

It’s ten years to the day that Max Verstappen became the youngest F1 winner, so to celebrate, here are 10 of his best helmets throughout the years.

A new Gallup survey found that 71% of Americans oppose having an AI data center built near them, making the facilities even less popular than nearby nuclear plants, which 53% oppose. The Register reports: When it comes to the reasons for opposing AI campuses, half of all respondents cite the effect on resources, with excess water usage and potential power grid constraints topping the list. Concern about loss of farmland and nature was surprisingly low, with just 7 percent mentioning this, but it is possible the scores are higher in rural areas. Quality-of-life concerns such as increased traffic were put forward by nearly a quarter, while a fifth mentioned higher utility bills.

Many were worried about AI specifically: that it would replace human workers, that they don't trust it, that it is moving too fast, and that the industry needs regulating. Perhaps the latter sentiment is why President Trump appears to have shifted his own position on the need for AI regulations. Conversely, those in favor of datacenters cite economic benefits, with 55 percent mentioning increased job opportunities, and 13 percent saying it is because of increased tax revenues.

[...] This being America in 2026, Gallup looked at how attitudes stack up depending on political affiliation. It found that Democrats, at 56 percent, are much more likely than Republicans to be strongly opposed to a server farm in their vicinity. But 39 percent of Republicans are also strongly opposed, while another 24 percent are somewhat averse to it, and only about a third are in favor. Gallup points out the contradiction: for AI usage to expand in the US, facilities that can handle the necessary computing power will have to be built. But most Americans appear to take a "not in my backyard" attitude to new bit barns, and that attitude has grown in strength.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Bij het bezoek van Donald Trump aan Beijing, het eerste van een Amerikaanse president in negen jaar, stond stabiliteit voorop. Veel meer dan dat leverde de tweedaagse reis ook niet op.

Janneke Vreugdenhil maakt burgers uit een nieuw kookboek over granen dat ook interessant is als je niet van plan was zelf ooit mais te nixtamaliseren.

Cannes film festival: The great Russian director of Leviathan, Loveless and The Return has overcome extraordinary obstacles to present his first film in nine years

His films have been hailed as damning allegories of the Russian population’s apathy in the face of state oppression. Yet when director Andrey Zvyagintsev learned of his country’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he too was paralysed, and literally so.

A severe infection with Covid-19 had left the film-maker stranded at a clinic in Hanover, Germany, struggling to breathe with 90% lung damage and unable to move or feel his limbs for several months. “It was in this state that I learned of the outbreak of the war in Ukraine,” he said in a rare recent interview. “It was a shock; I felt immense pain and deep despair.” In all, he spent 11 months in assorted hospitals.

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It’s your life in their hands, but what kind of life is that? No wonder a wearied, confused public has mobilised into tribes – or just tuned out

On the basis that you’re never too cooked to get a new catchphrase, Keir Starmer has repeatedly warned this week that we are in a “battle for the soul of our nation”. I wish he’d stop saying it. The thought of your very soul being fought over by Nigel Farage, Keir Starmer, Zack Polanski, Kemi Badenoch and the others is like something out of a sealed section in Dante’s Inferno. If it was on an underworld menu, I think I’d choose the Satanic Flaying instead. Anyway: enter Andy Burnham.

Plus, we now have coordinates. The battle for the soul of the nation will take place not in the tenth circle of hell, but in Makerfield. Local MP and appalling little footnote Josh Simons has stood down so that the King in the North has a route to King’s Landing, where – I think? – he has to kill his auntie after accidentally shagging her. Labour party procedures are very arcane.

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Viral recipes and fibre awareness boost demand for sweet fruit amid shift towards healthier alternatives

Instead of a customary biscuit or a chocolate bar to combat the 4pm slump, people are reaching for a more natural sweet alternative: dates.

The sweet fruit has been thrust into the snacking spotlight by a combination of viral recipes on social media, growing awareness about fibre intake and increasing demand for alternatives to ultra-processed foods.

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Mayo Clinic, the massive U.S. hospital network, is using what it describes as “Ambient Listening” to record patient interactions with nurses, including in emergency rooms, then using AI to process that collected data. The recording is opt-out, rather than opt-in, and at least some patients are likely not aware the recording is happening.

The recording brings up questions of informed consent and whether the generated notes may be accurate enough. A study last month found that AI-powered scribe tools sometimes produce much less accurate notes than humans depending on the situation.

“Mayo Clinic would like to record interactions between you and your nurse to assist with electronic health record documentation,” a notice posted in a Mayo Clinic location reads. A person who said they were taking their elderly father to the emergency room shared a photo of the notice with 404 Media.

“About halfway through his visit in the [emergency department], I had to stretch my legs and just happened to notice this poster, which was not close to the bed or visitor chairs, and was the size of a regular piece of printer paper. My dad certainly didn't notice or read it,” the person told 404 Media. 404 Media granted them anonymity to talk about their parent’s medical care.

“I did not talk to any staff about it, because we were in the middle of an emergency, which is part of my whole issue with this being an opt-out thing in the emergency department. So many people might not notice this or even be healthy enough to read or notice it,” the person added.

The notice specifically says the recording device might capture data that falls under HIPAA, the U.S.’s health data protection law. “This device may capture protected health information that is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and Mayo Clinic’s Notice of Privacy Practices. Please ask a staff member for additional information,” it reads.

Mayo Clinic has been using Ambient Listening for a couple years at this point, but not all patients may be aware the recording is ongoing. A July 2024 press release says Mayo Clinic is working with medical technology giant Epic and AI company Abridge on “a generative AI ambient documentation workflow for nurses.”

On its website Abridge pitches itself as an “Enterprise-grade AI for clinical conversations—trusted by the largest healthcare systems. Measurably improving outcomes for clinicians, nurses, and revenue cycle teams at scale.” In December 2024, Johns Hopkins Medicine reached an agreement to deploy the Abridge ambient AI platform across 6,700 clinicians, six hospitals, and 40 patient-care centers, according to a press release from Abridge.

Mayo Clinic finalized an “enterprise-wide agreement” with Abridge last year, according to another press release. That paired the technology with around 2,000 clinicians who serve more than 1 million patients annually, the release says.

Neither Mayo Clinic nor Abridge responded to a request for comment.

A recent study found that human note takers create much better notes than AI-powered scribe tools. In some specific cases, the AI performed especially poorly compared to a human: when there was background noise; when the clinician and patient were wearing masks; and to a lesser extent when the patient had an accent, according to the American Medical Journal.

Doctors around the country are increasingly using AI in various forms, such as dictating notes to be added to a patient’s file. On the consumer side, a recent study found that chatbots can give out wildly different and incorrect medical advice to users.