myGrilloCOM | Day: April 1, 2023

Elon Musk’s warnings about AI research followed months-long battle against ‘woke’ AI

April 1, 2023 Published by Fox News

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been waging a battle for the last several months over what he called “woke” artificial intelligence, a fight that appears to have factored into his call for a six-month pause in the development of next generation AI systems.

Musk was one of several signatories to a letter this week that warned of advanced AI technology that could pose “profound risks to society and humanity.” The letter said one of those risks is that AI might be used to “flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth.”

The letter was signed by several notable technology experts, and it’s not clear who might have pushed for the inclusion of that specific phrase. But it jibes with the public fight Musk has been having since late last year over the ability of AI to constrain what people can say and read on digital platforms – a fight that involves a company Musk had a role in launching.

In 2015, Musk co-founded OpenAI, the company that released GPT-4 this month, a few weeks before the letter was released. GPT-4 is the latest edition of a language system that underlies the company’s ChatGPT tool that can receive inputs and generate human-sounding outputs.

ELON MUSK, APPLE CO-FOUNDER, OTHER TECH EXPERTS CALL FOR PAUSE ON ‘GIANT AI EXPERIMENTS’: ‘DANGEROUS RACE’

Elon Musk’s call for a pause in next generation AI development followed a months-long public battle over what he called “woke” AI. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Musk left the board of OpenAI in 2018 and explained that one reason why he left was that the company was chasing profits instead of serving as an open-source “counterweight” to Google.

“Now it has become a closed source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft,” Musk tweeted in February. He was referring to the $10 billion it received from Microsoft, an infusion that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has defended by noting that Microsoft doesn’t sit on the board of his company and does not control it in any way.

But Musk’s opposition to OpenAI went beyond its funding model. Late last year, Musk made it clear he opposes the way OpenAI has been developing its AI chatbot.

In December, Altman defended the rules developed to limit the ability of ChatGPT to produce controversial or insensitive outputs. “’AI needs to do whatever I ask’ and ‘I asked the AI to be sexist and it was, look how awful!’ are incompatible positions,” Altman tweeted.

AI EXPERTS WEIGH DANGERS, BENEFITS OF CHATGPT ON HUMANS, JOBS AND INFORMATION: ‘DYSTOPIAN WORLD’

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman got into a Twitter spat with Musk over the limits the company imposes on ChatGPT. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images) (JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)

Musk tweeted in reply, “The danger of training AI to be woke – in other words, lie – is deadly.”

In February, Musk had a similar reaction when a Musk ally tweeted that ChatGPT lists former President Trump and Musk himself as “controversial” figures, while President Biden and Bill Gates are not.

Musk replied by tweeting, “!!”

Also in February, Musk replied to a tweet that showed ChatGPT was unwilling to write a poem about the positive attributes of Donald Trump because it can’t produce content that is biased or partisan, but was willing to write a poem about President Biden. “It is a serious concern,” Musk replied.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ‘GODFATHER’ ON AI POSSIBLY WIPING OUT HUMANITY: ‘IT’S NOT INCONCEIVABLE’

OpenAI has a set of rules for using ChatGPT that get to the heart of Musk’s complaint about a “woke” AI system. According to the company, its tools can’t be used to generate “hateful, harassing, or violent content.” That includes content that “expresses, incites, or promotes hate based on identity,” “intends to harass, threaten, or bully” someone, or “promotes or glorifies violence or celebrates the suffering or humiliation of others.”

Just days after Musk tweeted “!!,” press reports said Musk was recruiting AI experts to create his own non-woke chat AI system.

A spokesperson for Musk at SpaceX declined to respond to a request for comment for this story. But one policy watcher in Washington agreed that Musk’s open battle against woke AI seems to be a significant factor in his call for an AI development pause.

Elon Musk has made efforts to pursue his own AI system that isn’t “woke.” (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

“Elon has been on the front line of the Twitter files, so he’s seen how bad the censorship can be,” said Jake Denton, research associate in the Heritage Foundation’s Tech Policy Center. “This is just so evident to everyone in this space… that [AI tech] is exceeding the pace of our ability to control it.”

Denton said that while AI will have countless applications in the future, the early application most people are seeing today are things such as ChatGPT.

“The consumer-known issue is the ChatGPT bias,” he said. “It’s obviously on a path to replace search. The average person will soon go to a chat-based AI system rather than a search bar.”

“And that means the response, the information that they get when they enter a search query, is going to be… a curated thing with the restrictions of the AI company reflected in that answer,” he added. “That’s a major danger.”

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The letter signed by Musk and others called on governments to enforce a pause on AI research, a position that conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation seem inclined to support given the evidence of bias in current AI systems, even though it isn’t normally looking for a government solution.

“I think regulation is absolutely what’s needed, government intervention in some capacity,” he said. “I don’t think we should move forward without such a thing. Our future shouldn’t be decided by unelected elites in Silicon Valley.”

Pete Kasperowicz is a politics editor at Fox News Digital.

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Do you know the origin of April Fools’ Day?

April 1, 2023 Published by Futurity (National Geo)

The origins of April Fools’ Day are no joke.

Saturday is April Fools’ Day, a day to be extra skeptical if you come across something out of the ordinary or that seems hard to believe.

Angus Kress Gillespie, a folklorist and professor of American studies at Rutgers University, shares the explanation that most historians believe and explains why we mark the day with tricks and practical jokes:

Source: Rutgers University

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Babylon Bee CEO: The world is difficult to satirize right now because it’s so insane

April 1, 2023 Published by Fox News

Comedy is getting difficult in today’s world since reality so often feels like a joke, Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon said.

The Bee, the largest American right-wing satire website that thrives off parodying the news of the day, is struggling to come up with joke headlines as more and more news stories read like fiction. But Dillon also stressed the importance of using comedy to lighten the seriousness of contemporary issues.

“We do satire and we’re trying to exaggerate reality to make a point with our jokes,” Dillon told Fox News. “We found that the world is very difficult to satirize right now because it’s so insane.”

BABYLON BEE CEO: ‘THE WORLD IS VERY DIFFICULT TO SATIRIZE RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IT’S SO INSANE’

WATCH MORE FOX NEWS DIGITAL ORIGINALS HERE

“We’re basically living in the upside down, as I might describe it,” he added.

Dillon said his platform also has a political mission to make fun of bad policies and ideas.

“It’s important to not just refute these things, but to actually ridicule and mock them,” he said. “We’re not helped by taking them seriously.”

According to Dillon, satire resonates more when it’s about beliefs people may feel pressured to conform to even if they disagree with them.

“It’s become much more relevant because of the insane ideas that are out there with basically people being pressured to affirm that two and two make five,” he said. “It’s really presented a lot of opportunity for comedians, for satirists, to play a role in pushing back on insanity with truth and reason.”

Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon spoke to Fox News Digital from CPAC Texas 2022 in Dallas. (Fox News Digital/Joseph Wulfsohn)

GREG GUTFELD: THE BABYLON BEE IS TOO GOOD AT ITS JOB

Dillon said policies around gender affirmation, wokeism and others frequently generate real headlines that read like parody.

He pointed to CNN calling a riot mostly peaceful while a reporter stood in front of burning buildings and colleges promoting segregation as a means to combat racism.

“These are things you’d expect to see on a satire site, but they’re in the headlines every day,” Dillon said.

The Bee saw the potential in funny, yet real headlines, leading the company in 2020 to launch “Not the Bee” — a website that covers real news that reads like satire.

Dillon also said satire can be a useful tool to digest ridiculous but true stories that can stress Americans out.

“I guess instead of just focusing on [the stories] in a negative way and becoming anxious, you know, being able to laugh at things that really deserve laughing,” Dillon told Fox News. He added that common feedback his readers give is “that they really appreciate that we’re keeping them sane, but also keeping them laughing, that we’re bringing levity.”

Examples of recent Babylon Bee headlines include: “Putin Immediately Surrenders After U.S. Airdrops Nashville Police Officers Into Battlefield,” “Leadership: Biden Calls On Banks To Stop Collapsing” and “Doctors Report Startling Rise In Testicular Injuries Among Woman Athletes.”

Dillon told Fox News that the Bee has tens of thousands of paid subscribers, gets around 25 million page views each month and has over a million subscribers on YouTube.

BABYLON BEE CEO SETH DILLON ROASTS PRE-MUSK TWITTER: ‘COMPLETELY ANTI-TRUTH ENVIRONMENT FOR FREE SPEECH’

Dillon bought the platform in 2018 when it was a small blog that had a focus on making niche jokes for the Protestant community. But as their audience grew, Dillon said they turned to more political and cultural jokes.

In response to critics who argue that the Bee spreads misinformation since its headlines are often believable, Dillon said he’s just doing his job.

“There’s supposed to be a grain of truth to these jokes,” he said. “If it wasn’t believable at all, then it wouldn’t be a good joke. It wouldn’t be funny.”

He added that social media platforms have accused the Bee of violating misinformation policies.

Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon talks to Fox News about the many jokes the website made that later became reality. (Fox News Digital)

“It communicates a lot of insecurity, but that’s one of the reasons I think they’re coming after us,” he said. “I don’t think that comedy necessarily is the target of their attacks.”

“I think the truth is what bothers them,” Dillon said, referring to the fact that the Bee uses humor to identify real problems with policies and other positions.

According to Dillon, nearly 100 of his outlet’s joke stories later became fulfilled prophecies.

WHEN SATIRE BECOMES REALITY: NEARLY 100 BABYLON BEE JOKE STORIES HAVE COME TRUE

“The problem isn’t that our satire is too close to reality,” Dillon previously told Fox News. “It’s that reality is too close to satire, so our jokes keep coming true.”

The Babylon Bee was been locked out of its Twitter account for over a month. (Fox News)

Dillon also thinks that trying to censor satire over offensive jokes isn’t a solution.

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“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being offended by a joke,” Dillon said. “I think the real problem is when someone who’s offended by a joke says, you know, ‘you shouldn’t be allowed to make jokes anymore. You shouldn’t be allowed to joke at my expense.'”

“We all deserve to be the butt of a joke — and it’s a much healthier state of mind to be in,” he added. “But the answer can’t be to stop making jokes. The answer should be to think, ‘well, why am I offended? Maybe there’s something to that joke.'”

Click here to learn more about the difficulty of creating satire in today’s world.

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Sen. John Fetterman discharged from Walter Reed after receiving treatment for depression

April 1, 2023 Published by CNN

CNN
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Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has been discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where he was being treated for depression, his office announced Friday.

He will return to the Senate when it returns from recess on April 17, his office said in a news release, confirming CNN’s earlier reporting.

“I am so happy to be home,” the freshman Democrat said in a statement. “I’m excited to be the father and husband I want to be, and the senator Pennsylvania deserves. Pennsylvanians have always had my back, and I will always have theirs.”

Fetterman checked himself in last month “to receive treatment for clinical depression,” his chief of staff said at the time. A source familiar with the matter previously told CNN that while Fetterman was not suicidal, his symptoms for depression included loss of weight and loss of appetite.

“I want everyone to know that depression is treatable, and treatment works,” Fetterman added in the statement after being discharged. “This isn’t about politics – right now there are people who are suffering with depression in red counties and blue counties.

“If you need help, please get help,” he said.

Fetterman, the 53-year-old freshman who helped cement Democrats’ 51-49 Senate majority last fall, suffered a stroke last year during the days ahead of the primary. And when he returned to the campaign trail, Fetterman often struggled to communicate with lingering auditory processing issues, relying on assistance through devices with closed captioning in order to properly have conversations and answer questions.

The same auditory processing issues impacted him in his early days in the Senate. And when he struggled with substantial weight loss and a loss of appetite, he was diagnosed with clinical depression, later checking himself into Walter Reed for treatment.

Fetterman has experienced depression “off and on” over the course of his life, a statement previously issued by the senator’s chief of staff said.

In February, the senator went to the George Washington University Hospital after feeling lightheaded, his office announced. However, he was discharged two days later, and his office said that test results had been able to “rule out a new stroke.”

His lack of eating and drinking contributed to dizziness, the source previously told CNN.

Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters, please call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or visit the hotline’s website.

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‘Near-perfect’ sabertooth cat skull is first sign they lived in Iowa

April 1, 2023 Published by Futurity (National Geo)

The recent discovery of a sabertooth cat skull in southwest Iowa is the first evidence the prehistoric predator once inhabited the state.

The chance of finding any fossilized remains from a sabertooth cat is slim, says Matthew Hill, an associate professor of archaeology at Iowa State and expert on animal bones. The remarkably well-preserved skull found in Page County is even rarer, and its discovery offers clues about the iconic Ice Age species before its extinction roughly 12-13,000 years ago.

“The skull is a really big deal,” says Hill. “Finds of this animal are widely scattered and usually represented by an isolated tooth or bone. This skull from the East Nishnabotna River is in near perfect condition. It’s exquisite.”

The underside of the sabertooth cat skull. — (Credit: Christopher Gannon/Iowa State)

Hill analyzed the specimen in collaboration with David Easterla, professor emeritus of biology at Northwest Missouri State University. Their findings appear in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews.

The researchers used radiocarbon dating to determine the cat died at the end of the Ice Age between 13,605 and 13,460 years ago. Hill says it may have been one of the last sabertooths to walk the planet as glaciers receded and temperatures rose.

“We think southwest Iowa during this period was a parkland with patches of trees interspersed with grassy openings, somewhat similar to central Canada today,” says Hill. “The cat would have lived alongside other extinct animals like dire wolf, giant short-faced bear, long-nosed peccary, flat-headed peccary, stag-moose, muskox, and giant ground sloth, and maybe a few bison and mammoth.”

Sabertooth fossil clues

Hill and Easterla believe the skull belonged to a subadult (2-3 year old) male when it died. Gaps between the skull’s boney plates indicate its head was still growing, and the permanent teeth don’t show much wear from cutting and chewing. To figure out its sex, they compared its skull measurements with adult male and female sabertooth skulls from the Rancho La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles.

Hill explains sabertooth were sexually dimorphic, meaning males were larger than females. Since the Iowa skull is larger than many male skulls from the tar pits, the researchers argue it belonged to a male. They estimate the Iowa cat weighed about 550 pounds at death and may have approached 650 pounds as an adult in prime physical condition. In comparison, the average adult male African lion weighs about 400 pounds.

How the sabertooth cat died is not clear. But a broken canine might offer a clue. Hill and Easterla speculate the animal was seriously injured while attacking prey, which ultimately proved fatal within days of the trauma.

Small patches of worn-down bone on top of the skull indicate it slid along a river-bottom before coming to rest and then buried for thousands of years.

“We can learn a lot from these types of fossils. They hold clues about the ecology of the animals, and how they respond to dramatic climate change and the appearance of a new predator and competitor on the landscape, including people,” says Hill. “Iowa is a fantastic laboratory to do research on extinct Ice Age animals and the people who were just beginning to share the landscape with them.”

Eclectic diet

Research opportunities with the sabertooth cat skull don’t end with the published analysis, the researchers say.

Hill suspects the cat’s primary prey was Jefferson’s giant ground sloth, which were common in Iowa during the Ice Age. They’d sit beside trees and bushes and pull in leaves and buds to eat. At 8-to-10 feet tall and over 2,200 pounds, giant ground sloths were massive. Hill believes only a large predator armed with “absolutely lethal jaws and claws” and legs designed for pouncing could hunt them regularly.

To test this, Hill is teaming up with Andrew Somerville, assistant professor of archaeology at Iowa State who is an expert in dietary reconstruction using bone geochemistry. Together, they’re developing a stable isotope mixing model with samples from the sabertooth cat, other carnivores, and herbivores (e.g., Jefferson’s ground sloth, muskox, stag-moose.)

“You are what you eat, and it’s locked in your bones,” says Hill.

Stable isotopes make it possible for researchers to know what plants herbivores eat and, in turn, what herbivores carnivores eat. They can piece together local food webs and how species filled ecological niches.

“So, maybe the sabertooth was primarily eating giant ground sloth, dire wolves, primarily moose, and short-faced bears, a little bit of everything. Andrew and I are going to figure it out,” says Hill.

The researchers expect to publish their findings in the coming year.

Source: Iowa State University

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New Mexico Supreme Court blocks local abortion restrictions

April 1, 2023 Published by Fox News

The New Mexico Supreme Court blocked local anti-abortion ordinances Friday pending the outcome of a case centered on constitutional rights to equal protection and due process.

The ruling granted a request by Democratic state Attorney General Raúl Torrez and follows the state’s recent adoption of a new abortion rights bill signed by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham just weeks ago that overrides any local ordinances aimed at limiting access to abortion procedures and medications.

The state already had one of the country’s most liberal abortion access laws, but two counties and three cities in eastern New Mexico recently adopted restrictions that reflect deep-seated opposition to offering the procedure. Torrez’s petition and the legislation that was passed during the recent 60-day aim to override those ordinances and prevent other counties from adopting abortion restrictions.

NEW MEXICO CAN NOW OVERRIDE CITY GOVERNMENTS FROM ADOPTING ABORTION RESTRICTIONS

The goal is for New Mexico to remain a safe haven for women seeking abortions, Torrez said in a statement Friday.

The legislation and the petition “will make it clear that everyone in the state of New Mexico has a protected, constitutional right to make their own healthcare decisions,” he said. “Given the attacks we are seeing in Texas and across the country, I am proud to stand with our Legislature and the governor to continue this fight.”

Democratic governors in 20 states this year launched a network intended to strengthen abortion access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision nixing a woman’s constitutional right to end a pregnancy. The decision shifted regulatory powers over the procedure to state governments.

In 2021, the Democratic-led New Mexico Legislature repealed a dormant 1969 statute that outlawed most abortion procedures as felonies, ensuring access to abortion even after the federal court rolled back guarantees. The governor also signed a series of executive orders that, among other things, barred state cooperation with other states that might interfere with abortion access.

The New Mexico Supreme Court has broadly ruled to block local governments from implementing their own abortion restrictions.

The changes over the last two years have prompted more providers to relocate to New Mexico and bring patients with them.

Mississippi’s only abortion clinic also relocated to southern New Mexico. Tele-health provider Choix, based in San Francisco, became licensed last year to operate in New Mexico.

One of the largest abortion providers that had operated in Texas opened a new clinic in New Mexico’s largest city last week. Officials with Whole Woman’s Health said that out of the first 19 patients scheduled to walk through the doors of the Albuquerque clinic, 18 were from Texas.

Whole Woman’s Health started a fundraising effort last summer to help with the costs of moving equipment and supplies from Texas to New Mexico and for the purchase of a building to serve as its new home.

CALIFORNIA BILL PROTECTS DOCTORS WHO MAIL ABORTION PILLS TO OUT-OF-STATE PATIENTS

New Mexico’s governor also has pledged to spend $10 million to build a new abortion clinic in the southern part of the state near El Paso, Texas.

In its order, the New Mexico Supreme Court outlined a schedule for the ongoing case over the ordinances in the cities of Hobbs, Clovis and Eunice and in Lea and Roosevelt counties. It said briefs due in April should address what, if any, effect the new abortion rights law will have on the case.

In an earlier brief filed with the court, a coalition of anti-abortion organizations argued that the attorney general bypassed ordinary litigation procedures by filing the emergency petition in hopes of having the court declare a new constitutional right to abortion without the benefit of a lower court taking up the issue.

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The groups argue that the New Mexico Constitution expressly guarantees “the right to life, not the right to end unborn life.”

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Florida House passes bill extending ban on sexual orientation and gender identity instruction to 8th grade

April 1, 2023 Published by CNN

CNN
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The Florida House voted Friday to extend a prohibition on teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity to eighth grade, reviving a debate from last year that sparked widespread condemnation from Democrats and copycat legislation in Republican statehouses around the country.

The bill, which passed 77-35 in the Republican-controlled House, would go further than current Florida law to restrict the rights of transgender individuals in the state and limit what schools can discuss and teach about sex.

The bill would force K-12 public schools to define sex as “an immutable biological trait” and says it is “false” to use a pronoun that doesn’t correspond to that sex. It would ban teachers from using their preferred pronouns when talking to a student, and it also says that schools cannot require teachers or students to refer to another person by their preferred pronouns if they differ from that person’s sex at birth.

Under the bill, any materials used by schools as part of sex education curriculum would have to be approved by the state Department of Education.

The existing law, signed last year by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, restricts instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom through third grade or in an age-appropriate manner for older grades. Democrats, LGBTQ groups and some businesses, most notably Disney, objected to the measure, which opponents dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law.

DeSantis argued at the time that young children should not be exposed to concepts such as gender identity. However, his administration this month proposed extending the prohibition through high school.

A Senate version of the House bill passed received a favorable recommendation from a committee on March 20 and is awaiting further action.

The bill that passed Friday would also give parents and citizens more power to challenge classroom materials they consider pornographic or believe contain sexual conduct. Schools would have five days to remove any book that is challenged. Schools must hold public meetings to determine whether the material should be allowed. If a parent disagrees with the decision, the school will have to pay for a special magistrate picked by the state Department of Education to review the material and make a determination.

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What If Megalodon Fought Titanoboa?

April 1, 2023 Published by GrilloCOM Grab

It’s the matchup you’ve been waiting for, the clash between some of the biggest titans that ever roamed the Earth. From the jungle …

When did horses get to the western US?

April 1, 2023 Published by Futurity (National Geo)

New research digs into when and how horses spread and flourished in the western US.

Until now, the accepted theory of horses arriving to the Great Plains and Northern Rockies was shaped by word of mouth and lore.

The new research, published in Science, establishes the expansion of the domesticated horse through DNA evidence.

The researchers compared genetic samples from horse remains at archeological sites to the genetics of rare, early horse breeds similar to those that came over with early settlers. They found familial ties indicating that horses arrived with Europeans and then made their way west during the 17th century. Horses were not out west 10,000 years ago when nomadic people first arrived in North America.

Some archaeological evidence like bones, horseshoes, and colonial items have been found in various locations across the US and occasionally in deposits west of the Mississippi. However, when it came to whether horses were always in the western US or if they came over with Europeans and Spaniards and made it from the East Coast to the Rockies, horses left an open book.

Horses themselves and horsemanship seemed to have spread west faster than Europeans did, the researchers also found. Some of the early horse fossils showed horses were established in the Great Plains before the European and Spanish made their way west. More research needs to be done to understand just how this happened, but it’s another fascinating finding.

Besides filling in some blanks in the history books, this research has real implications for how horses are selected for breeding today.

“We can see aspects of genetic selection from 3,000 years ago that are likely important for a good temperament and a strong back in our horses today,” says Samantha Brooks, associate professor of equine genetics at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) whose lab collected DNA samples for the study and helped analyze the data.

“Those are things horse people still struggle with today. The more we learn about genetics that control those aspects of horse health, the better off we can take care of our horses today.”

The new findings shed light on the role horses played in Indigenous cultures. Horses have been a significant part of many Native American cultures, but this research clarifies when and how horses were integrated into their lives.

“European nations valued the horse, but horses did not become a life changing cultural icon to them as it did to the Indigenous people,” Brooks. “The horse suited the nomadic plains lifestyle so remarkably well.”

Nomadic people may not have made it to North America 10,000 years ago with horses in hand, but somehow their way of life was so well suited to the horse that once it arrived in the western US plains, it thrived as part of the Native American culture.

“Some tribal historians thought it was possible that the horses found out west were genetically distinct from the lineage that arrived with Spanish and European colonizers, but the data showed that is unlikely,” says Brooks.

“This is almost a more remarkable finding. The level of skill the Native peoples have with horse handling and management is truly impressive, and this study tells us that they developed that skill in a relatively short amount of time.”

One of the fossilized horses used in the study was found to have sustained a skull fracture at some point in its life that was unrelated to its later death. An injury like that would have almost certainly required supportive care in order to survive, a testament to how tough these early horses had to be, and to how well Indigenous communities cared for the animals.

“Native people adapted and flourished as a horse culture in the blink of a historical eye,” says Brooks.

The researchers thank the Livestock Conservancy and owners and breeders of rare horse breeds such as the Galiceño, Marsh Tacky, and Florida Cracker Horse that contributed genetic samples to the study. Without those samples, this research would not have been possible.

Source: University of Florida

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New Jersey police share video of dramatic rescue of 4-year-old lost in woods with dog

April 1, 2023 Published by Fox News

New Jersey State Police shared the footage of a dramatic rescue after a 4-year-old boy and his dog got lost in a wooded area behind his house this week.

Trooper Ian Emmi raced through the woods with the boy’s mother when they heard his screams after he wandered away from his home in Buena Vista County, Atlantic Township, Tuesday night, police said.

The incident was caught on Emmi’s body camera.

In the 46-second video, a trooper can be heard shouting, “I’ve got him back here!” as Emmi races toward the boy’s cries.

FLORIDA DEPUTIES RESCUE MISSING ELDERLY MAN WITH ALZHEIMER’S IN WOODS WHILE SEARCHING FOR ROBBERY SUSPECT

The boy and his dog were missing for more than an hour after they were found by state troopers. (New Jersey State Police)

“I got ya, come here, you’re OK,” Emmi says to the clearly distraught boy who repeatedly tells troopers, “I lost my shoe.” The boy’s Labrador can be seen waiting beside him.

Once they find him, he’s swept up into a female trooper’s arms.

US ARMY SPECIALIST HOPES TO RESCUE HELPLESS PUPPY FOUND OVERSEAS: ‘STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE’

The boy was lost for more than an hour and was found about a half mile from his home.

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“We are thankful to report that due to the quick response of the troopers and his mother, the terrified child was safely located and in good health,” state police said in a statement.

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