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Half-Life, Valve's masterpiece that's regarded as the best PC game of all time, is getting reborn with a new raytracing mod.

Skilled modders are completely overhauling Half-Life's in-game visuals with a new raytracing mod, similar to the recent RT updates to old-school shooter Quake 2. The result is a radical change in overall interior and exterior lighting and shadow effects--some of which are as different as light and day.

343 Industries has been hiring for a new monetization designer for Halo Infinite since October, job listings indicate.

Halo Infinite's aggressive microtransaction storefront could be getting an overhaul. 343i currently wants to (and has been wanting to for months) hire a monetization designer to help create a more engaging and sustainable storefront. In other words, 343i may want to make some big changes to the game's current aggressively-priced cosmetic microtransactions.

The mTX specialist will "improve and develop new sustainable monetization systems in line with our vision for Halo Infinite and our respect for our players time as well as their monetary investment."

The team that found the fossils published their findings in the Science Advances journal.

Led by Dr. Matthew McCurry and Dr. Michael Frese, the team identified a new fossil site in New South Wales, Australia, named McGraths Flat. It is located in the Central Tablelands, NSW, near the town of Gulong. The site joins a limited group of fossil sites across Australia classified as a 'Lagerstatte' (a site that contains exceptionally well-preserved fossils).

In the last three years, researchers have excavated thousands of specimens that likely formed between 11 and 16 million years ago, including those of rainforest plants, insects, spiders, fish, and a bird feather. The fossils indicate the area was once a temperate, mesic rainforest. Many of the fossils are so well preserved that they can see some of the individual cells and subcellular structures. Examples of species' interaction can be seen in fish fossils with their stomach contents preserved or pollen on the bodies of some insects.

Researchers from the University of Glasgow reported their findings in a new study published in the Computers in Human Behaviour journal.

They found that celebrities and famous individuals are considered more "attractive," which, compared to ordinary people, elicits a more protective response from others when they experience abuse online. The public perception of increased attractiveness meant that any abuse they received was perceived as more socially unacceptable. The researchers suggest this "protective 'halo'" bestowed upon celebrities online is due to the "'what is beautiful is good' phenomenon."

The study highlights key points such as celebrities being victim-blamed less often than a layperson in instances of cyber abuse, incidents involving celebrity targets were considered more severe than layperson targets, and celebrities are seen as more socially, physically, and task-attractive than laypersons. The researchers found victim attractiveness and status predicted victim-blaming and perceptions of severity.

Researchers from Ajou University in South Korea have created an amazing new robotic hand.

A new article published in Nature Communications describes the device, named the ILDA hand, which weighs just under 2.5 pounds (1.1 kilograms) and measures almost 8.6 inches (21.8 centimeters). The hand is made from steel and aluminum and has twenty joints, a fingertip force of 34 newtons, and can complete various everyday tasks when mounted on a commercial robotic arm.

The team says the hand can hold eggs without crushing them, lift dumbbells, crush cans and pour drinks. The hand was able to grasp various objects, adjusting its fingers accordingly. It demonstrated its ability to use tools with precision, handling scissors to cut paper and manipulating tweezers to pick up and place a microchip on a circuit board.

Researchers from Paragraf and the Queen Mary University of London have published a new study in the journal Advanced Optical Materials on the potential replacement.

The researchers successfully fabricated an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED), where the indium tin oxide (ITO) anode normally used was replaced with a mono-layer graphene anode. Indium is a rare earth metal, one of the nine rarest elements in the Earth's crust, making the European Union's list of critical raw materials. Many smartphone and television screens now come with OLED technology, but indium is also found in a large number of other consumer electronics.

The new technology demonstrates graphene's potential to serve as a viable replacement. Graphene is made from carbon atoms alone and can be sustainably produced, whereas indium's comparative scarcity makes it more expensive and unsustainable. Until now, graphene has had big expectations but hasn't been able to have them fully realized.

Researchers from the University of California San Francisco have published a new study in the Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association which examines the link between exercise and brain health.

Their study found that more active older adults had higher quantities of a class of proteins that enhance connections between neurons to maintain healthy cognition. The protective impact of these proteins was observed even in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases when their brains, which have higher concentrations of toxic proteins like amyloid and tau, were studied after death.

The researchers followed the activity levels of elderly subjects who agreed to donate their brains after death. They found higher concentrations of proteins that facilitate information exchange between neurons, allowing the subjects to retain better cognition later in their lives. The beneficial effects extended beyond the hippocampus, responsible for memory functions, to other areas of the brain associated with cognitive function.

As NASA continues the unfolding process of the James Webb Space Telescope that was launched on Christmas Day, many members of the public are wondering why the observatory doesn't have its own cameras.

NASA recently took to its blog and social media channels to explain why the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) isn't equipped with its own cameras. According to the space agency, there were several problems engineers faced when drawing up JWST designs that included cameras, such as harnessing problems, combating the extreme glare the camera would experience if it was positioned on the Sun-facing side, and the lack of lighting the camera would have on the side shrouded in darkness.

In a series of tweets by NASA's official James Webb Telescope Twitter account, the space agency outlines more problems engineers faced, such as power, temperature, and complexity. Ultimately, Webb's engineers decided that "deployment surveillance cameras would not add significant information of value for engineering teams commanding the spacecraft from the ground." If you are interested in reading more about the James Webb Space Telescope, check out the below links!

Astronomers observing asteroids can predict their orbits around the Sun and therefore predict when the observed asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth.

One asteroid, in particular, will be making a close approach with Earth in the future, and when it was first discovered back in 2004, astronomers briefly believed that it might pose a risk to Earth. However, in 2021 researchers ruled out any possibility for asteroid 99942 Apophis being a danger to Earth, but it will pass close to our planet, and that's a good thing.

A new study from Brazilian astronomers details an opportunity for researchers to learn more about the surface of the asteroid when it makes it closest approach. The researchers write that asteroid 99942 Apophis is estimated to be around 1115 feet wide, and after performing a simulation with the acquired data, the researchers discovered the asteroid's shape isn't circular and is irregular.

NASA and the European Space Agency are currently moving towards preparing the James Webb Space Telescope for operations.

While both space agencies work together to make sure the unfolding of the James Webb Space Telescope goes as smoothly as possible, some physicists are already getting excited about the science questions Webb will be able to solve once it's operational. Carnegie Mellon University, Associate Professor of Physics Matthew Walker, has expressed his excitement about Webb and the data that it will be able to acquire about the universe.

Walker says that "The top-level science goal is to learn about the nature of dark matter", which has never been directly observed. Due to it never being directly observed, many theories have come out attempting to explain its existence, some even saying that the form dark matter takes is in clumps called "halos" - this is the cold matter theory. Walker and his team are planning on using the data acquired by Webb to search the universe for evidence of dark matter.

NASA recently announced that the James Webb Space Telescope has almost reached its destination, but why is it traveling to that specific point in space?

The European Space Agency (ESA) that partnered with NASA for the construction of the James Webb Space Telescope announced via its Webb Telescope Twitter account that Webb has crossed the "1 million km mark", or 621,371 miles, and has "now completed 2/3 of the distance."

Webb is on its way to Lagrange Point 2, or L2, which is a specific point in space where the gravitational pull from the Sun, planets, and the motion of Webb orbiting combine to create an equilibrium. NASA and the ESA are sending Webb to L2 because once it's in location, it will require very little energy to maintain orbiting on that plane. Additionally, once Webb is in position, it will stay in line with Earth as our planet orbits the Sun.

Five years after Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's release on Switch, Nintendo is reportedly planning a new Mario Kart reveal for 2022.

Mario Kart 8 is the top-selling Switch game of all time. It was originally released in 2014 on the failed Wii U platform, then re-released a month after the Switch's 2017 launch. In the past five years, the game has amassed over 37 million sales as of September 30f and has likely moved 1-2 million units on top of this during the holiday season. Despite these huge numbers, it's high time for a new Mario Kart.

According to Kantan Games analyst Dr. Serkan Toto, Nintendo is indeed working on Mario Kart 9 and it could be announced this year. "I am aware Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is still selling very well on the Nintendo Switch, but Mario Kart 9 is in active development (and comes with a new twist) and Nintendo could tease it this year," Toto told Games Industry.biz.

A new South Park game is in development from a team that worked on The Stick of Truth and Fractured But Whole, and it could be a FPS.

Question Games, the indie studio behind online multiplayer game The Blackout Club, is co-developing a new South Park game alongside South Park Digital Studios. Given Question Games' pedigree for FPS titles, it's likely that the new project could also be a first-person shooter, and if so, it could bring back the glory days of South Park 64's hilarious multiplayer (remember the cow gun?).

What's even better is that Question Games' dev team has past experience with South Park. The studio has Jordan Thomas, an ex-Ubisoft dev who served as Creative Consultant on Stick of Truth and Fractured But Whole (with South Park Digital Studios), in its ranks. Thomas also designed the seventh level of BioShock at Irrational Games, and directed BioShock 2 at 2K Marin.

Halo Infinite's Big Team Battle mode is still broken...and yet the game keeps serving up BTB challenges. Now frustrated gamers are calling 343 Industries out.

Fortnite recently went down for a few hours and players received some nice freebies as compensation. Meanwhile, Halo Infinite's Big Team Battle mode has been broken for over a month and gamers don't get anything in return. In fact, they keep getting challenges for Big Team Battle that they can't really complete. The solution is to grind or buy challenge swaps from the in-game shop.

This bitter pill was recently brought up on the Halo Reddit and quickly received over 23,000 upvotes. Gamers would like something in return, of course, but more than anything they want the mode to be fixed and to have the challenge system overhauled. That last bit probably won't happen for a long while.

GameStop is going all-in on play-to-earn blockchain gaming and NFT trading.

Brick-and-mortar store GameStop is betting big on nascent and speculative digital technologies like blockchain in a bid to supplement its sluggish retail business. GameStop's new blockchain business segment has over 20 people, sources tell The Wall Street Journal, and the unit has been confirmed by recent company job listings.

GameStop has a multi-faceted approach to web3. The company plans to open an NFT marketplace where users can buy and sell digital non-fungible tokens on the popular Ethereum blockchain. Alongside NFT creators, which GameStop is currently trying to woo, the retailer would take a cut on every auction and sale.

Apple CEO Tim Cook earned $98 million in total compensation in 2021, a massive 568% increase over 2020.

New SEC filings outline executive pay for Apple's current C-suite leadership, and CEO Tim Cook saw a meteoric rise in total compensation. According to the filing, Tim Cook received a total of $98 million in compensation through 2021 that consists of $3 million in base salary pay, $82 million in stock awards, $12 million in incentive pay, and nearly $1.4 million from "other compensation."

Cook's record incentive payout was due to Apple's stellar performance throughout 2021:

Sony is powering the critical camera and virtual production technologies needed to build Epic's grand metaverse.

The metaverse is still many years away, but Epic Games and Sony are laying the foundations right now. Sony recently supplied the Epic Games Lab with its new high-end VENICE Camera and Crystal LED B-series panel to fuel the games-maker's virtual production initiatives. Epic's Unreal Engine is used for a number of productions including video games and filmmaking, the latter of which is largely transitioning to virtualized production that limits set-making and specific interactions during the global pandemic.

"What's been interesting to see is how believable the images you see on the new panels, because of the resolution, because of the color accuracy. When we see it through the VENICE camera, the fact that these two are matched well together, really does make you believe you're looking at a realm image as oppose to a total illusion...which is basically what virtual production is,"said Epic Games Chief Technology Officer Kim Liberi.

Sony's next-gen PS5-powered VR headset is coming soon, but the company isn't chasing megaton sales with its latest HMD.

PSVR sales data shows one clear trend: PS4 gamers aren't too eager to bite on virtual reality. From 2016 to 2022, the PSVR has sold 5 million units globally, comprising about a 4.3% attach rate with the current PS4 shipment volume. Adoption has been very slow for a number of reasons. The $349 bundle price is a major deterrent, as is the need for extra space and having to deal with a snake's nest of cords facilitated by an extra compute box needed for image processing.

Sony's next-gen PSVR 2 solves a lot of these issues. The PS5-powered headset has a single USB-C cord that plugs directly into the console. There's no extra breakout processing box or a bunch of HDMI cords this time.

A new study published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment models the climate's unsettling trajectory.

The researchers used historical emissions data and pledges to cut emissions by the world's top five emitters (China, the United States, the European Union, India, and Russia) at the COP26 climate summit to predict regional warming by 2030.

Their model predicts that 92 percent of the 165 countries studied will experience extremely hot annual temperatures every two years. They define these extremely hot years as what would have been a once-in-a-century hot year in the pre-industrial era.

A new article published in the Science journal explores how this defies the previous norm.

In 1974, the first lab-modified virus capable of replicating was produced. Since then, the scientific consensus has been that too many modifications to the virus' genome will make it too unstable to release into an uncontrolled environment safely.

Consequently, lab-modified viral vaccines have been made with their ability to spread from the host individual to others removed or significantly diminished. Successful vaccines include the polio vaccine for humans or rabies vaccines for wild animals.