The Daily Populous

Tuesday June 3rd, 2025 evening edition

image for ‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects

Every branch of every tree seemed to host its own small metropolis of creatures hunting, flying, crawling, eating.

Out of the forest darkness, a tornado of insects would flock to its glow, spinning and dancing before the light.

Lit up, the side of the house would be “absolutely plastered with moths – tens of thousands of them”, Janzen says.

The hum of wild bees has faded, and leaves that should be chewed to the stem hang whole and un-nibbled.

They are more like a pristine greenhouse than a living ecosystem: a wilderness that has been fumigated and left sterile.

“In the parts of Costa Rica that are heavily hit by pesticides, the insects are completely wiped out,” Hallwachs says.

Run that forward four decades, that’s nearly half the tree of life disappearing in a lifetime … catastrophic David Wagner. »

AI company files for bankruptcy after being exposed as 700 Indian engineers

Authored by dexerto.com

AI is all the rage right now as companies laser in on language-learning models like ChatGPT, Gemini, LLaMA and more.

However, one of these AI brands has been exposed as a total sham in a wild scam that’s going viral on social media.

‘Natasha,’ an AI app-building service from London-based Builder.ai, claimed it had the ability to use artificial intelligence to create applications. »

Ubisoft Execs in Court in France as Harassment Case Unfolds

Authored by comicbasics.com

Starting June 2, Serge Hascoët, Tommy François, and Guillaume Patrux are being tried at the criminal court in Bobigny.

According to documents reviewed by franceinfo, this is the result of years of silence at the top levels of Ubisoft.

Despite the case now going to trial, Ubisoft as a company is not being held legally responsible. »

Ukraine strikes bridge connecting Russia to Crimea with underwater explosives

Authored by amp.cnn.com

Ukraine said on Tuesday that it had hit the bridge connecting Russia and the occupied Crimean Peninsula with explosives planted underwater, in its third attack on the vital supply line for Moscow’s forces since the full-scale war began in 2022.

The agency said it had used 1,100 kilograms of explosives which “severely damaged” the underwater pillars supporting the bridge.

Traffic on the bridge was suspended early Tuesday morning, then again mid-afternoon, before resuming shortly before 6 p.m. local time. »

Dutch government collapses after Geert Wilders’ far-right party quits

Authored by politico.eu
image for

While the PVV members of the government are resigning, Schoof said that the remainder of the government — including himself — would stay on in a caretaker capacity until there’s a new administration.

But, he said, “if one party lacks the will to continue [to carry out the government program], you cannot move forward with each other.”.

Both he and his coalition partners doubted there’d be an agreement at the meeting — and so it proved. »