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Engineers in Japan are trying to get robots to imitate that particularly human expression: the smile.They created a face mask from human skin cells and attached it to robots using a new technique that hides the bond and is flexible enough to transform into a grimace or a soft smile.The effect is halfway between the terrifying Hannibal Lecter mask and the Gumby claymation figure.But scientists say the prototypes pave the way for more sophisticated robots, with an outer layer that is elastic and strong enough to protect the machine while making it more human-like.In addition to expressiveness, the "skin equivalent," as researchers call it, which is made in the laboratory from living skin cells, can scar and burn and even self-heal, according to a study published June 25 in the journal Cell R...

Aside from the tattered posters of Iranian presidential candidates plastered on highway overpasses, there were few signs this weekend that the country had held a presidential election on Friday and was headed for a runoff.There were almost no demonstrations to applaud the two most voted candidates, who come from opposite ends of the political spectrum and between whom Iranians will decide on July 5.Even from the government's official numbers, it was clear that the real winner of Friday's election was Iran's silent majority who either left their ballots blank or did not vote at all. About 60 percent of eligible voters did not vote or cast a blank ballot.That's because there was no point in voting, said Bita Irani, 40, a housewife in Tehran, Iran's capital: "We had to cho...

When I was a child, my father, who had left the country only a few times, told me about the trip he took to Europe with his parents when he was 14, in 1966. He told me how Nonie loved the immaculate Swiss streets and the flowerbeds that sparkled with flowers; the fireplace in the house on the hill outside Lugano, where his father was born, with ingenious alcoves on either side for hanging clothes or warming bread; the palpable poverty of the house in Pozzuoli, a town just outside Naples, where Nonie’s aunt had lined the walls with newspaper for better insulation. Every so often, my father would get out his projector and show me his Kodachrome slides.As an adult, I spent years telling him that he and I should do the trip again—or at least a short version where we’d go to Switzerland and Ita...

French voters turned out en masse on Sunday for the first round of early legislative elections unexpectedly called this month by President Emmanuel Macron, a gamble that has plunged the country into deep uncertainty about its future.At midday on Sunday, the turnout rate was almost 26 percent, the Interior Ministry said, the highest rate since 1981 for a similar election and at the same time of day, demonstrating strong interest in a vote that will determine the future of Mr Macron's second term.Voters are choosing their 577 representatives in the National Assembly, the lowest and most important house of the country's Parliament. A new majority of MPs opposed to Macron would force him to appoint a political opponent as prime minister, radically changing France's domestic politi...

Deng Yuwen, a prominent Chinese writer now living in exile in suburban Philadelphia, has regularly criticized China and its authoritarian leader, Xi Jinping. China’s response of late has been harsh, with scathing and menacingly personal online attacks.According to researchers at Clemson University and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, a secret propaganda network linked to the country’s security services bombarded not only Mr. Deng but also his teenage daughter with sexually suggestive and threatening posts on popular social media platforms.The content, posted by users with false identities, appeared in replies to Mr Deng’s posts on social media platform X, as well as on the accounts of public schools in their community, where his daughter, who is 16, was falsely portrayed as a drug ...

Iranian voters demonstrated their displeasure with Iran’s clerical system of governance during Friday’s presidential election, turning out in record numbers to help two establishment candidates limp to a runoff.The July 5 runoff will offer voters the final choice between a reformist former health minister, Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian, and an ultraconservative former nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, neither of whom managed to secure more than 50 percent of the vote needed to win the presidency. That postpones for another week the question of who will lead Iran through challenges including an ailing economy, a divide between rulers and ruled, and a looming war that continues to threaten to drag Iran further down the drain.But despite belonging to two different factions, neither is expected to bri...

Ever since scientists discovered earlier this year that the flu infects American cows, they have wondered how it spread from one animal to another. An experiment conducted in Kansas and Germany shed some light on the mystery.Scientists have failed to find evidence that the virus can spread as a respiratory infection. Juergen Richt, a virologist at Kansas State University who helped lead the research, said the findings suggest the virus is transmitted primarily through contaminated milking machines.In an interview, Dr. Richt said the findings offer hope that the outbreak can be stopped before the virus evolves into a form that could spread easily among humans."I think it's good news that we can probably control this more easily than people thought," Dr. Richt said. "Hopefully we can n...

The Dutch Volleyball Association and Dutch Olympic organizers stand by their decision to send a convicted rape victim to the Paris Olympics this summer to represent the Netherlands in beach volleyball.In 2014, the man, Steven van de Velde, now 29, traveled to England, where he raped a 12-year-old girl he had met on Facebook. A British court sentenced him in 2016 to four years in prison. After a year he was transferred to the Netherlands, where his sentence was modified according to Dutch law. In total, Mr van de Velde spent just over a year in prison.She later received professional psychological help, the volleyball association said.The Dutch Olympic Committee and the Dutch Volleyball Association are allowing Mr. van de Velde to compete based on the advice of experts who they say deemed...

Many travelers from the United States have lost a vital tool for navigating maps, making reservations, using ride-hailing apps and more because of a cellular data outage that began affecting AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon customers on Wednesday.Affected travelers, especially in Europe, posted on social media, seeking answers about what caused the outage and how long it would last. Some reported being unable to make phone calls, send text messages or use online services without Wi-Fi for 24 hours. It’s unclear what caused the outage, which appears to stretch from Britain to Turkey.An AT&T spokeswoman said the carrier’s network was operating normally, but that some customers traveling internationally may experience service disruptions due to an issue outside of AT&T’s network. The company said i...

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