While ChatGPT took two months to hit the 100 million user mark and video-sharing app TikTok took nine months, Instagram itself took two and a half years to reach that mark after its 2010 launch.

This strange world, which is more than 260 light years from Earth, reflects 80 percent of the light from its host star, according to new observations from Europe's exoplanet-probing Cheops space telescope. 

That is the conclusion of scientists whose findings are offered as proof that rapid expansion of human appetites and activity so radically altered natural systems as to tip Earth into a new geological epoch called the Anthropocene, or the "era of humans".

Threads is a text-based sidekick of Instagram, the image-heavy social network that Facebook bought more than a decade ago and became the world's most popular app for photo sharing.

"In terms of where Tesla is at this stage, I think we are very close to achieving full self-driving without human supervision," Musk said via video link at the opening ceremony of an artificial intelligence conference in Shanghai.

Threads is the biggest challenger yet to Elon Musk-owned Twitter, which has seen a series of potential competitors emerge but not yet replace one of social media's most iconic companies, despite its epic struggles.

The Online News Act, adopted by parliament last month, requires digital giants like Google and Meta to make commercial deals to compensate Canadian news outlets when users access articles through their products, or face binding arbitration.

Zuckerberg's Meta group, which owns Facebook, has listed a new app in stores as "Threads, an Instagram app", available for pre-order in the United States, with a message saying it is "expected" this Thursday.

Einstein's theory of relativity predicts that because space is expanding, "we should see the distant universe run in slow motion," said Geraint Lewis, an astrophysicist at the University of Sydney and the lead author of a new study.

The social media firm, bought by billionaire Elon Musk last year, has been thrashing around for ways to make a profit, cutting staff and ramping up its paid-for subscriptions.

The mini rotorcraft, which hitched a ride to the Red Planet with the Perseverance rover in early 2021, has already survived well beyond its initial 30-day mission to prove the feasibility of its technology in five test flights.

Verified accounts were initially limited to reading 6,000 posts a day, Musk said, adding that unverified accounts will be limited to 600 posts a day with new unverified accounts limited to 300.

The launch is planned from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 11:12 am local time (1512 GMT) on a Falcon 9 rocket of the US company SpaceX.

The Online News Act became law last week, aiming to support a struggling Canadian news sector that has seen hundreds of publications close in the last decade.

The breakthrough -- made by hundreds of scientists using radio telescopes in North America, Europe, China, India and Australia after years of work -- was hailed as a major milestone that opens a new window into the universe.

But what are these disaster scenarios and how are machines supposed to wipe out humanity?

The remains of the Titanic rest on the seabed in the North Atlantic at a depth of some 3,800 meters.

The finding was based on a review of data collected by NASA's Cassini probe, and was published Wednesday in the prestigious journal Nature.

"It was a demo that John (Lennon) had, and that we worked on, and we just finished it up," said McCartney, who turns 81 next week.

The release was the most significant product launch by the iPhone maker since it unveiled the Apple Watch in 2015.

A one-line statement signed by dozens of specialists, including Sam Altman whose firm OpenAI created the ChatGPT bot, said tackling the risks from AI should be "a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war".

Neuralink said clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its first in-human clinical study is "an important first step" for its technology, which is intended to let brains interface directly with computers.

The unprecedented ban, set to start in 2024, violates the constitutionally protected right to free speech, TikTok argued in the suit.

The new study, published this week in the magazine Science, found that it was probably widespread even in the ancient world.

It could be the ultimate blend of art and science -- a new seven-suite "space symphony" inspired and illustrated by NASA's latest mind-boggling images.

As people brace for the disruptive impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, those in the world of audio books say their field is already being transformed.

It was the first time Yaccarino has spoken publicly since the news broke Thursday that she was in talks to become the next CEO of Twitter. Musk, who has served as CEO since his $44 billion buyout of Twitter last October, announced her appointment on Friday.

Apple will launch its first online store in Vietnam next week, hoping to cash in on the country's young and tech-savvy population.

While the astronomers offered what they think is the most likely explanation for the explosion, they emphasised that more research was needed to understand the puzzling phenomenon.

A new genetics study published Tuesday in Cell Reports finds that some of the first arrivals came from China during two distinct migrations: the first during the last ice age, and the second shortly after.