A summer marked by deadly heatwaves across Asia, Europe, and North America last year turns out to have been the hottest in the Northern Hemisphere in at least 2,000 years, according to a new study published in the journal Nature.
Technology
Offline Audio: How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files
Do you employ YouTube to take heed to music? YouTube Music exists, however it prices cash. If you wish to save your YouTube movies as audio information, sure web sites and software program will strip out the music tracks and convert them into MP3 information, which it can save you to your pc and take heed to offline.
Should you merely wish to obtain YouTube movies, now we have a information for that, however right here we’ll deal with the duty of downloading them as audio information. This fashion you do not have to fret about skipping these annoying adverts while you’re simply attempting to take heed to music.
A Authorized Warning
Earlier than diving in, let’s get one thorny situation out of the best way: Is such a conversion and obtain authorized? That depends upon the video. You’ll be able to definitely convert and obtain your individual private YouTube movies, in addition to public area and non-copyrighted movies.
You will discover this sort of content material by looking out YouTube for “public area” and “non-copyrighted” content material or filtering your search to incorporate movies with music licensed by Artistic Commons(Opens in a brand new window). In any other case, you possibly can’t legally convert and obtain copyrighted movies with out the proprietor’s permission.
As a phrase of warning, a spokesperson for Google had this to say: “Our Phrases of Service(Opens in a brand new window) prohibit the downloading or copying of movies on YouTube with out express consent from the copyright holder. As soon as notified of an infringing device or service that permits the downloading of a YouTube video with out permission from the content material proprietor, we take applicable motion.”
Beware Buggy and Malicious Websites
You must also watch out with on-line video conversion websites. A lot of them may be buggy and even attempt to infect your system with malware. A website could begin off as secure and dependable however then turn into malicious over time. Earlier than you strive utilizing any web site to transform a YouTube video, ensure you are operating reliable and up to date antivirus software program.
With these caveats in thoughts, let’s take a look at a number of web sites and applications that may convert YouTube movies into audio information.
Dirpy
On the Dirpy(Opens in a brand new window) web site, you paste the URL of a YouTube video into the search discipline and click on the Dirpy button. It will present you numerous particulars concerning the file, together with the title, period, and ID3 tag knowledge.
Within the Report Audio part on the precise, set the format to mp3 and set the standard to the best (320 kbps). Click on Report Audio and, you’re prompted to save lots of the MP3 file to your pc.
Motionbox’s YouTube to MP3
Motionbox’s YouTube To MP3(Opens in a brand new window) is a conversion web site that allows you to convert YouTube movies into a number of file codecs. For our functions right here, ensure the conversion possibility is ready to MP3. Paste the URL for the YouTube video within the applicable discipline.
After the conversion, a mini audio participant seems. You’ll be able to take heed to the audio by clicking the Play button. To obtain the file to your pc, click on the three-dot icon and choose Obtain. The one glitch right here is that the participant and obtain perform work high quality in Chrome and Microsoft Edge, however not in Firefox.
4K YouTube to MP3
4K YouTube to MP3(Opens in a brand new window) is a conversion program you possibly can set up in your Home windows or Mac pc. The free model limits you to fifteen conversions per day. To extend that quantity and serve up further advantages, the vendor additionally affords a number of paid variations(Opens in a brand new window).
This system tries to make the conversion course of as fast and easy as potential. Simply paste the video’s URL on the software program’s residence display, and the conversion robotically kicks off. The ensuing file is robotically downloaded to a 4K YouTube to MP3 subfolder in your Music folder. You’ll be able to then play the audio instantly from the software program or from one other program in your PC.
MediaHuman’s YouTube to MP3 Converter
MediaHuman affords a free conversion program known as YouTube to MP3 Converter(Opens in a brand new window) so that you can set up onto your pc. Although easy to make use of, the software program gives an array of superior choices. To get began, simply copy and paste or drag and drop the YouTube URL into this system after which click on the Begin Obtain button.
Advisable by Our Editors
You’ll be able to even convert and obtain a number of movies directly. After the file is added to your pc, right-click on it in this system and choose Find Saved File. File Explorer or Finder seems with the audio prepared so that you can play.
To enterprise past the essential options, click on the Normal choices icon on the underside toolbar after which choose Preferences. Right here, you possibly can decide to automate hyperlink pasting and downloading, management downloads, tweak community bandwidth, play with the iTunes settings, and alter the audio format and obtain folder.
Although you get all these options without spending a dime, a $9.99-per-year Turbo Increase mode considerably quickens changing and downloading to only a few seconds.
YouTube Music
Should you simply wish to take heed to songs on YouTube and do not want an MP3 file, YouTube Music means that you can take heed to your favourite music. Songs can’t be downloaded to be used exterior the app, however a YouTube Premium(Opens in a brand new window) paid subscription will will let you add offline listening, take away adverts, obtain music for offline listening, and play music within the background whereas utilizing your system.
With YouTube Music for iOS(Opens in a brand new window) and Android(Opens in a brand new window), you possibly can browse and seek for music from completely different artists, albums, and genres on YouTube. Choose your favourite artists, and the app spins up a playlist of really helpful channels; common movies are served up by way of a video hotlist. The app retains monitor of the music and channels you entry so you possibly can simply return to them. And you’ll create your individual library of favourite music.
After a one-month free trial, YouTube Music Premium is $9.99 a month on Android or $12.99 a month on iOS. That additional $3 on iOS is to cowl the 30% payment Apple fees builders for in-app funds, however you possibly can keep away from the added value by signing up on the net for $9.99 and accessing your premium account in your iPhone or iPad. YouTube additionally affords household and pupil plans for $14.99 and $4.99 per thirty days, respectively.
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Technology
Android apps will soon let you use your face to control your cursor
Developers can now integrate the accessibility feature into their apps, allowing users to control the cursor with facial gestures or by moving their heads. For example, they can open their mouth to move the cursor or raise their eyebrows to click and drag.
Announced during last year’s Google I/O for desktop, Project Gameface uses the device’s camera and a database of facial expressions from MediaPipe’s Face Landmarks Detection API to manipulate the cursor.
“Through the device’s camera, it seamlessly tracks facial expressions and head movements, translating them into intuitive and personalized control,” Google explained in its announcement. “Developers can now build applications where their users can configure their experience by customizing facial expressions, gesture sizes, cursor speed, and more.”
While Gameface was initially made for gamers, Google says it has also partnered with Incluzza — a social enterprise in India focused on accessibility — to see how they can expand it to other settings like work, school, and social situations.
Project Gameface was inspired by quadriplegic video game streamer Lance Carr, who has muscular dystrophy. Carr collaborated with Google on the project, with the aim of creating a more affordable and accessible alternative to expensive head-tracking systems.
Technology
AI is permeating American culture, but radiologists hesitant to place patients' health in an algorithm's hands
How good would an algorithm have to be to take over your job?
It’s a new question for many workers amid the rise of ChatGPT and other AI programs that can hold conversations, write stories and even generate songs and images within seconds.
For doctors who review scans to spot cancer and other diseases, however, AI has loomed for about a decade as more algorithms promise to improve accuracy, speed up work and, in some cases, take over entire parts of the job. Predictions have ranged from doomsday scenarios in which AI fully replaces radiologists, to sunny futures in which it frees them to focus on the most rewarding aspects of their work.
AI TECH AIMS TO DETECT BREAST CANCER BY MIMICKING RADIOLOGISTS’ EYE MOVEMENTS: ‘A CRITICAL FRIEND’
That tension reflects how AI is rolling out across health care. Beyond the technology itself, much depends upon the willingness of doctors to put their trust — and their patients’ health — in the hands of increasingly sophisticated algorithms that few understand.
Even within the field, opinions differ on how much radiologists should be embracing the technology.
“Some of the AI techniques are so good, frankly, I think we should be doing them now,” said Dr. Ronald Summers, a radiologist and AI researcher at the National Institutes of Health. “Why are we letting that information just sit on the table?”
Summers’ lab has developed computer-aided imaging programs that detect colon cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes and other conditions. None of those have been widely adopted, which he attributes to the “culture of medicine,” among other factors.
Radiologists have used computers to enhance images and flag suspicious areas since the 1990s. But the latest AI programs can go much further, interpreting the scans, offering a diagnosis and even drafting written reports about their findings. The algorithms are often trained on millions of X-rays and other images collected from hospitals and clinics.
Across medicine, the FDA has OK’d more than 700 AI algorithms to aid physicians. More than 75% of them are in radiology, yet just 2% of radiology practices use such technology, according to one recent estimate.
For all the promises from industry, radiologists see a number of reasons to be skeptical of AI programs: limited testing in real-world settings, lack of transparency about how they work and questions about the demographics of the patients used to train them.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE NOT ALWAYS HELPFUL FOR REDUCING DOCTOR BURNOUT, STUDIES SUGGEST
“If we don’t know on what cases the AI was tested, or whether those cases are similar to the kinds of patients we see in our practice, there’s just a question in everyone’s mind as to whether these are going to work for us,” said Dr. Curtis Langlotz, a radiologist who runs an AI research center at Stanford University.
To date, all the programs cleared by the FDA require a human to be in the loop.
In early 2020, the FDA held a two-day workshop to discuss algorithms that could operate without human oversight. Shortly afterwards, radiology professionals warned regulators in a letter that they “strongly believe it is premature for the FDA to consider approval or clearance” of such systems.
But European regulators in 2022 approved the first fully automatic software that reviews and writes reports for chest X-rays that look healthy and normal. The company behind the app, Oxipit, is submitting its U.S. application to the FDA.
The need for such technology in Europe is urgent, with some hospitals facing monthslong backlogs of scans due to a shortage of radiologists.
In the U.S., that kind of automated screening is likely years away. Not because the technology isn’t ready, according to AI executives, but because radiologists aren’t yet comfortable turning over even routine tasks to algorithms.
“We try to tell them they’re overtreating people and they’re wasting a ton of time and resources,” said Chad McClennan, CEO of Koios Medical, which sells an AI tool for ultrasounds of the thyroid, the vast majority of which are not cancerous. “We tell them, ‘Let the machine look at it, you sign the report and be done with it.’”
Radiologists tend to overestimate their own accuracy, McClennan says. Research by his company found physicians viewing the same breast scans disagreed with each other more than 30% of the time on whether to do a biopsy. The same radiologists even disagreed with their own initial assessments 20% of the time, when viewing the same images a month later.
About 20% of breast cancers are missed during routine mammograms, according to the National Cancer Institute.
And then there’s the potential for cost savings. On average, U.S. radiologists earn over $350,000 annually, according to the Department of Labor.
In the near term, experts say AI will work like autopilot systems on planes — performing important navigation functions, but always under the supervision of a human pilot.
That approach offers reassurances to both radiologists and patients, says Dr. Laurie Margolies, of Mount Sinai hospital system in New York. The system uses Koios breast imaging AI to get a second opinion on mammography ultrasounds.
“I will tell patients, ‘I looked at it, and the computer looked at it, and we both agree,’” Margolies said. “Hearing me say that we both agree, I think that gives the patient an even greater level of confidence.”
The first large, rigorous trials testing AI-assisted radiologists against those working alone give hints at the potential improvements.
Initial results from a Swedish study of 80,000 women showed a single radiologist working with AI detected 20% more cancers among mammograms than two radiologists working without the technology.
In Europe, mammograms are reviewed by two radiologists to improve accuracy. But Sweden, like other countries, faces a workforce shortage, with only about 70 breast radiologists in a country of 10 million people.
Using AI instead of a second reviewer decreased the human workload by 44%, according to the study.
Still, the study’s lead author says it’s essential that a radiologist make the final diagnosis in all cases.
If an automated algorithm misses a cancer, “that’s going to be very negative for trust in the caregiver,” said Dr. Kristina Lang of Lund University.
The question of who would be held liable in such cases is among the thorny legal issues that have yet to be resolved.
One result is that radiologists are likely to continue double-checking all AI determinations, lest they be held responsible for an error. That’s likely to wipe out many of the predicted benefits, including reduced workload and burnout.
Only an extremely accurate, reliable algorithm would allow radiologists to truly step away from the process, says Dr. Saurabh Jha of the University of Pennsylvania.
Until such systems emerge, Jha likens AI-assisted radiology to someone who offers to help you drive by looking over your shoulder and constantly pointing out everything on the road.
“That’s not helpful,” Jha says. “If you want to help me drive then you take over the driving so that I can sit back and relax.”
Technology
Ancient trees show how hot summers have gotten
Officially, 2023 went down in history books as the hottest on record for the planet — but those records only started in 1850. To see how drastically the climate has changed over millennia, the authors of the new paper studied ancient tree rings to gauge fluctuations in temperatures over the years.
The results show us how extreme the weather is becoming. And while temperatures have reached unprecedented peaks, they’re also a warning of what’s to come unless policymakers do more to turn down the heat.
The cross section of a tree can tell us about its life and the world in which it lived
“Personally, I’m not surprised, but I’m worried,” Jan Esper, lead author of the study and a professor of climatology at Johannes Gutenberg University, said in a briefing with reporters. “The longer we wait, the more expensive it will be and the more difficult it will be to mitigate or even stop [global warming].”
For this study, Esper and his colleagues were limited to data they could collect from the Northern Hemisphere outside of tropical regions. Most of the oldest meteorological stations, dating as far back as the mid- to late 1800s, are located in the Northern Hemisphere. And of those, 45 of 58 are in Europe. To look further back in time and across a broader area, they relied on tree rings from the wood archives of archaeologists.
The cross section of a tree can tell us about its life and the world in which it lived. Many trees add a layer of light-colored “earlywood” each spring and a layer of dark “latewood” each summer. Counting up the rings shows the tree’s age. Thicker rings might indicate a warmer year in trees that time their growing seasons with changes in temperature.
This is a treasure trove of data in cooler climates with defined seasons. But unfortunately, again, it’s found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere. There’s a dearth of this data in more arid and tropical regions in the Southern Hemisphere, where there might be fewer trees or trees that don’t share the same growing patterns.
A treasure trove of data in cooler climates with defined seasons
Working with what they had, the researchers found that land temperatures in the summer of 2023 in the Northern Hemisphere were 2.2 degrees Celsius higher than average temperatures between the years 1–1890. On paper, that might look like a small difference. When it comes to life on Earth, that is a significant shift.
It’s a steeper rise in temperature than the goal set out in the landmark Paris agreement, which strives to stop global temperatures from climbing more than 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius higher than they were before the Industrial Revolution.
Two degrees Celsius of global warming would be enough to shift 13 percent of Earth’s ecosystems to a new biome, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Much of the Amazon rainforest is in danger of becoming a savannah, for example. Coral reefs would decline by 99 percent, and nearly 40 percent of the world’s population could experience severe heatwaves at least once every five years.
We saw a deadly taste of that already last year, with record-breaking heatwaves across Europe, North America, and China that would have been “extremely rare or even impossible without human-caused warming,” according to an international collaboration of researchers called World Weather Attribution.
It was a particularly sweltering year in part because of an El Niño climate pattern that dealt a double whammy alongside climate change in 2023. El Niño hasn’t ended yet, so that combo is already expected to make this summer another scorcher. Meeting the goals of the Paris accord would stop climate change in its tracks, however, if countries around the world can transition to clean energy by 2050.
“I am not concerned about myself because I’m too old, but I have two children and there are many other children out there. And for them [global warming is] really dangerous,” Esper said. “So we should do as much as possible as soon as possible.”
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