A reflective essay on the rarity and profound value of lifelong friendships that transcend casual online connections. The author explores what it truly means to be a '25-year friend'—someone bound by deep commitment through life's pivotal moments and ultimate vulnerabilities—concluding that one ideally needs just two such friendships to sustain a meaningful life.
A robot named Furhat performed improv comedy at a Denver club with professor Tom Williams, sparking discussion about an understudied topic in robotics: how humans process robot mortality and attachment. Researcher Waki Kamino presented findings on Japanese owners of robots like Sony's Aibo who face grief when devices fail or are discontinued, raising questions about data, memory, and emotional bonds with machines.
COVID-19 dropped out of the world's top 10 causes of death in 2023, ranking 14th with 0.9 million deaths, as global life expectancy recovered to near pre-pandemic levels. Revised WHO estimates now show COVID-19 was the leading cause of death in 2021 with 9.4 million deaths, contributing 14.7 million total deaths in 2020-2021. Noncommunicable diseases like heart disease, stroke, and COPD now dominate mortality, accounting for 74% of deaths globally.