There are unseen forces behind why a house might feel haunted — but no, it’s not ghosts.

New research suggests that inaudible infrasound waves emitted by a building’s old boiler, pipes, and plumbing can negatively influence someone’s mood, making them feel unnerved and uncomfortable. That could be enough to convince them there are ghosts afoot, especially if they’re already open towards supernatural explanations.

“What infrasound may do is supply a bit of bodily discomfort that a ghost or haunting explanation can then attach itself to,” Rodney Schmaltz, a psychologist at MacEwan University in Canada, and coauthor of a new study published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, told The Guardian. “For someone who is not inclined to think in terms of ghosts, the same sensation would probably just register as a stuffy, uncomfortable old building. For someone who is already primed, it might feel like proof of a spirit or presence.”

Infrasound is the term for sound at frequencies below 20 Hz. While this falls outside a human’s typical range of hearing, some research shows that we can subconsciously detect sound waves at these low frequencies.

Schmaltz previously tested his hunch in an experiment in which participants were asked to walk through a haunted house attraction with infrasound speakers placed throughout. When these speakers were activated, Schmaltz found, the participants walked through the building faster.

AI’s biggest casualty could be history itself
The Internet Archive is a vital resource that has helped the search for truth in more than one global event, writes Anthony Cuthbertson, but it is in danger of becoming the latest collateral damage of the artificial intelligence boom

https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/internet-archive-ai-wayback-machine-b2998319.html?fbclid=IwdGRjcASiLNxjbGNrBKIsvGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDDM1MDY4NTUzMTcyOAABHs82tALIOZzXJQh6H2FX9d-dkldYctSgTyp6SNU0piKGKbchxhpIA9iUzw7T_aem_JQtHc1_LSFuLYuTs5DaZgQ

https://mosis.eecs.utk.edu/harmonycloak.html

Searchable databases verify roughly 21 million copyrighted songs trained AI music generators.
Sony, UMG, and Warner lawsuits seek up to $150,000 per song from Suno and Udio.
HarmonyCloak tool lets artists protect songs by adding inaudible AI-blocking audio perturbations.
Millions of copyrighted songs — including chart-topping hits — verifiably trained AI music generators, and now there are searchable databases to prove it. The Atlantic, through an investigation by staff writer Alex Reisner, published four catalogs documenting exactly which music fed these models:
The largest contains roughly 12 million tracks
The second holds about 9 million
Two smaller sets clock in around 100,000 each

Suno, one of the most prominent AI music generators, acknowledged in court filings that it trained on “tens of millions” of recordings — later admitting unlicensed copyrighted material was included, according to Heavy Lifting, citing court filings.

The legal picture that emerges is striking. Sony, UMG, and Warner have filed lawsuits against Suno and Udio seeking up to $150,000 per song in statutory damages. A parallel book-industry case framed mass scraping as piracy rather than simple copyright infringement and reached an initial $1.5 billion settlement figure, according to Engadget. Meanwhile, the U.S. Copyright Office stated in January 2025 that AI-generated music often cannot itself be copyrighted without sufficient human authorship — meaning these tools can potentially infringe existing works while producing outputs that carry no protection of their own.

The AI companies call it fair use. They argue models learn abstract patterns, not specific songs. Labels call it piracy with a pitch deck. Courts are still deciding who’s right.

“Trained on copyrighted recordings without permission” — that’s how label plaintiffs have characterized the practice in filings, as summarized in industry commentary.

Researchers at the University of Tennessee developed HarmonyCloak, a tool that adds inaudible audio perturbations to recordings, making songs effectively unlearnable by AI models while sounding identical to human ears — a rare artist-controlled option in a landscape where most protections remain theoretical.

The fight is already shifting from courtrooms to contracts. Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group have reportedly struck deals with Udio and Suno respectively, moving toward licensed AI music models that actually compensate rightsholders. Tennessee passed a law protecting musical artists’ voices from unauthorized AI cloning. Streaming platforms are deploying AI-detection tools to flag and limit generative imitations — though results have been mixed, according to Engadget, with AI-generated copycats continuing to slip through and monetize.

”Erityisen mielenkiintoista oli se, että ADHD-potilaat eivät ainoastaan kokeneet enemmän unenomaisia tiloja, vaan myös haaveilivat enemmän kuin neurotyypilliset henkilöt”, hän selittää.

”ADHD-potilaat tunsivat tutkimuksessa olonsa väsyneemmäksi itse tehtävän aikana, mikä viittaa siihen, että heidän aivonsa väsyvät ehkä nopeammin jatkuvan rasituksen aikana, eivätkä he yleisesti ottaen ole väsyneitä”, kertoo Elaine Pinggal.

”Se osoittaa tieteellisesti osan siitä, mitä jo tiedämme kliinisestä työstä: ADHD-potilailla on vaihteleva tarkkaavaisuus- ja energiataso. Se, mitä kutsumme vireystilan vaihteluksi, heijastuu myös heidän aivotoiminnassaan”, hän kertoo Tieteen Kuvalehdelle.

Voidaan sanoa, että ADHD-potilailla on ”hieman epätasainen virransyöttö akkuihin”, kuten Per Hove Thomsen asian ilmaisee. Ja tämän uusi tutkimus vahvistaa EEG-mittausten ja aivokäyrämittausten avulla.

Hän huomauttaa myös, että ADHD on monimutkainen tila ja että unen kaltainen aktiivisuus aivoissa ei voi täysin selittää ADHD-potilaiden kokemia keskittymisvaikeuksia.

Per Hove Thomsenin mukaan osa selityksestä liittyy myös niin sanottuihin ärsykkeisiin ja siihen, miten ADHD-potilatt käsittelevät niitä.

”Monet asiat kiinnittävät huomiomme – tämä koskee meitä kaikkia päivän aikana. Eikä tilanne ole helpottunut nyky-yhteiskunnassa, missä meitä pommitetaan jatkuvasti ärsykkeillä”, professori sanoo.

Hän selittää, että ADHD-potilailta puuttuu suodatustoiminto, jonka avulla he voisivat käsitellä ärsykkeitä. ADHD:n voimakkaasti leimaamalla aivoilla on yksinkertaisesti vaikeampaa suodattaa pois ”epäolennaisia ärsykkeitä”, toteaa Per Hove Thomsen.

”Tämän vuoksi ADHD:stä kärsivät joutuvat usein ärsyketulvaan, mikä johtaa sekavuuteen ja keskittymiskyvyn puutteeseen siinä tehtävässä, mihin oikeastaan pitäisi keskittyä”, hän sanoo.

The robotaxi drove past cones, signs, and flashing lights.

It entered a closed highway construction zone, then sped up.

Police chased the car as the rider filmed it.

This was the 13th such incident, and Waymo’s sixth recall.

If you ride a Waymo, freeway trips are suspended for now.

A fix is still under development.

Read more on TNW: https://thenextweb.com/news/waymo-sixth-recall-construction-zones-3800-robotaxis

Meta has reportedly reassigned 30–50% of engineers on some core product teams to AI feedback work.

The engineers were moved into an internal group called Agent Data Optimization, where they review AI-generated GitHub repos and give feedback to improve Meta’s AI systems.

Infrastructure and security teams were reportedly among the hardest hit, with some small teams losing several engineers.

Source: Why is Meta destroying its engineering organization?/The Pragmatic Engineer

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