AROUND THE WORLD

New aging "clock" might reveal which organs are declining faster than others

Is it your liver or your heart? In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the titular character (played by Brad Pitt) lives a life in reverse. He’s born an old man and grows younger as he ages, eventually dying a newborn infant. The film explores the constant shift of identity through the passage of time, but it also unexpectedly mirrors a scientific reality: Parts of our bodies aren’t all aging at the same pace. According to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, some of your organs are aging faster than others. Examining blood samples from over 5,600 adults, the researchers used machine learning to identify proteins produced by specific organs that are associated with aging. They estimate that nearly 20 percent of the population — or one in five healthy adults — has at least one organ aging at a fast clip, which may increase a person’s risk of death or it may suggest disease is brewing in that organ. While aging is inevitable, this finding may pave the way for a simple blood test to catch the first wrinklings and prevent disease before it strikes. READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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This repurposed drug may allow Type 1 Diabetics to make insulin again

Out of the 50 hormones identified in the human body, insulin arguably ranks among the top dogs. This hormone acts like a key, opening your cells up to glucose from your food. Without it, your cells can’t get the energy they need, and for some living with diabetes, the health consequences can be devastatingly fatal. READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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Which weight loss drug is best and safest? Here's what actually sets them apart

The popularity of anti-diabetes drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro being repurposed for weight loss is soaring in the United States. Just last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Eli Lilly’s injectable Zepbound on November 8 specifically for chronic weight management in people with obesity or who are overweight. Despite the snazzy name, Zepbound is anything but new. It contains the same active ingredient as Mounjaro, known as tirzepatide. The two drugs are quite literally the same, with the same active ingredient and dosage. The brand name delineates what the drug is being prescribed for: Mounjaro for Type 2 diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss. It is, however, purported to work better than rivaling Novo Nordisk’s popular weight loss drug Wegovy and may even run cheaper, which is especially decisive given the immense demand but not enough supply of Wegovy. READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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Messy plasma streams could explain how supermassive black holes influence galaxies

The afterglow of black holes may offer a huge clue to their relationship with their host galaxies. Although supermassive black holes often look similar, each one devours material differently. One may gulp down whole stars’ worth of material every year, while others nibble slowly — taking millions of years to swallow mass equivalent to our Sun. But no matter how differently they feed, all supermassive black holes tend to emit the same radiation, and now a new survey of these galactic gourmands could help explain their outsized influence on their home galaxies. READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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Physicists find seemingly impossible magnets with just one pole

Sometimes physics comes with loopholes. Using a diamond needle tipped with a single electron, physicists have found seemingly impossible one-sided magnets swirling along the surface of hematite. The rules of physics (the ones we know of, anyway) say that magnets with just one pole should be impossible. But when tiny particles start doing strange things, they can bend the rules. That’s how physicists recently found magnetic monopoles (bits of magnetic matter with just one pole, instead of the usual two) on the surface of hematite. Eventually, those monopoles may help power faster, more energy-efficient computer memory. READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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How an unexpected indie gem turned the Dark Souls formula on its head

It’s dangerous to go alone. The Soulslike subgenre tends to be the domain of bleak, lonely games focused on testing your skill in combat. While that’s produced quite a few gems, it’s led to many more games that pale in comparison to the classics that inspired them. But of all the Soulslike games out there, there’s still only one I find myself returning to five years after its December 2018 release thanks to the way it uses the genre’s template to tell a more hopeful story. READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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The 20 best tech gifts under $200 that are worth buying this holiday season

Get your holiday shopping in before it’s too late. ‘Tis the season... to shop until you drop because of holidays, Black Friday, Cyber Monday... you don’t need us to tell you why it’s shopping season. Whether you’re treating yourself to a nice gift or getting something special for someone else, we’ve got you covered with a bunch of tech ideas that (hopefully) won’t break your piggy bank. READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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The most underrated sci-fi show of the decade, Halo, is now streaming for free

...Ahead of Season 2 of Halo, which premieres February 8, 2024, the streamer has made the entire first season free to watch on YouTube (as well as Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, and Freevee). It’s a risky move, but it could be the ultimate proof that the middling success of the Halo series was simply due to it not being as accessible and publicized as its competitors. Maybe Halo fans are willing to watch the series, they were just hesitant to pay for it. This would allow viewers to “try before they buy” Season 2. READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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How Poor Things accidentally became the year's most powerful feminist Frankenstein tale

Writer Tony McNamara talks about crafting this year's feminist icon. Yorgos Lanthimos and his Poor Things screenwriter Tony McNamara didn’t set out to make a feminist Frankenstein. But in adapting Alasdair Gray’s story of a reanimated woman who embarks on a sexual odyssey across 19th-century Europe, it ended up that way. “In our approach, we never went, ‘It’s a feminist movie, that’s what we’re making,’” McNamara tells Inverse. “We were just like, we’re making a movie about this woman and the control everyone tries to have over her.” READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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The best sci-fi series of the year, For All Mankind, just delivered two massive mid-season twists

For All Mankind Season 4 has always been about asteroids, but “Goldilocks,” changes everything. As For All Mankind hits the halfway point in Season 4, the stakes for the entire season, and the potential future of human spaceflight have shifted in a big way. Up until this point, For All Mankind has delivered its usual excellent blend of alternate history, and compelling speculative space science, all wrapped in one of the best character dramas on TV. However, Episode 5, “Goldilocks,” redirects the actual plot of Season 4 in a way that feels natural, but is actually a pretty huge twist. READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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The best Tomb Raider game of the past decade is back on Game Pass

The 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider helped bring Lara Croft back into the spotlight, giving players an exciting new take on the character. That was the point, it was supposed to breathe new life into a classical icon. But despite its fresh take, much of the game didn’t feel like Tomb Raider. This version of Lara Croft lacked some of her adventurous charm. Luckily, 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider — the second entry in the reboot trilogy — kept what worked from its predecessor, while folding in some of the fun of the older games. Now that it is back on Game Pass, it is the perfect time to revisit the best Lara Croft game of the past decade. READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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Marvel's most troubled movie might not be as doomed as we thought

Blade star Mahershala Ali is “sincerely encouraged” by the film’s progress. Say what you will about Marvel and its cinematic universe: even when it’s down, it’s not entirely out for the count. The franchise’s recent output has boasted an unprecedented string of disappointments. Still, not all hope is lost, especially as Marvel seems to be earnestly workshopping a new way forward. A lot of that rests on Blade, the long-gestating reboot that will bring Marvel’s resident vampire hunter back to the big screen. READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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There's a new app for blue-bubbling your Android messages on iPhones

Beeper's new app is the latest attempt to bring iMessage to your Android device. The heat is rising on Apple’s iMessage. Between an EU probe, a recent (albeit quickly tabled) app from the phone company Nothing and Sunbird, and the long overdue adoption of RCS from Apple, things appear to be concretely in flux. And to add to that tumultuous environment, messaging company, Beeper, just announced its own entry into the field of iMessage-disrupting apps called Beeper Mini, which “natively” mimics iPhone on Android and Windows devices. READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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The Legend of Zelda movie rejects a boring Hollywood trend

The Legend of Zelda movie director Wes Ball told Entertainment Weekly that his approach to the fantasy adventure story will take after animation more than live action. Ball described it as “this awesome fantasy-adventure movie that isn’t like Lord of the Rings, it’s its own thing.” READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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Chevy's affordable Bolt EV is making its big comeback in 2025

The Chevrolet Bolt will be back and (hopefully) better in 2025. GM’s CEO, Mary Barra, who previously confirmed that the beloved Bolt was due to make a return, now gave a better idea of when the next-gen Bolt will arrive. In remarks made during Barra’s address at an Automotive Press Association event, Barra said that the affordable EV would make its return in 2025. READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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Concrete Utopia proves disaster thrillers can still be soulful

South Korea's Oscars selection brings the classic disparity of Parasite to the apocalypse. “I feel like our apartment complex has been chosen,” boasts Kim Young-tak (Lee Byung-hun), a resident of Seoul’s Hwang Gung apartments and one of Concrete Utopia’s complex protagonists. His sense of pride isn’t uncommon, but he and his neighbors have a unique reason to feel so protective over their abode. After an earthquake ravages the South Korean capital, their building is the last one standing for miles. Everything else has been decimated by the disaster: shopping malls, hospitals, and homes are all buried under mountains of debris. So perhaps Hwang Gung has been chosen. Whether it be by a freak twist of fate or the ironic musings of a higher power is not a question many of the residents try to unpack. As long as Young-tak says it, most will believe it. He is, after all, the cult-like figure elected to guide Hwang Gung through this fresh apocalypse. READ MORE FROM INVERSE

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Hi-Fi Rush gave Tango GameWorks a "confidence boost", director says

2023’s biggest surprise even shocked its creators. One of the best action games of the year came from a studio with no experience working in the genre. And according to John Johanas, the director behind Hi-Fi Rush, that only helped to make the game even better. “If we were experienced with action games, it'd be very easy to jump in thinking, Okay, how deep are these mechanics? How far they're going? Instead, we focused on very simple things like basic attacks and making them feel good,” Johanas tells Inverse. “Then we built it out from there.” READ MORE FROM INVERSE