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Ukraine’s state security service has unveiled an upgraded sea drone it says can now operate anywhere in the Black Sea, carry heavier weapons and use artificial intelligence for targeting.Ukraine has used the unmanned naval drones to target Russian shipping and infrastructure in the Black Sea. The Security Service of Ukraine, known by its Ukrainian acronym SBU, has credited strikes by the unmanned vessel known as the “Sea Baby” with forcing a strategic shift in Russia’s naval operations.The range of the Sea Baby was expanded from 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) to 1,500 kilometers (930 miles), SBU said. It can carry up to 2,000 kilograms (about 4,400 pounds) of payload, SBU officials said.At a demonstration attended by The Associated Press, variants included vessels fitted with a multiple-rocket launcher and another with a stabilized machine-gun turret.SBU Brig. Gen. Ivan Lukashevych said the new vessels also feature AI-assisted friend-or-foe targeting systems and can launch small aerial attack drones and multilayered self-destruct systems to prevent capture. Developing a new kind of naval warfare Drone strikes have been used in successful attacks against 11 Russian vessels, including frigates and missile carriers, SBU said, prompting the Russian navy to relocate its main base from Sevastopol in Crimea to Novorossiysk on Russia’s Black Sea coast.“The SBU became the first in the world to pioneer this new kind of naval warfare and we continue to advance it,” Lukashevych said, adding that the Sea Baby has evolved from a single-use strike craft into a reusable, multipurpose platform that expands Ukraine’s offensive options.Authorities asked that the time and location of the demonstration not be made public for security reasons.The craft are operated remotely from a mobile control center inside a van, where operators use a bank of screens and controls.“Cohesion of the crew members is probably the most important thing. We are constantly working on that,” said one operator who was identified only by his call sign, “Scout,” per Ukrainian military protocol. Ukrainian sea drones helped push back Russia’s navy The SBU also said sea drones helped carry out other high-profile strikes, including repeated attacks on the Crimean Bridge, most recently targeting its underwater supports in a bid to to render it unusable for heavy military transport.The Sea Baby program is partially funded by public donations through a state-run initiative and is coordinated with Ukraine’s military and political leadership.The evolution from expendable strike boats to reusable, networked drones marks an important advance in asymmetric naval warfare, Lukashevych said.“On this new product, we have installed rocket weaponry that will allow us to work from a large distance outside of the attack range of enemy fire. We can use such platforms to carry heavy weaponry,” he said. “Here we can show Ukrainians the most effective use of the money they have donated to us.” Associated Press journalists Alex Babenko, Yehor Konovalov and Volodymyr Yurchuk contributed to this report. Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Efrem Lukatsky and Derek Gatopoulos, Associated Press
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Spending just 36 minutes listening to your own brain waves, over four sessions, can reduce stress and anxiety, according to a new study by neuroscientists at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Published in the journal Global Advances in Integrative Medicine and Health, the study looked at how to reduce stress-related symptoms in 144 healthcare workers with moderate-to-high levels of perceived stress. The healthcare workers were placed in two groups: one that received four sessions of a sound-based relaxation intervention over two weeks, and another that was put on a control group waitlist. The workers spent a little over half an hour relaxing in a zero-gravity chair with their eyes closed as closed-loop, acoustic neuromodulation technology translated their brainwaves into personalized tones in real time, the idea being that the echoed tones interact with the brain to balance and quiet itself and release stress patterns. When researchers measured the results after six-to-eight weeks, they found the participants reported meaningful reductions in stress, anxiety, and insomnia, as well as significant reductions in fatigue and depression, and improved subjective cognition. These results suggest that closed-loop acoustic neuromodulation is a safe, scalable, and effective option to complement organizational strategies for supporting healthcare worker brain health and well-being, said Charles H. Tegeler, M.D., professor of neurology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and principal investigator of the study. We are eager to identify ways to broadly offer the intervention to teammates across our health system and beyond. What makes this different from previous studies on neuromodulation is that it streamlined the treatment process with fewer, shorter sessions, making the treatment more practical and accessible for real-world application. It also included study participants regardless of their medication or substance use.
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Data shows that workers and bosses are already at war over where to work, with management demanding more days in the office and employees trying to buck these mandates. But according to a recent report, a new front has opened in the battle over workplace flexibility. It centers not on where employees work but when. When videoconferencing company Owl Labs surveyed 2,000 U.S. workers for its 2025 State of Hybrid Work report, almost half reported they did not have enough flexibility in regard to when they worked. What kind of flexibility were they hoping to get? Something that Owl Labs calls microshifting. You may know it simply as breaking up your day as you see fit, taking an hour or so to run an errand or recharge when you need and returning to your work whenever suits you best. Whether you use the latest business jargon for microshifting or not, its clear that its popular with employees. Sixty-five percent said theyd like to work this way, and 37 percent said they would turn down a job that did not provide flexible scheduling. But experts suggest workers should be careful what they wish for. A new term for an old phenomenon Microshifting might be the new buzzword, but the idea of working whenever suits you best isnt new. Its been on the rise since the pandemic exploded old expectations about how our workdays are organized. Back in 2022, Microsoft researchers looking at data on the use of the companys products documented the rise of what they called the “triple-peak day. Workers, the numbers showed, were most active on their computers before lunch and after lunch. Thats as youd expect from a traditional office workday. But there was a new third spike in the usage data, too. Many of us were logging in during the quiet hours right before bed. The Microsoft researchers called this mass return to our laptops around 9 or 10 at night the triple-peak day. Owl Labs analysts would probably look at the same numbers and see it as evidence of microshifting in action. The problem with an undefined workday Just as previous research suggests that microshifting isnt a new phenomenon, it also offers several reasons why workers might want to think carefully before they demand it as a formal policy from their organizations. The appeal of microshifting is obvious. Weve all had a dentist appointment or kids soccer game we need to be at during traditional work hours. The ability to step out for these obligations and make them up another time makes the juggle massively easier. But making the workday amorphous and open-ended also comes with costs. A variety of pandemic-era data shows that when workers are offered more flexibility in where and when they work, their workdays tend to balloon. Yes, they have more control over their time. But they also tend to end up working more hours. Different studies came up with slightly different figures, but flexibility seems to have stretched the workday by an hour or two. In real life, asking your boss for the flexibility to run out for some errands often translates to giving them permission to urgently email you at 8:30 at night and expect a prompt reply. Does microshifting actually reduce stress? Not only can asking for microshifting embolden management to expect more after-hours responsiveness, but other research suggests it might not be as good for workers peace of mind as they expect. When Google asked workers to report whether they prefer to keep their work and home lives rigidly separate (they labeled these folks segmentors) or blend the two (integrators), the search giant discovered one approach was associated with higher life satisfaction. We found that, regardless of preference, Segmentors were significantly happier with their well-being than Integrators. Additionally, Segmentors were more than twice as likely to be able to detach from work (when they wanted to), Google reported. Interweaving work and life sounds appealing. But it can also lead to a blurring of boundaries that can lead not only to longer hours but also higher stress and less relaxation. Be careful what you ask for All of this isnt to say that workers have no idea whats good for them and they should welcome being basically chained to their desks from 9 to 5. Adults have complicated, busy lives and have every right to demand the flexibility to handle personal issues during work hours when they arise. Thats a matter of smple practicality and respect. But by turning an everyday level of understanding into a formal policy with a buzzy label, microshifting runs the risk of going a step further. It doesnt just stretch the boundaries of the workday to accommodate real life. It threatens to dissolve them. That might sound good at first. But evidence suggests that saying the workday is whenever seems convenient can have unforeseen consequences for workers. If you can declare its easier for you to get something done at 11 p.m., why cant your boss? Or, for that matter, your constantly-on-the-clock brain? Its one thing to ask to step away for an hour here and there. Its another to allow work to leak into every moment of your life. Before you advocate for microshifting, make sure thats not what youll end up with. The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com. Jessica Stillman This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
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