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Today, Apples streaming service, Apple TV Plus, has done something unheard of in streaming television. The company has now rereleased the final episode of the canceled sitcom Mythic Quest with a new, re-edited ending. The re-edit removes the original season cliffhanger and replaces it with a new ending that acts to resolve the shows lingering plot point, thus wrapping up the series by giving the show’s supporters, and characters, closure. But while the re-edit may please fans, it raises some interesting issues concerning the entertainment historical record. A first in TV streaming On March 26, Apple TV Plus released the 10th episode of Mythic Quest season four. Titled Heaven and Hell, this episode was initially designed to be the seasons finale, and, as most season finales do, it ended on a cliffhanger. However, after the season finale aired, Apple announced that it was canceling Mythic Quest. With no season five, the show’s cancellation meant that the series ended on a cliffhanger that would never be resolvedjust like so many streaming series that were canceled before it. But then Apple did something unexpected and unheard of in the world of streaming television. It allowed Mythic Quests producers to go back and re-edit the season four finale by swapping out the cliffhanger ending for one that better aligns with a series finalein other words, one that wraps up the shows loose threads. Mythic Quests creators and executive producers, Megan Ganz, David Hornsby, and Rob McElhenney, announced the unusual move last week, stating, Because endings are hard, with Apples blessing we made one final update to our last episodeso we could say goodbye, instead of just game over. And now, the re-edited Mythic Quest episode is available. How the original and re-edited endings are different If you navigate to the Mythic Quest listing on Apple TV Plus now, youll see that the episode shows a new original airdate of April 18, 2025, signaling that Apple has now released the re-edit. As the entertainment website Pajiba points out, the re-edited episode features a relatively small change. In the original episode, the show’s two main characters, Ian and Poppy, who have always had a platonic and professional work relationship throughout the shows run, kissed. The repercussions of that cliffhanger kiss ending were originally meant to be fully explored in Mythic Quests season five. Yet the re-edited episode now removes the kiss ending entirely. As Pajiba notes, Its the same episode, only this time, the two agree to repair their working relationship, but it remains platonic. They hug, and thats it. Its likely that since work had already ceased on the series, this new hugging scene had already been previously shot, which is what allowed the creatives to alter the episode so quickly within just weeks of its original release. Altering the historical record While fans of the show will no doubt be grateful that Apple gave the creatives permission to go back and change the final Heaven and Hell episode to provide closure for them and the shows characters, how Apple has handled it is worth pointing out. There are television shows that have been canceled before that were later brought back on a new network or revived on streaming, but never, to my knowledge, has there been a show that has had its last episode aired before cancellation, changed, and then re-released. But it seems like Apple has chosen to go about its fan-pleasing move by not caring too much about the entertainment historical record. Thats because there is nothing left on Apple TV Pluss platform that suggests the Heaven and Hell episode available now is anything but the one that originally aired. Mythic Quests season four finale has now been relabeled as the Series Finale in Apple TV Pluss show listing. Apple has chosen to make only the re-edited version of the show available to watch. (We’ve reached out to Apple to ask if it plans to also release the original version at some point.) Furthermore, its original release date has also been changed from March 26 to April 18, 2025. It is also not mentioned anywhere in the episode that the episode has been re-edited from its original versionnor is there an option to view the original ending. In other words, it seems like Apple has taken the George Lucas approach to changing the historical entertainment record. In the late 1990s, Lucas released a version of the original Star Wars trilogy with new scenes and effects inserted. Lucasfilm then essentially wiped the trilogy as it originally was from existence. To this day, Lucasfilm (and now its owner, Disney) only makes the re-edited version of the Star Wars trilogy available for consumption. When it comes to a less culturally relevant show like Mythic Quest (compared to Star Wars), is this that big of a deal? Probably notat least not to general streaming subscribers. But the wiping of the original episode highlights how, in this digital world of ours, anything can be altered at any timeand the original may not always be preserved for posterity.
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Morningside Park, a beloved neighborhood park in Miami with sweeping views of Biscayne Bay, will soon pilot an innovative approach to coastal resilience. BIOCAP tiles, a 3D-printed modular system designed to support marine life and reduce wave impact along urban seawalls, will be installed on the existing seawall there in spring 2025. BIOCAP stands for Biodiversity Improvement by Optimizing Coastal Adaptation and Performance. Developed by our team of architects and marine biologists at Florida International University, the uniquely textured prototype tiles are designed to test a new approach for helping cities such as Miami adapt to rising sea levels while simultaneously restoring ecological balance along their shorelines. The project receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency. Ecological costs of traditional seawalls Seawalls have long served as a primary defense against coastal erosion and storm surges. Typically constructed of concrete and ranging from 6 to 10 feet in height, they are built along shorelines to block waves from eroding the land and flooding nearby urban areas. However, they often come at an ecological cost. Seawalls disrupt natural shoreline dynamics and can wipe out the complex habitat zones that marine life relies on. Marine organisms are crucial in maintaining coastal water quality by filtering excess nutrients, pollutants and suspended particles. A single adult oyster can filter 20-50 gallons of water daily, removing nitrogen, phosphorus and solids that would otherwise fuel harmful algal blooms. These blooms deplete oxygen levels and damage marine ecosystems. Filter-feeding organisms also reduce turbidity, which is the cloudiness of water caused by suspended sediment and particles. Less water turbidity means more light can penetrate, which benefits seagrasses that require sunlight for photosynthesis. These seagrasses convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and energy-rich sugars while providing essential food and habitat for diverse marine species. A robotic 3D printer extrudes concrete in layered, intricate channels. [Photo: Sara Pezeshk] Swirling shapes, shaded grooves Unlike the flat, lifeless surfaces of typical concrete seawalls, each BIOCAP tile is designed with shaded grooves, crevices and small, water-holding pockets. These textured features mimic natural shoreline conditions and create tiny homes for barnacles, oysters, sponges and other marine organisms that filter and improve water quality. The tiles swirling surface patterns increase the overall surface area, offering more space for colonization. The shaded recesses are intended to help regulate temperature by providing cooler, more stable microenvironments. This thermal buffering can support marine life in the face of rising water temperatures and more frequent heat events driven by climate change. Another potential benefit of the tiles is reducing the impact of waves. When waves hit a natural shoreline, their energy is gradually absorbed by irregular surfaces, tide pools and vegetation. In contrast, when waves strike vertical concrete seawalls, the energy is reflected back into the water rather than absorbed. This wave reflectionthe bouncing back of wave energycan amplify wave action, increase erosion at the base of the wall and create more hazardous conditions during storms. The textured surfaces of the BIOCAP tiles are designed to help diffuse wave energy by mimicking the natural dissipation found on undisturbed shorelines. The design of BIOCAP takes cues from nature. The tile shapes are based on how water interacts with different surfaces at high tide and low tide. Concave tiles, which curve inward, and convex tiles, which curve outward, are installed at different levels along the seawall. The goal is to deflect waves away from the seawall, reduce direct impact and help minimize erosion and turbulence around the walls foundation. A collection of 3D-printed concrete BIOCAP tiles. [Photo: Sara Pezeshk] How we’ll measure success After the BIOCAP tiles are installed, we plan to assess how the seawall redesign enhances biodiversity, improves water quality and reduces wave energy. This two-year pilot phase will help assess the long-term value of ecologically designed infrastructure. To evaluate biodiversity, we will use underwater cameras to capture time-lapse imagery of the marine life that colonizes the tile surfaces. These observations will aid in documenting species diversity and habitat use over time. To assess water quality, we have developed a specialized prototype tile with sensors that can measure pH, dissolved oxygen levels, salinity, turbidity and temperature in real time. This data will provide insight into how the tiles affect local water conditions. Finally, to measure wave attenuation and the reduction of wave force, we will mount pressure sensors on both the BIOCAP tiles and the adjacent traditional seawall sections. This comparison will allow us to quantify differences in wave energy across varying tidal conditions and storm events. As coastal cities confront the dual challenges of increasing threats from climate change and environmental degradation, the BIOCAP project offers what we hope will be an example of a resilient, nature-based solution that benefits both humans and the environment. In the coming year, well be watching with hope as the new BIOCAP tiles begin to welcome marine life, offering a glimpse into how nature might reclaim and thrive along our urban shorelines. Sara Pezeshk is a postdoctoral fellow in architecture at Florida International University and Shahin Vassigh is a professor of architecture at Florida International University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Rice, the worlds most consumed grain, will become increasingly toxic as the atmosphere heats and as carbon dioxide emissions rise, potentially putting billions of people at risk of cancers and other diseases, according to new research published Wednesday in The Lancet. Eaten every day by billions of people and grown across the globe, rice is arguably the planets most important staple crop, with half the worlds population relying on it for the majority of its food needs, especially in developing countries. But the way rice is grownmostly submerged in paddiesand its highly porous texture means it can absorb unusually high levels of arsenic, a potent carcinogenic toxin that is especially dangerous for babies. Lewis Ziska, a plant physiologist and associate professor at Columbia University, has studied rice for three decades and has more recently focused his research on how climate change reduces nutrient levels across many staple crops, including rice. He teamed up with researchers from China and the U.S. to conduct a first-of-its-kind study, looking at how a range of rice species reacted to increases in temperature and carbon dioxide, both of which are projected to occur as more greenhouse gas emissions are released into the atmosphere as a result of human activities. The new study was published in The Lancet Planetary Health. Previous work has focused on individual responsessome on CO2 and some on temperature, but not both, and not on a wide range of rice genetics, Ziska said. We knew that temperature by itself could increase levels, and carbon dioxide by a little bit. But when we put both of them together, then wow, that was really something we were not expecting. Youre looking at a crop staple thats consumed by a billion people every day, and any effect on toxicity is going to have a pretty damn large effect. For six years, Ziska and a large team of research colleagues in China and the U.S. grew rice in controlled fields, subjecting it to varying levels of carbon dioxide and temperature. They found that when both increased, in line with projections by climate scientists, the amount of arsenic and inorganic arsenic in rice grains also went up. Arsenic is found naturally in some foods, including fish and shellfish, and in waters and soils. Inorganic arsenic is found in industrial materials and gets into waterincluding water used to submerge rice paddies. Rice is easily inundated with weeds and other crops, but it has one advantage: It grows well in water. So farmers germinate the seeds, and when the seedlings are ready, plant them in wet soil. They then flood their fields, which suppresses weeds, but allows the rice to flourish. Rice readily absorbs the water and everything in itincluding arsenic, either naturally occurring or not. Most of the worlds rice is grown this way. The new research demonstrates that climate change will ramp up those levels. What happens in rice, because of complex biogeochemical processes in the soil, when temperatures and CO2 go up, inorganic arsenic also does, Ziska said. And its this inorganic arsenic that poses the greatest health risk. Exposure to inorganic arsenic has been linked to cancers of the skin, bladder and lung, heart disease and neurological problems in infants. Research has found that in parts of the world with high consumption of rice, inorganic arsenic increases cancer risk. Ziska and his colleagues took the data from their field trials and then, based on per capita consumption data in seven of the top rice-consuming countries in Asia, projected how disease risk could also increase. They found that in those seven countriesVietnam, Indonesia, China, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Indiadisease risk rose across the board. There is a toxicological effect of climate change relative to one of the most consumed staples in the world, Ziska said, and the consumption is one of the hallmarks of whether youre going to be vulnerable to that effect. Researchers have known that rice can contain high levels of arsenic and regulators have suggested exposure limits, especially for infants who are particularly vulnerable and tend to eat a lot of rice. This new research should put extra pressure on regulators to set more stringent thresholds, the authors say. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has never set limits for arsenic in foods. The researchers also point to the potential of various interventions that could limit exposure to inorganic arsenic from rice, including developing strains of rice that are less absorbent and educating consumers about alternatives to rice. Rice has always been a food where arsenic is an issue, and climate change is making it worse, said Keeve Nachman, one of the reports authors, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and a longtime researcher of health risks related to food production and consumption. This is one more reason to interveneto control peoples exposure. The number one thing we can do is everything in our power to slow climate change. Georgina Gustin, Inside Climate News This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here.
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