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All Saints singer Melanie Blatt has recalled her bosses' shocking reactions to finding out her and Nicole Appleton were pregnant during their time in the group.

Technically, it was a reproduction of the garment worn by actress Rita Hayworth in the 1946 Hollywood film Gilda. Symbolically, it had a different meaning altogether.

A new study from the Complexity Science Hub Vienna finds that as people's close social circles expanded from two to five friends around the rise of social media (2008-2010), polarization in society spiked. "The connection between these two developments could provide a fundamental explanation for why societies around the world are increasingly fragmenting into ideological bubbles," reports Phys.org. From the report: The researchers' findings confirm that increasing polarization is not merely perceived -- it is measurable and objectively occurring. "And this increase happened suddenly, between 2008 and 2010," says [says Stefan Thurner from the Complexity Science Hub (CSH)]. The question remained: what caused it? [...] The sharp rise in both polarization and the number of close friends occurred between 2008 and 2010 -- precisely when social media platforms and smartphones first achieved widespread adoption. This technological shift may have fundamentally changed how people connect with each other, indirectly promoting polarization. "Democracy depends on all parts of society being involved in decision-making, which requires that everyone be able to communicate with each other. But when groups can no longer talk to each other, this democratic process breaks down," emphasizes Stefan Thurner. Tolerance plays a central role. "If I have two friends, I do everything I can to keep them -- I am very tolerant towards them. But if I have five and things become difficult with one of them, it's easier to end that friendship because I still have 'backups.' I no longer need to be as tolerant," explains Thurner. What disappears as a result is a societal baseline of tolerance -- a development that could contribute to the long-term erosion of democratic structures. To prevent societies from increasingly fragmenting, Thurner emphasizes the importance of learning early how to engage with different opinions and actively cultivating tolerance. The research was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

House of the Snapdragon promises – without much detail – this kit will enable coolly efficient inferencing

Qualcomm has announced some details of its tilt at the AI datacenter market by revealing a pair of accelerators and rack scale systems to house them, all focused on inferencing workloads.…

The first hour of this four-part documentary was heavily weighted towards two stories - those of Ron McNair, the son of a Harlem mechanic, and Anna Fisher (pictured), the first mother to go into orbit.

Over 150 dangerous extremists were rushed out of the Marriott's Renaissance Cairo Mirage City (pictured) within hours of our exclusive undercover investigation on Saturday.

Deputy national security adviser Matt Collins (pictured) said the CPS was right to call him a 'star witness' - despite his statement being cited as causing the case to fall apart.

The report found that out of 231 respondents, who were told their data had been leaked, 49 said a family member or colleague had been killed because of the blunder.

A body language expert has weighed in on Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster's red carpet debut at the premiere of his new film.

Strictly's Amber Davies is reportedly treating every week on the show as her last as backlash intensifies against her dance experience.

The Chancellor (pictured) said she was 'of course' looking at tax increases - as well as spending cuts - as she seeks to patch up public finances in next month's Budget.

A call has been made on convicted child rapist and volleyball player Steven van de Velde who wants to come to Australia to compete next month.

EasyJet has unveiled plans to donate thousands of retired crew uniforms in a bid to support British families struggling to deal with the rising cost of school clothing.

Diana Winskill, from Somerset, originally travelled to the popular Spanish holiday destination in 1999 aged 23 to work as a TUI holiday representative - and hasn't left since.

The idea scientists might be able to 'rewire' our memory is one that has long fascinated everyone from philosophers to movie scriptwriters. Think Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind meets Total Recall.

The anti-monarchy protester - from the campaign group Republic - shouted questions about the Prince and convicted sex trafficker Epstein as the King visited Lichfield Cathedral in Staffordshire.

As November draws near, it brings with it one of Britain's most beloved traditions - Bonfire Night. Enjoy dazzling shows and traditional bonfires for free as the nation's skies light up for Guy Fawkes Night.

Adverts posted on an A-list tutoring website show dozens of six-figure roles working for high-profile families with weird and wonderful requests.

BrianFagioli shares a report from NERDS.xyz: Mozilla is testing a new Firefox feature that delivers direct results inside the address bar instead of forcing users through a search results page. The company says the feature will use a privacy framework called Oblivious HTTP, encrypting queries so that no single party can see both what you type and who you are. Some results could be sponsored, but Mozilla insists neither it nor advertisers will know user identities. The system is starting in the U.S. and may expand later if performance and privacy benchmarks are met. Further reading: Mozilla to Require Data-Collection Disclosure in All New Firefox Extensions

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins was killed in prison earlier this month, where he was serving 29 years for a string of child sex offences.