PLANTERS PUNCH Israel – a loyal, little, British Ulster
Just like in Northern Ireland, Ulster, Israel was given away by Britain in the Balfour Declaration so that it would become an auxiliary of the British state
An F-15E Strike Eagle weapons load crew team attaches an AIM-120D to a pylon July 15, 2019, at Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Chris Thornbury)
WASHINGTON — An American F-15E fighter jet has been downed by Iranian forces while operating over the country, a US official confirmed to Breaking Defense.
A search and rescue operation for its crew is underway, the official said. Videos posted online show a C-130 and two Black Hawk helicopters flying low in what observers say appears to be southwestern Iran, whose operations would seem consistent with a search-and-rescue mission.
An F-15E flies with two crew, a pilot and weapon systems officer. Unconfirmed photos circulating on social media appeared to show the wreckage of a US Air Force F-15 aircraft, and Iranian media has claimed the government took the jet down and that a search is underway for the pilots.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) did not immediately respond to Breaking Defense’s request for comment.
The aircraft’s loss would be the first time a manned American jet was known to be downed over enemy territory during the war in Iran, dubbed Operation Epic Fury by the Pentagon. The US has lost 16 unmanned MQ-9 Reaper drones over the course of the conflict, CBS reported.
The jet’s downing comes after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday claimed that an “increase in air superiority” has permitted large and relatively vulnerable B-52 Stratofortress bombers to conduct its first “overland missions” into Iran during the war.
The fighter jet downed over Iran would be the fourth F-15E lost in Epic Fury.On March 1, three F-15Es were shot down over Kuwait in what CENTCOM called an “apparent friendly fire incident.” All six crew members involved in that incident ejected and were safely recovered.
A US Air Force F-35 stealth fighter was also reportedly struck by Iranian ground fire March 19, but the pilot was able to safely land the aircraft despite shrapnel wounds. CENTCOM has not publicly confirmed that incident.
Two American KC-135 Stratotanker air refueling aircraft were also separately involved in a March 12 accident over Iraq. One tanker crashed, killing six crew members aboard. The other aircraft landed safely. CENTCOM said that the event was not due to enemy fire.
In a nationwide address April 1, President Donald Trump asserted the US was “very close” to achieving its military objectives in Iran, while pledging to “hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks.” He did not articulate a clear timeline for the conflict to end.
“We are going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast,” he said.
Seymour Hersh, the journalist who correctly predicted the bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities and broke the Nord Stream story, says Trump’s speech was a ground war announcement: “Trump was telling the world that the ground war is on as of today.Thousands of Navy SEALs and Army Rangers are either en route or soon will be to zones within striking range of the Strait of Hormuz.”
He says Trump could have 50,000 fighters ready to clear the Strait or dig out enriched uranium from tunnels under the nuclear sites.
Hersh has one of the best track records in investigative journalism. He doesn’t say things like this casually. If he’s right, then Trump’s speech wasn’t about ending the war. It was about starting the next phase of it, one the public hasn’t been told about yet.
Norman T. Roule is, for many in and out of government, a go-to source for understanding Iran and the Middle East. He is a 34-year veteran of the CIA and, from 2008–2017, was the national intelligence manager for Iran at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. He lived many years in the Middle East. It’s an important moment in the region as the Iranian war continues. We will talk about many things, including the status of the war, President Trump’s speech to the nation, regime change, the relationship between the United States and Israel, how the war started and how it ends, the Straits of Hormuz, the price of oil, and the global economy. A Charlie Rose Global Conversation
The Rundown:Google reportedly plans to power a new AI data center in Texas with a gas power plant that could emit about 4.5M tons of CO₂ a year, in what critics say is a major rollback from its earlier 2030 carbon‑free energy goals.
The details:
Google confirmed it is partnering with Crusoe on the Goodnight data center campus in Texas, where Crusoe has filed for a 933 MW gas plant.The data center could cost nearly $30B, and the gas plant could emit roughly 4.5M tons of CO₂ annually — more yearly emissions than San Francisco.Unlike Google’s recent gas deal in Illinois, the Goodnight plant reportedly has no carbon capture technology whatsoever.Google confirmed the partnership but says no offtake agreement for the gas plant has been signed.
Why it matters: Google built its brand on climate leadership — it pioneered 24/7 carbon-free energy and has signed more than 22 gigawatts of clean energy power purchase agreements. A bare-gas, no-capture plant of this scale is a different animal entirely, but Google says surging AI demand is outpacing the clean energy buildout.
Brain-training games promise to enhance our cognitive skills, but their effectiveness remains a controversial topic. What does research tell us about activities that actually benefit our brains? Discover the scientifically proven strategies to boost your mental functions and preserve your cognitive health.
The cognitive decline associated with aging worries many people, prompting them to look for ways to keep their brains in shape. In response to this concern, the brain-training industry has flourished, offering games that supposedly enhance our mental abilities. But do these apps truly live up to their promises? Cognitive neuroscience researchershave studied the real impact of various activities on brain function, revealing promising approaches for preserving mental agility.
Enhance cognitive skills
The limitations of traditional brain-training games
Brain-training games typically rely on exercises targeting specific cognitive skills, such as attention or working memory. For example, some games ask players to quickly identify letters or numbers according to changing rules. The goal is to train the brain’s executive functions, which are crucial for mental flexibility.
However, scientific studies struggle to demonstrate the effectiveness of these games beyond the tasks they train. In 2016, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission even fined Lumosity, one of the leaders in the market, $50 million for false advertising. The transfer of skills acquired in these games to real-life situations remains limited.
Nevertheless, some games not specifically designed for brain training show surprising positive effects:
Educational game alternatives
Tetris improves mental rotation skills.
Real-time strategy games enhance cognitive flexibility.
Super Mario 64 increases the volume of the hippocampus, the brain’s memory hub.
The Synapse Project study compared the impact of various activities on adults’ cognitive functions. The results were revealing: participants who engaged in new and stimulating activities showed significant improvements in memory, processing speed, and reasoning. The chosen tasks, such as digital photography or quilting, had several key characteristics:
Enhance cognitive skills
A significant intellectual challenge.
Learning new skills.
Ongoing engagement (15 hours per week for 14 weeks).
Brain scans revealed an increase in neuronal efficiency in these participants. In contrast, the groups involved in less stimulating activities (crossword puzzles, listening to music) showed no significant improvement.
How to effectively stimulate your brain every day
To leverage these findings, here are a few recommendations for maintaining your mental agility:
Strategy
Example Application
Step outside your comfort zone
Learn a new language
Vary the types of challenges
Alternate between verbal and numeric activities
Practice regularly
Dedicate 30 minutes a day to a stimulating activity
Gradually increase the difficulty
Move to a higher level when you feel comfortable
The key is to choose activities that push you out of your comfort zone. If you’re more into literature, try math-based games. On the other hand, if you’re more comfortable with numbers, dive into verbal challenges. This approach engages the frontal and parietal lobes of your brain, enhancing its adaptability.
Brain performance insights
Beyond games, don’t forget the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Quitting smoking, managing your blood pressure, and staying physically active also contribute to preserving your cognitive functions. Combining these habits with mentally stimulating activities offers the best chance to maintain a healthy brain throughout life.
Instead of relying solely on brain-training apps, diversify your sources of cognitive stimulation. Your brain will thank you for these new challenges!
Can we teach machines to feel? Short answer: We don’t know. But we can teach them to sound like they do.
On Thursday, Anthropic published research detailing why AI models sometimes communicate as though they have feelings, finding that models tend to map patterns to emotions, often “organized in a fashion that echoes human psychology.” To put it plainly, these models have learned to mimic human emotions by replicating them in contexts where emotions arise in humans.
Though Anthropic noted that none of this research points to whether or not these models actually feel anything, the representations of emotion “are functional, in that they influence the model’s behavior in ways that matter.”
New Anthropic research: Emotion concepts and their function in a large language model.
All LLMs sometimes act like they have emotions. But why? We found internal representations of emotion concepts that can drive Claude’s behavior, sometimes in surprising ways. pic.twitter.com/LxFl7573F9
Image source: Ideogram / The Rundown
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