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Show HN project has AI models paint using a simulated oil-paint canvas, no image generators

A developer built a system where AI language models, including Opus 5.5, produce paintings by writing programs that control a physics-based simulation of oil paint on linen, including bristle brushes, wet paint, drying and layered glazes. No image-generation model is used; most models paint in the style of Caspar David Friedrich based only on written research rather than seeing his actual artwork. Of 75 paintings produced, 46 were created incrementally at a simulated easel, with the model working passage by passage and periodically stepping back to assess progress.

Fossil of feathered dinosaur Norellraptor barsboldi suggests flight evolved multiple times

Researchers described a complete fossil of Norellraptor barsboldi, a microraptorine dinosaur showing feather traces on its limbs and tail. The team found that flight-related adaptations seen in this group also appeared independently in the bird lineage Avialae, but developed in a different sequence. The findings were published in Nature Communications.

Panama leads new coalition pushing UN declaration on rights of nature

At the UN General Assembly in September, Panama's president José Raúl Mulino proposed a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Nature, which would recognize nature as a legal 'subject of rights' with intrinsic value. On 24 September, Panama, Tonga and Vanuatu launched the For Nature Coalition of States, joined by founding members Palau and Dominica, to build diplomatic support for the idea within the UN's Harmony with Nature process.

Researchers question Prozac evidence for child depression, cite 2006 Iran trial

A team led by psychiatrist Richard Lyus and researcher Florian Naudet published an analysis in Cochrane Evidence Synthesis and Methods arguing that a 2006 Iranian trial of 40 children had data flaws serious enough to undermine its reliability. They say this single study has disproportionately influenced clinical guidelines recommending fluoxetine (Prozac) for depression in children and adolescents, though they are not calling for doctors to stop prescribing it.

Nature Futures publishes short story 'Von Neumann's Party'

Nature's science fiction feature carries a short story titled 'Von Neumann's Party,' depicting a narrator trapped in an endless queue being repeatedly asked whether they attended a historical gathering linked to John von Neumann at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies in the 1940s-50s. The narrative blends recollections of real figures like Einstein, Gödel and Oppenheimer with surreal, loop-like questioning and imagery of vast server farms, leaving the narrator's situation ambiguous.

New feathered dinosaur fossil found in China, named Norellraptor barsboldi

Researchers from China, Italy and Slovakia described a 57-centimetre fossil of a new microraptorine species, discovered by a local farmer in Liaoning province and estimated to be about three years old at death. The find, published in Nature Communications, shows feather traces on the limbs and tail of this close bird relative, which lived between 145 and 100 million years ago.

Researcher Mirta Galesic details strategies for countering online hate speech

Mirta Galesic, co-leader of the Collective Minds research group at Vienna's Complexity Science Hub, discusses her research into hate speech and 'counterspeech' responses in an interview with Nature. She notes that hostile posts targeting specific groups have surged around events like migrant crises and elections, citing a 240% rise in anti-South Asian posts on X between January 2024 and June 2026, and points to AI-generated content and bot accounts as factors amplifying divisive rhetoric.

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