Technologies

We Just Saw the Warmest February on Record, and It’s Following a Trend

Climate change has driven temperatures up for nine straight months, scientists say.

Last year, we experienced both the hottest summer and the hottest year on record, and 2024 isn’t showing any chill either. According to a report from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, February 2024 was the warmest February ever recorded, as well as the ninth consecutive month to break its own heat record.

Europe saw dramatic warming in February, with temperatures 3.3 degrees Celsius above the average between 1991-2020.

«February joins the long stream of records of the last few months,» C3S director Carlo Buontempo said in the report. «It is not really surprising as the continuous warming of the climate system inevitably leads to new temperature extremes. The climate responds to the actual concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere so unless we manage to stabilise those, we will inevitably face new global temperature records and their consequences.»

Human-made greenhouse gas emissions largely come from the burning of fossil fuels for energy, with the top three emitters worldwide being China, the US and the EU. Per capita, the US and Russia have the highest emissions.

Data for February from the C3S notes that temperatures were also above average in central and northwest North America, the majority of South America, Northern Siberia, Africa, and Western Australia. Marine air temperatures remained «unusually high» as El Niño weakened in the Pacific.

«There’s now so much evidence pointing to the fact that our climate is warming,» Friederike Otto, Imperial College London’s senior lecturer in climate science, told The Guardian in response to the C3S report.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions

A March 2023 report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that half of the world’s population is «highly vulnerable to climate change,» noting as well that urgent action could help the world maintain a «livable future.»

In a tweet pointing to the IPCC report, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that the «climate time-bomb is ticking.» He added that the report shows «we have the knowledge & resources to tackle the climate crisis.»

The UN report enumerates ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the climate emergency caused by humans, such as changes to the food and transportation systems, and notes the importance of international cooperation in climate action. «If we act now, we can still secure a liveable sustainable future for all,» IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee said in the report.

A landmark agreement to transition away from using fossil fuels for energy was signed by nearly 200 countries at the UN’s COP 28 climate conference in Dubai in December, bringing the world a step closer to cooperating on solutions such as renewable energy.

«Whilst we didn’t turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this outcome is the beginning of the end,» UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell said in his closing speech. «Now all governments and businesses need to turn these pledges into real-economy outcomes, without delay.»

More on the climate crisis

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 16, #570

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for April 16 No. 570.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a fun one, especially if you enjoy unusual team names. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Put your glasses on for this.

Green group hint: Hoops home.

Blue group hint: The minors.

Purple group hint: Hidden hoops word.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Look at.

Green group: Seen at an NBA court.

Blue group: Double-A baseball teams.

Purple group: Starts with a WNBA team.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is look at. The four answers are observe, spectate, view and watch.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is seen at an NBA court. The four answers are benches, half-court logo, scorer’s table and shot clock.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is double-A baseball teams. The four answers are Biscuits, Drillers, Trash Pandas and Wind Surge.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is starts with a WNBA team. The four answers are dreamy, firefly, Skype and sundial.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, April 16

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 16.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s pretty simple, but 1-Across is a bit tricky. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Bow ties and ribbons that you can’t wear?
Answer: PASTA

6A clue: Opposite of lower
Answer: UPPER

7A clue: Flappable origami creation
Answer: CRANE

8A clue: Where the Hangul alphabet is used
Answer: KOREA

9A clue: Apparatus under a trapeze
Answer: NET

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Disc dropped on center ice
Answer: PUCK

2D clue: One might read «Kiss the Chef»
Answer: APRON

3D clue: Unlikely outcome after a 7-10 split
Answer: SPARE

4D clue: Fundamental belief
Answer: TENET

5D clue: Bay ___ (part of California)
Answer: AREA

Technologies

Apple Reportedly Plans to Send Siri Engineers to AI Coding Bootcamp

The move comes just weeks before the company is expected to unveil a new Siri.

Apple plans to send dozens of Siri engineers to a multiweek AI coding bootcamp, The Information reported Wednesday. The move comes less than two months before the company is widely expected to unveil a new Siri experience as part of a broader AI reboot.

A group of fewer than 200 engineers will be sent to the bootcamp, leaving approximately 60 members of the core Siri development team behind to continue working on Siri, while another 60 will evaluate Siri’s performance, according to The Information. The outlet also reported that AI has grown in popularity in some Apple divisions, prompting some teams within the company to allocate large parts of their budgets to Claude Code.

Apple representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Siri, once a pioneer, has lagged behind its rivals in voice assistants. Apple had planned to roll out a smarter, AI-driven Siri in 2025 as part of its Apple Intelligence initiative, but executives delayed the launch until spring 2026, admitting the early version wasn’t reliable enough to ship.

For Apple, the move would mark another attempt to reset expectations around its AI strategy after repeated delays to its more advanced Siri ambitions. The news also comes as John Giannandrea, Apple’s former AI chief, is reportedly leaving the company this week after stepping down from that role in December.

The new Siri experience is expected to be introduced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8 and would arrive as part of iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and MacOS 27 later this year, according to a Bloomberg report in March. The report says Apple is testing out a new Siri that would make the assistant feel more like a standalone AI chatbot — think ChatGPT or Claude — rather than the current built-in tool.