Developers from Intel abandoned hardware support for the DirectX 9 graphics API in integrated GPUs based on the Xe architecture. We are talking about solutions that are part of the 12th generation Core processors. It was also abandoned in discrete graphics cards of the Arc line. However, support will still be implemented – through an emulator based on DirectX 12.

The system uses the open source Microsoft D3D9On12 library. It will communicate directly with the Intel graphics driver. At the same time, Microsoft claims that performance will be almost at the level of DirectX 9, and sometimes it will not be inferior to it at all.

This will allow you to run old games on systems with such video cards without fear of lack of backward compatibility and slow operation. After all, all the tasks of optimizing drivers will then be limited to working with DirectX 11 and DirectX 12. At the same time, you need to understand that D3D9On12 works at the software level, which will increase the load on the CPU and may lead to crashes in the games themselves.

It is not yet known whether Nvidia and AMD are planning to follow this path, but if it does, it could seriously affect fans of old games.

Previously, possible prices for A-series video cards were reported.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham, using computer reconstruction of the skull of dinosaurs, showed that large predatory species, along with powerful jaws, acquired unusually shaped elongated eye sockets. The article was published in the journal Communications Biology.

Computer modeling of the skulls of about 500 different dinosaurs, including tyrannosaurs, showed that round eye sockets would induce high mechanical stress in the bones of carnivorous dinosaurs when bitten. To maintain the stability of the skull, having acquired powerful jaws, the slightly elongated shape of the eye sockets allowed the animals: elliptical, in the form of a keyhole or figure eight. In this case, the eyeball occupied only the upper part of the orbit. This resulted in a reduction in the size of the eyes relative to the skull. Otherwise, Tyrannosaurus rex eyes would have grown up to 30 cm in diameter and weighed almost 20 kg instead of the estimated 13 cm and 2 kg.

This problem, however, is relevant only for predatory owners of large skulls over a meter in length. The majority of herbivorous species and young carnivores have retained a round eye socket.

The BioSentinel cubesat will be launched from the Orion spacecraft as part of the Artemis I mission (the first leg of the American lunar mission), it will conduct a long biological experiment in deep space. This was reported to NASA.

There will be yeast inside the satellite. Since the biological mechanisms of yeast cells are similar to those of humans, this organic load will help scientists study the effect of cosmic radiation on living cells in the region of the Moon.

The main job of the BioSentinel mission is to monitor yeast vital signs to see how they behave when exposed to radiation from deep space. In particular, yeast cell growth and metabolic activity will be studied.

In addition, they also plan to send algae, plants and fungi into space. The Orion spacecraft will pass the Van Allen radiation belt, which is located outside of low Earth orbit. In such belts there are protons and electrons of the solar wind with a charge of about three MeV (megaelectronvolt). Van Allen radiation fields are usually located near planets that have a strong magnetic field. Thanks to the Van Allen belts, biological cargo will be able to experience the effects of cosmic radiation to the fullest.