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Article By : Anton Shilov

With its Xe GPUs, Intel is now officially a maker of discrete graphics processors. Does it have what it takes to lead in the category?

Having released two Xe GPUs, Intel is now officially a maker of discrete graphics processors. There is a big difference between being a participant and being a leader and with its multifaceted graphics strategy that spans from laptops for casual gamers to high-end gaming desktops and from entry-level Android games to supercomputers, Intel certainly wants to become a leader. But does it have what it takes?

Historically, computer graphics hardware was used for two types of applications: gaming and professional visualization. Gaming hardware spanned from arcade machines to consoles to PCs. ProViz hardware was used for computer aided design (CAD), digital content creation (DCC), medical imaging, and various visual simulations. In the late 2000s, GPUs began getting adopted for various high-performance computing (HPC) applications.

Today, there are a number of new emerging applications that are not exactly traditional gaming, ProViz, or HPC. Artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning / machine learning (DL/ML) applications can take advantage of highly-parallel GPUs, yet they need support for data formats that are not supported by gaming or ProViz hardware. High-quality AR/VR simulations require a lot of graphics horsepower that is provided by top-of-the-range GPUs, yet they are not meant to use ProViz hardware. Cloud gaming as well as server-side game rendering applications are meant to enable games, yet using off-the-shelf graphics cards is not optimal for data centers. Finally, there are GPU-accelerated applications that take advantage of GPUs explicitly parallel nature, yet these do not belong to the HPC world as they are designed for consumers/prosumers.

When Intel hired GPU veteran Raja Koduri to establish its Core and Visual Computing Group at Intel to develop discrete graphics processors back in late 2017, it created more questions than answers given Intels history with its i740 graphics adapter in the late 1990s and then Larrabee gaming and HPC GPU in the late 2010s. To be a successful GPU supplier today, Intel needed to develop a family of graphics processors for traditional, HPC, and emerging applications, a task of a rather extreme complexity.

In the recent weeks and months Intel finally introduced its first discrete GPU in two decades, and disclosed some additional details about its graphics strategy. In this article we are going to examine Intels plans and will talk to experts about Intels potential prospects.

Its all about architecture

When Intel rejuvenated its discrete graphics efforts three years ago, the company made it clear that the move is a part of its strategic effort to better address artificial intelligence, graphics (gaming, simulations, ProViz, AR/VR, etc.), machine learning, and other performance-demanding workloads for the client, server, data center, and HPC segments. Intels previous attempt to build a multi-core processor codenamed Larrabee that could serve both graphics and HPC workloads largely failed because Intel tried to bring x86 to the worlds that, perhaps, never needed it.

With Koduri at the helm, Intel started developing its Xe, an explicitly parallel architecture that could adapt to different workloads and scale from TFLOPS to ExaFLOPS in terms of performance and features. Having spent decades at various GPU companies, Koduri understands like no other that no single architecture fits all, and why both AMD and Nvidia develop special versions of their graphics processors for data centers and supercomputers these days. Therefore, adaptability is one of the key features of Intels Xe GPU architecture.

So far, Intel has introduced its Xe-LP architecture for integrated and low-power discrete GPUs and in the coming year the company plans to bring three more Xe GPU architectures for various workloads to the market. Obviously, Intel intends to update its graphics families regularly.

To ensure that all the capabilities and instructions that its Xe GPUs (as well as AI accelerators, CPUs, and FPGAs) could be easily used by software developers, Intel introduced itsoneAPIapplication programming interface as well asLevel Zerodirect-to-metal interface (for AI, GPU, and FPGA products only). Meanwhile, software stack is out of the scope of this article.

Xe-LP: Lets start with something simple

While Intel has been absent from the market of standalone graphics processors for two decades, the company kept developing its integrated graphics processors aimed at inexpensive and/or low-power client PCs. That architecture sometimes called Gen has been good-enough for its tasks, but since Intel is now looking at a wider range of applications these days, it needed an all-new architecture.

The entry-level microarchitecture in Intels Xe stack is called Xe-LP and it will be used for integrated GPUs as well as inexpensive discrete GPUs.

On a high level, Intels Xe-LP is a DirectX feature level 12_1 design, just like the companys Gen 11 launched last year albeit with some extra features. Meanwhile, Xe-LP brought tangible performance benefits from the very start because of the new architecture and increased frequency potential (up to 1.70 GHz vs 1.1 GHz in case of the previous-generation) enabled by Intels new 10nm SuperFin process node.

The first product to use Intels Xe-LP iGPU is the companys 11thGeneration Core Tiger Lake processor for notebooks and compact desktops. The highest-end version of the Xe-LP iGPU features 96 execution units (EUs) capable of 1536 FP16 FLOPS/clock; a 48 texels/clock texture engine; a 24 pixels/clock raster engine; and a revamped memory subsystem with a new L1 data cache, a 16 MB L3 cache, end-to-end compression, and a new ringbus interconnect that enables a 2X higher bandwidth (versus previous generation).

The most important architectural change of the Xe-LP architecture when compared to Intels previous-generation architectures are all-new execution units (EUs) that now integrate an 8-wide FP/INT ALU and a 2-wide extended math ALU. The 8-wide FP/INT ALU is capable of 1 FP32/INT32 ops/clock, 2 FP16/INT16 ops/clock, and 4 INT8 ops/clock to better handle AI workloads that use various datatypes. Meanwhile, to save some die space, two EUs now share thread control.

Assuming that all FP/INT ALUs are busy and are operating at 1.35 GHz, Tiger Lakes high-end Xe-LP iGPU offers ~2.1 TFLOPS of FP32 compute performance for graphics, which is nearly two times higher when compared to Intels previous-generation Iris Plus G7 graphics (1.12 TFLOPS). Depending on CPU model, Intel scales its Xe-LP iGPU, so there are cheaper versions with a reduced number of EUs and other units as well as less impressive performance.

The new Xe-LP GPUs also come with Intels latest display and media engines. The latest media engine features a 12-bit end-to-end video pipeline for playing back videos in formats like BT.2020 along with hardware-accelerated decoding of the latest codecs, such as AV1. The media engine is important not only for integrated graphics as these GPUs are used mostly for productivity and media consumption, but also for various video streaming applications.

The display engine supports four pipelines as well as eDP, DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 2.0, and Thunderbolt 4/USB4 Type-C outputs, which is good enough for todays integrated and entry-level GPUs.

Intel positions its Xe-LP integrated and discrete GPUs both for gamers and for creators. Therefore, the company makes a lot of efforts to optimize its drivers for best performance and quality as far as games are concerned. For example, Xe-LP drivers support hardware/software scheduling codesign for added flexibility in DirectX 11-based games. Also, the GPUs continue to support variable rate shading (VRS) so not to spend too much compute horsepower shading parts of a scene that are considered not important. VRS has to be implemented by game developers, so its gains vary from title to tile. Meanwhile, Intel is also adding game sharpening (GS) technique that boosts image clarity in games without increasing resolution, which saves bandwidth, but probably puts additional load on other parts of the GPU. GS is controllable by end-users.

According toJon Peddie Research,almost 70%of PCs rely on Intels integrated graphics. Therefore, Intels transition of integrated GPUs to its new Xe-LP architecture has one important effect: game developers that address gamers with built-in GPUs will have to adjust their software (engines, middleware, games) for Intels latest architecture. Furthermore, Intel can tailor its drivers to ensure competitive performance and lack of visual artefacts before it ships discrete Xe products aimed at demanding gamers later on.

Xe-LP was always the key first step to our strategy, said Bruce Fienberg, an Intel spokesman. This is the energy-efficient foundation on which we scale the architecture for the rest of the family and it will help us deliver our first discrete GPU in over two decades. Xe-LP addresses a large market with hundreds of millions new integrated graphics users every year, it will power the visual experience for most people worldwide.

It is noteworthy that Intels Xe-LP is the most power and area-optimize microarchitecture of all Xe microarchitectures. It will certainly be used for PCs and various detachable tablets, but it is not supposed be scaled to address things like MobileEye products, according to Intel.

Iris Xe Max DG1: The first Intel discrete GPU in decades

Intels first commercial discrete graphics processor in two decades is called the Iris Xe Max (previously it was known as the codenamed DG1). The GPU is based on the Xe-LP microarchitecture and has the same configuration as the highest-end Tiger Lake integrated GPU.

The graphics processor packs 96 EUs, a 48 texels/clock texture engine, a 24 pixels/clock raster engine, a 128-bit memory controller supporting up to 4 GB of LPDDR4X, and a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface to connect to a laptop CPU that does not have too many spare PCIe lanes. The Intel Iris Xe Maxis produced using Intels 10nm SuperFin process technology, the same node that is used for Intels Tiger Lake CPUs.

Since the Iris Xe Max DG1 GPU is a discrete part designed for notebooks, it is clocked at 1650 MHz and therefore provides up to 2.46 FP32 TFLOPS of performance. While it has the same configuration as Intels highest-end integrated GPU (albeit at a 22% higher frequency), its performance will likely be noticeably higher since it has a higher thermal design (TDP) envelope as well as its own 128-bit memory interface.

Unconstrained by Tiger Lakes TDP and with a total memory bandwidth of 68 GB/s, the Iris Xe Max provides great performance for full-HD gaming as well as additive AI workloads, according to Intel. Apparently, the chip giant wants its DG1 to address not only entry-level gaming (which is also addressed by its built-in GPUs), but also consumer-grade compute-intensive applications (such as Topaz Labss Gigapixel AI).

From games performance perspective, the main competitors for Intels Iris Xe Max GPU are AMDs Radeon RX 560 (a 2016 GPU), Nvidias GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (a 2017 GPU) or its lower-end MX350 counterpart, but not even Nvidias Turing based GeForce MX450. At a 1080p resolution, 2.46 FP32 TFLOPS is indeed enough for many games, but is not enough for many modern games and/or higher resolutions, which is why gamers tend to get more capable and expensive discrete GPUs. Also, 2.46 FP32 TFLOPS is not enough for real-time business visualizations as they must look extremely engaging. Obviously, DG1 was not designed for such applications in mind, but it means that developers of such software will not touch Intels GPUs for at least another year.

For developers, games and business visualizations represent two completely different paradigms, said Yaroslav Lyssenko, CEO ofLimestone Simulations. Games are developed for hardware that the audience has at hands. For business VR simulations you need the best hardware possible to make them look as real as possible.

While the Iris Xe Max is not going to be used for workloads that need much more graphics horsepower than it can provide, it will be used to accelerate a variety of content creation applications courtesy of Intels Deep Link and Additive Ai technologies. In a nutshell, Deep Link is a software and firmware stack that balances workload and TDP between Intels Tiger Lakes integrated GPU and Iris Xe Max discrete GPU, whereas Additive Ai enables compute resources of the iGPU and the dGPU to be used together within an application. Today, Deep Link and Additive Ai are supported by programs like HandBrake, Topaz Gigapixel AI, and XSplit, but Intel says that eventually its acceleration-technologies will be supported by Blender as well as various applications by CyberLink, and Magix.

While some PC makers might attempt to build laptops with a CPU featuring a low-end iGPU as well as Iris Xe Max dGPU in a bid to offer an all-Intel product for gamers, it is hard to expect that Intels Intels discrete graphics processor will cannibalize sales of the companys CPUs with higher-end iGPU configurations. Meanwhile, Intels Iris Xe Max does not provide radically higher performance and Intels advertising focus will remain on CPUs (to a large degree because it positions its DG1 as a co-processor). Nonetheless, Jon Peddie, the head of Jon Peddie Research, believes that the Iris Xe Max will find its place on the market.

DG1 will find a socket and OEMs will create a new SKU for it, said Peddie. Intels brand is so powerful OEMs wont be able to turn their back on it. Nvidias GeForce MX350 is old generation so [Nvidia has added its Turing-based MX450 to the lineup] in anticipation of Intels push. We need to see what the costs are for that possible 30% speed increase in watts and dollars. Also based on the photos of it, it doesnt look very small.

Intels SG1: An entry-level GPU goes to datacenters

In the PC space, Intel DG1s 2.46 TFLOPS of graphics horsepower is not a breakthrough and is only enough for 1080p gaming. But there are Android games designed for widespread entry-level and midrange smartphones that use both local and cloud resources to provide decent graphics quality and fine experience. Furthermore, there are white-label cloud gaming service providers that offer access to non-demanding games.

These are two rapidly growing markets and Intel believes that it can address them with itsServer GPUthat is based on the Xe-LP discrete GPU silicon with a 23 W TDP. In the 5G era, game streaming will become more pervasive than today, so it is strategically important for Intel to address this growing market.

I can envision a tiered offering by the streamers, said Jon Peddie. The company has two design wins in Chinese streaming giants Tencent and Unitus. Tencent is the first customer for the XG310. Tencents Deputy GM of Tencent Game Matrix, Allen Fang, said cloud gaming is a potentially high growth area in the 5G era, which is strategic for [Intel].

From technology standpoint, Android game streaming requires a lot more than just fast graphics processing and video transcoding capabilities. Servers running such workloads need to ensure low latency and consistent performance, which means a software stack consisting of special graphics drivers, tailored virtual machines, and some additional optimizations. Intel has designed this stack internally, which is a testament that the company is very serious about game streaming and server-side rendering applications.

Intel has developed reference design for a graphics card running four Server GPUs equipped with 8 GB of LPDDR4X memory per chip (32 GB of RAM in total) and it believes that such a card enables Android cloud gaming providers to easily scale their graphics performance without increasing the number of servers. One of the first companies to offer Intels quad-GPU solution will be H3C with its XG310 board.

Intel says that Server GPUcan handle up to 20 game instances, depending on the exact title, resolution, and other factors, obviously. Therefore, one quad-GPU XG310 card can handle up to 80 users, whereas two quad-GPU XG310 boards can support up to 160 game instances using only 184 W of power for graphics.

Initially, H3Cs quad-GPU XG310 board will be used by Tencent Games. The Chinese gaming giant needs cloud rendering in a bid to ensure that all of its games work and look fine on all smartphones, even the cheapest models. In fact, entry level and even midrange handsets sometimes come with SoCs that do not have sufficient graphics horsepower to handle games on their high-resolution displays.

When we develop a game, we usually have a so-called target device on which the game looks good and, which is even more importantly, works well, said Aleksei Shulga, a producer atCreative Mobile. Everything that is better gets certain bonuses, everything that is worse either gets a lower-quality picture, or its support is dropped based on the version of Android. Keeping in mind how many devices are in the wild, nobody can guarantee fine performance and experience on all of them. For example, there are smartphones from Chinese brands that with large high-resolution displays that are powered by low-end SoCs which cannot realistically enable sufficient performance of games on such displays.

In addition, the H3C XG310 will be used by Gamestream as well as Ubitus white-label cloud gaming services. Eventually, this or similar cards will likely be adopted by Intels traditional clients among video streaming services.

It remains to be seen whether Intels SG1 project will be a big business for the company, but at first glance it looks quite promising. But perhaps there is a more important aspect to consider here. The software ground work that Intel has done for its SG1 quad-GPU card for servers will have a great value for its upcoming Xe-HP GPUs for datacenters. Essentially, Intel has developed and commercialized a huge part of Xe-HPs required software stack several quarters ahead of its release.

Scale everything up: Xe-HP for datacenters

As noted above, Intels Xe architecture is all about across-the-board scalability both in terms of performance and in terms of features. Intels second variant of the Xe architecture is called the Xe-HP and is designed specifically for datacenters.

For datacenters, Intel had to redesign its GPU almost from the ground up, but still retain Xes general principles. The Xe-HP uses revamped EUs that support new math and new floating-point formats as well as instructions, the GPU also has IPC improvements (which might mean a new front end), it also has new internal fabrics to provide bandwidth necessary for the new EUs, and it takes advantage of frequency optimizations brought by Intels 10nm Enhanced SuperFin process technology. The new Xe-HP GPUs support FP64, bfloat16 format for AI/ML computing, the DP4A convolution instruction for deep learning as well as Intels new XMX instructions.

The Xe-HP was the first big leap from the Xe-LP, said Koduri. There were a lot of things just we had to do to hit the datacenter scale. Step one was to scale everything from the humble LP. EU counts needed to go from double digit quantities to quad digits. So, we did a scale of 100x, frequency needed a big boost anywhere from 1.5X to two 2X boost from the Xe-LP base. Memory bandwidth needed a 10X from integrated graphics levels. We had to scale our internal fabrics up to need these levels. We also needed to add support for several new math formats that are not typically prioritized for integrated graphics, that present floating point and AI formats in particular. [Also,] we needed to increase the IPC for several formats by 10X in many cases.

Intel does not announce specifications for its Xe-HP GPUs just yet, but confirms that these processors will feature quad digit quantities of EUs running at 1.5 2 times higher frequencies when compared to speeds offered by Xe-LP, which is pretty vague, bust still gives some basic idea about what to expect. The Iris Xe integrated GPU runs at up to 1350 MHz (whereas the Iris Iris Xe Max discrete GPU operates at up to 1650 MHz), so the Xe-HP GPUs will run at least 2.0 GHz, but might end up at something like 2.50 GHz and above.

This is quite high by todays datacenter GPU standards. Nvidias A100 runs at around 1.40 GHz, whereas peak frequency of AMDs Instinct MI100 is 1.50 GHz. Essentially, Intel promises that is Xe-HP GPUs will run at clocks common for multi-core CPUs, but not for contemporary datacenter GPUs, which demonstrates rather unprecedented capabilities of Intels 10nm SuperFin Enhanced technology when compared to TSMCs N7 and Samsung Foundrys 8N nodes. To provide enough memory bandwidth for their EUs, Xe-HP GPUs will use HBM-type memory connected using EMIB packaging.

Early Xe-HP silicon running with early drivers could achieve a whopping 40 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, according to Intel. To put the number into context, Nvidias A100 can hit19.5 FP32 TFLOPS, whereas AMDs Instinct MI100 is rated at23.1 FP32 TFLOPS.

Intel says that todays datacenter GPU market requires different parts with TDPs ranging from 75 W to 500 W. As a result, the company will offer at least three GPUs based on the Xe-HP microarchitecture with one Xe-HP tile, two Xe-HP tiles, and four Xe-HP tiles. Intel does not reveal much about further differentiation of these parts in terms of performance, but it is something that makes sense to expect.

The scale, everything was the hardest part and a GPU architecture team was up to the task, but that wasnt enough, said Koduri. We had to scale even more. The data center GPU market is growing fast, todays solutions sprint from 75 W all the way up to 500 W in various form-factors, we had one design team and we had to come up with the architecture that enabled us to offer a range of solutions to our customers. Our advanced packaging team jumped in here and helped us.

Given how popular video streaming services are today, Intel needed to ensure that its Xe-HP GPUs had top-notch media capabilities to land customers with heavy media streaming requirements (which already use Intels accelerators). According to Intel, a single tile of the He-XP architecture can transcode 10 high-quality 4K streams at 60 frames per second simultaneously, so some of its Xe-HP GPUs will have media performance currently expected from a rack, the company claims.

The big area of focus and differentiation for us was the media, said Koduri. We set a lofty target for the media, well above and beyond anything that is out there for extreme density and visual quality and far beyond what our customers thought anyone could do. We really wanted to bring a rack level media performance down to a package. More importantly, we wanted to do that at a quality level, close to the best offline coders that are out there. We also wanted to support all the existing media software like FFmpeg, The Streamer, Handbrake, CyberLink, and Adobe easy, and also enable their high quality and coding paths, which are typically only enabled for CPU. This meant we had to lean in heavily on programmability for media.

Intel received the first Xe-HP silicon from the fab around mid-2020 and has been playing with it for several months now. The company has hit multiple bring up-related milestones already and allowed select customers to access the Xe-HP remotely. Today, the company even provides Xe-HP hardware to select customers. Intel expects to make its Xe-HP GPUs available commercially sometimes in 2021.

These are all pretty lofty goals, and Im super happy to tell you that were able to see all of this scalability in action recently, said Koduri. We have had Xe-HP silicon back in labs for several weeks now, and it had a successful power on This is a GPU bring up that meant any of us will remember as the first of many.

Enthusiast gamers, rejoice: Xe-HPG with hardware ray-tracing

Intels Iris Xe Max discrete GPU is an entry-level product not made to compete against higher-end graphics cards from AMD and NVIDIA, but from the day Raja Koduri joined Intel, the gaming crowd expected the company to compete against the discrete GPU suppliers in the gaming space. Earlier this year the company disclosed that next year it is going to offer a yet another Xe architecture variant, the Xe-HPG, optimized specifically for mid-range and enthusiast-class gaming graphics cards.

We know at Intel that gamers are the hardest bunch to impress, said Koduri. They want products that have the best performance, best performance per watt, best erformance per dollar, and the latest and greatest features. All at the same time. We had to leverage the best aspects of the three designs we had in progress to build a gaming optimized GPU.

The Xe-HPG GPUs will continue to use energy-efficient blocks from the Xe-LP, but will add hardware-accelerated ray-tracing support, which will have an effect on architecture of EUs and/or sub-slices. The graphics processors will also leverage scalability (internal interconnects) designed for the Xe-HP as well as frequency optimizations from the Xe-HPC microarchitecture. Intels Xe-HPG GPUs will use GDDR6-based memory subsystems to cut costs associated with HBM-enabled Xe-HP parts.

By the time Intels Xe-HPG parts will be available, game developers and its own driver team will have enough time to optimize their software for the Xe architecture, hence the company expects its GPUs to offer high performance, fine image quality, stable drivers, and other things expected from gaming graphics cards today. From this point of view, it makes a great sense for Intel to launch inexpensive Xe-LP GPUs first.

Intel has already received the first Xe-HPG silicon back from its foundry partner and is currently testing it in its labs. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether it has started to sample it among game developers. This part is important as developers need to tailor their titles for Intels Xe-HPG to take advantage of its capabilities and ensure good performance and flawless operation. Good news is that Intel traditionally has a great relationship with the game development community as its CPUs powerover 70% of PCs used for gaming.

In addition to games, Intels Xe-HPG could be able to address professional and business applications, such as ProViz and AR/VR simulations that are getting more widespread due to pandemic. Intel makes no comments about ProViz and yet has to talk publicly about AR/VR support by its Xe-HPG hardware and software. Meanwhile, addressing ProViz market is important because it is a lucrative business, whereas AR/VR is a growing market. It should be noted that the aforementioned applications need high performance and quality drivers (with certifications by ProViz ISVs), so Intel would naturally like to keep any information about Xe-HPG and markets that it is going to address low profile for competitive reasons at the moment.

VR games are very demanding for performance, said Shulga. Remember that we need to render each scene twice at a constant 90 frames per second, thats 11.1 ms per frame.

VR interiors benefit greatly from raytracing, which requires GPU horsepower, said Lyssenko. For stable 90 FPS, we need the best hardware we can get. For numerous projects, [GeForce RTX] 2080 Ti is an absolute minimum.

Given how capable Intels Xe-HP architecture is in terms of FP32 performance, prospects of Xe-HPG also look rather good, especially considering that it is not tied to Intels own nodes.

Intel says that that the first Xe-HPG GPUs will hit the market in 2021 and will be made externally to take advantage of leading-edge process technologies and use external IP libraries optimized for foundries. Intel believes that such approach will be instrumental to make its Xe-HPG GPUs to be competitive against offerings from AMD and NVIDIA both in terms of costs and performance. Meanwhile, Intel may have an immediate success on the discrete GPU market due to its brand.

When they introduced the i740, a hundred AIB vendors signed up an put out a product, said Jon Peddie. Why? Because the Intel brand is so powerful and everybody wants a piece of it. It is still more powerful than that of Nvidia and AMD.

What remains to be seen is whether companies working exclusively with AMD and Nvidia on the graphics cards front yet supplying motherboards for Intel processors will also adopt Intels Xe-HPG GPUs. If they do, this might lead to major disruptions on the market of graphics adapters in general.

Xe-HPC Ponte Vecchio: the supercomputing pinnacle of the project

Intels Xe-HPC microarchitecture and the codenamed Ponte Vecchio GPU represents the culmination of Intels graphics, packaging, process nodes, and even memory technologies.

Intels Ponte Vecchio GPU is a multi-tile package consisting of a base tile (made using the companys 10nm SuperFin process), a compute tile (fabbed internally and externally), a Rambo cache tile (produced using Intels 10nm Enhanced SuperfFin node), and an externally-fabricated Xe-Link (CXL-based) tile to connect to other GPUs. Aimed at supercomputers, Intels Exascale GPU features an enormous complexity, which is why the company had to use four tiles and external manufacturing partners to build it.

Intel yet has to disclose more details about its Ponte Vecchio, but from what we know today this part will use the most advanced version of the Xe architecture with enhancements specific to supercomputers. Meanwhile, since Intel has to make Ponte Vecchios compute tile using its own next-generation (7nm) process technology and externally, it is evident that this part is too complex to be made even using Intels 10nm Enhanced SuperFin node.

Summary

Being a vertically integrated company, Intel is naturally inclined to work alone on everything from a thin client PC powered by the cloud all the way to multi-tile HPC or supercomputer chip that costs hundreds of millions to design and is extremely hard to build. Intels graphics strategy largely reflects its approach to manufacturing in general, so the company will work with partners to build everything it needs using process technologies that make the most sense.

Intels previous graphics and HPC strategy focused around the Larrabee project included multiple high-end processors for supercomputers that could be used by gamers assuming that they provided competitive performance. By 2009, Intel realized that its GPU design was not competitive enough and instead of fixing it, it changed the focus of the whole project to supercomputers. Even before it turned out that Intels 10nm node had major problems, the company had cancelled its 10nm codenamed Knights Hill CPU, an indicator that the semiconductor giant was not satisfied with its Xeon Phi processor in general.

With its Xe-centered graphics and HPC strategy everything looks different. Firstly, Intel no longer considers graphics as a second-class citizen, so it spans its Xe architecture from humble integrated GPUs to supercomputer-class designs using four separate Xe microarchitectures. Secondly, the company also does not ignore the market of inexpensive low-power GPUs for notebooks as well as higher-end graphics cards for gamers although in both cases it will have to compete against established players like AMD and Nvidia.

Thirdly, the company will use internal production facilities to make low-power iGPU and dGPUs as well as Xe-HP datacenter GPUs and will turn to foundries to build its Xe offerings for HPC and gaming, which shows how flexible Intel now wants to be. Adaptability in terms of microarchitectures and flexibility in terms of manufacturing are great departures from Intels failed one-size-fits-all Larrabee strategy from the past decade.

The blurry gray lines between what marketing says out of one side of their mouth and what engineering says out of the other is a tightrope all tech companies walk, said Peddie. I personally think Intel has no choice, the demands of cache size, bus size and bandwidth, memory type, and sundry special purpose engines (e.g., codecs, security, memory management, etc.) make it almost impossible to build a one-size-fits-all GPU.

Intels Xe product stack for graphics and compute seems complete and the companys intention to use contract makers of semiconductors to build these products demonstrates that Intel is serious about getting into the business. What remains to be seen is how competitive Intels Xe processors will be against those offered by AMD and NVIDIA when they enter the market. Intel has plenty of financial and engineering resources, but its rivals have been on this market for decades and have proven to be formidable competitors for a number of times.

Anton Shilov is a veteran technology writer who has covered many aspects of the electronics industry, including semiconductors, computers, displays, and consumer electronics.

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Home is where the heart is, and we have 12 ways to turn yours into a haven of positive health and wellbeing for 2021.

Whether you live alone or share your living space with family or friends, home is an important part of our identity, says Eleanor Ratcliffe, environmental psychologist and lecturer at the University of Surrey: 'Our homes have had to become workplace, school, and gym, and yet still be a place to relax and recover from all the everyday stresses and strains. A home design that reflects who you are your values, needs, and interests can make you feel good about yourself and more in control. This is especially relevant when life feels uncertain.'

The ideal work-from-home scenario is to find enough space to create your own home office, so you can close the door when the working day is over. If this isn't possible, you may need help to switch off. 'Use furniture or large plants to create broken-plan zones which allow you to separate work, relaxation and other activities such as cooking and eating,' says interiors and home-staging expert. Elaine Penhaul at Lemon and Lime Interiors. 'Zoning an open-plan room helps you utilise big spaces. You could use a large sofa or a tall, open bookcase as a divider.'

You can also deploy lighting to organise open-plan areas; create 'rooms' on different circuits so you can achieve the correct balance of task, ambient and accent lighting when natural daylight fades.

Health-boosting natural light which helps the body produce Vitamin D and fight off seasonal blues is in short supply during the dark days of winter, so 'harvest it and use it anywhere you can', advise lighting experts Kate Wilkins and Sam Neuman, founders of Home Lighting Ideas.

Arteriors

'If you need to spend long periods in a space that doesn't get a lot of light, you may wish to think about installing an additional window,' says David Knight, digital manager at Roof Windows 4 You. 'A roof window can be easily added to a variety of different spaces, from a bathroom to a loft conversion, to provide both light and ventilation.'

A sun tunnel is a good alternative for rooms without roof access. It uses a mirror system to direct sunlight inwards to a location of your choice, from 252 at Roof Windows 4 You.

Being comfortable in a room that's at the perfect temperature helps us to both focus and relax. However, this balance can be difficult to achieve if you share your living space with others. One solution is to investigate smart home heating systems, which can set different temperatures in individual rooms of the home. For instance, the Drayton Wiser thermostat, 219.99 for a Multi-zone Kit 1 (room thermostat, heat hub, app and two radiator thermostats), allows you to create up to 16 separate 'zones' each with their own individual temperature.

Also consider the flow of air through your rooms and air quality; if you choose a fan, air-conditioning unit or air purifier, make sure it comes with the Quiet Mark award find a list of recommended products here, quietmark.com.

Sharps

A natural home is a nurturing home. Make a vow to reduce the use of chemical-heavy detergent and cleaning materials and opt for natural alternatives kinder to your skin and general health. Theres a really good choice on the market now, including eco and vegan-friendly Ecozone cleaning sprays including a Multi-Surface Cleaner, Limescale Remover and Daily Shower Cleaner use natural plant extracts to lift away dirt and grime, from 3.49 at Ocado.

Always choose candles and wax melts made from soy wax rather than paraffin-based alternatives. The soy-based and vegan-friendly Self-Embrace candle by Kutch a Cheshire company launched in June 2020 creating candles to promote positivity and wellbeing has lavender oil for calm and rosemary and eucalyptus to clear your mind.

The ancient Chinese art of Feng Shui is enjoying a resurgence. Its all about maximising the positive energy that flows through your living space, and you can start by tidying up, says Rebecca Snowden, interior style advisor at furniture retailers Furniture And Choice: 'A neat home works wonders for our mental clarity and overall health. In Feng Shui, each space is connected to each other and allows positive energy to flow throughout the house. Closets or drawers overloaded with old items block the chi (energy) so discard any clutter.'

Dimensions/dominic blackmore

Try the 10-minute bin-bag challenge every morning. Set a timer, take a bin bag and go around your home, collecting items no longer required and dispose of them thoughtfully, suggests Gary Lyons, managing director at Plastic Box Shop. 'After a week, you'll find that you have much less clutter in your home, so you'll have a calmer, tidier mind, too.'

As part of their recent Happiness through Design campaign, The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), found that most of us (70 per cent) believe that the design of our homes has affected our mental wellbeing during the pandemic.

Almost a quarter (23 per cent) of respondents said that a better-designed home would increase their happiness; they'd be able to relax more (31 per cent) and sleep better (17 per cent). So take time to think about how the space in your home is configured and what improvements or alterations you could make such as an extension or loft conversion within your budget.

Carpetright

A good place to start is asking an architect for advice. Many now offer a free initial telephone consultation or increasingly, a package of tailored advice to help you visualise what could be done before you take the plunge and start knocking down walls.

'Were trained to be creative and practical problem solvers and will add value, not just financial, but also to your quality of life ensuring that your most sacred space works for you and your loved ones,' says Ben Channon, RIBA chartered architect, head of wellbeing at Assael Architecture and author of the book, Happy by Design: A Guide to Architecture and Mental Wellbeing. 'We will help you to make your home more usable and, put simply, a nicer place to live ultimately making you happier and healthier.' Find a RIBA-registered architect at architecture.com.

Houseplants look beautiful and can improve your health and wellbeing too. 'For centuries, the Chinese have used houseplants to create "living energy" in their homes and workplaces,' says Mike Burks, chairman of the Garden Centre Association (GCA). 'Scientific studies have proven that houseplants are good for you physically, emotionally and psychologically.'

Mike adds that plants can remove harmful chemicals from the air, such as those in paints and varnishes, new carpets and MDF, absorb noise and reduce dust, lower blood pressure, help concentration, improve memory, promote relaxation and make rooms look cared-for and welcoming.

Carpetright

The houseplants that Mike particularly recommends for boosting wellbeing include Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily), Nephrolepis (Boston Fern), Phlebodium Fern, Gerbera Daisy, Saint Paulia (African Violets), Ficus Benjamina (Weeping Fig), Sanserveria (Snake Plant), Chlorophytum (Spider Plant) and English Ivy.

If you really love plants, take it a step further. 'If you're looking to overhaul your home office for 2021, opt for a floral or palm leaf wallpaper to get that calming greenery hit on a larger scale,' recommends Calum Henderson, interior design manager at I Love Wallpaper.

Take a look around your home and identify areas you can devote to health and wellbeing. 'Along with work and rest, making space for self-care and enrichment goes a long way towards enhancing wellness in the home,' says Rebecca Snowden. 'Whether its a warm reading nook or a place for crafts and hobbies, it's a crucial space to have, and likely to become a quick favourite.'

Its important to personalise this space, says Nadia McCowan Hill, resident style advisor at online homes retailer Wayfair: 'Creating characterful and personalised vignettes throughout the home is set to be a huge trend for 2021, especially when related to small spaces. Play around with the classic "shelfie" or curated coffee table display for an area that is truly your own a fun, creative outlet and importantly a celebration of your style and identity in these uncertain times.'

For maximum relaxation, incorporate Feng Shui yin and yang into your dcor. 'Yin (feminine) and yang (masculine) is a belief that two contrasting forces cannot exist without each other,' says Rebecca. 'Apply this concept by mixing different shapes together. For example, contrast the sharp edges of wall hangings with the soft curves of a sofa or mirror in the living room. This will balance out the room and give it a more relaxing feel.'

Sharps

'Our homes and gardens have become our everything and we're increasingly looking to surround ourselves with natural, sustainable materials,' says Clare Thomas, marketing manager at Cotswolds-based artisan homeware company Indigenous.

She adds that rustic wood and stone are hugely popular: 'They connect us with nature and bring texture, along with a real sense of calm and wellbeing. There's also growing interest in rustic "worn-away" patterned tiles in natural shades, like fawn, pale blue and sage. This new look is very subtle and some porcelain finishes, like our handmade Tuscan tile, can be used outside as well as indoors.'

Materials such as sisal for flooring and wicker for furniture and decorative items such as lampshades and pendants are also enjoying a renaissance. Sisal is naturally moth and dust-mite resistant. With neutral tones and a subtle texture, it's ideal for creating a pleasing bridge between wooden and stone flooring. 'Its also a healthy solution for those who suffer from asthma, eczema and other allergies,' says Julian Downes, director at natural flooring company fibre. 'It is extremely hard-wearing and if looked after, will look beautiful for years.'

Fibre

Colour has the power to transform a room and create different moods, so its crucial to choose the right shades to help you feel comfortable and relaxed at home. 'Always keep in mind that, as a guide, warm colours such as red, orange and yellow are considered to be stimulating, while cool tones of blue and green tend to be more restful and soothing,' says Judy Smith, Crown Paints colour consultant.

In wintertime, Judy takes inspiration from the colours of nature: 'Trying to recreate the feeling of outdoors as an escape in our home starts with the colours and the materials we choose. A quieter, more organic colour story made of tones of green, clay and wood creates a lovely, calming, natural space that can help to boost our wellbeing.'

Crown Paints/Jon Day

Crown Paints/Jon Day

Natural textures also help us to connect with the outdoors. Sarah Jane Nielsen, founder of interior design firm Nielsen House, based in the Lake District, is keen on cork. 'I love the natural warmth of cork and bark tiles, which are produced sustainably, biodegradable and eco-friendly,' she says. 'You can also buy cork on a roll with adhesive backing. Its brilliant in a home workspace; you can pin up your notes, articles, photos and planners.'

Mixing fabric textures is vital to achieving a truly cosy feel, so layer tactile velvets, weaves, knits and cottons across soft furnishings to tie your look together, suggests Suzy McMahon, buying director at Sofology.

Sofology

Creating a sanctuary in your bathroom is easy. Fit a shelf or add a side table beside the bath at just the right height for your favourite essential oils, add an electric towel rail for warm fluffy towels and a soft bath mat to sink your toes into.

And then of course, theres the bath. 'The freestanding bath has remained a staple design piece for the British bathroom for many years,' says James Stevenson at Imperial Bathrooms. 'As the market continues to focus on promoting greater health and wellbeing at home, this style of tub remains the go-to for the right balance of luxury, comfort and practicality,'

Baths made from natural materials such as copper or tin are good conductors of heat and will keep bathwater warmer for longer than synthetic materials.

Pooky

Indigenous/Chris Terry

We've loved spending as much time as possible outside during the warmer months and now the weather is colder we dont want to let that connection with nature go.

'One way to maximise this is by incorporating bi-folding or sliding doors,' says Victoria Brocklesby, founder and CEO at Origin. 'The large expanse of glass will seamlessly link the inside of your home with the outside, offering a widescreen view of your garden and helping you feel connected to the great outdoors, come rain or shine.'

Origin/Andy Shennan

A living wall also known as a vertical garden is a beautiful and space-saving way to connect indoors and out, adds Sarah Jane Nielsen: 'There are lots of options here: you can build a frame and enjoy the growing, feeding and garden maintenance yourself many find it incredibly calming or you can opt for ready-built self-sufficient living wall systems that water themselves.' You could even plant herbs to snip off and add to warming stews and soups.

12 Days of Christmas Wellbeing: boost your mental wellbeing, take joy from the small things, and create a happy home this festive season.

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12 ways to make your home a haven of wellbeing in 2021 - HouseBeautiful.com

By Big G Creative ($24.99)

Who 3-6 players, ages 8 and up

What Pick who you think will perform the best on wacky challenges, vote with a squishy goat, and add up points for the person who actually did the best job.

What we thought Yes, I had to look up the meaning of G.O.A.T. the kids nowadays say it stands for Greatest of All Time. With that bit of knowledge out of the way, I had to crack my knuckles and get ready to prove that I was the G.O.A.T. at a variety of tasks, such as making a noise like a lightsaber, juggling the squishy goats the longest, and, yes, who could crack the most knuckles. About those squishy goats: the box comes with six of them in different colors, and my 10-year-old daughter squealed upon seeing them nestled inside. They're just fun. And did we say squishy? This game is good for players of all ages, and generated a lot of laughs and surprises and the utmost respect of my children, whose mother turned out to be the G.O.A.T. of disco moves.

Valerie Schremp Hahn

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Bored? We rate 11 new board games to help you while away the pandemic - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) announces the assignment of preliminary ratings to six classes of ONYP 2020-1NYP, a CMBS single-borrower securitization.

The collateral for the transaction is an $835.0 million non-recourse mortgage loan. The floating rate loan has an initial two-year term with three, one-year extension options, and requires monthly interest-only payments based on one-month LIBOR. The loan is secured by the borrowers fee simple interest in One New York Plaza, a 50-story, Class-A, office tower containing approximately 2.6 million sf located in Downtown Manhattan. The LEED Gold certified tower includes approximately 2.5 million sf of office space, 39,219 sf of retail space, 33,726 sf of storage space, and a subterranean parking garage containing 190 parking spaces.

As of November 2020, the property was 96.5% leased to 26 tenants. The five largest tenants include Morgan Stanley, an international banking and financial services firm; Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, an AM Law Top 100 firm; Macmillan Holdings, LLC, a British publishing company; FullBeauty Brands, LLC, an online and catalog retailer of plus-sized apparel; and Revlon Consumer Products Corporation, an American multinational beauty and personal care company. Together, these five tenants account for 88.8% of total base rent and 85.2% of the total sf.

KBRAs analysis of the transaction included a detailed evaluation of the properties cash flows using our U.S. CMBS Property Evaluation Methodology and the application of our U.S. CMBS Single Borrower & Large Loan Rating Methodology. In addition, KBRA also relied on its Global Structured Finance Counterparty Methodology for assessing counterparty risk in this transaction, to the extent deemed applicable.

The results of our analysis yielded a KBRA net cash flow (KNCF) of approximately $92.1 million. To value the property, we applied a capitalization rate of 6.75% to arrive at a KBRA value of approximately $1.4 billion. The resulting in-trust KBRA Loan to Value (KLTV) is 91.6%. In our analysis of the transaction, we also reviewed and considered third party engineering, environmental, and appraisal reports; the results of our site inspection of the property, and legal documentation review.

Click here to view the report. To access ratings and relevant documents, click here.

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Further information on key credit considerations, sensitivity analyses that consider what factors can affect these credit ratings and how they could lead to an upgrade or a downgrade, and ESG factors (where they are a key driver behind the change to the credit rating or rating outlook) can be found in the full rating report referenced above.

A description of all substantially material sources that were used to prepare the credit rating and information on the methodology(ies) (inclusive of any material models and sensitivity analyses of the relevant key rating assumptions, as applicable) used in determining the credit rating is available in the U.S. Information Disclosure Form located here.

Information on the meaning of each rating category can be located here.

Further disclosures relating to this rating action are available in the U.S. Information Disclosure Form referenced above. Additional information regarding KBRA policies, methodologies, rating scales and disclosures are available at http://www.kbra.com.

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KBRA is a full-service credit rating agency registered as an NRSRO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, KBRA is designated as a designated rating organization by the Ontario Securities Commission for issuers of asset-backed securities to file a short form prospectus or shelf prospectus. KBRA is also recognized by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners as a Credit Rating Provider and is a certified Credit Rating Agency (CRA) with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe is registered with ESMA as a CRA.

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HAGENS BERMAN, NATIONAL TRIAL ATTORNEYS, Notifies Interface (TILE) Investors of Upcoming Deadline in Securities Fraud Action, Encourages Investors...

Cleveland is eventually dropping theIndiansbranding but will continue to use the name until a new moniker and branding have been finalized, according to Team Owner and Chairman Paul Dolan.

The rebranding is not a surprise: in July the team announced it wouldreexamine the use of a racially inappropriate name and brandingduring a time of social justice. The use of the Indians name has been a controversial one for several years now, and when the team announced a reexamination, the assumption in baseball was that new branding would be the inevitable result.

This certainly has been the year of social justice in professional sports, including baseball. Earlier this summer theMinnesota Twinstook down a statue offormer team owner Calvin Griffith at Target Field due to his racist legacy, while theUniversity of CincinnatiremovedMarge Schotts name from the schools ballpark for the same reason. (Our story here.) Prior efforts includedthe renaming ofYawkey Wayback to its original name,Jersey Street,after the Boston Red Sox petitioned to change it as a way to distance the team from former owner Tom Yawkeys racist past.

The Indians had previously struggled with a problematic part of its team branding: Chief Wahoo.It took until 2018 for the team to downplay Chief Wahooon team uniforms, branding and marketing. However, the idea of dropping the logo completely had previously been met with some reluctance from Indianschairman and chief executivePaul Dolan, even asMajor League Baseball commissionerRob Manfredincreased pressure on the team to get rid of Chief Wahoo.

Its been the Cleveland Indians since 1915. Before that the team had been known by a variety of names since launching as an original American League team in 1901: Blues, Broncos, Naps, and our favorite: the Molly McGuires. The Indians name came as a result of a decision by local sportswriters recruited by the team owner: the rationale given at the time in the Cleveland Plain Dealer was that the team name was to honor former Cleveland Spiders player Louis Sockalexis, regarded as the first American Indian to play professional baseball.

RELATED STORIES: Cleveland to reexamine Indians name, branding;Rethinking ballpark branding in #BLM times;Examining tangled legacies at sports facilities in a #BLM world

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Cleveland to shed Indians name soon: report - Ballpark Digest

Researchers have revealed how the brain encodes time and place into memories in the latest study conducted by the University of Texas.

The findings published in PNAS and Science could eventually provide the basis for new treatments to combat memory loss from conditions such as traumatic brain injury or Alzheimer's disease.

Also read:Blood test could predict Alzheimer's disease 4 years before symptoms begin

About 10 years prior, a gathering of neurons known as "time cells" was found in rodents. These cells seem to assume an extraordinary part in chronicle when occasions occur, permitting the cerebrum to accurately check the request for what occurs in a wordy memory.

Situated in the cerebrum's hippocampus, these phones show a trademark movement design while the creatures are encoding and reviewing occasions, clarifies Bradley Lega, a partner teacher of a neurological medical procedure at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School (UTSW) and senior creator of the PNAS study.

By terminating in a reproducible arrangement, they permit the cerebrum to coordinate when occasions occur, Lega says. The circumstance of their terminating is constrained by 5 Hz cerebrum waves, called theta motions, in a cycle known as precession.

Also read:Not sleeping enough? Your brain might be eating itself

Lega examined whether people likewise have time cells by utilizing a memory task that sets solid expectations for time-related data. Lega and his associates enlisted volunteers from the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at UT Southwestern's Peter O'Donnell Jr. Mind Institute, where epilepsy patients remain for a few days before the medical procedure to eliminate harmed portions of their cerebrums that flash seizures. Cathodes embedded in these patients' cerebrums assist their specialists with recognizing the seizure foci and furthermore give important data on the mind's internal functions, Lega says.

While recording electrical movement from the hippocampus in 27 volunteers' cerebrums, what the group discovered was energizing: Not just did they recognize a powerful populace of time cells, however, the terminating of these phones anticipated how well people had the option to connect words together as expected (a marvel called fleeting bunching). At last, these cells seem to show stage precession in people, as anticipated.

"For quite a long time researchers have suggested that time cells resemble the magic that binds recollections of occasions in our lives," as indicated by Lega. "This finding explicitly underpins that thought in an exquisite manner."

In the second examination in Science, Brad Pfeiffer, associate educator of neuroscience, driven a group researching place cellsa populace of hippocampal cells in the two creatures and people that records where occasions happen.

Analysts have since quite a while ago referred to that as creatures travel a way they've been on previously, neurons encoding various areas along the way will fire in succession much like time cells fire in the request for worldly occasions, Pfeiffer clarifies. Likewise, while rodents are effectively investigating a climate, place cells are additionally coordinated into "small scale arrangements" that speak to a virtual compass of areas in front of the rodent. These radar-like ranges happen about 8-10 times each second and are believed to be a mind system for foreseeing promptly impending occasions or results.

Before this examination, it was realized that when rodents quit running, place cells would frequently reactivate in long groupings that seemed to replay the rodent's related knowledge in the opposite. While these "converse replay" occasions were known to be significant for memory development, it was hazy how the hippocampus had the option to create such successions. For sure, impressive work had shown that experience ought to fortify forward, "look forward" successions, however, debilitate switch replay occasions.

To decide how these retrogressive and forward recollections cooperate, Pfeiffer and his associates set anodes in the hippocampi of rodents, at that point permitted them to investigate two better places: a square field and a long, straight track. To urge them to travel through these spaces, they put wells with chocolate milk at different spots. They at that point broke down the creatures' place cell action to perceive how it compared to their areas.

Specific neurons terminated as the rodents meandered through these spaces, encoding data on spot. These equivalent neurons terminated in a similar arrangement as the rodents remembered their ways, and occasionally terminated backward as they finished various legs of their excursions. In any case, investigating the information, the specialists discovered something new: As the rodents traveled through these spaces, their neurons showed forward, prescient smaller than normal successions, yet in addition in reverse, review scaled-down arrangements. The forward and in reverse groupings rotated with one another, each taking a couple of dozen milliseconds to finish.

"While these creatures were pushing ahead, their cerebrums were continually exchanging between expecting what might occur straightaway and reviewing what simply occurred, all inside portion of-a-second time spans," Pfeiffer says.

Pfeiffer and his group are at present examining what inputs these cells are accepting from different pieces of the cerebrum that cause them to act in these forward or turn around designs.

In principle, he says, it very well may be conceivable to capture this framework to help the mind review where an occasion occurred with greater constancy. Essentially, adds Lega, incitement strategies may in the end have the option to copy the exact designing of time cells to help individuals all the more precisely recollect fleeting successions of occasions.

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Study sheds light on how brain encodes time and place into memories - WION

Karl-Anthony Towns sheds tears as he plays in first game since losing mother to COVID-19

Taking the court for the first time since he lost his mother and several other family members to COVID-19, Karl-Anthony Towns was in tears during warm-ups.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Taking to the court for the first time since losing his mother and other close family members to COVID-19, Karl-Anthony Towns was in tears during pre-game ceremonies.

Saturday night, as players were announced at the Target Center for the Wolves preseason opener versus the Grizzlies, Towns was seen sitting on the bench in tears. Coaches, staff, and his teammates all moved to comfort Towns as the Wolves center tried to wipe away tears.

Karl-Anthony Towns #32 of the Minnesota Timberwolves hugs his parents, Karl and Jackie Towns after winning the game against the Denver Nuggets of the game on April 11, 2018 at the Target Center in Minneapolis. (Hannah Foslien / Getty Images)

Saturday was the first time the team has played since the NBA's COVID-19 shutdown in March. Shortlyafter, his mother passed away in April. Since that point, he's also lost six other close family members.Speaking during training camp, Towns explained how important it was to see his mom on the sidelines as he played basketball.

"I played this game more because I just love watching my family members see me play a game that I was very successful and good at," Towns explained earlier this month. "It always brought a smile for me when I saw my mom at the baseline or in the stands having a good time."

"I've lost a lot," Towns lamented. "Close family members, people who have raised me, who have gotten me here."

When asked if basketball could provide a sort of therapy for him, Towns said he didn't see it that way.

"It's going to be hard to play," he added. "It's going to be hard to say this is therapy. I don't think this will ever be therapy again for me again. But it gives me a chance to re-live good memories I've had."

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Karl-Anthony Towns sheds tears as he plays in first game since losing mother to COVID-19 - FOX 9

Looking for a unique, warm and sustainable Christmas present?

Consider a handcrafted turkey feather blanket, although you likely wont have the time, nor the skills, to make one this Christmas.

Ah well, there is always 2021. Which begs the question, how many turkey feathers would you need?

Roughly 11,500, according to new research from archaeologists at Washington State University.

The good news? Those feathers could come from Spokanes resident turkey population. Youd need anywhere between four and 10 turkeys and you wouldnt have to kill them.

The study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science in late November, examined the remnants of an 800-year-old 4-by-3-foot blanket housed in the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum in Blanding, Utah.

The blanket is an artifact of the Pueblo people, predecessors to the modern Hopi, Zuni and Rio Grande Pueblo nations. Although the turkey feathers are long gone likely victims of dermestid beetle larvae the shafts of the feathers are still visible, tightly wound around yucca fiber cords.

In a region with extreme temperature swings, warm and durable blankets were a must.

The research further highlights the synergistic relationship between Indigenous peoples in the Southwest and turkeys, shedding light on the economic and social importance of the bird, said Bill Lipe, a retired WSU anthropologist and lead author of the study.

Bill and his colleagues research on turkey feather blankets is really a significant and exciting contribution, said Cyler Conrad, an archaeologist at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

Conrad, who grew up in Spokane, studies ancient evidence of turkeys throughout the Southwest. He was not involved in the WSU study.

The findings, he said, helps contextualize the role and importance of turkeys in a process which is often not considered in turkey studies blanket manufacturing.

For the past few decades, archaeological research has focused on domestication, husbandry and management questions. While important, that hasnt directly examined the cultural and economic impact of the turkey-human relationship Conrad said.

Indigenous people in the American Southwest and the Mexican northwest hunted wild turkeys and raised domestic turkeys. They used turkey eggs for food, and then used the crushed-up shells to make paints and dyes.

What did they paint?

Turkeys.

Turkeys held a very special role in past societies, just as they do in modern Native American communities, Conrad said.

According to the WSU study, turkey feather blankets became popular roughly 2,000 years ago. Thats when blankets or robes relying on turkey feathers as the insulating medium began to replace those made with strips of rabbit fur.

Archaeologists believe turkeys were first domesticated in south-central Mexico around 800 BCE by pre-Aztecan people and again in the Southwest of the United States in 200 BCE.

The birds likely were first valued for their feathers, not their meat. The vibrant plumage was used in ceremonies and to make robes, blankets and more.

Exactly how turkeys were domesticated isnt known, but its possible a rafter of turkeys the technical term for a group of the birds was hanging out by a village eating garbage and never left.

As the Pueblo farming communities flourished, its likely that every member of an ancestral Pueblo community had a blanket.

Although turkeys would later become an important food source, they were initially domesticated for their feathers and eggs. Fragments of turkey bones found in household garbage piles, indicating consumption, only start to regularly appear in the 1100s and 1200s C.E.

Many of the turkey bones reported from sites dating to earlier periods are whole skeletons from mature birds that were intentionally buried, the study stated. Episodes of ritual sacrifice of intact adults and juvenile turkeys have also been reported.

That fact pattern led Lipe to believe that the feathers used for the blankets were taken from living birds.

In our article, we emphasize that the pre-molt loss of connections to the blood supply and nerves does make it possible for mature feathers to be (gently) collected from live birds without freaking them out, and we think that this was primarily how feathers would have been collected for use in making blankets, Lipe said in an email.

This is the same process used to ethically harvest goose down.

By the time Columbus came to the Americas in 1492, it is estimated there were 10 million wild and domestic birds on the continent. Historians dont know who brought the first turkeys to Europe, but the birds proved popular, both as ornamentation and sustenance.

Meanwhile, the ancient domesticated turkey in the Southwest, known as the Pueblo domesticated turkey or M. gallopavo ssp., likely fell victim to European violence. As Indigenous peoples succumbed to disease, slavery and the sword, their turkeys went extinct, as did Indigenous technologies and traditions.

The reliance on turkeys ceremonially and for attire was replaced by the use of European livestock, namely chickens and sheep. By 1920, turkeys were gone from 18 of the 39 states in which theyd originally lived. At their lowest, turkey numbers were generously estimated at 200,000, just 2% of the pre-European population. Throughout the continent, their numbers had declined by 90%, according to the National Wild Turkey Federation.

That started to change in the 1960s.

Turkeys arent native to the Spokane region, but starting in the 1960s they were introduced as part of a widespread conservation effort.

In recreating the blanket-making process, the WSU researchers received feathers from Merriam turkeys killed by hunters in Latah County, Idaho.

But what of the actual blanket-making process?

Its time intensive.

The blanket examined by Lipe and his colleagues was made by wrapping the 11,500 downy feathers around nearly 200 yards of yucca fiber cord. Freshly plucked turkey feathers are flexible. As they age, however, they harden. In all likelihood, feathers were collected, dried and then soaked before being wrapped.

Mary Weahkee, an archaeologist and anthropologist with the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, has recreated turkey-feather blankets, and consulted on the WSU study.

Its tedious, Ill tell you that, she said.

In 2018, she created a 2-by-3-foot blanket, slightly smaller than the blanket examined by Lipe. That took 18 months and 17,000 feathers from 68 turkeys. She was able to add feathers at about a foot of warp length per hour.

But the result is impressive, she said. The downy feathers trap heat and are soft to the touch. Weahkee used ground-up yucca to wash the feathers, a sort of natural shampoo. That stripped any grease or odors from the feathers. Whats more, most insects avoid yucca, which meant that even if the turkey feathers were eaten, You still had the cordage, so you didnt have to spin another 190 feet, she said.

The science behind it is fascinating.

Weahkee, who is of Comanche and Santa Clara descent, teaches these traditional technologies to Native school children in New Mexico. Research like the WSU study furthers her efforts at reviving an ancient technology.

I looked at how the ancestors were creative and patient, she told the New Mexico Wildlife magazine in 2018. Its a labor of love.

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Washington State University research sheds light on indigenous turkey technology - Sports and Weather Right Now

December 9, 2020, 3:27 PM

8 min read

SEOUL, South Korea -- Contact tracers in South Korea are working around the clock to do anything they can to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. From being on the phone all day to questioning COVID-19 patients about the places they have been to interrogating people about who they have been in contact since their first symptoms. Their work never stops.

Per one confirmed patient, contact tracers have to fact check between 10 to 20 traces and, when basic information is confirmed through a phone call, they have to follow that up in person to see if the representations that were disclosed were accurate.

It even sometimes takes replaying surveillance camera footage, speaking to witnesses and doing everything possible to collect all of the breadcrumbs a COVID-19 patient has left on the trail -- just like a detective.

South Korea has one of the most vigorous contact tracing systems in the world and authorities collect every piece of personal data possible to find any connecting link between COVID-19 patients in order to slow down the spread of the pandemic. Contact tracers will also call anyone who has been in contact with a patient and advise them to self-quarantine and get tested preemptively.

Posters on precautions against the coronavirus are displayed at a shopping street in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 9, 2020. South Korea is experiencing a resurgence of the coronavirus.

On average, from the week between Dec. 2 to Dec. 8, 584 people were confirmed with COVID-19 each day last week in South Korea.

At Gangnam Public Health center, which handles the largest number of COVID-19 tests each day in South Korea, there are four doctors -- officially called Epidemics Intelligence Service (EIS) officers -- who make the initial phone call to COVID-19 patients. They are in charge of collecting sensitive personal data such as medical hand family history.

"I collect a detailed path of movement since two days prior to the first symptom. Who they dined with, how much they paid for, who they live with at home and the workplace every detail possible," Dr. Oum Seonmee, a dentist who was temporarily designated a contact tracer by authorities in April to cope with the rise in patients, told ABC News. "'Were you wearing a mask at the time?' is the key question."

Newly infected patients are transported to Seoul Medical Center by ambulances in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 9, 2020.

It takes an entire public health center just to keep up with the vigorous contact tracing.

A total 305 government designated EIS officers often fall short of the manpower needed to keep the patients numbers in check. That is when civil servants are mobilized to take on the contact tracing role by making phone calls to contacts and going off to do field research for fact checking.

As soon as personal traces have been confirmed through a doctor's questioning, civil servants team up to do field research as contact tracers.

They verify the paths and cross check the testimony from patients and see if there's any additional people who need to be quarantined after contact -- and the penalty for not being truthful to contact tracers is heavy.

"We remind them that you could be fined up to 18,000 U.S. dollars or could be sent to prison for up to two years, under the Infectious Diseases Control and Preventions Act," Park Geon, a public nurse at Gangnam Public Health Center who has been working nonstop since the number of COVID19 patients has been on the rise, told ABC News.

Though some are unwilling to cooperate with authorities, there's little thought in South Korea that it could be an invasion of privacy.

A previously crowded shopping street is nearly empty after heightened social distancing rules were enforced amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 8, 2020.

"It was a relief to know that the government was actually tracking people," Steven Kim, a college student who received a call from the contact tracers in May, told ABC News. "[Authorities] offered me free testing even though I didn't have any symptoms and that was reassuring because there are many cases of asymptomatic patients and I could be one of them spreading the disease without noticing."

South Korean people in general take huge pride in what they achieved so far when it comes to containing the spread of COVID-19 and seem to appreciate the government's effort in heavy contact tracing. Frequently, there is a tendency to think that it was an individual's civic duty to cooperate with authorities on these matters.

"The majority of Korean people are supporting this type of very aggressive contact tracing at the potential cost or expense of privacy," Kwon Soonman, public health professor at Seoul National University, told ABC News. "There is a kind of group pressure that I should not harm my neighbor, because it's an infectious disease."

Experts agree, however, that contact tracing is only part of slowing down the pandemic and until a vaccine is accessible to everyone, contact tracing, along with masks and social distancing, will be key to protecting people from the pandemic.

ABC News' Joohee Cho, Aaron Kwon and HyunJoo Haley Yang contributed to this report.

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South Korea's contact tracing sheds light on extensive efforts to slow spread of COVID-19 - ABC News

New research sheds light on the origin and early evolution of pterosaurs flying reptiles that occupied the skies for 150 million years during the Age of Dinosaurs. In a paper published in Nature, team of scientists including Stony Brooks Alan H. Turnerintroduce strong evidence that the closest relatives of pterosaurs are a poorly known group of dinosaur precursors called lagerpetids, which lived across the ancient supercontinent Pangea during much of the Triassic Period, from ~237 to ~210 million years ago.

The origin of pterosaurs has been one of the major mysteries in vertebrate history, because close relatives have not been satisfactorily identified. The papers demonstrate that a group of dinosaur precursors, lagerpetids, are more closely related to pterosaurs than any other reptile group.

Previously known mostly from hip and hindlimb bones, newly discovered skull and forelimb remains help tie their skeletal features to those of early pterosaurs. Furthermore, new technological advances (micro Computed Tomography [CT] scanning) has allowed reconstruction of their brains and sensory systems within the skull (e.g., inner ear), revealing that they also match well to those of pterosaurs.

Pterosaurs appear in the fossil record already showing that they were fully adapted for flight, said Turner, Associate Professor in the Department of Anatomical Sciences in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University and study co-author. This means they look really different from any of the other reptile groups at the time. That makes piecing together their evolutionary origins quite difficult.

Collaborative field excavations by Dr. Turner and colleagues conducted over the last 15 years in Upper Triassic rocks exposed in Ghost Ranch, New Mexico provided key fossils for the study. One particularly important discovery was of a small dinosaur precursor, namedDromomeron.Dromomeronbelongs to a group of dinosaur precursors called Lagerpetids. Since the initial discovery, new lagerpetid bones have been discovered in North America, Brazil, Argentina, and Madagascar.

Any one of these species alone wasnt enough to solve the pterosaur puzzle, Turner said. We needed to join information from our five different research groups spread across three continents to get all the pieces of this puzzle in place.

The evolutionary relationships revealed create a new paradigm for understanding the origin of pterosaurs, providing a completely new framework for the study of the origin of these animals and their flight capabilities.

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Research Sheds Light on Origins of Ancient Pterosaurs | | SBU News - Stony Brook News