Alicia Keys filed paperwork to trademark the name Alicia Teas.

The 15-time Grammy award winning artist’s company, AK Worldwide, filed the rights to the name, according to TMZ. 

The 42-year-old singer appeared to get the idea for her own tea line after her husband Swizz Beatz, 45, gifted her a personalized tea line in 2020 for her birthday.

In a since deleted post on her Instagram in late January 2020, Alicia was gifted personalized tea bags he called ‘Alicia Teas.’

She told him at the time: ‘It means you did this very far in advance,’ according to Revolt TV. 

Swizz told her at the time: ‘Everybody in Starbucks all around the world gonna see Alicia Teas. Happy birthday baby. Love you.’

The lovebirds first met in the 1990s when she was 14 and he was 16 – they met via mutual friends but did not hit it off.

When they both found success in the music industry, the stars consistently attended the same events but Alicia was not interested, per People.

‘We ended up in the same circles at various awards shows and industry events. He’d usually pull up in some fancy car, rolling deep with his Bronx crew and shining with diamonds. I wanted nothing to do with that scene or with Swizz,’ she said in her memoir More Myself.

The duo worked on a music project together in 2008 – which led to Alicia getting to know Swizz as a person.

‘The more we talked the more I noticed how his mind worked. Beyond the baggy jeans and arm tats there was depth. He was so aware of what was happening around the world,’ she wrote.

The couple began dating fall 2008; Two years later, in May 2010 – they announced their engagement and that they were expecting their first child together. 

They wed July 31, 2010 and welcomed their first child together on October 14, 2010: Eqypt Daoud Dean, now aged 12.

Their second son Genesis Ali Dean, born December 27, 2014, now aged eight. 

Swizz, born Kasseem Daoud Dean, has three children from previous relationships: son Prince Nasir, 22, with ex-partner Nicole Levy; son Kasseem Dean Jr, 16, with his ex-wife Mashonda Tifrere; and daughter Nicole, 15, with singer Jahna Sebastian.

Alicia is also the founder of the skin and makeup brand Keys Soulcare; she created the brand alongside dermatologist Dr. Renee Snyder.

The brand is vegan, cruelty free, and fair trade certified. 

Keys Soulcare also features candles.

Alicia began her professional music career at age 15 – when she was signed by Columbia Records.

The New York native discovered her passion for piano at age six, and started classical piano training the following year.

At age 10, a neighbor who moved gave her their old piano, allowing her to practice for hours at a time.

After she was signed to Columbia Records at age 15 – before negotiating out of her record deal to Arista Records in 1998 due to not wanting to be put it ‘their box’ of who she should be as an artist.

Clive Davis – who was at Arista Records – began his own record label called J Records and signed her to that.

She performed her debut single Fallin on Oprah and it became a hit, going number on Billboard’s Hot 100.

Her debut album Songs in A Minor was released in 2001 to critical and public acclaim.

Alicia’s follow up album The Diary of Alicia Keys proved to be a hit as well; it was released in 2003. 

Her third album As I Am, was released in 2007, and her fourth he Element of Freedom in 2009.

Alicia’s fifth album Girl on Fire dropped 2012, and her latest album Here in 2016.

Glastonbury announce the date that tickets will go on sale for next year’s festival – here’s everything you need to know

By Kirsten Murray For Mailonline

Published: 15:02 EDT, 22 September 2023 | Updated: 15:03 EDT, 22 September 2023

• The Rock continued his time in Colorado with a shock return to the WWE
• Later in the show, he met back up with John Cena – who welcomed him back
• DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news 

By Jake Fenner For Dailymail.Com

Published: 20:33 EDT, 15 September 2023 | Updated: 21:20 EDT, 15 September 2023

Hugh Jackman and wife Deborra-Lee Furness have announced that they’re ending their marriage after 27 years as husband and wife, DailyMail.com can confirm.

‘We have been blessed to share almost 3 decades together as husband and wife in a wonderful, loving marriage. Our journey now is shifting and we have decided to separate to pursue our individual growth,’ the couple said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE on Friday.

‘Our family has been and always will be our highest priority. We undertake this next chapter with gratitude, love, and kindness. We greatly appreciate your understanding in respecting our privacy as our family navigates this transition in all of our lives.’

The former couple signed the statement as ‘Deb and Hugh Jackman,’ adding: ‘This is the sole statement either of us will make.’ 

The Australian couple share two children together; Oscar, 23, and Ava, 18. 

At 67, the Australian blonde is 13 years older Hugh, 54, and they’ve previously stated that they have never spent more than two weeks apart since their 1996 wedding. 

This April marked the pair’s 27th wedding anniversary and the Wolverine star posted a gushing tribute to his wife. 

‘I love you Deb. Today is our 27th wedding anniversary. 27 years! I love you so much,’ the actor gushed to his 79.1M social media followers. 

‘Together we have created a beautiful family. And life. Your laughter, your spirit, generosity, humor, cheekiness, courage, and loyalty is an incredible gift to me. I love you with all my heart.’ 

While he is undoubtedly more well known than his wife, Deborra-Lee had already shot 20 movies by the time she and Jackman met while costarring as a prison psychologist and a brain-damaged convict in ABC’s 10-episode series Correlli in 1995. 

In 2000, The Music Man thespian and Furness adopted son Oscar Maximilian, 23, in 2005, they adopted now 18-year-old daughter Ava Eliot. 

‘I think honesty and intimacy and making time [are the secret to a long and happy marriage]. You can’t just assume that things will just tick along okay. You have to make time,’ Hugh told Smooth Radio in February. 

Deborra-Lee most recently played Jill Bailey alongside Eric Bana in Robert Connolly’s sequel Force of Nature: The Dry 2, which was released in Australian and New Zealand theaters on August 24. 

Hugh has never been shy about speaking on his marriage, and praised Deborra-Lee when promoting his hit film The Greatest Showman in 2017. 

In an interview, he called Deborra-Lee his ‘best friend’ and main source of support in both his career, and personal life. 

Hugh said of his partner: ‘I’m married to the greatest woman alive. She’s amazing. We’re best friends, and we share everything. She’s smart.’

Talking about how they never spend longer than two weeks apart, he explained that it was because they wish to ‘share everything’ together. 

He continued: ‘We always said we’d never spend more than 2 weeks apart. Sometimes life and work does get crazy. 

‘But we met on my first job when she was already a big star, I was a nobody. So we have shared everything, all the ups and downs, and always will.’ 

Former Proud Boys boss Enrique Tarrio has been sentenced to 22 years in federal prison after begging a judge for mercy for commanding the Capitol siege – the longest sentence handed down over January 6.

Tarrio, 39, was the final leader of the neo-fascist group convicted of seditious conspiracy to be sentenced and faced 33 years in prison. Judge Timothy Kelly ruled that Tarrio was ‘the ultimate leader of that conspiracy,’ but still did not abide by the government’s sentence request.

During his hearing, Tarrio dropped a bombshell and admitted that Trump lost the 2020 election. ‘On November 3, 2020, something that I never expected happened – my candidate lost. I felt like something was personally stolen from me.’

The Florida-native turned to blame the right-wing media saying: ‘Every media channel that I turned to told me I was justified.’ He said that he was ‘not a political zealot’ and changing the outcome of the election was not his goal on January 6.  

The far-right propagandist wasn’t in Washington on January 6 – he was arrested two days earlier in a separate case – but he was convicted of helping put in motion and encourage the violence interrupted Congress‘ certification of Biden’s electoral victory after Donald Trump‘s electoral loss. 

Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and escorted by U.S. Marshals, the Cuban-American from Florida took the stand to ask judge Timothy Kelly for mercy, apologizing to the officers who responded during the riot and the citizens of D.C., saying he ‘blamed himself.’ 

‘Today I stand before you a different man… I wish to reorient my life’s purpose… I want to rejoin my local church and be an active part of helping others,’ Tarrio told the court. ‘I hope your honor can hear the sincerity… please show me mercy… ‘Do not take my 40s from me… God bless this entire court.’

He claimed that he had really believed the presidential election was stolen and let media coverage influence his desire to ‘protect’ right wingers from Antifa protesters.

‘I have failed as a son, as a fiancée, as a brother, as a nephew… I have been selfish,’ Tarrio said. 

Judge Kelly said of January 6: ‘That day broke our previously unbroken tradition of the peaceful transfer of power, which is truly among the most precious things that we had as Americans… that previously unbroken string is now broken. And it’s going to take time and effort to fix it.’

The judge seemed to be particularly disturbed by Tarrio’s infamously comparison of the January 6 rioters to the nation’s founding fathers.

He added: ‘[Tarrio’s] apologized here today, but I must say, comparing what Dominic Pezzola did to George Washington – the man who helped encourage the notion of a peaceful, orderly transfer of power – by relinquishing power to let someone else be chosen… it slanders the father of our country.’ 

Three fellow Proud Boys found guilty by a Washington D.C. jury of the rarely used sedition charge were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 to 18 years – less than prosecutors wanted.

Tarrio’s defense team argued during the sentencing hearing that the convicted sedition conspiracist is a ‘misguided patriot’ instead of a terrorist, and was just being a ‘Keyboard Ninja,’ saying things ‘he shouldn’t have,’ as reported by independent journalist Gonzo News.

Judge Kelly reminded Tarrio’s lawyers team that a jury did not buy that defense strategy when it decided to convict him, and ruled that Tarrio was at the top of the Proud Boy’s command structure during the riot.

Ultimately the judge ruled Tarrio’s crimes intended to coerce the conduct of government when his lieutenants brought down a barrier between police and rioters and thus qualified him for terrorism enhancement for his sentencing.

However, the judge again noted the Proud Boys’ crimes did not have the terror ‘intent’ of someone who blows up a building.

Tarrio’s aunt and godmother sent in letters pleading for leniency which were read by defense attorney Nayib Hassan.

‘Henry [Tarrio’s birth name] is not a monster like he’s made out to be,’ the letter read.

Tarrio’s mother, fiancée, and his younger sister also spoke of Tarrio’s character as they asked for leniency, saying his incarceration has greatly affected his family.

The younger sister teared up as she spoke, saying: ‘he is the glue that keeps us together… the idea of him not being around for all the milestones is hard to bear.’

The Justice Department has asked for Tarrio to spend more than three decades in prison, describing him as the ringleader of a plot to use violence to shatter the cornerstone of American democracy and overturn the election victory by Joe Biden, a Democrat, over Trump, the Republican incumbent.

Tarrio discussed ‘revolutions’ and ‘storming’ the Capitol complex prior to January 6, but was arrested upon entry into the capital on January 5, 2021 for a prior offense of burning the Black Lives Matter flag and on several weapons charges. 

The Miami native was supposed to be sentenced last week in Washington’s federal court, but his hearing was delayed because Judge Kelly got sick. 

Kelly, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, sentenced Tarrio’s co-defendants to lengthy prison terms – though far shorter than prosecutors were seeking.

Self-described Proud Boys organizer Joe Biggs sobbed as he was sentenced to 17 years on Thursday for his role in the riot after pleading for leniency to take care of his daughter and ailing mother.

Judge Kelly wasn’t having it, as he said Americans are the envy of the world and U.S. elections must be respected, telling Biggs: ‘You did play a role in riling up the crowd.

‘If you don’t like how an election is being conducted… you can speak out, call, write or meet with election officials. You can engage in peaceful protest. File a lawsuit.’

The judge ruled that Biggs qualified for a terrorism sentencing enhancement because he teared down a fence that stood between police and rioters.

Prosecutors on Tuesday asked Kelly to hand out a harsher punishment for Tarrio than his co-defendants, arguing he was the leader of the operation, and as a someone with a criminal record was a less sympathetic figure than Biggs, who’s a veteran.

‘We need to make sure the consequences are clear to anybody who might be unhappy with any future election as long as this case is remembered…this was a calculated act of terrorism,’ prosecutors said during the sentencing.

Ethan Nordean, who prosecutors said was the Proud Boys’ leader on the ground on January 6, was sentenced to 18 years in prison, tying the record for the longest sentence in the attack. 

Prosecutors had asked for 27 years for Nordean, who was a Seattle-area Proud Boys chapter president.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was found guilty of seditious conspiracy in a separate case, was sentenced in May to 18 years in prison. Prosecutors, who had sought 25 years for Rhodes, are appealing his sentence and the punishments of other members of his antigovernment militia group.

‘Tarrio has repeatedly and publicly indicated that he has no regrets about what he helped make happen on January 6,’ prosecutors wrote in court documents. 

Lawyers for the Proud Boys deny that there was any plot to attack the Capitol or stop the transfer of presidential power.

‘There is zero evidence to suggest Tarrio directed any participants to storm the U.S. Capitol building prior to or during the event,’ his attorneys wrote in court papers.

‘Participating in a plan for the Proud Boys to protest on January 6 is not the same as directing others on the ground to storm the Capitol by any means necessary.’

Police arrested Tarrio in Washington on Jan. 4, 2021, on charges that he defaced a Black Lives Matter banner during an earlier rally in the nation´s capital, but law enforcement officials later said he was arrested in part over concerns about the potential for unrest during the certification. He complied with a judge´s order to leave the city after his arrest.

On Jan. 6, dozens of Proud Boys leaders, members and associates were among the first rioters to breach the Capitol. The mob´s assault overwhelmed police, forced lawmakers to flee the House and Senate floors and disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying Biden´s victory.

The backbone of the government´s case was hundreds of messages exchanged by Proud Boys in the days leading up to Janury 6. 

As Proud Boys swarmed the Capitol, Tarrio cheered them on from afar, writing on social media: ‘Do what must be done.’ In a Proud Boys encrypted group chat later that day someone asked what they should do next. 

Tarrio responded: ‘Do it again.’

‘Make no mistake,’ Tarrio wrote in another message. ‘We did this.’

Tarrio led the neo-fascist group – known for street fights with left-wing activists – when Trump infamously told the Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by’ during his first debate with Joe Biden. 

During the month long trial, prosecutors argued that the Proud Boys viewed themselves as foot soldiers fighting for Trump as the Republican spread lies that Democrats stole the election from him.

Attorneys argued that members of the group were prepared to go to war to keep their preferred leader in power.

Defense lawyers denied there was any plot to attack the Capitol or stop Congress’ certification of Biden’s win.

The investigation has become the largest for the Justice Department in American history, and it hadn’t tried a seditious conspiracy case in over a decade.

The riots followed months of false claims by Trump and his allies that the election had been rigged against him.

A select House committee investigated the riots and in its final report accused Trump of a criminal conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The committee estimated that from the election to Jan. 6, the president and aides made hundreds of efforts to pressure officials to overturn the results.

Targets included states he lost but that had GOP-led legislatures such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona.

Trump has since been indicted for this role in the riots, with a grand jury indictment accusing him of spreading ‘lies’ and ‘sham’ investigations while stoking an ‘angry’ mob on January 6.

Special Counsel Jack Smith said in a televised public statement following the release of the indictment that the attack on the Capitol was ‘fueled by lies’ made by Trump ‘targeted at obstructing the bedrock function of the U.S. government – the nation’s process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.’ He pledged that his office will conduct a ‘speedy’ trial.

Trump is facing four counts including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and obstruct the electoral count for trying to overturn the 2020 election. The 45-page indictment says he was ‘determined to remain in power’ despite ‘having lost.’

He and his six co-conspirators ‘used knowingly false claims of election fraud’ to try to ‘subvert the legitimate election results and change electoral votes’ to take down Joe Biden, according to the indictment.

He has plead not guilty.

Cryptocurrency boss is jailed for 11,196 years in Turkey after defrauding investors of millions of dollars – after prosecutors called for a 40,562-year sentence

•  Faruk Faith Ozer, 29, founder of Thodex, was found guilty of money laundering, fraud, and organised crime

By Shivalika Puri

Published: 12:12 EDT, 8 September 2023 | Updated: 21:17 EDT, 8 September 2023

Giles Broadbent – the husband of former Blue Peter star Diane-Louise Jordan – has passed away aged 51 following a short illness.

Giles, who was part of the Stringfever quartet and played the violin, had been ‘unwell’ in the months prior to his death, it was confirmed on Thursday.

The statement, released by his band, said: ‘Although Giles had not been well recently, we as a family are still in shock at his passing. The band will be taking a break whilst we make funeral arrangements.’

Diane-Louise, 63, and Giles had been married for 16 years after tying the knot in 2007. They have a daughter, Justine, previously Diane-Louise’s niece, but whom she adopted when her sister died unexpectedly.

Former Songs of Praise presenter Diane has previously gushed over her ‘magnificent’ husband who she called a ‘genius violinist’.

On the band’s website, Giles described himself as ‘young at heart’ and revealed his love for the ‘buzz of performing live shows’.

Speaking to Sheer Luxe last year, she said: ‘We share similar values, even though we’re quite different people – I’m much more of an introvert and Giles loves the house to be busy and full of people. 

‘He’s also a musician, so he’s very expressive too.’

The couple, who met in 2006, enjoyed a whirlwind romance before marrying just a year later.

During his career, Giles led some major orchestras for some much-loved West End shows including Phantom Of The Opera and My Fair Lady.

He formed his band in 2003 alongside his brothers Ralph and Neal, and cousin Graham.

The quartet previously went viral when they uploaded a video playing their version of Ravel’s Bolero, where all four players play on one cello at the same time.

Their music is a mix of classical, film soundtracks and rock’n’roll hits and have proved a huge success worldwide, touring across India and China.

Diane, who is best known for being Blue Peter’s first black presenter in 1990, was a favourite among viewers and shared a close bond with co-star Anthea Turner.

Speaking to the The Sun last year, she said: ‘I was definitely told it was a big thing for me to become the first black presenter. There’ll be media interest and there may be members of the public that aren’t happy about this. At that time Blue Peter was a bit of an institution. It was the nation’s favourite children’s programme. There was a lot that rested on that decision.

‘For any Blue Peter presenter you’re more than a presenter, you’re an ambassador really, and so to be the first black presenter I definitely knew getting that job was much more than representing myself. I knew the spotlight was on me and if I got it wrong that might reflect in a negative way on others like me.

‘When I started the job I was told to prepare for a few dissenting voices, and as expected there were letters that very vocally expressed how much they disliked someone like me, but within not too long a period of time the viewers got to know me, and when you get to know somebody the fear about who you assumed them to be, on the whole, tends to dissipate.’

It was around this time that Diane became a guardian to her niece Justin, following the sudden death of her sister Jay after she contracted a virus. 

In the 1992 blockbuster, Encino Man, two high school students discover a frozen caveman in their garden, before thawing him out and introducing him to modern life.

Now, the bizarre plot has become a reality – with a 46,000-year-old frozen worm. 

In a landmark study published last month, experts managed to ‘resurrect’ a group of long extinct roundworms after thawing the ice that had imprisoned them since the era of woolly mammoths.

While these worms underwent a state of hibernation impossible for humans, their revival raises a scary prospect: will we soon have an ‘Encino Man’ of our own? 

With hundreds of corpses frozen in labs around the world, one cryonics expert believes it may just be 50 years before technology enables them to walk among us once again. 

Valeriya Udalova is the CEO of KrioRus, which claims to host 94 frozen corpses at its cryopreservation base in Russia’s capital. 

Most of the bodies are those of Russian nationals, though almost a third have come from various countries across the world including Britain, France and the US.

While many opt to freeze their entire body for $46,000 (£36,273), others have chosen to preserve just their brain or head at a cheaper deal of $11,000 (£8,674). 

These have sat within the lab’s giant chambers since the early 2000’s, as scientists await technological advances that will one day resurrect them – just like the roundworms. 

Last month’s research revealed that the long-extinct Panagrolaimus kolymaensis underwent a dormant state known as ‘anabiosis’ in which the body shuts down until bodily processes are completely undetectable. 

This characteristic enabled the ancient worms to survive winter after winter in the midst of harsh Siberian temperatures.

But unlike these prehistoric wrigglers, humans cannot undergo the hibernation-like state – presenting a major challenge for cryonicists. 

‘Many animals can go into anabiosis, some can freeze and thaw. For example, worms, frogs, Siberian anglerfish,’ Ms Udalova told MailOnline.

‘But humans are not like that. Frogs, for example, have a lot of glycerol in their bodies and we don’t. 

‘I don’t think that human metabolism can be radically restructured so that we also go into anabiosis like animals. It’s probably easier to create new, artificial bodies.’

The cryptoreservation of humans takes a completely different approach as a result of these stark differences. 

At KrioRus, a surgical procedure is first performed to drain a human of blood before their body is connected to a new circulatory system pumped with ‘cryoprotectant solutions’. 

Generally, these refer to anti-freeze chemicals like ethylene glycol which are often used to protect intact cells and tissues in other areas of scientific research.

Meanwhile, bodies are cooled to an eventual peak of -196°C (-321°F) and will remain in chambers until new technology arises.

But this is far from simple, as the very chemicals used to preserve these bodies can also be toxic with prolonged exposure. 

The eventual cooling of frozen organs can also result in life-threatening fractures if melt rates are not consistent across the body.

Huge advancements in tissue engineering and medicine would be required to resurrect frozen bodies as a result, which many believe is a distant reality and even a ‘false hope’.

But Ms Udalova boldly claims that technology such as this could arise within the next 50 to 70 years despite the chronic underfunding of cryonics.

She doesn’t deny that cavemen could even be encompassed in this, following the discovery of Ötzi the iceman in the Italian Alps during 1991. 

‘Rapid development of cryobiology of large objects – organs and animals – is hindered by extremely low funding of this branch of science,’ she continued. 

‘Cryobiological laboratories are few, there are no large ones at all. Even the famous laboratory “XXI Century Medicine” is a small organization.

‘But even in such a deplorable situation, remarkable experiments have already been made, for example, on reversible cryopreservation of a rat kidney using gas persufflation with nanoparticles and induction heating.’ 

Meanwhile, Dennis Kowalski, President of the US-based Cyronics Institute believes it may be ‘100s of years’ before frozen humans are resurrected.

His cryopreservation base in Michigan hosts 243 patients and nearly the same amount of pets, with 2,000 others signed up to be involved.

‘We suspect that advancements in Stem cell tissue regeneration, AI, Genetics, and nanorobotics will all push the boundaries of what is very hard to do today into the routine of the future,’ he told MailOnline. 

‘We see evidence of this all the time but take these advancements for granted. CPR with defibrillation and organ transplant were once considered impossible or even shunned but today these technologies routinely save lives.

‘It is the bridge of time or an ambulance ride to a future hospital that may likely exist. 

‘It may take 100s of years but with our process and endowment funding we have the time to wait and see what is possible.’

Pat Bennett, 68, once rode horses as an equestrian, jogged daily and worked in human resources, until a rare illness robbed her of her ability to speak in 2012.

But help is on the way thanks to four baby-aspirin-sized sensors implanted in her brain, part of a clinical trial at Stanford University.

The chips have helped Bennett communicate her thoughts directly from her mind to a computer monitor at a record-breaking 62 words per minute — over three times faster than the technology’s previous best.

Cognitive scientists and medical researchers outside Stanford are impressed as well.

One, Professor Philip Sabes at the University of California, San Francisco, who studies brain-machine interfaces and co-founded Elon Musk’s Neuralink, described the new study as a ‘big breakthrough.’

‘The performance in this paper is already at a level which many people who cannot speak would want, if the device were ready,’ Sabes told MIT Technology Review earlier this year, as the new Stanford research was still clearing peer review.  

‘People are going to want this,’ Sabes said.

The news comes just a few months after the FDA granted approval to Musk’s Neuralink, permitting the company to initiate human trials for its own competing brain-chip implant technology.

The Stanford results also follow efforts by the United Nations’ agency for science and culture (UNESCO) to develop proposals for how to regulate brain chip technology, which they worry could be abused for ‘neurosurveillance’ or even ‘forced re-education,’ threatening human rights worldwide.

For Bennett, however, this emerging research has been closer to miraculous than dystopian.

Since 2012, Bennett has struggled with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the same disease that took the life of Sandra Bullock’s partner Bryan Randall earlier this summer and famed physicist Stephen Hawking in 2018.  

Over the course of 26 sessions, each lasting about four hours, Bennett worked with an artificial-intelligence algorithm, helping to train the AI in how to identify which brain activity corresponds to 39 key phonemes, or sounds, used in spoken English.

Via the brain-sensor tech, which the Stanford researchers call an intracortical brain-computer interface (iBCI), Bennett would attempt to effectively communicate approximately 260 to 480 sentences per training session to the AI. 

The sentences were selected randomly from a large data set, SWITCHBOARD, sourced from a collection of telephone conversations collected by calculator-maker Texas Instruments for language research back in the 1990s.

The casual sentences included examples like, ‘I left right in the middle of it,’ and ‘It’s only been that way in the last five years.’

During sessions where the sentence options were held down to a 50-word vocabulary, Bennett and the Stanford team working with her were able to get the AI translator’s error rate down to 9.1 percent. 

When the vocabulary limit was expanded to 125,000 words, closer to the total number of English words in common use, the iCBI’s intended-speech AI had an uptick in its translation errors. The rate rose to 23.8 percent.  

While that error-rate leaves something to be desired, the researchers believed improvements could continue with more training and a wider interface, more implants in other words, interacting between the brain and the iBCI’s AI.

Already, the algorithm’s speed decoding thoughts to speech has bested all previous models three times over.  

The Stanford group’s iBCI was able to move at 62 words per minute, 3.4 times faster than the prior record-holder, and closer than ever to the natural rate of human conversation, 160 words per minute.

‘We’ve shown you can decode intended speech by recording activity from a very small area on the brain’s surface,’ according to Dr. Jaimie Henderson, the surgeon who performed the delicate installation of the iBCI electrodes onto the surface of Bennett’s brain.

Bennett, herself, personally testified to her own experience with the breakthrough results, writing via email that, ‘These initial results have proven the concept, and eventually technology will catch up to make it easily accessible to people who cannot speak.’ 

‘For those who are nonverbal, this means they can stay connected to the bigger world,’ Bennett wrote in an email supplied by Stanford, ‘perhaps continue to work, maintain friends and family relationships.’

Bennett had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative disease, over a decade ago.

ALS attacks the neurons in the body’s central nervous system that control movement, but Bennett’s own experience with the ailment was a particularly rare variety of the disease.

‘When you think of ALS, you think of arm and leg impact,’ Bennett said. ‘But in a group of ALS patients, it begins with speech difficulties. I am unable to speak.’

Dr. Henderson and his co-authors published the results of their work with Bennett in Nature this Wednesday.

Chris Evans has revealed he’s been diagnosed with skin cancer – eight years after being given the all-clear.

The broadcasting giant, 57, announced on his Virgin Radio show on Monday that doctors gave him the terrifying news recently after his masseuse Dee urged him to have a freckle she had noticed checked out.

Chris told listeners that it was thankfully found in the extremely early stages, doctors have said it is at ‘stage zero’ and it is ‘as treatable as cancer can possibly be’. He will undergo treatment next month.

The star, who became a huge household name in the 90s and 00s due to his popular TV shows, TFI Friday, Big Breakfast and his hellraising lifestyle, had a skin cancer scare back in 2020.

He was tested for the disease after discovering concerning marks on his body before Christmas. Prior to that, he was given the ‘all clear’ after prostate cancer scare in 2015.

He told listeners: ‘I’ve just got to talk briefly about… you know my biopsy for the skin cancer issue. So, the best news that I got whilst I was away, was that it was a positive test. So I have tested positive for skin cancer.

‘Obviously better news would have been that it would have been negative. But the reason it’s great news is that they’ve caught it as early as possible.

‘This has only happened because Dee, this angel sent from heaven, who gives me this massage every Friday, saw this freckle on my shin and said, “do me a favour Chris, go and get that checked out”.’

‘I didn’t and then the next week, she said: “Have you been to see anyone because you just need to go. It’s probably nothing but you need to go. That doesn’t look like a normal freckle to me”.’

He continued: ‘Anyway, I went and got it tested. I ended up having an operation. So whilst we were away, the email came through and the email was “can you please call because we need to discuss your results as opposed to just all-clear”. So I was sort of ready for something.

‘But because they caught it so early, it is as treatable as cancer can possibly be, to the extent that they caught it stage zero.’

Chris also said: ‘ It is a melanoma.There’s this phrase called a malignant melanoma – you know once you get something and you find out all about it – that is a redundant phrase because if it is a melanoma it is malignant.

‘But it’s been caught so early, just so you know, that it should be completely treatable. [Treatment] will happen on the 14th of September.’

The running enthusiast jokingly added: ‘I can’t run for a month afterwards so I’m going to do nothing but run until then. Is that ok?’

There are three types of skin cancer: melanoma, basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma. While melanoma only makes up one percent of cases, it causes a vast majority of deaths.

If caught early, the cancer is relatively harmless and can quickly be removed. 

Chris previously had a skin cancer scare and was tested for the disease after discovering concerning marks on his body before Christmas. 

At the time, he said ‘I went and had a few marks on my body inspected by a skin expert before Christmas and she said, ‘You need to come and see me again, just because of your complexion’.’

He added that an expert told him he had ‘nothing to worry about’ but said she advised him to get checked once a year.

The presenter went on to say: ‘I’ve got a particularly big freckle on the back of my hand at the moment.’

In summer 2015, Chris received the all-clear over a recent health scare.

The radio host admitted earlier this year that he was having tests for prostate cancer but results revealed that the star is in good health.

A source to the Sunday Mirror: ‘Chris is fit as a fiddle and his problems are behind him’.

Chris told his Breakfast show at the time: ‘Thank you once again to Kenney Jones, of The Who who was diagnosed with prostate cancer a couple of years ago and since recovery has been a fundraiser and supporter of Prostate Cancer UK.

‘Prostate cancer, and colon cancer of course, are one of the most survivable forms of cancer there is, if caught early enough. It not, one of the least. It’s a fine line between life and death, happiness and tragedy.

‘And I’ve got to say I’m in the middle of a prostate issue right now! I couldn’t stop. I have not been able to stop since Christmas – peeing – or wanting to go. So I’ve gone to the doctor.

‘I’ve done all the internet stuff that you shouldn’t do, I’ve gone on the internet, scared myself half to death, then gone to see the doctor. And we really should do it the other way round. However I’m in the middle of the tests.’

Chris continued: ‘I’ve completely changed my tune on this over the last couple of years. So there you go. If you are worried about anything just go and sort yourself out – if not for you, for your family.’

In 2011, Chris opened up about undergoing his first colonoscopy examination because of the history of cancer in his family.

Chris’ father died of colorectal cancer and his mother was a breast cancer survivor. 

He told the Daily Mail: ‘I went for this routine check and they found some nasties up there, and they removed them.

‘They were pre-cancerous, not malignant – at least we don’t think so; they’ve been sent for a biopsy.

‘The doctor said the only thing I could have done wrong was not come to see him.’

Chris shares three sons and one daughter with the professional golfer and part-time model Natasha, 38.

The DJ also has a daughter Jade, 34, with his former fiancée Alison Ward. 

They met back in 2005 and tied the knot in 2007 after becoming golf partners at the All Star Cup celebrity tournament in Newport, Wales.

The broadcaster was previously married to pop princess turned acclaimed actress Billie Piper, 39, from May 2001 to September 2007. 

Billie famously married  after dating for six months, aged just 18, with the 16-year age gap between the pair sparking controversy. 

Billie met Top Gear host Chris when she appeared on his TV show TFI Friday in 2000, the next day, he sent a £110,000 Ferrari filled with roses to her home (she couldn’t drive at the time). 

The duo married in a secret Las Vegas ceremony at the Little Church of the West for which she wore flips flops and a sarong, with the groom in an open-necked shirt.

The wedding was attended by just six guests, with their parents not being invited to the impulsive event.

An 18-month sabbatical followed as the couple travelled the world, before settling at Chris’ country estate in Hascombe, Surrey. 

The couple split three years later in 2004 and the divorce was finalised in 2007, they remained on good terms with Billie likening the marriage ‘to being in your university years’. 

She did not request a single penny of his estimated £30million fortune, and although citing irreconcilable differences on their divorce papers, they remained close afterwards. 

Billie previously recalled how she got ‘completely hammered for three years’ with her ex-husband when she was feeling burnt out from her teen pop career.

Speaking on David Tennant Does A Podcast With… in 2020, Billie said she had an ‘amazing time’ with Chris and described the relationship as ‘very loving.’

In another interview, she described the booze-fuelled marriage as being drunk ‘for five years with an old man’.

Chris first rose to fame as the presenter of Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush, which he fronted for one year on Channel 4 from 1994.

The game show was made by his own production company Ginger Media Group.

He currently hosts the Weekday Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio after returning to the station in January 2019 following a stint at BBC Radio 2.

Zoe Ball was named as successor in the Radio 2 breakfast slot, and began her new role a week before Evans on January 14 that year. 

Chris previously hosted the breakfast show on Virgin Radio between 1997 and 2001. 

In July 2016 he quit Top Gear after one series. The show failed to take off after Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May left for Amazon. 

Viewing figures slumped to just 2.4million viewers, down from 4.3million under the previous presenters. 

Chris defended the show’s performance, calling the new Top Gear ‘a hit’, but still left saying he had given it ‘my best shot, but sometimes that’s not enough’.

He added: ‘I feel like my standing aside is the single best thing I can now do to help the cause.’

In May that year, he took a short break after the death of his beloved mother Minnie aged 92 minutes before he was due on air.

He said: ‘The reason I’m not with you today is just before we came on air my mum passed away and I needed to go straight back home to be with the family.

‘Mum needed to be at peace. She was an incredible woman. Anyone who’s ever met her will tell you that and ultimately there was no battle lost, only a life won. Every single day’.

In 1995, Evans landed one of the most sought-after jobs in the industry, the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show. 

But the broadcaster went off the rails amid heavy drinking and resigned live on air in 1997, after Radio 1 refused to meet his demands to work a four-day week. 

He returned to the airwaves as the host of Virgin Radio’s breakfast show – and his production company Ginger Media Group also snapped up the station for £85 million.

The DJ hosted the show from 1997 to 2001, when he was sacked for ‘breach of contract’.

The star, seen out drinking with teenage girlfriend and later wife Billie, had failed to turn up for a week of breakfast shows.

‘I was an idiot – there’s no point sugar coating it,’ he later said.

He continued to front TFI Friday, but by 2000 the show – once pioneering and cutting edge – had lost its way and viewers deserted it.

Evans made a comeback on Radio 2 in 2005 as presenter of the Saturday afternoon show, before moving to the drivetime slot.

Evans worked his way up from a series of odd jobs – including working as a strip-o-gram – to presenting a show on Manchester’s Piccadilly Radio, where Timmy Mallett was his boss.