Latest news with #SimonTownsend
Daily Mail
29-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Labour is offering 'no positive support whatsoever', says brewer Adnams amid mounting debt pile fears
Struggling brewer Adnams has said that hospitality firms are 'receiving no positive support whatsoever from the Government' as its debt pile remains 'unsustainable'. Simon Townsend, the interim chair of the Ghost Ship maker, said that hospitality businesses were 'facing a number of headwinds' this year, including 'questionable economic growth', increases in employment costs and 'unreliable consumer confidence'. At her first Budget last October, Chancellor Rachel Reeves whacked the sector with increases in employers' National Insurance Contributions and the national minimum wage, as well as a package of tax hikes. 'Businesses such as Adnams are receiving no positive support whatsoever from the Government, despite our role as an important employer at the heart of the communities which we serve,' Townsend said, adding that the group was currently pursuing a 'self-help story'. Pub operators and brewers have called on the Government to help them through offering a VAT cut on food and drinks sold in hospitality, as well as by reforming the business rates system, which they say would level the playing field with online giants. But their calls have fallen on deaf ears amid warnings of job losses and venue closures following the Chancellor's tax-hiking Budget. Cost pressures have added to Adnams' woes as it said its indebtedness was 'unsustainable', even as its debt pile fell from £15.9million to £15.3million over the year. It will start selling assets to slash borrowings, it said, after reportedly deciding against a sale of its business last year. It narrowed losses to £2.7million over the year to December 31, compared to £4million the year before. And bosses hailed signs of a turnaround, as sales rose 3 per cent to £68.1million. But it said that the sales of products in shops, including Southwold Bitter and Double Ghost pale ale, fell as 'trading conditions on the High Street remained challenging'. The beleaguered business replaced former boss Andy Wood with Jenny Hanlon last year, the first female chief executive in the 150-year-old firm's history. The brewer hopes to boost its fortunes by focusing on maximising the sales of its best-known Ghost Ship and Southwold Bitter drinks.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Hoots and grunts from bonobos show signs of complex communication, researchers say
The peeps, hoots and grunts of wild bonobos, a species of great ape living in the African rainforest, can convey complex thoughts in a way that mirrors some elements of human language, a new study suggests. The study says bonobos — humanity's closest living genetic relative — can combine several types of calls to construct phrases in which one vocalization modifies the meaning of another. This is the first time such behavior has been documented clearly in an animal, the researchers behind the study said. The research, published Thursday in the journal Science, challenges the prevailing thought that humans are the only species with that ability, which is called nontrivial compositionality and is considered a fundamental building block of human language. 'We would never say that bonobos have language because language is specific to humans. It's our very special communication system,' said Simon Townsend, a professor at the University of Zurich who studies cognition and is an author of the study. But, 'we're showing that features of language seem to be present in the communication system of bonobos.' Outside experts said the work was convincing. And because humans and bonobos share a common ancestor, the work could help explain how humans developed their ability to use language in the distant past. 'This is a terrifically novel and creative study,' said Robert Seyfarth, a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, who studied primates and cognition and was not involved in this study. 'The evolutionary origins of language are kind of like the evolutionary origins of bipedalism, walking on hind feet. It doesn't occur overnight. It occurs gradually and there are intermediate stages along the way. How do you get started and get on this evolutionary trajectory? This begins to help us be more precise in deciding the answers to these questions.' It's possible that other animals, like chimpanzees, could also have the ability to form phrases where words modify each other's meaning. 'It could be that bonobos are exceeding chimpanzees in that capacity. It could be that they're doing the same. It could be that many other species are doing this,' Townsend said. 'Now, we've got the method to really test this.' It took months of slogging through the rainforest and chasing after wild bonobos with microphones to pave the way for this discovery. The study's lead author, Mélissa Berthet, of the University of Zurich, spent about six months in the Democratic Republic of Congo following three groups of wild bonobos with colleagues at the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve. Berthet and her colleagues took detailed notes about what was going on as the bonobos were making their vocalizations, recording about 400 hours of audio. 'I would have a list of about 300-something contextual parameters that I would use,' Berthet explained. 'Was my caller feeding? Was it resting? Was it grooming?' Bonobos have complicated, matriarchal social structures with lots of movement and activity, so Berthet took careful notes about group dynamics. The researchers ultimately mapped more than 700 vocal calls, including combinations, and the circumstances of these vocalizations' use. Then, they mapped the relationships between all the data points and found at least four instances in which the bonobos were combining different calls to create new meanings. The researchers don't have a precise understanding of what each bonobo call is intended to communicate, but they were able to make some assumptions about their purpose based on the context. The researchers said some calls meant things like 'I'm feeding,' 'Let's build a nest' or 'Let's keep traveling.' The size of the groups often change as bonobos come and go. 'They mostly talk about things to coordinate the group,' Berthet said. 'Just like humans, you know, they're in the family, then they go to work, then they go with friends, then again with family and so on. They really need complex communication to coordinate that. And so it's not surprising that most of the communication is about coordination, because this is actually a very important part of their social life.' Bonobos and chimpanzees are the closest genetic relatives to humans. The research suggests that the last common ancestor of these species — which likely roamed the Earth between 7 million and 13 million years ago — could have had the capacity to communicate with the same fundamental building blocks of language bonobos are displaying. The researchers behind this study said bonobos are almost akin to a time machine into humanity's past. And this research raises questions about what happened so long ago that pushed ancient humans to evolve and develop a more complex form of verbal communication. 'If bonobos and chimpanzees, in their natural communication systems, have a lot of these building blocks, it can help us understand what is that tipping point where humans jumped off into a language that is far more complex,' said Sara Skiba, a research scientist and director of communications for the Ape Initiative, a bonobo research facility in Des Moines, Iowa. Skiba was not involved in the new study. Bonobos are difficult to study in the wild. They live in fragmented habitat in Congo, which has experienced human conflict in recent years. The species is endangered and its population is likely less than 20,000, said Martin Surbeck, an assistant professor in the department of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and an author of the study. 'Bonobos really have this unique opportunity to hold kind of a mirror to humankind,' Surbeck said. 'I think they offer a unique opportunity, right, for us to really understand ourselves in ways that wouldn't be possible without them, and I think losing them, I think we lose a lot of, a part of our heritage to a certain degree.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
03-04-2025
- Science
- NBC News
Hoots and grunts from bonobos show signs of complex communication, researchers say
The peeps, hoots and grunts of wild bonobos, a species of great ape living in the African rainforest, can convey complex thoughts in a way that mirrors some elements of human language, a new study suggests. The study says bonobos — humanity's closest living genetic relative — can combine several types of calls to construct phrases in which one vocalization modifies the meaning of another. This is the first time such behavior has been documented clearly in an animal, the researchers behind the study said. The research, published Thursday in the journal Science, challenges the prevailing thought that humans are the only species with that ability, which is called nontrivial compositionality and is considered a fundamental building block of human language. 'We would never say that bonobos have language because language is specific to humans. It's our very special communication system,' said Simon Townsend, a professor at the University of Zurich who studies cognition and is an author of the study. But, 'we're showing that features of language seem to be present in the communication system of bonobos.' Outside experts said the work was convincing. And because humans and bonobos share a common ancestor, the work could help explain how humans developed their ability to use language in the distant past. 'This is a terrifically novel and creative study,' said Robert Seyfarth, a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, who studied primates and cognition and was not involved in this study. 'The evolutionary origins of language are kind of like the evolutionary origins of bipedalism, walking on hind feet. It doesn't occur overnight. It occurs gradually and there are intermediate stages along the way. How do you get started and get on this evolutionary trajectory? This begins to help us be more precise in deciding the answers to these questions.' It's possible that other animals, like chimpanzees, could also have the ability to form phrases where words modify each other's meaning. 'It could be that bonobos are exceeding chimpanzees in that capacity. It could be that they're doing the same. It could be that many other species are doing this,' Townsend said. 'Now, we've got the method to really test this.' Eavesdropping It took months of slogging through the rainforest and chasing after wild bonobos with microphones to pave the way for this discovery. The study's lead author, Mélissa Berthet, of the University of Zurich, spent about six months in the Democratic Republic of Congo following three groups of wild bonobos with colleagues at the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve. Berthet and her colleagues took detailed notes about what was going on as the bonobos were making their vocalizations, recording about 400 hours of audio. 'I would have a list of about 300-something contextual parameters that I would use,' Berthet explained. 'Was my caller feeding? Was it resting? Was it grooming?' Bonobos have complicated, matriarchal social structures with lots of movement and activity, so Berthet took careful notes about group dynamics. The researchers ultimately mapped more than 700 vocal calls, including combinations, and the circumstances of these vocalizations' use. Then, they mapped the relationships between all the data points and found at least four instances in which the bonobos were combining different calls to create new meanings. The researchers don't have a precise understanding of what each bonobo call is intended to communicate, but they were able to make some assumptions about their purpose based on the context. The researchers said some calls meant things like 'I'm feeding,' 'Let's build a nest' or 'Let's keep traveling.' The size of the groups often change as bonobos come and go. 'They mostly talk about things to coordinate the group,' Berthet said. 'Just like humans, you know, they're in the family, then they go to work, then they go with friends, then again with family and so on. They really need complex communication to coordinate that. And so it's not surprising that most of the communication is about coordination, because this is actually a very important part of their social life.' Origins of language Bonobos and chimpanzees are the closest genetic relatives to humans. The research suggests that the last common ancestor of these species — which likely roamed the Earth between 7 million and 13 million years ago — could have had the capacity to communicate with the same fundamental building blocks of language bonobos are displaying. The researchers behind this study said bonobos are almost akin to a time machine into humanity's past. And this research raises questions about what happened so long ago that pushed ancient humans to evolve and develop a more complex form of verbal communication. 'If bonobos and chimpanzees, in their natural communication systems, have a lot of these building blocks, it can help us understand what is that tipping point where humans jumped off into a language that is far more complex,' said Sara Skiba, a research scientist and director of communications for the Ape Initiative, a bonobo research facility in Des Moines, Iowa. Skiba was not involved in the new study. Bonobos are difficult to study in the wild. They live in fragmented habitat in Congo, which has experienced human conflict in recent years. The species is endangered and its population is likely less than 20,000, said Martin Surbeck, an assistant professor in the department of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and an author of the study. 'Bonobos really have this unique opportunity to hold kind of a mirror to humankind,' Surbeck said. 'I think they offer a unique opportunity, right, for us to really understand ourselves in ways that wouldn't be possible without them, and I think losing them, I think we lose a lot of, a part of our heritage to a certain degree.'
Associated Press
12-03-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Redefining Sustainability in the Digital Workplace: ControlUp and Px3® Partner to Deliver Real-Time Carbon Footprint Tracking for Employee Devices
SAN FRANCISCO, March 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In a step forward for workplace sustainability, ControlUp, a global leader in Digital Employee Experience (DEX) management, has announced an exclusive partnership with Px 3 ®, a world leader in sustainable ICT research and consulting. This collaboration introduces automated, real-time carbon footprint tracking for workplace IT, enabling organizations to measure, report, and proactively reduce the environmental impact of their end-user computing devices. Together, the companies will automate the data collection and production of real-time reports that show the carbon footprint of key devices, including desktops, laptops and displays. The joint integration will allow organizations to report on both Scope 2, GHG emissions based on location-specific electricity usage and utility consumption, and Scope 3 emissions derived from product supply chain data including e-waste information. Growing pressure to meet global sustainability frameworks, including the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), is driving demand for automated carbon footprint reporting. According to the 2024 Gartner® report The Impact of CSRD on Enterprise Sustainability Strategies estimates[1] 'that 50,000 companies within the EU will have to comply with the CSRD by 2028, compared with the 11,700 companies covered by the current rules.' ControlUp's platform integration with Px3 addresses this need by integrating ControlUp ONE DEX platforms real-time endpoint device data (manufacturer, location, usage) with Px3's carbon footprint reporting platform. This enables companies to automate carbon footprint reports across their endpoint estate without additional licensing cost. 'Px3 is a global expert in sustainable ICT strategy modeling and greenhouse gas emissions accounting which has been proven to help organizations reduce their carbon footprint by over 30%,' said Simon Townsend, Senior Vice President of Marketing, ControlUp. 'This partnership will help ControlUp customers automate the calculation of their carbon footprint, e-waste, and energy consumption to simplify the acceleration of their sustainability goals.' 'By integrating with the Px3 sustainability platform, ControlUp has taken a significant step toward empowering organizations to lower their CO2e emissions for a more sustainable future,' said Dr. Justin Sutton-Parker, Px3 founder and research fellow with the University of Warwick. 'This partnership not only supports global sustainability efforts but also empowers organizations to proactively manage their environmental impact through advanced data-driven insights.' Device information collected by the ControlUp ONE platform will be automatically integrated with the Px3 platform to automate the production of carbon footprint reports. The generated reports are available in real-time as part of the ControlUp ONE license. For more information, visit this webpage or start a 21-day free trial. About Px3 Px3 is a world leader in global ICT carbon footprint applications, research and sustainable ICT consulting. Founded by Dr. Justin Sutton-Parker in 2013, Px3 is focused on reducing the world's ICT greenhouse gas emissions to drive meaningful climate action. For more information visit About ControlUp ControlUp eliminates digital workplace friction for both IT teams and employees, fostering a productive, high-performing work environment. By enhancing the digital experience across any environment with actionable, AI-driven insights and proactive remediation tools, ControlUp's scalable Digital Employee Experience (DEX) platform reduces the cost and complexity of workspace management while boosting efficiency and delivering measurable ROI across the organization. Nearly 2,000 customers worldwide, including more than one-third of the Fortune 100, trust ControlUp. Learn more at Press Contacts: [1] Gartner, The Impact of SCRD on Enterprise Sustainability Strategies, March 2024, Shanna Garfield, Lillian Oyen-Ustad, Melanie O'Brien, Janel Everly. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
