At the Pentagon, OpenAI is In and Anthropic Is Out
It’s been a crazy 48 hours in the A.I. industry.
Science/Tech
Duolingo Grows, But Users Disliked Increased Ads and Subscription Pushes. Stock Plummets Again
Friday was “a horrible day” for investors in Duolingo, reports Fast Company. But Friday’s one-day 14% drop is just part of a longer story. Since last May, Duolingo’s stock has dropped 81%. Yes, the company faced a social media backlash that month after its CEO promised they’d become an “AI-first” company (favoring AI over human contractors). And yes, Duolingo did double its language offerings...
New ‘Star Wars’ Movies Are Coming to Theatres. But Will Audiences?
“The drought of upcoming Star Wars movies is coming to an end soon,” writes Cinemablend. In May the The Mandalorian and Grogu opens, and one year later there’s the release of the Ryan Gosling-led Star Wars: Starfighter. But “there are some insiders who already believe that Starfighter will be a bigger hit than The Mandalorian and Grogu…”According to unnamed sources who spoke with Variety,...
US Threatens Anthropic with ‘Supply-Chain Risk’ Designation. OpenAI Signs New War Department Deal
It started Friday when all U.S. federal agencies were ordered to “immediately cease” using Anthropic’s AI technology after contract negotiations stalled when Anthropic requested prohibitions against mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. But later Friday there were even more repercussions… In a post to his 1.1 million followers on X.com, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth...
Antarctica’s Massive Neutrino Observatory Gets an Upgrade
There’s already 5,000 sensors embedded in Antarctica’s ice to look for evidence of neutrinos, reports the Washington Post. But in November scientists drilled six new holes at least a mile and a half deep and installed cables with hundreds more light detectors — an upgrade to the massive 15-year-old IceCube Neutrino Observatory to detect the charged particles produced by lower-energy neutrinos...
‘World’s Largest Battery’ Soon At Google Data Center: 100-Hour Iron-Air Storage
Interesting Engineering reports:US tech giant Google announced on Tuesday that it will build a new data center in Pine Island, Minnesota. The new facility will be powered by 1.9 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy from wind and solar, coupled with a 300-megawatt battery, claimed to be the ‘world’s largest’, with a 30-gigawatt-hour (GWh) capacity and 100-hour duration… The planned battery would dwarf...
‘I clicked on a button – and everything changed’: how a DNA test turned my life upside-down
When I found out my father had been adopted, I was curious to know more about his side of the family. Nothing could have prepared me for what I would discover …
Above my grandma’s bed hung a framed black‑and-white photograph of my dad. As a small child I quietly admired it; his luminous eyes, dark hair and gentle smile. He embodied a tender yet spirited early adulthood, staring into the...
The British Watch Brand Apiar Goes Beyond Traditional Constraints
The tech-focused leaders of the British brand Apiar aim to stretch beyond watchmaking’s traditional material and manufacturing constraints.
T rex breath and Queen Elizabeth’s car: scientists creating ‘time machine for the nose’
Researchers are recreating ancient odours for museumgoers as interest in the archaeology of smell grows
From the interior of Queen Elizabeth II’s car to the scent of ancient Egyptian funerary practices, museumgoers are getting a whiff of the past like never before.
Experts say the approach is more than a pungent stunt: it’s part of a broader effort to try to reconstruct the sensory worlds of...
‘Who’d guess they’re the same species?’ What Italy’s wall lizards reveal about genetic diversity and why it matters
Understanding biodiversity within species is key to our understanding of why nature works the way it does, say researchers
Words and photographs by Roberto García-Roa
Twelve miles from the heart of Rome, Dr Javier Ábalos pauses his walk, lifts his sunglasses and points. To his right, perched on a rocky wall, sits a beautiful lizard. Its body is coated in charcoal-black tones speckled with...
Researchers praise ‘stunning’ results of new prostate cancer treatment
Early trials of the drug VIR-5500 showed it shrinking tumours in some patients
A new drug for advanced prostate cancer has shown promise in early trials experts have said, with the medication shrinking tumours in some patients.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in many countries, including the US and UK. About 1.5 million men are diagnosed worldwide each year.
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OpenAI Reaches A.I. Agreement With Defense Dept. After Anthropic Clash
The deal came hours after President Trump had ordered federal agencies to stop using artificial intelligence technology made by Anthropic, an OpenAI rival.
In a Memoir Draft, Changpeng Zhao of Binance Details the Talks Leading to His Prison Time
In a draft of his memoir, Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, laid out the secret negotiations that led to his imprisonment and a run-in with ICE.
Resident Evil Requiem’s director on redefining the survival horror genre
Director Koshi Nakanishi says balancing action and horror within the game has been a huge challenge.
Instagram to Alert Parents to Teens’ Self-Harm Searches
Parents will receive notifications if a child has used the platform repeatedly to search for terms related to suicide or self-harm, but users must opt in to get them.
Silicon Valley Rallies Behind Anthropic in A.I. Clash With Trump
Actions by the president and the Pentagon appeared to drive a wedge between Washington and the tech industry, whose leaders and workers spoke out for the start-up.
Nasa announces Artemis III mission no longer aims to send humans to moon
Plans to return humans to the moon will come in later mission as agency grapples with delays and glitches
Nasa announced on Friday radical changes to its delayed Artemis III mission to land humans back on the moon, as the US space agency grapples with technical glitches and criticism that it is trying to do too much too soon.
The abrupt shift in strategy was laid out by the space agency’s...
The Guardian view on Trump’s war on science: Europe should pick up talent fleeing the US | Editorial
The president’s cuts have defunded and alienated thousands of American scientists. Europe can benefit, if it makes the right offer
Donald Trump has spent much of his second term at war with science and scientists. He is cutting staff at institutions such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by a third, and has cancelled or frozen up to 8,000 federal research grants. This hasn’t just...
Pentagon Standoff Is a Decisive Moment for How A.I. Will Be Used in War
The Pentagon’s contract dispute with Anthropic is part of a wider clash about the use of artificial intelligence for national security and who decides on any safeguards.
Pokémon at 30: Fans explain what the series means to them
The massively popular series shows no signs of slowing down as it gears up to celebrate its launch.
Six planets due to parade across night sky in rare celestial spectacle
Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mercury, Neptune and Uranus will all be visible at same time in curved line across sky
Six planets are set to parade across the sky this weekend in a rare celestial spectacle, experts have said.
For the next few days, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mercury, Neptune and Uranus will all be visible at the same time in the night sky – although binoculars or a telescope will be...