Radically different
Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 21 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02277-1
This Review describes how an approach that starts from genetic changes under selection during human evolution and integrates comparative and functional studies can reveal adaptive phenotypes across different evolutionary timescales.
Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 21 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02272-6
Zou et al. reveal a key difference between human brains and large language models (LLMs). While LLMs are optimized to predict the next word, the human brain modulates prediction efficiency by strategically grouping words into phrases.
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Good morning health tech readers!
Maybe the Trump administration has grand plans to cover breakthrough devices after all?
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.
As human society has expanded, animals have started struggling to hear one another. For many birds, the noise has grown so loud that they’ve begun to sing with faster trills. Now, their mating calls aren’t as effective.
The growing hubbub can also increase bird-on-bird conflict, and entire species that can’t handle urban clamor simply leave town for good. But there are technological solutions to the noises hurting animals—and they could help humans, too.
—Clive Thompson
In May, a new subway segment will connect downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Ocean. What today can be an hours-long drive through a busy, museum-packed stretch of the city will be, if all goes well, a 25-minute train ride.
The existence of subway stops in this part of town—known as Miracle Mile—is a technological triumph over geography and geology. Find out why.
—Adam Rogers
Both of these stories are from the next issue of our print magazine, which is all about nature. Subscribe now to read it when it lands tomorrow.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Apple’s Tim Cook is stepping down as CEO
Hardware chief John Ternus will take over from him in September. (CNN)
+ Ternus’ defining challenge may be fixing Apple’s AI strategy. (CNBC)
+ How does Cook compare with Apple’s other CEOs through the years? (NYT $)
2 Anthropic’s new Amazon deal escalates the compute war with OpenAI
Anthropic will spend more than $100 billion on Amazon compute.(Axios $)
+ OpenAI touted its compute advantage over Anthropic two weeks ago. (Bloomberg $)
+ Here’s why the AI compute explosion has only just begun. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Silicon Valley is trying to get into the news business
The latest addition is Andreessen Horowitz’s MTS. (The Information $)
+ OpenAI recently bought a business talk show. (NPR)
+ They join Elon Musk’s X and a new Peter Thiel-backed startup. (Axios)
4 The banking industry is scrambling to get access to Anthropic’s Mythos
As regulators review the risks to financial services. (Reuters $)+ Germany’s central bank has called for wider access to Mythos. (Bloomberg $)
5 War memes are turning conflict into content
Fueled by recommendation systems designed to keep you hooked. (Wired $)
+ AI is turning the Iran conflict into theater. (MIT Technology Review)
6 AI is boosting worker productivity, but not their paychecks
Employees aren’t financially benefiting from their extra efficiency. (Quartz)
+ New data sheds light on the current state of AI. (MIT Technology Review)
7 Amazon’s ambition to rival Starlink has hit a setback
After a Blue Origin rocket was grounded. (FT $)
8 Jeff Bezos’s AI lab has neared a $38 billion valuation
In an imminent $10 billion fundraising deal from investors. (FT $)
+ The startup focuses on AI for engineering and manufacturing. (Reuters $)
9 Scientific AI agents have got their own social network
Where they share, debate, and discuss research papers. (Nature)
10 A Mars rover has discovered new “origin-of-life” molecules
They suggest Mars wasn’t always a lifeless red desert. (Gizmodo)
Quote of the day
One More Thing
There is more stuff being created now than at any time in history, but our data is more fragile than ever. One day in the future, YouTube’s videos may permanently disappear. Facebook—and your uncle’s holiday posts—will vanish.
For many archivists, alarm bells are ringing. Across the world, they’re scraping up defunct websites, saving at-risk data collections, and developing data storage technologies that could last thousands of years.
Their work raises complex questions. What is important to us? How do we decide what to keep—and what do we let go? Read our story on the thorny problems of digital preservation.
—Niall Firth
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line.)
+ Apple’s forgotten co-founder recently shared his story of the company’s early days.
+ Witness a rare underwater volcanic eruption in the Solomon Islands.
+ Learn what makes Shakespeare’s writing so effective in this masterful analysis.
+ An Artemis II astronaut shared a stunning iPhone video showing Earth disappear behind the Moon at 8x zoom.
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting is off and running in San Diego. Julianna LeMieux, PhD, Deputy Editor in Chief at GEN, and Damian Doherty, Editor in Chief at Inside Precision Medicine, are on the ground—in the talks, expo hall, and press room, covering as much of the news as they can. Here, they take a moment to chat about the first few days at the meeting.
The post AACR 2026: A Video Update from San Diego appeared first on GEN – Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.
Compremium’s noninvasive Quantis CVP (central venous pressure) measurement device joined the FDA’s Total Product Life Cycle Advisory Program (TAP) after earning Breakthrough Device designation in January 2026. The FDA designed TAP to “help spur more rapid development of high-quality, safe, effective, and innovative medical devices that are critical to public health” and expedite patient access…
The post Regulatory tips from a breakthrough noninvasive device startup appeared first on Medical Design and Outsourcing.
Henry Schein reported pay increases for three of its five executives in 2025, while median employee pay increased from the year before. The Melville, New York-based medical product supplier is the 11th-largest medical device company in the world, according to Medical Design & Outsourcing’s 2025 Medtech Big 100 ranking by revenue. Since then, Henry Schein increased…
The post Henry Schein discloses exec pay for longtime CEO Stan Bergman’s final year appeared first on Medical Design and Outsourcing.
NEWS RELEASE: Freudenberg Medical launches CleanAssure, an ISO class 5 controlled cleanroom for sterile single-use assemblies New controlled cleaning and sterilization service supports biopharma customers with ready-to-use single-use assemblies Kaiserslautern, Germany — Freudenberg Medical, a global contract design and manufacturing partner to the medical device and biopharma industry, announced the launch of CleanAssure, a new ISO…
The post Freudenberg Medical launches ISO Class 5 cleanroom for biopharma appeared first on Medical Design and Outsourcing.
At Paragon 28, now part of Zimmer Biomet, engineers asked if there was a better implant shape to support foot and ankle anatomy. It took three novel instruments and a novel implant to make it a reality. When Paragon 28 Director of Engineering Ken Roggow and his team approached the drawing board to design a…
The post How ZB’s Paragon 28 created a novel curved foot nail system appeared first on Medical Design and Outsourcing.
A new startup has found that the Chinese biotech industry is good for more than obesity drugs and cancer therapies.
The company, Tortugas Neuroscience, launched Tuesday with plans to develop two schizophrenia and tinnitus drugs licensed from Chinese drugmaker Jiangsu Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group. The startup will also test two other medicines for focal epilepsy and encephalopathies that were originally created by Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai Co. Ltd.
Tortugas has $106 million from Cure Ventures, The Column Group, and AN Ventures to begin testing the drugs in mid-stage trials in the U.S.