In a new study published in Nature Communications titled, “Native long-read RNA sequencing of human monocytes reveals activation-induced alternative splicing toward functional isoforms,” researchers at University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht have uncovered a previously underappreciated mechanism that helps immune cells respond rapidly to infections. The team showed that alternative RNA splicing plays a central role in shaping immune responses. The results provide new insights into immune-mediated diseases, such as infections, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and open the door to more targeted therapies.
The study focused on monocytes, a type of innate immune cell that acts as a first responder to pathogens. Using long-read RNA sequencing, the authors generated a comprehensive map of full-length RNA transcripts in human monocytes before and after activation. They identified more than 24,000 isoforms, the majority of which have never been described, revealing a previously hidden layer of molecular complexity.
Notably, immune activation triggers widespread ‘isoform switching.’ Rather than simply turning genes on or off, monocytes shift toward producing longer, fully functional RNA variants that are more likely to be translated into proteins. These isoforms contain complete coding sequences, fewer non-coding interruptions, and greater structural complexity, all features associated with more effective protein production.
“In our study we also confirmed that these RNA changes have real functional consequences,” said Jorg van Loosdregt, PhD, associate professor at UMC Utrecht and corresponding author of the study. “By integrating data on protein synthesis and ribosome activity, we demonstrated that the observed isoform shifts are linked to increased production of immune effector proteins. This shows that alternative splicing directly enhances the cell’s ability to respond to infection or inflammation.”
While previous studies have linked conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, to genetic variation affecting RNA splicing, the study demonstrates that disease mechanisms may also depend on which isoforms are produced and how efficiently they are translated into proteins.
“Our study underscores the importance of studying gene regulation at the isoform level. Traditional methods may overlook critical changes that only become visible with full-length RNA analysis,” said van Loosdregt. “The adoption of long-read sequencing technologies could therefore transform research into immune function and disease mechanisms.”
Emerging approaches, such as antisense oligonucleotides or drugs that influence splicing factors, may enable more precise modulation of the immune system and the development of targeted treatments for immune-mediated diseases.
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.
Stay on top of what’s going on in AI this summer
Here at MIT Technology Review, we understand exactly how relentless the pace of news from the world of artificial intelligence feels. New models and capabilities crop up as fast as we can cover them, and the ripple effects they send through tech and wider society are never far behind.
Our unique strength lies in cutting through the day-to-day noise to help you understand what’s really happening, and what lies around the corner.
Right now, there’s a 25% discount on subscriptions. Sign up now to deepen your understanding of AI this summer. You can also join the conversation by subscribing to The Algorithm, our free weekly newsletter all about the latest in AI.
MIT Technology Review Narrated: what’s next for IVF
IVF has brought millions of babies into the world over the last four decades. But the process can still be slow, painful, and expensive—and far from guaranteed to work. Now, a wave of new technologies aims to change that.
Researchers are using AI to identify promising sperm and embryos, developing robotic systems that could automate parts of the IVF process, and even exploring controversial genetic editing techniques designed to prevent inherited disease.
The technologies could make IVF more effective and accessible. But they’re also raising difficult ethical questions about how far reproductive medicine should go.
—Jessica Hamzelou
This is our latest story to be turned into an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 NASA unveiled plans for three uncrewed missions to the Moon this year They’re part of preparations for a crewed landing in 2028. (The Verge) + And steps to build the first lunar base at the Moon’s south pole. (NBC News) + Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin will lead the first uncrewed mission. (WP $) + NASA is building the first nuclear reactor-powered spacecraft. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Samsung’s largest unions have approved a landmark bonus scheme The deal averts a massive strike at the world’s largest memory-chip maker. (WSJ $) + Chip workers will get an average bonus of about $340,000. (Bloomberg $) + The dispute centered on who profits from the AI boom. (BI) + Resistance to AI is growing. (MIT Technology Review)
3 Elon Musk accused the Pentagon of misusing Starlink for drones He says military use of the system violates SpaceX rules. (Ars Technica) + The DoD is disputing a Starlink price hike during the Iran war. (Reuters $) + Stratospheric internet could take off this year. (MIT Technology Review)
4 China has overhauled the world’s biggest surveillance network with AI Beijing is pushing law enforcement towards predictive policing. (FT $) + Police use of smart glasses is also booming in China. (Gizmodo) + LLMs could supercharge mass surveillance. (MIT Technology Review)
5 Space Force is awarding SpaceX $2 billion for a military data network It will connect military sensors and weapons platforms worldwide. (Reuters $) + The contract comes amid concerns about SpaceX’s AI business. (WSJ $) + Speculation is growing around a possible SpaceX-Tesla merger. (CNBC)
6 Taiwan suspects Nvidia chips were smuggled to China via Japan To circumvent US restrictions. (Bloomberg $) + Is China about to win the AI race? (MIT Technology Review)
7 Booming AI chip demand has created two new $1 trillion companies South Korea’s SK Hynix and the US’ Micron have hit the landmark. (BBC)
8 AI has sparked a surge in demand for cybersecurity experts Thanks to a glut of new code and alarm over powerful models. (NYT $) + AI is making online swindles easier. (MIT Technology Review)
9 Internet is coming back in Iran after a three-month blackout Although it isn’t clear if the reconnection is permanent. (Wired $)
10 Physicists are rethinking the role of gravity in quantum mechanics There’s a new theory for how our everyday world emerges. (New Scientist $)
Quote of the day
“AI and its capabilities represent something analogous to the Second Coming.”
—Jeremy Nixon, the cofounder of AGI House and a former Google Brain researcher, tells the New York Times how Silicon Valley’s innovations could affect the pope.
One More Thing
ANDREW MERRITT
Inside the experimental world of animal infrastructure
In the mid-2000s, toads were meeting a gruesome end near Ede, a leafy old town in the Netherlands. Residents responded by building wildlife tunnels beneath the road to help them reach their breeding ponds safely.
The crossings became popular. But a few years later, researchers found the local toad population had crashed from more than 10,000 to fewer than 1,000.
The case reflects a wider global push to build wildlife crossings and other forms of “animal infrastructure.” But do they actually help animal populations recover? Read the full story to find out.
—Matthew Ponsford
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.)
On Sunday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda to be a public health emergency. This outbreak is deadly, with hundreds of cases across at least two countries, including, by report, one American who was working in the area.
At the same time, a cluster of hantavirus cases linked to a Dutch cruise ship in the South Atlantic has killed three and exposed hundreds more.
<strong>Background:</strong> Population aging is driving a rapid rise in dementia cases worldwide, posing a major challenge for health care systems around the globe, including in the Netherlands. Digital multidomain lifestyle interventions, which target multiple lifestyle domains simultaneously, can protect against cognitive decline in at-risk older adults but struggle to sustain engagement. Addressing stress in these interventions is crucial, as it can directly increase dementia risk and may promote unhealthy behaviors in other domains targeted in these interventions, including physical activity, diet, and sleep. <strong>Objective:</strong> This study explores the motivators and barriers for Dutch adults aged 60 years and older to use mindfulness apps for stress management within digital multidomain lifestyle interventions. Despite their potential, it remains unclear which stress-related needs would motivate older adults to use mindfulness apps in these interventions and whether these apps effectively address those needs. Moreover, little is known about how older adults practice mindfulness independently in everyday settings alongside other lifestyle priorities. <strong>Methods:</strong> We conducted 15 semistructured interviews with former participants of a 26-week multidomain lifestyle intervention study (the “HELI” [Hersenfuncties na Leefstijlinterventie] study) that included a mindfulness app for stress management. Participants (8 females; age range 61-73 years) were first invited to describe their practices to improve brain health to see whether stress and mindfulness emerged spontaneously. Follow-up questions and scenarios explored experiences with stress and mindfulness before these concepts were explicitly introduced midway through the interview, providing insight into their roles in participants’ lives free from associations with the terms. Data were analyzed using template analysis. <strong>Results:</strong> Older adults reported experiencing fewer minor daily stressors than earlier in life and having developed effective coping strategies with age. These strategies often included elements associated with mindfulness, such as acceptance and deliberate attention to the present moment. However, many frequently worried at night about major concerns, including personal health, the well-being of loved ones, and global issues. These findings suggest that older adults may be more motivated to use mindfulness apps to cope with nighttime worry than with minor daily stressors. At the same time, older adults reported barriers to using mindfulness apps, including negative associations with the term “mindfulness” (eg, perceived as too spiritual) and challenges in maintaining focus during exercises. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> We discuss how older adults develop mindfulness skills with age and how these skills help older adults cope with daily stressors but not with nighttime rumination. Specifically, we argue that diminished cognitive resources at night, fewer distractions, and metacognitive patterns may sustain worry before sleep. This study highlights the importance of tailoring multidomain lifestyle interventions to the unique challenges of older adults. We also offer recommendations to present mindfulness in ways that help older adults stay focused during practice.
Wacker reports that it is launching contract research services (CRS) at its biotech center in Munich for R&D-grade pDNA, RNA, and LNPs for preclinical studies. The new offering complements services of subsidiary CDMO Wacker Biotech, which has sites in Germany, the Netherlands, and the U.S.
In addition to producing pDNA, RNA, and LNP formulations, Wacker’s CRS team says it offers construct design services, including plasmid and RNA construct design as well as RNA engineering and optimization via partners, e.g., UTR, poly(A) and cap optimization. Company scientists also conduct lipid library screening and lipid nanoparticle formulation and provide functional assays and analytical services.
By integrating early-stage R&D support with a globally interconnected GMP manufacturing network, CRS helps customers streamline development and reduce supply-chain fragmentation, maintains a Wacker spokesperson. The approach enables an accelerated path from design to delivery in the field of advanced therapies, while lowering risk and cost through resourcing in early phases and a scalable transfer to Wacker Biotech for clinical material, continued the company official.
“Every RNA or LNP project is unique. Our goal is to provide flexible, customizable services that adapt to our clients’ specific needs in a rapidly evolving landscape,” explained Christian Dubiella, the CRS global program manager. “Too often, innovative, potentially life-saving therapeutic concepts die on the vine due to the high cost of developing even small amounts of drug substance for R&D studies. Our CRS enable us to serve highly specialized customers, especially small startups.”
One of CRS’ first customers is SRTD Biotech, an emerging biotech in Germany, which is starting small scale on novel therapeutic approaches.
“Our platform technology based on seRNAs (selectively expressed RNAs) can easily be adapted to numerous therapeutic areas by utilizing the transcriptome for selective cell targeting and fusogenic LNPs for organ-specific targeting,” said Bernd Hoffmann, CEO/CSO and cofounder of SRTD. “Wacker is an ideal partner on the road to realizing our vision of delivering seRNAs to patients to improve their lives.”
A wearable smart wristband that continuously measures blood flow at the wrist may be able to detect cardiac arrest and automatically trigger emergency alerts, according to findings from the DETECT-1b study published in the journal Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology. Researchers at Radboud University Medical Center found that the technology detected shockable cardiac arrest events with 92% sensitivity during controlled clinical procedures in patients with ventricular arrhythmias. The findings are an early indication that monitoring the condition via a wearable device technology could eventually help reduce delays in providing care for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest by automatically alerting emergency medical systems or nearby responders.
“Our findings are important because many out-of-hospital cardiac arrests are unwitnessed. A smart technology wristband capable of automatically detecting cardiac arrest and triggering an alert could function as a digital witness,” said senior author Judith Bonnes, MD, PhD, a cardiologist at Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands. “With the device automatically notifying emergency services or nearby trained responders, help could arrive sooner, which may significantly improve survival chances.”
The DETECT-1b study was designed to evaluate a medically certified smart wristband that uses a light-based sensing method called photoplethysmography (PPG) that is capable of measuring blood flow changes in the wrist. The wearable device, called CardioWatch, continuously monitored pulse-related blood flow signals during procedures in which dangerous heart rhythms were intentionally induced under controlled conditions in people known to have abnormal heart rhythms.
The research is a follow-on of the DETECT-1a study. “In the DETECT-1a, we developed a wrist-derived photoplethysmography (PPG) algorithm for cardiac arrest detection using patient data from induced short-lasting circulatory arrests, achieving 98% sensitivity,” the researchers wrote.
DETECT-1b was developed as a prospective multicenter validation study involving adults undergoing ventricular tachycardia ablation or subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator implantation. During these procedures, pulseless ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation was induced briefly to test cardiac function and device response. While this was occurring, the researchers recorded electrocardiogram and invasive blood pressure measurements as reference standards while patients wore the CardioWatch.
The study enrolled 49 adults in the Netherlands. Participants had a median age of 66 years, 84% were men, and many had existing cardiovascular disease. Seven participants had a prior history of cardiac arrest, 69% had experienced myocardial infarction, and approximately half had moderately or severely reduced left ventricular function.
For this study, the researchers evaluated 125.5 hours of data from the wristbands of the participant and identified 59 shockable cardiac arrest events among 26 patients. Fifty of the identified events were pulseless ventricular tachycardia and nine involved ventricular fibrillation. The algorithm detected 92% of all cardiac arrest events overall, including 100% of ventricular fibrillation episodes and 90% of pulseless ventricular tachycardia events.
“This is the first external validation in patients of a wearable-based cardiac arrest detection model, demonstrating that wrist-derived PPG reliably detects shockable cardiac arrest, with 100% sensitivity for VF,” the researcher wrote.
The algorithm developed to detect these events works by continuously monitoring the amplitude of PPG signals collected at the wrist. When signal amplitude decreases, the embedded algorithm evaluates signal quality to determine whether pulse-related peaks remain detectable. If pulse signals disappear, the algorithm triggers a cardiac arrest alarm.
The researchers also uncovered a number of false-positive alerts. Thirty-three alerts occurred in the absence of pulseless ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. Nevertheless, of the 33 alert, 24 occurred during hemodynamically tolerated ventricular tachycardia and were considered clinically relevant. In total, nine of the alerts from 125.5 hours of monitoring were classified as false positives.
Lead study author Roos Edgar, a technical physician at Radboud, noted that the technology differs from prior cardiac arrest detection methods because the wrist-based design allows continuous monitoring during routine daily life. While many commercially available smart watches contain similar PPG sensors, they are not equipped to detect cardiac arrest.
The technology has the potential to be used for patients at elevated risk for cardiac arrest, including patients with ventricular arrhythmias or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators. The researchers said future deployment could also involve directly integrating the wristband’s alerts with emergency dispatch systems.
“The goal is to connect the wristband to emergency dispatch centers and volunteer responder networks in the Netherlands so that nearby rescuers and ambulance services can be alerted immediately when cardiac arrest is detected,” Bonnes said.
Future studies are expected to evaluate how the system performs during everyday activities, exercise and sleep, conditions that may create additional signal noise and complicate detection.
Prescribing low-dose digoxin for patients with heart failure may reduce hospitalizations and cardiovascular complications when the drug is added to current guideline-directed therapy, according to three studies led by researchers at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG). The findings, published in Nature Medicine, showed that a meta-analysis combining data from the DECISION clinical trial with two earlier randomized studies found hospitalizations were reduced by 25% achieved by a reduction in worsening heart failure events.
Heart failure affects roughly 60 million people worldwide. Standard treatments currently rely on four medications commonly referred to as the “Fantastic Four.” The Groningen investigators examined whether digoxin, a drug that has been used for centuries in cardiovascular medicine, could serve as an additional therapy alongside those treatments.
The core study in the newly published research was the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled DECISION trial, which enrolled 1,000 patients with symptomatic chronic heart failure and a left ventricular ejection fraction of 50% or less at 43 centers in the Netherlands. Participants received either low-dose digoxin (600) or placebo (400) in addition to standard therapy with a median follow-up of 36.5 months.
The trial found that low-dose digoxin reduced the combined rate of worsening heart failure events and cardiovascular mortality by 19%, a figure that was not statistically significance. But when these data were then combined with two earlier randomized trials that evaluated digitalis glycosides—the same class of drugs as digoxin—in heart failure, the pooling of data from the three studies was able to demonstrate a statistically significant benefit.
The data from DECISION showed 238 primary outcome events among patients receiving digoxin compared with 291 events in the placebo group. The number of worsening heart failure events was also lower in the digoxin arm, with 155 events compared with 203 among placebo-treated patients.
One of the earlier studies, the DIG trial, published in 1997, had researched digoxin in patients receiving diuretics and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors. While this combination did not reduce all-cause mortality, it demonstrated a 28% reduction in hospitalization for worsening heart failure. Subsequent analyses of the DIG data also suggested that lower serum digoxin concentrations were associated with more favorable outcomes, while higher concentrations above 1.2 ng ml−1 were linked to increased mortality.
The other earlier study, DIGIT-HF, had evaluated low-dose digitoxin added to contemporary heart failure therapy. In this study, the researchers reported a 15% reduction in the combined endpoint of all-cause death and first hospitalization for heart failure.
The third and current study from the Groningen researchers followed about 600 patients who had participated in the DECISION clinical trial after study treatment ceased. In this case, the team found that patients who discontinued digoxin experienced more problems during the first six weeks after withdrawal than patients who had never received the drug. Among 288 patients who stopped digoxin, 14 were hospitalized or died.
The studies all focused on low-dose digoxin because earlier analyses had suggested that lower serum concentrations of the drug produced benefit without the adverse effects created by higher dosing levels. In the past, higher doses were used to increase heart muscle contraction, but the researchers found that this approach was not beneficial in weakened hearts. Instead, lower doses appear to blunt adverse compensatory responses in heart failure.
The DECISION study also provided new randomized data regarding the safety of low-dose digoxin in women and in patients with atrial fibrillation, populations that had been considered at risk from higher doses. The investigators reported that low-dose digoxin did not increase adverse effects or pacemaker implantation and produced similar findings in men and women.
These new data could change heart failure guidelines in the future by including the use of digoxin as an additional therapy in patients with reduced or mildly reduced ejection fraction. Further, because digoxin therapy costs less than ten cents per day, it could offer a low-cost treatment option compared with newer therapies that cost several dollars daily.
The researchers said future work should further define which heart failure populations benefit most from low-dose digoxin and continue evaluating its role alongside contemporary guideline-directed therapies, including sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors and other newer agents.
Fractyl Health has received regulatory approval in the Netherlands to start the first-ever clinical trial for a gene therapy to treat type 2 diabetes. The upcoming Phase I/II clinical trial will test the safety and preliminary efficacy of RJVA-001, a gene therapy designed to locally deliver GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs with the goal of reducing the side effects associated with oral administration.
“GLP-1 medicines have changed what is possible in obesity and type 2 diabetes, but they require chronic, high-dose systemic exposure that many patients cannot or do not sustain,” said Harith Rajagopalan, MD, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Fractyl Health. “RJVA-001 takes a different path: a potential one-time, pancreas-targeted gene therapy designed to enable the body to produce GLP-1 in response to meals: physiology, not pharmacology.”
Based in Burlington, Massachusetts, Fractyl Health develops novel approaches to treating obesity and type 2 diabetes. The company’s lead program, an endoscopic procedure to maintain weight loss after discontinuing GLP-1 treatment for obesity, is currently being evaluated in a pivotal clinical trial.
RJVA-001 leverages an engineered version of the human insulin promoter to trigger the production of GLP-1 in pancreatic beta cells when glucose levels rise after eating. The gene therapy is delivered using a minimally invasive endoscopic infusion directly into the pancreas, which is guided by ultrasound.
The Phase I/II study will evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of three escalating doses of the gene therapy. Participants will include adults with type 2 diabetes who have previously responded well to oral GLP-1 treatment yet continue to experience difficulties controlling their blood sugar levels.
“With this authorization, RJVA-001 becomes the first AAV gene therapy candidate to enter clinical development for type 2 diabetes,” said Rajagopalan. “We expect to dose the first patient and report initial data in the second half of 2026.”
Later this year, Fractyl expects to expand the study to additional sites in Australia, where the company has already submitted a clinical trial application and is currently awaiting a response from regulators.
RJVA-001 will be the first candidate from Fractyl’s Rejuva platform to enter clinical development. This smart GLP-1 gene therapy platform focuses on the development of next-generation adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapies that are locally delivered to the pancreas. Another candidate developed through this platform includes a dual GIP/GLP-1 gene therapy to treat obesity, currently in preclinical development.
“For decades, we have managed [type 2 diabetes] as a chronic, progressive disease that inevitably worsens over time. With this authorization, we are preparing to test, for the first time in humans, whether a one-time, pancreas-targeted gene therapy delivered via a routine endoscopic procedure could provide durable metabolic control by enabling physiologic, nutrient-responsive GLP-1 expression at the source of disease,” said Jacques Bergman, MD, PhD, professor of gastrointestinal endoscopy and deputy chair of the department of gastroenterology and hepatology at Amsterdam UMC, and a principal investigator of the upcoming clinical trial.
“Patients who remain inadequately controlled despite maximally tolerated GLP-1 receptor agonists and multiple oral agents represent a population with significant unmet need. If successful, RJVA-001 could transform how we think about [type 2 diabetes], from a chronic disease you manage every day to one that could potentially be treated once.”
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.
Here’s what you need to know about the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak
Last week, eight passengers aboard a Dutch-flagged cruise ship contracted a type of hantavirus transmitted by rats. Three have since died. But health experts stress that this situation is nothing like the coronavirus outbreak in 2020.
The Andes virus is known to spread between people, and there are no specific antiviral treatments or vaccines. Yet transmission appears to require a specific form of contact that the cruise ship fostered.
This story is part of MIT Technology Review Explains, our series untangling the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what’s coming next. You can read more from the series here.
Musk v. Altman week 2: OpenAI fires back, and Shivon Zilis reveals that Musk tried to poach Sam Altman
In the second week of the landmark trial between Elon Musk and OpenAI, Musk’s motivations for bringing the suit came under intense scrutiny.
OpenAI president Greg Brockman testified that Musk had pushed for the company to create a for-profit entity, while Shivon Zilis, a former board member, revealed that the Tesla tycoon had sought to lure Sam Altman to a new AI venture.
The courtroom also heard about Brockman’s private journals, Musk’s abandoned plans for a rival AI lab, and the moment he stormed out of a pivotal meeting carrying a painting of a Tesla.
Michelle Kim, who’s also a lawyer, has been in court on each day of the Musk v. Altman trial. To keep up with her ongoing coverage of their legal showdown, follow @techreview or @michelletomkim on X.
How LLMs could supercharge mass surveillance in the US: 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now
There are pieces of your life scattered all over the internet, and some of them are for sale. Data brokers collect web searches, financial records, and location data from millions of people and sell them to various clients, including the US government.
While gathering that data has become easier in the smartphone era, making use of it at scale has remained difficult. But researchers are beginning to show that LLM agents can connect anonymized data to real people quickly, cheaply, and at a massive scale.
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Meta’s embrace of AI is making employees miserable Workers feel pressured to use the tech while fearing AI-driven layoffs. (NYT $) + They’re also unhappy about Meta tracking them to train AI. (The Verge) + AI’s rise has been described as “the most joyless tech revolution ever.” (WSJ $) + Gen-Z is particularly fed up with it. (NYT $) + We’ve entered the era of AI malaise. (MIT Technology Review)
2 South Korea’s military wants robots to fill gaps in troop numbers It’s in talks with Hyundai to bring robotics to the front lines. (Bloomberg $) + They could include Boston Dynamics’ Spot and a new exoskeleton. (SCMP) + South Korea’s military has shrunk by 20% over six years. (BBC)
3 OpenAI is being sued over ChatGPT’s alleged role in guiding a mass shooter A lawsuit claims the bot said targeting children would bring more attention. (NBC) + Florida’s AG has opened a criminal investigation into the case. (NPR) + Does AI cause or amplify delusions? (MIT Technology Review)
4 The Canvas hack was the biggest-ever student data privacy disaster It exposes the risks of centralizing the data of millions of students. (404 Media) + While the platform is back online, the hack disrupted university exams. (NPR) + The breach is part of a trend of edtech vulnerabilities. (WP $)
5 Alibaba has joined China’s “chat to buy” shopping craze By integrating AI assistant Qwen into its e-commerce platforms. (Reuters $) + Companies are betting that chat is the future of online shopping. (SCMP) + OpenClaw is a driving force behind the trend. (MIT Technology Review)
6 Cybercrime increasingly comes with threats of physical violence In the US, the physical threats rose more than twofold last year. (BBC)
7 AI’s next phase plays into TSMC’s hands Taiwan’s chip-making giant stands to gain from the supply squeeze. (WSJ $)
8 Europe is confronting life without American tech Dependence on Silicon Valley is a growing geopolitical concern. (FT $)
9 The US, UK, and China top new rankings for AI in life sciences Switzerland and Germany follow in the AI Competitiveness Index. (SCMP)
10 The Pentagon has released a massive trove of declassified UFO files Including newly declassified documents, images and footage. (New Scientist) + The files contain reports of “orbs,” “saucers,” and lunar “flashes.” (Wired $) + Here’s how to spot an alien. (MIT Technology Review)
Quote of the day
“There’s a real sense where ‘safety’ isn’t a bad word anymore.”
—Nathan Calvin, general counsel at Encode, a nonprofit AI advocacy group, tells the Washington Post that Anthropic’s Mythos has forced a White House reset on AI safety.
One More Thing
This computer-generated image of Mars was built with laser altimeter data from NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor, which operated for nine years in orbit around the planet.
NASA/JPL-CALTECH
Inside NASA’s bid to make spacecraft as small as possible
As NASA’s InSight lander descended to Mars in November 2018, two tiny spacecraft tracked its progress. InSight had touched down, they reported, and survived its treacherous journey.
The mission offered a pathway to cheaper space exploration, with small, low-cost probes launching far more often than multibillion-dollar flagship missions. But there’s a catch: miniaturization can only go so far before it collides with the hard limits of physics.
NASA still hopes small sats could transform planetary exploration. But first, scientists and engineers have to figure out what these tiny spacecraft can realistically do.
