Radically different
Nature Medicine, Published online: 20 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04423-5
Analyses of sequencing data from 75,602 children referred for genetic testing from 2016 to 2025 provide insights on the association between pathogenic germline variants and childhood cancer.
Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 20 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02319-8
Lesion network mapping (LNM), or atrophy network mapping, has become a widely adopted tool for linking focal brain lesions or neurodegenerative brain clusters, respectively, to distributed functional networks associated with cognitive or clinical deficits. Recent insights, however, suggest that LNM primarily captures elementary topological properties of the normative connectome rather than disorder-specific circuits. Independent clinical evidence supports these methodological concerns, reflecting a deeper biological issue. LNM is inherently unable to capture the higher-order disconnection effects and non-linear connectivity changes that characterize the brain response to a broad range of neurological conditions. Brain injuries can induce widespread changes in distal regions not directly affected by the damage, as well as complex patterns of pathological hyperconnectivity and hypoconnectivity that evolve over time and whose functional significance remains uncertain. These phenomena represent a central challenge in clinical neuroscience. LNM is intrinsically limited in capturing these dynamics, with important implications for clinical translation and neuromodulation.
Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 20 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02299-9
Tau aggregates disrupt heterochromatin by sequestering H3K9me3, reactivating transposable elements. This generates Z-RNAs, activating ZBP1 to drive neuronal death. ZBP1 haploinsufficiency reverses cognitive decline in aged tau mice, offering a therapeutic target for tauopathies.
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.
The baby chicks were shifting and starting to pip—or trying to hatch. But not from an egg. Instead, these chickens were growing inside transparent 3D-printed plastic cups at the Dallas headquarters of Colossal Biosciences.
The biotech company yesterday claimed it has developed a “fully artificial egg” as part of its effort to resurrect extinct avian species, including birds like the dodo and the giant moa.
Some scientists think Colossal is overstating the breakthrough. But the technology may represent an early step toward artificial wombs.
Read the full story on the science and controversy behind the artificial eggshell.
—Antonio Regalado
Elon Musk has lost his landmark lawsuit against OpenAI, which centered on allegations that its cofounders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman misled him about the company’s nonprofit mission. But what really happened in the courtroom, and what does it mean for the AI race?
AI reporter and attorney Michelle Kim, who covered the trial for MIT Technology Review, joined our editor in chief Mat Honan to unpack it all in an exclusive Roundtables discussion yesterday.
Subscribers can watch the full recording now.
L. Stephen Coles’s brain sits in a vat at a storage facility in Arizona. It has been held there at a temperature of around −146 degrees °C for over a decade, largely undisturbed. Before he died in 2014, Coles had the brain frozen with an ambitious goal in mind: reanimation.
His friend, cryobiologist Greg Fahy, believes it could be revived one day. But other experts are less optimistic.
Still, Fahy’s research could lead to new ways to study the brain. And using cryopreservation for organ transplantation is becoming a viable reality.
—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 limitations of LLMs are pushing AI researchers towards new systems that understand the physical environment: world models. The likes of Google DeepMind, Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs, and Meta’s former Chief AI Scientist, AI Yann LeCun, have brought this technology to the forefront of AI.
To explore where this technology is heading next, MIT Technology Review is hosting an exclusive Roundtables discussion on Thursday, May 21, with editor in chief Mat Honan, senior AI editor Will Douglas Heaven, and AI reporter Grace Huckins. Register here to join the session at 19:30 GMT / 2:30 PM ET / 11:30 AM PT.
World models are also one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Things That Matter in AI Right Now, our list of what’s really worth your attention in the busy, buzzy world of AI.
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Google is changing its search box for the first time in 25 years
Its AI-powered overhaul centers on an “intelligent search box”. (Wired $)
+ “Information agents” will gather information on a user’s behalf. (TechCrunch)
+ Google, Gemini, and Gmail may one day be a single search box. (The Verge)
+ AI means the end of search as we know it. (MIT Technology Review)
2 Samsung workers plan to strike tomorrow over AI profit sharing
They say that their employer isn’t sharing the rewards of the AI boom. (WSJ $)
+ And want 15% of the company’s annual operating profit. (CNBC)
+ South Korea may invoke emergency powers to stop the strike. (Reuters $)
3 The White House is set to release a new executive order on AI safety
It’s slated to launch this week. (Axios)
+ The order seeks early government access to advanced models. (NYT $)
4 The FBI plans to buy nationwide access to license plate readers
It wants “data in near real time” from cameras across the US. (Ars Technica)
+ The tech could let it track drivers nationwide. (Newsweek)
5 Google will launch a new line of smart glasses this fall
They’re the company’s first attempt since the Google Glass flop. (BBC)
+ Google Gemini will power the interactions with the user. (Guardian)
+ Meanwhile, Anduril and Meta are making smart glasses for warfare. (MIT Technology Review)
6 A new bill in Congress proposes a new annual fee for EVs
It could cost drivers an extra $130 a year. (NYT $)
+ The fee will cover highway maintenance costs. (WSJ $)
7 OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy has joined rival lab Anthropic
Karpathy was also previously Tesla’s director of AI. (Fortune)
+ He coined the term “vibe coding.” (MIT Technology Review)
8 The fears over Anthropic’s Mythos AI model look overstated
Cybersecurity experts say the hacking threat is exaggerated. (Reuters $)
9 Silicon Valley keeps misreading China’s role in tech
Viewing Chinese firms as enemies could do more to hurt than help the US. (Rest of World)
10 A book about AI’s effects on truth contains false quotes created by AI
It’s among a spate of controversies involving AI-generated quotes. (NYT $)
+ Yesterday, a lawyer apologised for including them in a court filing. (Reuters $)
+ A senior journalist was recently suspended for using them. (Guardian)
Quote of the day
—Sigrid Rausing, publisher of literary magazine Granta, casts doubts on the authenticity of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize winners, Wired reports.
One More Thing
Max was only a toddler when his parents noticed there was “something different” about the way he moved. He was slower than other kids his age, and he struggled to jump. He couldn’t run. A genetic test confirmed their fears: Max had Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Desperate to slow its progression, Max’s parents enrolled him in an experimental gene therapy trial. The FDA had approved the medicine on weak evidence—a move that has become increasingly common.
We urgently need to question how these decisions are made. Who should have access to experimental therapies? And who should get to decide?
Read the full story on the intense debate over experimental treatments.
—Jessica Hamzelou
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.)
+ Trace the history of the world’s most famous plumber in this biography of Mario.
+ Watch the Earth’s spin in action as a full Milk Moon slowly disappears behind a volcano.
+ This handy tool for movie buffs lets you filter upcoming releases by territory and save them to a local watchlist.
+ A missing cat was reunited with its owner after five years and 270 km apart—all thanks to an old Facebook post.
Get your daily dose of health and medicine every weekday with STAT’s free newsletter Morning Rounds. Sign up here.
Good morning. Here in Boston, yesterday was the hottest spring day in over a century. Feeling really good and normal about that. Across the country, our colleagues in San Francisco hosted an incredible, news-making Summit. Scroll down to catch up.
World Health Organization officials on Wednesday mounted a defense of their response to the new and worrisome Ebola outbreak centered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the agency was “a little late” in identifying infections.
WHO authorities stressed that their role is to offer technical and operational help to national health agencies, which have primary responsibility for detecting the spread of diseases under international rules.
WASHINGTON — A group of Senate Democrats is proposing that Medicare cover in-home care, which would create the first new benefit in the program since the Part D retail drug benefit more than 20 years ago.
The long-term care proposal is the final piece of a three-part health care plan that senators, led by Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), are using to outline their vision and draw contrasts with Republicans ahead of the midterm elections. Earlier this year, they proposed a plan to lower drug costs and a framework for private health insurance overhaul.
The plan is not detailed, and does not offer cost estimates or address the question of funding. In addition to creating a home care benefit, it calls for spending more to shore up long-term care in Medicaid and creating stricter nursing home staffing standards. It also includes a workforce component aimed at training more long-term care employees and providing them better pay and benefits.
SAN FRANCISCO — OpenEvidence rode the wave of early enthusiasm for large language models by building a free chatbot for doctors. Physicians, especially trainees, have flocked to the platform to help make patient care decisions; the company claims that about 650,000 U.S. physicians use it actively.
In just four years, OpenEvidence has leveraged that popularity into a $12 billion valuation, going directly to clinicians and avoiding health tech’s traditional hospital procurement process. But the company is facing competitive pressures and questions about whether its ad-based business model can continue to propel the company forward.
At the STAT Breakthrough Summit West, OpenEvidence chief technology officer Zachary Ziegler said that while the company has grown by building for individual clinicians, it’s time to aim bigger.
Across the Department of Health and Human Services, top leadership positions are being filled with acting directors. There is no permanent director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or at the Food and Drug Administration. President Trump’s nominee for surgeon general is yet to be confirmed, and HHS’ top spokesperson resigned last week.
The National Institutes of Health may appear to have more stable leadership, with Director Jay Bhattacharya and his deputies holding their positions. But just below the surface, a leadership vacuum has persisted for months, with 15 of the 27 institutes being led by acting directors. The dearth of permanent leadership at the institutes, which oversee research in a specific topic area, means that the institutes are unable to plan long-term projects, or offer reassurances to a research community that is seeing unprecedented changes in federal funding priorities.
“Strong, permanent leadership across NIH is essential to keeping lifesaving medical research moving forward. Institute directors ensure taxpayer dollars are going to the most important science and the most promising research for American families,” said Erika Sward, executive director of United for Cures, a network of patient advocacy groups. “Having experienced directors in these roles provides the stability needed to ensure progress and avoid delays in developing new treatments and cures that millions of patients and families are counting on.”