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As he addressed an audience of virologists from China, Australia, and Singapore at October’s Pandemic Research Alliance Symposium, Wei Zhao introduced an eye-catching idea.The gene-editing technology Crispr is best known for delivering groundbreaking new therapies for rare diseases, tweaking or knocking out rogue genes in conditions ranging from sickle cell disease to hemophilia. But Zhao and his colleagues at Melbourne’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity have envisioned a new application.They believe Crispr could be tailored to create a next-generation treatment for influenza, whether that’s the seasonal strains which plague both the northern and southern hemispheres on an annual…

Today at the Consumer Electronics show, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang officially launched the company’s new Rubin computing architecture, which he described as the state of the art in AI hardware. The new architecture is currently in production and is expected to ramp up further in the second half of the year. “Vera Rubin is designed to address this fundamental challenge that we have: The amount of computation necessary for AI is skyrocketing.” Huang told the audience. “Today, I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production.” The Rubin architecture, which was first announced in 2024, is the latest…

The fast-acting, long-lasting material provides a new option beyond traditional concrete. Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) have developed a new carbon-negative building material that could reshape approaches to sustainable construction. Described in the high-impact journal Matter, the advance introduces enzymatic structural material (ESM), a construction material that is strong, long-lasting, and recyclable, and is […]Technology,Architecture,Carbon Capture,Civil Engineering,Green Technology,Materials Science#Building #Material #Doesnt #Emit #Carbon #Traps1767649514

For several decades, Boston Dynamics has pioneered the development of advanced robots, including humanoids and four-legged systems tested by the military as a way to carry supplies over rough terrain. The company was sold to Google in 2013 and was bought by SoftBank in 2017. In 2021, Hyundai acquired a controlling stake.In recent years, advancements in motors, batteries, sensors, and other components have made it easier for startups and other companies to compete in the robotics space. More than a dozen firms in the US, including Agility Robotics, Figure AI, Apptronik, 1X, and Tesla, are working on humanoid systems. Overseas,…

Lego announced its new Smart Play system at CES on Monday, adding interactive, responsive Legos to the famously analog franchise. The Smart Play system includes a 2×4 brick, Smart Tag tiles, and Smart Minifigures. The Smart Bricks and Minifigures can sense nearby Smart Tags, which are 2×2 studless tiles with unique digital IDs that tell the Bricks and Minifigures how to act. If the Smart Tag comes in a set for building a helicopter, for example, then the Smart Brick will light up and make propeller sounds that would help bring a helicopter to life. Its built-in accelerometer would make…

Both H1N1 and COVID-19 spread across the U.S. faster and more unpredictably than early detection systems could keep up. Public health scientists at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health used advanced computer simulations to retrace how the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic spread across the United States. Their analysis […]Health,Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health,COVID-19,H1N1,Infectious Diseases#Shocking #Speed #Pandemics #Cities1767645848

At CES in Las Vegas today, Lego has unveiled its new Smart Play platform, aimed at taking its distinctly analog plastic blocks and figures into a new world of tech-powered interactive play—but crucially one without any reliance on screens.Smart Play revolves around Lego’s patented sensor- and tech-packed brick. It’s the same size as a standard 2 x 4 Lego brick, but it is capable of connecting to compatible Smart Minifigures and Smart Tags and interacting with them in real time. By pairing these components, kids big and small can create context-appropriate sounds and light effects as they play with the…

At CES 2026, Nvidia launched Alpamayo, a new family of open-source AI models, simulation tools, and datasets for training physical robots and vehicles that are designed to help usher autonomous vehicles reason through complex driving situations. “The ChatGPT moment for physical AI is here – when machines begin to understand, reason, and act in the real world,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement. “Alpamayo brings reasoning to autonomous vehicles, allowing them to think through rare scenarios, drive safely in complex environments, and explain their driving decisions.”  At the core of Nvidia’s new family is Alpamayo 1, a 10-billion-parameter…

Genetic evidence suggests humans are far more reproductively monogamous than most primates and resemble other socially monogamous mammals. Humans show levels of exclusive mating that are much closer to species such as meerkats and beavers than to most of our primate relatives, according to a new study from the University of Cambridge that ranks monogamy […]Biology,Anthropology,Evolutionary Biology,Genetics,Monogamy,University of Cambridge#Humans #Rank #Meerkats #Beavers #Monogamy #League #Table1767642133

While most wireless headphones nowadays include some form of active noise canceling, there are a variety of reasons why you might not need or want the feature. Maybe you need them to work where you can clearly hear your surroundings, or battery life is crucial. No matter your reason, you can save $70 on the Beats Solo 4 at both Amazon and Best Buy in a variety of colors.Unlike most Beats headphones, which have a distinctly bass-forward sound profile, Apple’s influence has been increasingly toning down the brashness in favor of a more balanced and delicate approach. As a result,…

A hacktivist remotely wiped three white supremacist websites live on stage during their talk at a hacker conference last week, with the sites yet to return online. The pseudonymous hacker, who goes by Martha Root — dressed as Pink Ranger from the Power Rangers — deleted the servers of WhiteDate, WhiteChild, and WhiteDeal in real-time at the end of a talk at the annual Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg, Germany.  Root gave the talk alongside journalists Eva Hoffmann and Christian Fuchs, who wrote an article about the hacked sites for the German weekly paper Die Zeit in October.  As of…

Scientists have identified a marine fungus that was previously unknown and is capable of killing toxic algae known to threaten human health. Scientists at Yokohama National University in Japan have identified a previously unknown marine fungus capable of killing algae that form harmful blooms. The organism, named Algophthora mediterranea, is a microscopic chytrid fungus that […]Biology,Algae,Ecology,Marine Biology,Microbiology,Yokohama National University#Newly #Discovered #Marine #Fungus #Attacks #Kills #Toxic #Algae1767638133

SIM cards, the small slips of plastic that have held your mobile subscriber information since time immemorial, are on the verge of extinction. In an effort to save space for other components, device makers are finally dropping the SIM slot, and Google is the latest to move to embedded SIMs with the Pixel 10 series.After long avoiding eSIM, I had no choice but to take the plunge when the time came to review Google’s new phones. And boy, do I regret it.The Journey to eSIMSIM cards have existed in some form since the 1990s. Back then, they were credit-card-sized chunks…

Three offshore wind developers are suing the Trump administration after the Department of the Interior halted five projects worth a total of $25 billion on December 22. If completed, the projects would generate a total of 6 gigawatts of electricity. Two lawsuits were filed Thursday and Friday last week by Ørsted and Equinor, which are developing the 704 megawatt Revolution Wind and the 2 gigawatt Empire Wind, respectively. Another was filed on December 23 by Dominion Energy, which is building a 2.6 gigawatt farm off the coast of Virginia. Revolution Wind is nearly 90% complete, while Empire Wind and Coastal Virginia…

Researchers have proposed a unifying mathematical framework that helps explain why many successful multimodal AI systems work. Artificial intelligence is increasingly relied on to combine and interpret different kinds of data, including text, images, audio, and video. One obstacle that continues to slow progress in multimodal AI is deciding which algorithmic approach best fits the […]Technology,Algorithm,Artificial Intelligence,Computer Science,Emory University,Machine Learning#Scientists #Create #Periodic #Table #Artificial #Intelligence1767634378

Human Resources is an area in many organisations where AI can have significant operational impact. The technology is now being embedded into day-to-day operations, in activities like answering employees’ questions and supporting training. The clearest impact appears where organisations can measure the tech’s outcomes, typically in time saved and the numbers of queries successfully resolved.Fewer tickets, more first-time answersIBM’s internal virtual agent, AskHR, was built to handle employee queries and automate routine HR actions. IBM says AskHR automates more than 80 internal HR tasks and has engaged in over two million conversations with employees every year. It uses a two-tier…