05 Sci-Tech
Weapons of Mass Automation: AI can make war more lethal than nuclear weapons. How US, Russia, China, India and others are preparing – WION– news.google.com
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EXCERPT:
Weapons of Mass Automation: AI can make war more lethal than nuclear weapons. How US, Russia, China, India and others are preparing WION
VIDEO: Mystery Weapon Spotted In Hands Of President Trump’s Secret Service Detail– wltreport.com
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EXCERPT:
This has users on X talking.
President Trump was spotted over the weekend on video at his Doral Golf Club; however, his Secret Service detail has garnered all the attention.
In a video of Trump meeting with a supporter, one of Trump’s Secret Service agents is spotted holding a futuristic weapon.
Take a look:
Wtf is this thing that Trump’s secret service guy is holding? pic.twitter.com/7kp65x0NfI
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) April 13, 2026
Scientists recover 90% of lithium from old batteries — here’s why it matters Yahoo Tech
from news.google.com
Scientists at Stanford Medicine have identified a naturally occurring molecule that appears to mimic some of the weight loss effects of semaglutide, the drug widely known as Ozempic. In animal studies, the molecule reduced appetite and body weight while avoiding several common side effects such as nausea, constipation, and muscle loss.
The molecule, called BRP, works through a different but related biological pathway and activates distinct groups of neurons in the brain. This suggests it may offer a more precise way to control appetite and metabolism.
CU Denver Creates Lab-Grown Lung Model to Test Treatments More Effectively – CU Denver News
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After a 10-day mission that sent them around the far side of the moon, NASA Commander Reid Wiseman says he and his three fellow Artemis II crew members are “bonded forever.”
Wiseman and fellow astronauts Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen were welcomed home in an emotional and rousing event in Houston, one day after they touched back down on Earth.
“We are bonded forever and no one down here is ever going to know what the four of us just went through and it was the most special thing that will ever happen in my life,” said Wiseman.
The mission broke the record for the farthest humans have ever travelled from Earth, and on a personal level, Reid said it was no small feat.
If you’re following AI news, you’re probably getting whiplash. AI is a gold rush. AI is a bubble. AI is taking your job. AI can’t even read a clock. The 2026 AI Index from Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, AI’s annual report card, comes out today and cuts through some of that noise.
Despite predictions that AI development may hit a wall, the report says that the top models just keep getting better. People are adopting AI faster than they picked up the personal computer or the internet. AI companies are generating revenue faster than companies in any previous technology boom, but they’re also spending hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers and chips. The benchmarks designed to measure AI, the policies meant to govern it, and the job market are struggling to keep up. AI is sprinting, and the rest of us are trying to find our shoes.
All that speed comes at a cost. AI data centers around the world can now draw 29.6 gigawatts of power, enough to run the entire state of New York at peak demand. Annual water use from running OpenAI’s GPT-4o alone may exceed the drinking water needs of 12 million people. At the same time, the supply chain for chips is alarmingly fragile. The US hosts most of the world’s AI data centers, and one company in Taiwan, TSMC, fabricates almost every leading AI chip.
The AI build-out is powering global goods trade Financial Times
from news.google.com
Just over three months ago, Australia’s world-leading regulations attempting to ban social media use by under-16s came into force. The relevant regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, has released its first compliance report on the effectiveness of the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024. The report makes interesting reading, given the number of countries apparently considering whether to emulate the Australian endeavors.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the eSafety Commissioner finds “progress” to be remarkably modest. Based on a survey of 898 parents and caregivers of children age eight to 15 taken between January 19 and February 2, 2026, the commissioner reports that while just under half reported their children having their own account on at least one of the banned platforms prior to the law coming into force on December 10, 2025, that proportion decreased to only 31.3 percent in the survey period.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s San Francisco home was allegedly targeted for the second time in two days – and cops have made two arrests.
A Honda car had been near Altman’s $27 million Russian Hill mansion early Sunday morning – before pulling up outside and a shot was fired from the vehicle’s passenger window, the San Francisco Standard reported.
What influences how long we live, and how much of that is written in our genes? For many years, scientists believed genetics played only a modest role. Earlier estimates suggested that inherited factors explained about 20 to 25 percent of lifespan differences, and some large studies even placed the number below 10 percent.
A new study from the Weizmann Institute of Science, published in Science, challenges that long-standing view. The researchers report that genetics may account for roughly half of the variation in human lifespan, which is at least double previous estimates. The study was led by Ben Shenhar from the lab of Prof. Uri Alon in Weizmann’s Molecular Cell Biology Department.
Decentralized AI models take over healthcare systems Devdiscourse
from news.google.com
Apple is finally stepping into the smart glasses space. For this, the company is asking an important question: Would you actually wear these outside? This is the most important thing, because this is where most smart glasses have historically fallen apart. Rather than locking itself into a single, safe design, Apple is reportedly exploring multiple frame styles for its first pair of AI glasses. And not minor tweaks either — we’re talking distinctly different silhouettes.
There’s a bold, chunky rectangular option that leans into classic sunglasses territory. Then a slimmer, more understated rectangular design that feels a bit more executive-core. On the other end, Apple is also experimenting with rounded frames, both oversized and more refined — clearly trying to cover as many style preferences as possible. In short, Apple is designing a small collection, and that’s a smart move. Because what works for one face can look wildly off on another.
A chilling new report is raising fresh alarm over how far elite-backed science may be willing to go, revealing that some researchers are openly discussing the possibility of growing “brainless” human body clones for future use by wealthy individuals who are aging or dying.
The idea sounds like dystopian fiction.
However, according to a new investigation, a billionaire-backed startup has been tied to discussions about creating non-sentient replacement bodies, human clones without functioning brains, that could one day serve as vessels for brain transplants.
Scientists Freeze a Spinning Nanoparticle to Its Quantum Limit SciTechDaily
from news.google.com
In May 2006, Tim Stinson travelled to England to tour the libraries of London, Oxford and Cambridge. At the time, he was editing a fourteenth-century poem for his PhD at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and after months of poring over grainy microfilm copies, he was eager to get his hands on an original. During a visit to Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries — a place so magical that scenes from the Harry Potter films were shot there — he was finally handed one of the manuscripts he had travelled all that way to see. But he found himself so riveted by the physical book that the text it contained became secondary.
The first-ever published research on Tinshemet Cave is changing how scientists understand the relationship between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. Evidence from the site shows that these groups did more than simply live at the same time in the mid-Middle Paleolithic Levant. They interacted directly, sharing tools, ways of life, and even burial practices. These exchanges appear to have encouraged cultural growth, more complex social behavior, and innovations such as formal burials and the symbolic use of ochre for decoration. The findings point to human interaction, rather than isolation, as a key force behind early technological and cultural progress, with the Levant acting as a major crossroads in human history.
The U.S. Military’s New ‘Mini’ B-21 Raider Stealth Inspired Drones Just Broke Cover 19FortyFive
from news.google.com
The first thing you learn about a loom is that it’s easy to break.
The shuttle runs along a track that warps with humidity. The heddles hang from cords that fray. The reed is a row of thin metal strips, bent by hand, that bend back just as easily. The warp beam cracks if you over-tighten it. The treadles loosen at the joints. The breast beam, the cloth roller, the ratchet and pawl, the lease sticks, the castle; the whole contraption is wood and string held together by tension. It’s a piece of ingenuity and craftsmanship, but one as delicate as the clothes it manifests out of wild plant fibers. It is, also, the foundational tool of an entire industry, textiles, that has kept its relevance to our days of heavy machinery, factories, energy facilities, and datacenters.
The AI Revolution in Math Has Arrived – Quanta Magazine
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Elon Musk’s xAI faces lawsuit over Mississippi power plant tied to AI data centers The Times of India
from news.google.com
In the early 1960s, a deceptively simple question took shape inside a laboratory at Yale University: how far would an ordinary person go if instructed by an authority figure to harm someone else? The answer, offered by psychologist Stanley Milgram, would become one of the most cited, and most contested, findings in modern psychology.Milgram’s obedience experiments, conducted between 1961 and 1962, did not begin as abstract inquiry. They were shaped by the aftermath of the Holocaust and, more specifically, by the trial of Adolf Eichmann, who defended his role in organising the logistics of the mass deportation of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps, a central part of the Nazi programme of systematic mass murder, by claiming he had been “just following orders.” In his 1974 book Obedience to Authority, Stanley Milgram framed the question directly: “Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?”
For decades, scientists have thought that the human body briefly forms a highly unstable molecule, a carbene, from a form of vitamin B1, also known as thiamine. These molecules are unique in that their carbon atoms have only six electrons, rather than the average eight, making them incredibly reactive and fleeting. This is especially true in aqueous media, where carbenes can have half-lives as short as nanoseconds to picoseconds.
Hurtling back toward Earth after a historic loop around the moon, the Artemis II astronauts worked through a relatively light day in space Wednesday, wrapping up a few final tests before packing up for reentry and splashdown Friday.
Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen planned to hold a news conference late Wednesday, answering reporters’ questions about the flight, the first piloted trip around the moon in more than a half century.
The crew had planned to take another turn at manually piloting their Orion capsule, testing their ability, as pilots and non-pilots, to precisely maneuver the spacecraft. NASA is considering opening up commander and pilot positions to a wider range of astronauts.
Key Takeaways
- Maryland lawmakers passed Senate Bill 334, banning the manufacture and sale of ‘machine gun convertible pistols’ starting January 1, 2027.
- The bill targets semiautomatic pistols that can be converted into machine guns with basic tools, further restricting them beyond federal law.
- Exemptions include law enforcement officers and licensed dealers, while individuals may transfer these pistols only to family members.
- Violations lead to a misdemeanor with penalties up to three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
- The bill awaits action from Governor Moore, and the Maryland State Police will regulate and publish a list of prohibited pistols before the law takes effect.
The FBI Cyber Division warned organizations and companies that Iran-affiliated hackers are targeting U.S. critical infrastructures.
The warning comes hours before the 8 PM ET deadline President Donald Trump gave Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.
“Iran-affiliated cyber actors are targeting operational technology devices across US critical infrastructure, including programmable logic controllers (PLCs),” the division wrote on X. “These attacks have led to diminished PLC functionality, manipulation of display data and, in some cases, operational disruption and financial loss.”
Iran-affiliated cyber actors are targeting operational technology devices across US critical infrastructure, including programmable logic controllers (PLCs). These attacks have led to diminished PLC functionality, manipulation of display data and, in some cases, operational… pic.twitter.com/odBD3lBi0l
— FBI Cyber Division (@FBICyberDiv) April 7, 2026
Cornell University scientists have taken a major step toward developing a safe, reversible, long-acting and 100% effective nonhormonal male contraceptive, considered the holy grail of male contraception.
In a proof-of-principle study conducted in mice over six years, the team showed that interrupting a key step in meiosis, the process that produces sex cells, can temporarily halt sperm production without causing lasting harm.
The findings were published today (April 7) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.