05 Sci-Tech

A Mutation Is Making It Easier for Drug-Resistant Malaria to Spread– www.wired.com

pgnewser August 26, 2026 0

A Mutation Is Making It Easier for Drug-Resistant Malaria to Spread– www.wired.com
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EXCERPT:

The main drug that has been in use for decades to combat malaria in sub-Saharan Africa is running into a problem: In recent years, researchers have become increasingly concerned that parasites are becoming less sensitive to treatment. Identifying the underlying genetic factors has become an urgent priority.

In an attempt to identify the reason for drug-resistant malaria, a team led by Brown University researchers conducted whole-genome analysis of 157 malaria parasite samples selected from specimens collected in Uganda between 2016 and 2024. The work, published in Nature Medicine this week, shows evidence that mutations in a gene that encodes a protein called px1, which had previously received little attention, is likely responsible for the rise in drug resistance.

“Malaria still is a major killer, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa,” Jeffrey Bailey, an associate professor at Brown University specializing in pathology, says in a press release. “As drug resistance continues to emerge, we worry it will undermine control of its spread and result in even more deaths for a large number of people there and beyond.”

This mushroom is behind ‘tiny people’ hallucinations– www.futurity.org

pgnewser August 26, 2026 0

This mushroom is behind ‘tiny people’ hallucinations– www.futurity.org
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EXCERPT:

In 1934, Western scientists first heard reports from Papua New Guinea of people hallucinating tiny humans after eating wild mushrooms, a the phenomenon they dubbed “mushroom madness.”

Anthropologists and mycologists went to Papua New Guinea in the ’50s and ’60s, narrowing the culprit to a few species in the Boletaceae (bolete) family. They did some chemical analyses but couldn’t find any psychoactive components. They even sent samples to Albert Hoffman, who first isolated psilocybin and discovered LSD, but even he couldn’t find an active compound.

Eventually, they concluded that maybe these mushrooms weren’t bioactive at all—maybe this was all just a sociocultural phenomenon. So, research really ended in the 1960s.

Decades later in the 1990s, there were reports from Yunnan in Southwest China of a very similar phenomenon after people ate bolete mushrooms. The species wasn’t clear, but mycologists suggested that it might be L. asiatica, then a newly described mushroom.

In 2024, I heard similar accounts from an Indigenous community in the Philippines’ remote Northern Cordillera region who were consuming a wild mushroom called “Sedesdem” that, according to local knowledge, occasionally caused visions of little people. Known as the “Nonda” in Papua New Guinea and “Jian shou qing” in Yunnan, it’s a culturally important edible mushroom that, if undercooked, produced the hallucinations.

That was the third independent case linking wild mushroom to visions of little people.

I went to Yunnan and the Philippines, spoke with locals and collected L. asiatica and as many specimens in the Lanmaoa genus as I could find for DNA sequencing. That was the first scientific survey of Northern Philippine fungi that had every been done.

It turns out that China’s Jian shou qing and the Philippine’s Sedesdem were both L. asiatica—which was very surprising because at the time, we thought L. asiatica only occurred in China. Unfortunately, when Bryn Dentinger traveled to Papua New Guinea, unusually dry conditions prevented us from collecting specimens for comparison.

Now, three completely independent cultures have reported the same specific type of hallucination, and two cases are attributed to the same DNA-verified mushroom species. That indicates that these bizarre psychological effects aren’t cultural manifestations or coincidences—they must have a shared underlying chemical and neurological basis.


New JWST images reveal the Lion Nebula in all its glory– www.scientificamerican.com

pgnewser August 26, 2026 0

New JWST images reveal the Lion Nebula in all its glory– www.scientificamerican.com
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EXCERPT:

Imagine a lion with the nose of a dying star, a mane of space dust and a habitat 10,000 light-years away from Earth. On its infrared galactic safari, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) just captured it on camera.

The planetary nebula NGC 2392, nicknamed the Lion Nebula for its resemblance to the animal, was previously viewed in 2000 by the Hubble Space Telescope. Now astronomers have captured an even clearer view of it.

Planetary nebulae like the Lion Nebula are glowing shells surrounding a dying star, or white dwarf, at their center. The white dwarf emits radiation and produces a giant gas bubble—the lion’s face—that destroys dust in its path. And the border, or “mane,” of the planetary nebula is a shell of dust surrounding the white dwarf.

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The new images reveal the ionized gas and clumps of dust surrounding the white dwarf more clearly than the older Hubble pictures. The structure formed by the gas and dust, visible in the new observations as complex rings and shells, is an astronomical phenomenon researchers still don’t totally understand.

The star will eventually die, destroying the lion and dispersing all the gas and dust into interstellar space. Astronomers estimate that its final roar will occur around 10,000 years from now.

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Exclusive: New Crunchyroll Collab Brings Anime Streaming to Cars– www.cnet.com

pgnewser August 26, 2026 0

Exclusive: New Crunchyroll Collab Brings Anime Streaming to Cars– www.cnet.com
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EXCERPT:

Nothing like kicking back in your car to stream Daemons of the Shadow Realm, right? But instead of watching on your phone, the in-car entertainment system lets you catch the latest episodes on your BMW’s dash. Crunchyroll and automotive app store Appning are partnering to bring the streamer’s catalog to a selection of vehicles, starting with BMW and Mini and eventually expanding to more than 40 auto brands. The companies announced the team-up on Wednesday, sharing that the anime app will soon arrive in cars.

Appning, Forvia’s app store, is an in-car platform where customers can access built-in apps for YouTube, Zoom, Spotify and more. The addition of Crunchyroll’s streaming service will make anime available to drivers around the world, including North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Australia. While Appning is the hub behind the experience, TiVo’s tech is surfacing titles and personalized recommendations for Crunchyroll subscribers tapping in while chilling in their cars.  

Also see: Crunchyroll and Starz Bundle Up on Prime Video

Using safety-first features, the venture will allow anime fans to watch more than 50,000 episodes of TV shows and movies, plus 25,000 hours of content when the vehicle is parked. So, no streaming while driving, OK? Video playback will be blocked if you attempt to watch while the car is moving. 

“Today’s consumers expect their entertainment to be available wherever they are, including in their vehicle, said Brian McGarvey, Crunchyroll’s SVP of global distribution and business development. “With Crunchyroll coming soon to global automotive partners, the anime experience will be even more accessible on every journey. Through this collaboration with Appning, we’re glad to provide another way for this passionate, global fan community to enjoy their favorite anime.”

You will still need a paid Crunchyroll subscription to watch favorites like Demon Slayer, Solo Leveling or Gachiakuta, and plans start at $10 per month in the US. Appning, which is available in car brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Lotus and Volkswagen, is an Android-powered system that carries more than 300 apps. 

Kourtnee Jackson


Senior Editor


Kourtnee covers streaming services and entertainment. She previously worked as an entertainment reporter at Endgame 360, where she wrote about film, television, music, celebrities and streaming platforms.


EU’S AI Act Kicks in

pgnewser August 4, 2026 0

Starting this Sunday, the EU’s new AI Act begins to take effect, which includes key provisions empowering the EU to regulate AI models and apply fines to companies that fall out of compliance. The law also gives the EU investigatory powers to penalize non-cooperating companies and individuals.

The Act itself presents a challenge to AI geopolitical realities of power as nations and associations like the EU attempt to use domestic laws to affect foreign AI powers. For instance, the fines countries give to foreign companies doing business in their territory due to non-compliance with their AI rules could become weapons of war in the AI geopolitical reality of power.

EU to begin enforcing AI Act from Sunday with hefty fines for rule breakers – Firstpost– news.google.com
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EXCERPT:

The European Union will begin enforcing key provisions of its AI Act from Sunday, empowering regulators to oversee AI models and fine companies that violate the bloc’s rules.

The European Union will take a major step in regulating artificial intelligence from Sunday, when authorities gain the power to enforce key provisions of the bloc’s landmark AI Act. The move allows regulators to oversee advanced AI systems, order corrective measures and impose significant financial penalties on companies that fail to comply with the law.

The AI Act, adopted by the European Union in 2024, is being rolled out in phases and follows a risk-based framework.

Under the legislation, AI systems considered to pose greater risks to people’s rights or health face stricter obligations designed to safeguard individuals.

The law also prohibits the use of AI for predictive policing, emotion recognition systems in workplaces or schools, and technologies that manipulate human behaviour.

 

Australia Wants to be the World’s Internet Cop

pgnewser August 4, 2026 0

The Australian government is considering legislation that appears to give Australia jurisdiction over all social media companies worldwide that run afoul of their national laws. The legislation would grant Australia the power to retrieve any data from any person or company affiliated with a social media company.

X protested the bill, claiming it would “compel any person outside Australia to provide information and documents merely because they are affiliated with a company.” X claimed the bill gave no “due regard to procedural fairness, privacy, the broader impacts on online services, and Australia’s digital economy.” Elon Musk called it a “backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians.”

Australian Government Moves to Censor Americans with Global Free Speech Crackdown– slaynews.com
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EXCERPT:

Elon Musk’s X is sounding the alarm over a sweeping new Australian censorship proposal that could allow government regulators to demand documents and personal information from people outside the country, including Americans.

In a formal submission to the Australian Senate, X warned that the legislation would dramatically expand the power of Australia’s eSafety Commissioner and reach far beyond the nation’s borders.

Under the proposal, a person would not need to live in Australia or operate an Australian company to be targeted.

They would only need to be considered “affiliated” with an online platform.

How to Stop China from Freeriding on American AI– warontherocks.com

pgnewser August 4, 2026 0

How to Stop China from Freeriding on American AI– warontherocks.com
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EXCERPT:

The release of the Chinese open-weight AI model Kimi K3 has compressed a year’s worth of unresolved AI policy debate into a single news cycle. On July 21, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened sanctions against Chinese labs found to have built their models on “theft,” reporting that the government is “finding watermarks of our U.S. large language models on many of the Chinese models.” The following day, White House science advisor Michael Kratsios clarified that the Chinese AI lab behind K3, Moonshot AI, had built a sophisticated platform to copy Anthropic’s Fable model while evading detection.

Industry has been vocal about its own views, with Nvidia’s Jensen Huang declaring that American companies should “absolutely” use Chinese models that outcompete American counterparts on price. In the Washington Post, investor Bill Gurley argued that treating open models as a danger to be licensed and contained runs afoul of the free-market principles that have long powered American innovation.

Two deadly flowers could inspire powerful new medicines– www.sciencedaily.com

pgnewser August 4, 2026 0

Two deadly flowers could inspire powerful new medicines– www.sciencedaily.com
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EXCERPT:

Two plants capable of causing nerve damage and paralysis at extremely low doses may also contain compounds with valuable uses against pain, malaria, cancer, and agricultural pests. Researchers have now identified a way to reproduce part of this potent chemistry in a laboratory setting, creating a possible path toward more sustainable treatments based on natural products.

The work focused on wolfsbane and larkspur and brought together scientists from Michigan State University and the Czech Academy of Sciences. The findings were published in the journal Molecular Plant.

“These plants have been used in different forms of medicine throughout the world for thousands of years,” said MSU alum Garret Miller, co-first author of the paper and now an assistant professor of biotechnology at the University of Michigan-Flint.

“We know they interact with our bodies in so many ways, and understanding how to create them can help provide totally new routes of testing.”

Astronomers reveal the true size of the biggest known galaxy– www.techexplorist.com

pgnewser August 4, 2026 0

Astronomers reveal the true size of the biggest known galaxy– www.techexplorist.com
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EXCERPT:

When you look up at the night sky, the stars you see are part of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. But out there in the universe, galaxies come in all shapes and sizes, and some are truly enormous. A galaxy’s size is closely tied to how many stars it contains. One of them, IC 1101, has just been confirmed as the largest galaxy ever measured.

IC 1101 stretches an incredible 520,000 light-years across. To put that in perspective: In contrast to the Milky Way, which is about 100,000 light-years wide, IC 1101 is more than five times larger.

If you placed it where the Milky Way is, it would swallow up not just our galaxy but also many of our closest neighbors.

Scientists estimate that there are 3.4 trillion stars inside this galaxy, compared to a mere 200–400 billion in the Milky Way.

Doctors Repair UK Baby’s Birth Defect Inside Womb In Groundbreaking Surgery, Infant Now Thriving– www.ndtv.com

pgnewser August 4, 2026 0

Doctors Repair UK Baby’s Birth Defect Inside Womb In Groundbreaking Surgery, Infant Now Thriving– www.ndtv.com
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EXCERPT:

A baby born with a potentially life-threatening birth defect is thriving after doctors successfully repaired the condition while he was still in his mother’s womb, marking a major milestone in foetal surgery. Theo, now five months old, became only the third baby in the world to undergo the experimental procedure as part of a first-of-its-kind clinical trial in the United States, BBC reported. The operation corrected complex gastroschisis, a condition in which the abdominal wall fails to develop properly, leaving the intestines outside the baby’s body.