Most one-base changes to the human genome do nothing, but a few are significant. On Tuesday, Google announced AlphaGenome Atlas, a resource that attempts to predict the consequences of every possible single-base variant in the human genome. The human genome is about 3 billion bases long, so trying the…
Critics say the new agenda could weaken science-based rules and marine protections. In July, the Trump administration relegated endangered leatherback turtles, sea lions, and whales to mere collateral damage in its race to profit from the oceans. Now, fisheries science is in the government’s crosshairs. The National Oceanic and…
“It doesn’t cost a lot to store text forever.” LG TVs are facing scrutiny due to a video seemingly showing the devices’ capability to track users when the TVs are off. YouTube channel Gamers Nexus worked with Level1Techs, a technology-focused YouTube channel, and security researchers to analyze LG TVs’ tracking…
Preservation “goodies” also includes downloadable 3D models for desktop perusal. Those who remember PC gaming in the days before Steam may have fond memories of the “big box” packaging that made those games stand out as shelf eye candy and sought-after in-home collectibles. Today, PC gaming platform GOG is…
Security gnomes are pumping out patches ahead of an expected onslaught of AI-assisted attacks. Microsoft’s patch for September is a doozy, with a record number of roughly 972 vulnerabilities fixed and 112 of them meeting the high critical-severity threshold. It was only two months ago that Microsoft patched a…
Money would ostensibly fund research the NIH leadership said it no longer wanted. Late last week, word started leaking that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had reached an agreement with the Department of Defense that would see part of the NIH’s budget used to fund research at the…
Chipmaking changes could boost productivity of new ASML machines by 40 percent. Leading chipmakers Samsung Electronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. announced plans to adopt ASML’s latest chipmaking machines in the next several years—and they also joined Intel in agreeing to a crucial technology change that could boost chip…
Like traditional weather models, it benefits from an expanded set of inputs. Google is one of the major players in AI (meaning machine learning) weather forecast model space. The models it and others generate have their strengths and weaknesses, but the main advantage is that they can have forecast…
The EU continues to go after Google search practices it sees as anticompetitive. As the world’s largest search engine, Google is often a target of Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which seeks to rein in Big Tech. The European Commission hit Google with a hefty 460 million euro ($543…
Trump admin’s propaganda “arcade” hits some apparent legal limits. An anti-immigration-themed adaptation of Tetris was removed from the White House website over the weekend. The move comes days after The Tetris Company disavowed any involvement with the game and said that it “take copyright infringement very seriously.” The White…
