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How automotive exec Crystal Brown founded CircNova, an AI drug discovery biotech

Tiny Michigan biotech startup CircNova has raised a $3.3 million seed round for its technology that uses AI to target “circular RNA.” The development holds promise as a new method to quickly develop therapies for conditions that currently have no drug treatments. The new funding is also a victory lap for co-founder and CEO Crystal Brown, who took an unconventional path to becoming a biotech founder. RNA, or ribonucleic acid, is a key molecule that helps convert genetic information into protein

What does Jack Ma's return to the spotlight in China mean?

What does Jack Ma's return to the spotlight in China mean? 5 hours ago João da Silva Business reporter CCTV A meeting between Chinese president Xi Jinping and some of the country's foremost business leaders this week has fuelled excitement and speculation, after Alibaba founder Jack Ma was pictured at the event. The charismatic and colourful Mr Ma, who was one of China's most prominent businessmen, had withdrawn from public life after criticising China's financial sector in 2020. His reappear

Elon Musk Just Caused a Huge Headache for the New Head of NASA

SpaceX CEO and unelected White House advisor Elon Musk unexpectedly said today that he wants the International Space Station destroyed "as soon as possible." In a tweet today, the mercurial entrepreneur asserted that it's "time to begin preparations for deorbiting the space station," arguing that "it has served its purpose," with "very little incremental utility." Instead, Musk argued, the station should be destroyed within two years — but left the final decision "up to the President." It's a

Revolutionary Girl Utena Is as Lynchian as Shojo Anime Has Ever Been

Over the years, critics and everyday people have come to identify media as “Lynchian,” in reverence for how video games, movies, and TV shows evoke the dream-like quality of the late auteur David Lynch. Although most media described as Lynchian takes its inspiration from seminal works like Twin Peaks through referential nods, no show completely embodies the ephemeral vibe of Lynch’s opaque-yet-piercing style of storytelling quite like the similarly influential shojo anime series Revolutionary Gi

How to Watch Team USA vs. Canada in the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off Tonight

When is the 4 Nations Face-Off final between USA vs. Canada? Thursday, Feb. 20, at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT). Where to watch Team USA vs. Canada? The game will air on ESPN and stream on ESPN Plus. Hockey fans are getting what they wanted: a rematch between the US and Canada in the NHL's 4 Nations Face-Off final. Team USA won the round-robin match-up between the two hockey rivals that featured three fights in the first 9 seconds of the game. Now, the two will meet again for the championship of th

OpenAI tops 400 million users despite DeepSeek's emergence

Brad Lightcap of OpenAI. Courtesy: OpenAI OpenAI appears to be growing quickly despite increasing competition. The San Francisco-based tech company had 400 million weekly active users as of February, up 33% from 300 million in December, the company's chief operating officer, Brad Lightcap, told CNBC. These numbers have not been previously reported. Lightcap pointed to the "natural progression" of ChatGPT as it becomes more useful and familiar to a broader group of people. "People hear about it

It Kinda Sounds Like NASA Is Gutting Its Plans for a Moon Landing

NASA's plans to return to the Moon are seemingly on very thin ice. As Reuters reports, NASA has lost four key senior Artemis officials, further stoking concerns that the space agency may ditch its plans to return to the Moon altogether. Whether they'll ever be replaced remains as dubious as ever; both president Donald Trump and SpaceX-CEO-slash-unelected-White-House-hatchet-man Elon Musk have argued that going to Mars should take priority. The outgoing officials, according to Reuters, include

Explorers Discover First Pharaoh Tomb in Over 100 Years

A British-Egyptian team of researchers has discovered what it says is the first pharaoh's tomb in over a century. As the BBC reports, the team discovered the tomb of King Thutmose II in the Western valleys of the Theban Necropolis, near Luxor, Egypt. "It is an extraordinary moment for Egyptology and the broader understanding of our shared human story," said Egypt's minister of tourism and antiquities Sherif Fathy in a statement. It must've been an extremely moving moment for everybody involve

Milliseconds to breach: How patch automation closes attackers’ fastest loophole

This article is part of VentureBeat’s special issue, “The cyber resilience playbook: Navigating the new era of threats.” Read more from this special issue here. Procrastinating about patching has killed more networks and damaged more companies than any zero-day exploit or advanced cyberattack. Complacency kills — and carries a high price. Down-rev (having old patches in place that are “down revision”) or no patching at all is how ransomware gets installed, data breaches occur and companies are

OpenAI’s ChatGPT explodes to 400M weekly users, with GPT-5 on the way

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More OpenAI’s ChatGPT has surpassed 400 million weekly active users, a milestone that underscores the company’s growing reach across both consumer and enterprise markets, according to an X post from chief operating officer Brad Lightcap on Thursday. The rapid expansion comes as OpenAI faces intensifying competition from rivals such as Elon Musk’s xAI and China’s DeepSeek, b

Apple emerges as likely buyer for UFO disclosure film from ‘Top Gun’ producer

If aliens exist, Apple may be about to tell the origin story of how we found out… Deadline exclusively reports that Apple Original Films is the likely suitor for an upcoming movie centered around UFO disclosure. The untitled sci-fi (fiction, debatable) film is expected to focus on events in recent years around the U.S. government’s disclosure of previously classified footage of what is now called a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena or unidentified anomalous phenomena). For years, the stigma su

ChatGPT reaches 400M weekly active users

ChatGPT has surpassed 400 million weekly active users. "We feel very fortunate to serve 5 percent of the world every week," OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap said on X about the new audience stat. This figure is twice the weekly active user count reported by the company in August 2024 , which was double the figure it posted in November 2023. The latest milestone for the AI assistant comes after a huge uproar over new rival platform DeepSeek earlier in the year, which raised questions about whether the c

Black Basta ransomware gang's internal chat logs leak online

An unknown leaker has released what they claim to be an archive of internal Matrix chat logs belonging to the Black Basta ransomware operation. ExploitWhispers, the individual who previously uploaded the stolen messages to the MEGA file-sharing platform, which are now removed, has uploaded it to a dedicated Telegram channel. It's not yet clear if ExploitWhispers is a security researcher who gained access to the gang's internal chat server or a disgruntled member. While they never shared the r

Five Kinds of Nondeterminism

February 19, 2025 Five Kinds of Nondeterminism Or four kinds, or six kinds, I'm not picky about how you count them No newsletter next week, I'm teaching a TLA+ workshop. Speaking of which: I spend a lot of time thinking about formal methods (and TLA+ specifically) because it's where the source of almost all my revenue. But I don't share most of the details because 90% of my readers don't use FM and never will. I think it's more interesting to talk about ideas from FM that would be useful to

Trump and Musk Double Down on Bogus ‘Stranded’ Starliner Astronauts Narrative

President Donald Trump and his bestest billionaire buddy Elon Musk continue to spread blatant lies about the situation surrounding the two Boeing Starliner astronauts currently aboard the ISS. In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, the pair once again—falsely—said the two astronauts are stranded and in need of rescue, and baselessly pinned the blame on former president Joe Biden. In a transcript of the interview posted to the White House website, Trump made several false claims about

OpenAI’s GPT-4.5 May Arrive Next Week, but GPT-5 Is Just Around the Corner

OpenAI may be preparing to slap a new coat of paint on ChatGPT with an updated AI model, GPT-4.5, as early as next week. If that’s not enough to get users excited, the Sam Altman-led company is on the path toward its ultimate model while trying to hint that this next step will finally achieve “AGI.” Spoiler alert: it won’t. Based on anonymous sources, the Verge’s Tom Warren first reported that OpenAI’s next model could hit the scene sometime this month. Microsoft reportedly plans to host the co

Microsoft’s Satya Nadella Pumps the Breaks on AI Hype

The world has yet to turn any of today’s AI hype and spending into a meaningful lift in the actual economy, says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The comments were made during a podcast interview in which he put a measuring stick on AI’s true impact: Success will be measured through global economic growth rather than arbitrary benchmarks of how well AI programs can complete challenges like obscure math puzzles. Those are interesting in isolation but do not have practical utility. The comments seem

ISP sued by record labels agrees to identify 100 users accused of piracy

Cable company Altice agreed to give Warner and other record labels the names and contact information of 100 broadband subscribers who were accused of pirating songs. The subscribers "were the subject of RIAA or third party copyright notices," said a court order that approved the agreement between Altice and the plaintiff record companies. Altice is notifying each subscriber "of Altice's intent to disclose their name and contact information to Plaintiffs pursuant to this Order," and telling the

This powerful "spy camera" can capture facial details from over 60 miles away

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years.TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust Forward-looking: Researchers in China have developed an exceptionally powerful synthetic aperture lidar system that could enable the nation to scrutinize foreign assets – particularly military spy satellites – with unprecedented precision. They have already demonstrated its ability to capture highly detailed images from more than 60 miles away. Worse still, if this technology were deployed in low E

Topics: away china km laser range

Lenovo Legion Go S review (Windows version): Not so fast

Lenovo has already teased the second-gen version of its flagship gaming handheld. But that won’t be out until much later this year, so in the meantime, it’s come out with the Legion Go S, a slightly sturdier and more portable way to frag while you’re out and about. Now the tricky thing about this device is that it will be available in a bunch of different configurations including one that comes pre-installed with SteamOS — a first for any portable PC not made by Valve. Frankly, that’s the versio

OpenAI now serves 400M users every week

In Brief OpenAI is increasingly looking like a consumer company, telling CNBC that it now has 400 million weekly active users. Usage is still growing at a rapid pace as the AI developer behind the AI chatbot, ChatGPT, “only” had 300 million users in December 2024. Though OpenAI has not revealed the number of paid customers with an active subscription to ChatGPT Plus or ChatGPT Pro. On the B2B front, ChatGPT’s enterprise plans are growing nicely: OpenAI now has 2 million paying enterprise users

Unit Network raises $18M for decentralized platform enabling real-world and digital asset trading

Unit Network, a decentralized financial ecosystem enabling trading of real-world and digital assets through tokenization, has raised $18 million. The venture capital investment was led by industry leaders such as the Blockchain Founders Fund and Outlier Ventures, alongside notable entrepreneurs including Cristina Venture (White Star Capital), Diego Gutiérrez Zaldívar (Rootstock), Joshua Seims (Metastable Capital), Richard Wang (Draper Dragon Fund), Thomas Hessler (Zanox), Yuval Rooz (DigitalAss

New NailaoLocker ransomware used against EU healthcare orgs

A previously undocumented ransomware payload named NailaoLocker has been spotted in attacks targeting European healthcare organizations between June and October 2024. The attacks exploited CVE-2024-24919, a Check Point Security Gateway vulnerability, to gain access to targeted networks and deploy the ShadowPad and PlugX malware, two families tightly associated with Chinese state-sponsored threat groups. Orange Cyberdefense CERT links the attacks to Chinese cyber-espionage tactics, though there

Microsoft deploys new state of matter in its first quantum computing chip

Microsoft on Wednesday announced Majorana 1, its first quantum computing chip. The achievement comes after the company spent nearly two decades of research in the field, but Microsoft claims that building Majorana 1 required that it create an entirely new state of matter, which it is referring to as a topological state. Microsoft's quantum chip employs eight topological qubits using indium arsenide, which is a semiconductor, and aluminum, which is a superconductor. "The difficulty of developi

Russian Groups Target Signal Messenger in Spy Campaign

Multiple Russia-aligned threat groups are actively targeting the Signal Messenger application of individuals likely to exchange sensitive military and government communications related to the country's war with Ukraine. For now, the activity appears limited to persons of interest to Russia's intelligence services, according to researchers at Google's Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG), who spotted it recently. But the tactics the threat actors are using in the campaign could well serve as a bluep

This Logitech HD Webcam Hits Its Lowest Price, Over 10K Sold in Recent Months on Amazon

When you spent most of your time working online or at a remote job, a reliable webcam isn’t just a luxury, it’s essential. The Logitech C920x HD Pro has long been the gold standard for affordable quality, delivering professional-grade video that makes you look your best whether you’re in a business meeting or catching up with family. Amazon has dropped the price of the C920x to just $50, down from its usual $70 at Amazon. That’s a solid $20 (29%) savings on what’s widely considered the benchmar

Trump’s Pick for NASA Chief Hints at Expected Shift Toward Mars

If Jared Isaacman becomes NASA’s administrator, as he’s likely to do, the agency will prioritize Mars over the Moon under the Trump administration, judging by some of his first public comments on the matter. Jared Isaacman has been active on social media since Trump named him as his choice to become the U.S. space agency’s next administrator, which he did in early December. But the astronaut mostly stuck to posting about flying planes, his payments company Shift4, and retweeting images of space

What It Took to Bring Those Viral Star Trek Short Films to Life

In the past few years, there’s been plenty of Star Trek to talk about—new shows starting, older shows coming to their ends, the franchise’s future on screens big and small alike (although not always entirely successfully). But for some Trek diehards, a peculiar string of numbers is all that has been on their lips: 765874. That number—the purported Starfleet serial number of Yeoman J. M. Colt from the original Star Trek pilot episode “The Cage”—is the title that has been given to a series of sho

Asteroid's Chances of Smacking Earth Increase. Here's What to Know

It's not great news, but don't panic: Astronomers spotted an asteroid that has a roughly 3.1% chance of impacting Earth on Dec. 22, 2032. Space agencies are monitoring the newly discovered asteroid and still learning more about its size and path, so don't mark your calendar for doomsday just yet. Although the odds of the asteroid hitting Earth have increased recently, that number is not set in stone. There's still a lot to learn about the space rock. Designated 2024 YR4, the asteroid was first

Russia-aligned hackers are targeting Signal users with device-linking QR codes

Signal, as an encrypted messaging app and protocol, remains relatively secure. But Signal's growing popularity as a tool to circumvent surveillance has led agents affiliated with Russia to try to manipulate the app's users into surreptitiously linking their devices, according to Google's Threat Intelligence Group. While Russia's continued invasion of Ukraine is likely driving the country's desire to work around Signal's encryption, "We anticipate the tactics and methods used to target Signal wi