Latest Tech News

Stay updated with the latest in technology, AI, cybersecurity, and more

Filtered by: mona Clear Filter

A pivotal meeting on vaccine guidance is underway—and former CDC leaders are alarmed

On Thursday, an advisory CDC panel that develops vaccine guidance met for a two-day discussion on multiple childhood vaccines. During the meeting, which was underway as The Checkup went to press, members of the panel were set to discuss those vaccines and propose recommendations on their use. Monarez worries that access to childhood vaccines is under threat—and that the public health consequences could be dire. “If vaccine protections are weakened, preventable diseases will return,” she said.

RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine delusions—not science—steer CDC now, ex-director testifies

Health secretary and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to roll back access to lifesaving vaccines for children, and has refused to even speak with staff scientists and subject-matter experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about evidence-based recommendations. That's according to former CDC officials who testified before the Senate on Wednesday. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) called ex-CDC director Susan Monarez to review

RFK Jr. Claimed CDC Was ‘Killing Children’ According to Former Director

Former CDC Director Susan Monarez testified at a combative Senate hearing in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday about the ways that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is dismantling scientific expertise at CDC, confirming the worst fears of every American who still cares about science and public health. Monarez, who was fired by President Donald Trump less than a month after being confirmed, told senators that Kennedy told her in August that he was going to change the childhood vaccine schedule in

Chinese EV maker Xpeng eyes global launch of mass-market Mona series in 2026

Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng speaks to reporters at the electric carmaker's stand at the IAA auto show in Munich, Germany on September 8, 2025. Xpeng plans to launch its mass-market Mona series in overseas markets next year in a move that will boost competition with its Chinese rivals and established automakers in the electric vehicle arena. In a wide-ranging interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng said the company's international expansion is moving faster than he expected and signaled

Chinese EV maker Xpeng eyes global launch of mass-market Mona brand in 2026

Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng speaks to reporters at the electric carmaker's stand at the IAA auto show in Munich, Germany on September 8, 2025. Xpeng plans to launch its mass-market Mona brand in overseas markets next year in a move that will boost competition with its Chinese rivals and established automakers in the electric vehicle arena. In a wide-ranging interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng said the company's international expansion is moving faster than he expected and signaled,

The CDC Implosion Continues as Staff Stage Unprecedented Walkout

The real-time collapse of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has picked up the pace. Following the government’s attempted firing and pressuring of several senior CDC officials to step down this week, CDC staff staged a dramatic display of support for its departing leaders this afternoon. The action was a direct response to the Trump administration’s recent meddling at the once well-respected public health agency. The staff, which included remaining senior officials, performed a “cla

CDC Director Denies Report She’s Been Fired by Trump Regime (HHS Says She’s Out)

The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Susan Monarez, was reportedly fired on Wednesday after she resisted changes to covid-19 vaccine policies, according to the Washington Post. But her lawyer says she hasn’t been officially notified of the termination, throwing a curveball into an already chaotic news cycle at the CDC. “When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protectin

Top CDC Officials Resign After Director Is Pushed Out

Susan Monarez is no longer the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to a post by the official Department of Health and Human Services X account. She had been in the position for just a month. In the wake of her apparent ouster, several other CDC leaders have resigned. Named acting CDC director in January, Monarez was officially confirmed to the position by the Senate on July 29 and sworn in two days later. During her brief tenure, the CDC’s main campus in Atl

Why Paradigm built a spreadsheet with an AI agent in every cell

Anna Monaco has been building AI agents since before the term “AI agents” was even a thing. After building numerous chatbots, she started looking for other types of interfaces that made sense for AI agents and landed on spreadsheets. “I had this personal pattern, and I noticed that a lot of other people had this pattern, of putting very important CRM data in spreadsheets just because it was the most flexible thing,” Monaco told TechCrunch. “But it was actually a pain to maintain. There’s so muc

Monarch Butterflies Are Losing Their Navigational Abilities. You Can Guess Why

Each fall, millions of eastern North American monarch butterflies migrate up to 3,000 miles south to the mountains of central Mexico, then return to their northern range in the spring. These winged insects rely on a complex navigation system to go to and from their overwintering sites, and new research suggests climate change may be messing with it. Monarch butterflies have two distinct biological “compasses.” The primary one infers direction based on their circadian rhythm and the position of

Senate confirms CDC director as top FDA official resigns under political pressure

As of yesterday, Susan Monarez is in and Vinay Prasad is out among top federal health officials. In a 51–47 vote along party lines, the Senate confirmed Monarez as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is the first nominee for CDC director to be required to get Senate confirmation, following a 2022 law requiring it. She is also the first person to serve in the role without a medical degree since 1953. Monarez has a PhD in microbiology and immunology and previously

The new AI infrastructure reality: Bring compute to data, not data to compute

Join the event trusted by enterprise leaders for nearly two decades. VB Transform brings together the people building real enterprise AI strategy. Learn more As AI transforms enterprise operations across diverse industries, critical challenges continue to surface around data storage—no matter how advanced the model, its performance hinges on the ability to access vast amounts of data quickly, securely, and reliably. Without the right data storage infrastructure, even the most powerful AI system

Monarch Money Review 2025: Best Budgeting App for Couples

Managing your money can be hard enough, but managing money as a couple can be especially tricky. Fortunately, a budgeting app can make things easier. Monarch Money is designed for joint budgeters, with features like shared goal tracking and monthly reports to help you stay on the same page. The app gets great ratings with Apple and Android users, with 4.9 stars out of 5 on the App Store and 4.7 stars on Google Play. I tested it out to see if these scores were warranted, and I was impressed. Her

Of Course ML Has Monads (2011)

A popular meme in the world of PL’s is that “Haskell has monads”, with the implication that this is a distinctive feature of the language, separate from all others. While it is true that Haskell has popularized the use of monads as a program structuring device, the idea of a monad is not so much an issue of language design (apart from the ad hoc syntactic support provided by Haskell), but rather one of library design. After all, a monad is just one of a zillion signatures (type classes) with whi

Scientists Discover the Key to Axolotls’ Ability to Regenerate Limbs

The axolotl seems like something out of science fiction. This perpetually youthful-looking Mexican salamander possesses a superpower that defies biology as we know it: the ability to regenerate entire limbs, parts of its heart, and even its spinal cord. But how does an amputated limb know whether to regenerate an entire arm from the shoulder down or just a hand from the wrist? This mystery of “positional identity” has fascinated scientists for decades. A team at Northeastern University, led by

Finally, a soundbar that completes my home TV setup and is well worth the price

ZDNET's key takeaways The Platin Monaco 5.2.1 speaker system is available on Amazon for $1,000. With a simple setup and well-defined sound, the Monaco is ideal for entertainment streaming and small spaces. The Monaco's subwoofer lacks power, and the system requires a phone app as the remote. $999 at Amazon Last year, the JBL Bar 1000 set a high standard for soundbars. Since then, nothing has come close to the rich, multi-dimensional sound produced by that system, and I cannot imagine any soun