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CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis says that China represents an “existential threat” to the United States and that the agency’s top priority is outpacing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in a high-stakes technological arms race that spans semiconductors, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence.“China is the existential threat to American security in a way we really have never confronted before,” Ellis told Axios in an interview published on May 21, adding that a key CIA objective is to help U.S. companies maintain a “decisive technological advantage” to counter the CCP’s malign actions against the homeland.In separate remarks, including an interview at the...

Approximately 14,000 years ago, the unprecedented solar event—now judged to be the most powerful known to have occurred—marked Earth’s transition into the Holocene epoch, according to the findings of an international team of scientists. The team traces the event to around 12,350 BC using a new climate-chemistry model specifically designed to reconstruct ancient solar particle activity. This expands the known timeline for ancient solar storms and raises the bar on the upper boundaries of their intensity. Although the event in question was already known from past observations of radiocarbon spikes in ancient wood samples, its scale and magnitude remained unknown....

Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar inverters Undocumented cellular radios also found in Chinese batteries U.S. says continually assesses risk with emerging technology U.S. working to integrate 'trusted equipment' into the grid LONDON, May 14 (Reuters) - U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices that play a critical role in renewable energy infrastructure after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them, two people familiar with the matter said. Power inverters, which are predominantly produced in China, are used throughout the world to connect solar panels and wind turbines to electricity grids. They are...

A pair of tweezers squeezes water from the spongy material developed by the team. (Credit: Xingying Zhang) In a nutshell This wood-based material can pull water directly from air using only sunlight, working even in arid regions with humidity as low as 30% and in freezing temperatures down to -20°C. The device captured 2.5 milliliters of water per gram overnight in real-world testing, releasing it when exposed to sunlight with 94% efficiency. Made from affordable materials like balsa wood and lithium chloride, this technology could provide clean drinking water in areas lacking infrastructure or during emergencies. **************************************************************************** MELBOURNE — Love...

Aformer intelligence official is calling on the federal government to make information public about an alleged reverse-engineering project involving unidentified flying objects (UFOs). UFO sightings have long piqued the interests of billions of people across the globe for centuries. Although these sightings are oftentimes easily explained—at times being space objects such as meteors or military equipment—they often lead many to ponder the potential of extraterrestrial life. Recent years have seen renewed focus on UFOs, with many calling for more transparency from the U.S. government about these sightings. Christopher Mellon, a former deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Intelligence who specializes...

Next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS)—the same technology which is powering the development of tailor-made medicines, cancer diagnostics, infectious disease tracking, and gene research—could become a prime target for hackers. A study, published in IEEE Access, highlights growing concerns over how this powerful sequencing tool—if left unsecured—could be exploited for data breaches, privacy violations, and even future biothreats. Led by Nasreen Anjum from the University of Portsmouth’s School of Computing, this is the first comprehensive research study of cyber-biosecurity threats across the entire NGS workflow. NGS is a cornerstone of modern biotechnology, enabling rapid and cost-effective DNA and RNA sequencing that supports...

Lip-Bu Tan, the man chosen to lead Intel, the U.S.'s largest chip maker, has invested in hundreds of Chinese tech firms, including at least eight with links to the People's Liberation Army, according to a Reuters review of Chinese and U.S. corporate filings. The appointment last month of Tan, one of Silicon Valley's longest-running investors in Chinese tech, as CEO of a company that manufactures cutting-edge chips for the U.S. Department of Defense raised questions among some investors Reuters' review found that Tan controls more than 40 Chinese companies and funds as well as minority stakes in over 600 via...

Breakthrough research has shown that twisting light into spiral patterns like those found in nature dramatically improved the efficiency of OLED screens. The researchers behind the novel approach believe their method for twisting light could revolutionize the efficiency of electronics, including display technologies like OLEDs and night vision. In the nearly 150 years since the invention of the light bulb, the science of light has continued to advance. As the use of electronic devices involving display technologies has rapidly spread in recent decades, scientists have been searching for new and innovative ways to control the chaotic behavior of light or...

The Air Force canceled its premiere acquisition seminar and collaborative meeting with industry for 2025 to comply with Trump administration efficiency directives, the Air Force Materiel Command’s Life Cycle Management Center said March 11. The Life Cycle Industry Days 2025 event was to be held the Convention Center in Dayton, Ohio, July 28 and 29.“Based on Air Force guidance on mission-critical categories of exempted travel consistent with Executive Order 14222, ‘Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Cost Efficiency Initiative’, and in consultation with the Dayton Development Coalition and representatives of the State of Ohio, we have canceled the 9th...

We really do live on the verge of a new era of scientific progress. Case in point, a company called Lila Sciences was started two years ago with about $200 million in seed funding, but until very recently all of its activities have been kept under the radar. So what is Lila Sciences doing? They are training an AI in the scientific method and then prompting it to create new things using a special automated laboratory that the AI itself can operate. Lila’s mission is to achieve “scientific superintelligence” that is able to help scientists generate ideas and hypotheses and...

Researchers have developed a battery that can convert nuclear energy into electricity via light emission, a new study suggests. Nuclear power plants, which generate about 20% of all electricity produced in the United States, produce almost no greenhouse gas emissions. However, these systems do create radioactive waste, which can be dangerous to human health and the environment. Safely disposing of this waste can be challenging. Using a combination of scintillator crystals, high-density materials that emit light when they absorb radiation, and solar cells, the team, led by researchers from The Ohio State University, demonstrated that ambient gamma radiation could be...

During the Civil War, Democrats attempted to use cotton and private shipping companies to undermine American security and gain support in Europe for the Confederacy. Today, the blue state of California is leveraging Berkeley to build ties with China and undermine America’s qualitative advantages in dual-use technology and to undermine energy independence.

An early precision lathe - France, 1751, Jacques de Vaucanson Lathes are fundamental to modern science and industry. Every last thing in modern tech starts from that. You can trace European (and later global) "economic takeoff" to this thing. ALL human progress and change, and history, comes from advances in technology. Religion, philosophy, warfare, all matter little or nothing, or are rather reactions to technological change.

WASHINGTON — Former chief information security officer (CISO) for acquisition and sustainment at the Department of Defense is headed back to the Pentagon — this time as DoD’s CISO — following her previous suspension from the department for allegedly disclosing classified data.Katie Arrington served as a state lawmaker for South Carolina and had an unsuccessful bid for Congress before taking her post in 2019 as the chief information officer for A&S during President Donald Trump’s first administration. She played an active role in standing up the department’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program before she was put on administrative leave...

Approximately 1,000 agents from the Bureau's Washington, D.C. headquarters will be moved to field offices nationwide, and 500 will go to Huntsville, Alabama. Today is only his first day in office, and he's already at it. This was something Kash promised, by the way.

Thank you for the kind introduction. I want to start by thanking President Macron for hosting the event and of course, for the lovely dinner last night. During the dinner, President Macron looked at me and asked if I would like to speak, and I said, "Mr. President, I'm here for the good company and free wine, but I have to earn my keep today." I, of course, want to thank Prime Minister Modi for being here and for co-hosting the summit, and all of you for participating. I'm not here this morning to talk about AI safety, which was...

Kicking off Season 3, join us for an enlightening fireside chat on "Inside West Point: Ideas that Impact" with visionary entrepreneur Elon Musk. In this episode, Musk explores the intersection of advanced technology and modern warfare, focusing on the role of AI and drones in transforming the battlefield. He shares his insights on innovation, the existential risks of AI, and the future of autonomous systems in military operations. Musk’s unique perspective offers invaluable lessons for military and industry leaders, and anyone interested in the future of warfare technology. (This episode was created from Mr. Musk’s visit to West Point in...

Opinion As AI continues to evolve, it is crucial to maintain clear boundaries between machine intelligence and human cognition In an era increasingly defined by artificial intelligence (AI), a curious psychological phenomenon has emerged -- humans are anthropomorphising AI tools. From virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa to large language models like ChatGPT, people often ascribe human-like emotions, intentions and even personalities to these systems. While this tendency may seem benign or even endearing, it has profound implications for society, ethics, and the way we perceive technology. By giving AI tools human-like names, voices and personalities, developers create a sense...

The fundamental problem is this: electronic technology advances far too rapidly to be something that gets permanently integrated into a car that you may want to own for more than, say, five years or so. There’s nothing that ages an otherwise perfectly-fine car more dramatically than integrated technology that was cutting-edge when the car was new.

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