February 16, 2026

The scientist using AI to hunt for antibiotics just about everywhere

When he was just a teenager trying to decide what to do with his life, César de la Fuente compiled a list of the world’s biggest problems. He ranked them inversely by how much money governments were spending to solve them. Antimicrobial resistance topped the list.  Twenty years on, the problem has not gone away.…

Watch United Launch Alliance launch two Project Kuiper test satellites for Amazon

October 6, 2023
After years of development, the moment is finally here: Amazon will send two of its Kuiper test satellites to space, as the company looks to take on reigning incumbent SpaceX with its own satellite internet constellation. The two prototypes will launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida during […]

The Download: junk in space, and what’s next for mRNA vaccines

October 6, 2023
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Why the first-ever space junk fine is such a big deal We’ve just taken a major step toward cleaning up space junk. Earlier this week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US…

MGM Resorts confirms hackers stole customers’ personal data during cyberattack

October 6, 2023
MGM Resorts has confirmed hackers stole an unspecified amount of customers’ personal information during a September cyberattack that will cost the hotel and casino giant an estimated $100 million. The hotel and casino giant first disclosed it had been targeted by a large-scale cyberattack on September 11. The cyberattack, which was days later claimed by […]

Snap’s AI chatbot draws scrutiny in UK over kids’ privacy concerns

October 6, 2023
Snap’s AI chatbot has landed the company on the radar of the UK’s data protection watchdog which has raised concerns the tool may be a risk to children’s privacy. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced today that it’s issued a preliminary enforcement notice on Snap over what it described as “potential failure to properly assess […]

mRNA vaccines just won a Nobel Prize. Now they’re ready for the next act.

October 6, 2023
Hello again from The Checkup!  This week the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine honored two scientists whose research into messenger RNA (mRNA) technology paved the way for much-lauded covid-19 vaccines. Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman figured out how to tweak mRNA to prevent it from setting off an inflammatory reaction. Their discovery, first published…