The race to make the perfect baby is creating an ethical mess

October 16, 2025
Consider, if you will, the translucent blob in the eye of a microscope: a human blastocyst, the biological specimen that emerges just five days or so after a fateful encounter between egg and sperm. This bundle of cells, about the size of a grain of sand pulled from a powdery white Caribbean beach, contains the…

The problem with Big Tech’s favorite carbon removal tech

October 16, 2025
Sucking carbon pollution out of the atmosphere is becoming a big business—companies are paying top dollar for technologies that can cancel out their own emissions. Today, nearly 70% of announced carbon removal contracts are for one technology: bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). Basically, the idea is to use trees or some other types…

Zepto raises $450 million at $7 billion valuation as Indian quick commerce market heats up

October 16, 2025
Indian quick commerce startup Zepto said it has raised $400 million in a funding round led by a new investor, California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), a U.S.-based pension fund. The round, which is a mix of primary and secondary investment, also has participation from existing investors, including Avenir, Avra, Lightspeed, Glade Brook, The Stepstone […]

This Thiel-backed venture allows doping in its own sports

October 15, 2025
Backed by Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Jr.’s 1789 Capital, the Enhanced Games aims to disrupt the Olympics with a competition that allows athletes to dope. Launching in Las Vegas in May 2026, the games promise $1 million bounties for breaking world records and lean on a business model reminiscent of Red Bull’s, using the […]