Read about Marvell Technology, Chinese chip makers and more in the latest Market Talks covering technology, media and telecom.

The artificial-intelligence company behind ChatGPT has agreed to put its powerful tech in Anduril Industries drone defense systems.

A pair of exhibitions in Washingtonone at the Phillips Collection, the other at American Universitys Katzen Arts Centerfocus on masters of the political cartoon.

Radicals sent some 30 mail bombs to U.S. politicians in a 1919 attack. Their scheme went awry due to insufficient postage.

webslingers These spiders listen for prey before hurling webs like slingshots Ballistic webs can reach speeds of nearly 1 m/s to catch mosquitoes within 38 milliseconds. Jennifer Ouellette Dec 4, 2024 6:00 pm | 15 Ballistic spiders listen for mosquitoes to fire off webs Credit: S.I. Han and T.A. Blackledge, 2024 Ballistic spiders listen for mosquitoes to fire off webs Credit: S.I. Han and T.A. Blackledge, 2024 Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn more A tethered mosquito approaches the web in the path of release of the cone, and triggers web release response. Credit: S.I. Han and T.A. Blackledge, 2024. Ray spiders deploy an unusual strategy to capture prey in their webs. They essentially pull it back into a cone shape and release it when prey approaches, trapping said prey in the sticky silken threads. A few years ago, scientists noticed that they could get the spiders to release their webs just by snapping their fingers nearby, suggesting that the spiders relied at least in part on sound vibrations to know when to strike. Evidence for that hypothesis has now been confirmed in a new paper published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.Most spider orb webs are static: the spiders weave them and fix them in place and then wait for prey to fly into the webs. That causes the silk threads to vibrate, alerting the spider that dinner is served. There are some species that actively actuate their webs, however, per the authors.For instance, the triangle weaver spring-loads its triangular web once an insect has made contact so that the threads wrap around the prey in fractions of a second. Bolas spiders seem to detect prey in their vicinity through auditory cues, throwing a line of silk with a sticky end at passing moths to catch them. Ogre-faced spiders also seem to be able to hear potential prey, striking backward with a small silk net held in their front legs. It's a more proactive hunting strategy than merely waiting for prey to fly into a web.Sarah Han and Todd Blackledge of the University of Akron in Ohio were intrigued by the 2021 observations of ray spiders (Theridiosoma gemmosum) and decided to test the spiders' reactions to sound in the lab, as well as measuring the kinematics of web release. They collected 19 local spiders in the wild and placed each in small inverted terrariums with trays of shallow water underneath to mimic their natural habitat, along with twigs mounted on styrofoam bases to serve as frames for web-building. These included extra small twigs to anchor the tension lines that ray spiders use at the center of their webs to draw it back into a cone like a slingshot.Along came a spider A) Untensed web shown from front view. (B) Tensed web shown from side view. Credit: S.I. Han and T.A. Blackledge, 2024 The 19 spiders built 26 webs over the testing period. For the experiments, Han and Blackledge used a weighted tuning fork with frequencies in the mid-range for whirring wings for many mosquito species in North America as a control stimulus. They also attached actual mosquitos to thin strips of black construction paper by dabbing a bit of superglue on their abdomens or hind legs. This ensured the mosquitos could still beat their wings when approaching the webs. The experiments were recorded on high-speed video for analysis.As expected, spiders released their webs when flapping mosquitoes drew near, but the video footage showed that the releases occurred before the mosquitoes ever touched the web. The spiders released their webs just as frequently when the tuning fork was brandished nearby. It wasn't likely that they were relying on visual cues because the spiders were centered at the vertex of the web and anchor line, facing away from the cone. Ray spiders also don't have well-developed eyes. And one spider did not respond to a motionless mosquito held within the capture cone but released its web only when the insect started flapping its wings."The decision to release a web is therefore likely based upon vibrational information," the authors concluded, noting that ray spiders have sound-sensitive hairs on their back legs that could be detecting air currents or sound waves since those legs are typically closest to the cone. Static webs are known to vibrate in response to airborne sounds, so it seems likely that ray spiders can figure out an insect's approach, its size, or maybe even its behavior before the prey ever makes contact with the web.As for the web kinematics, Han and Blackledge determined that they can accelerate up to 504 m/s2, reaching speeds as high as 1 m/s, and hence can catch mosquitos in 38 milliseconds or less. Even the speediest mosquitoes might struggle to outrun that.Journal of Experimental Biology, 2024. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.249237 (About DOIs).Jennifer OuelletteSenior WriterJennifer OuelletteSenior Writer Jennifer is a senior reporter at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. 15 Comments Prev story

If not friend, why friend-shaped? Dog domestication happened many times, but most didnt pan out Our relationship with wolves, dogs, and even coyotes has always been complicated. Kiona N. Smith Dec 4, 2024 5:16 pm | 47 Credit: Russell Burden Credit: Russell Burden Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreBetween 8,000 and 12,000 years ago, people in Alaska kept reinventing dogs with mixed results.The dogs that share our homes today are the descendants of a single group of wolves that lived in Siberia about 23,000 years ago. But for thousands of years after that split, the line between wolf and dog wasnt quite clear-cut. A recent study shows that long after dogs had spread into Eurasia and the Americas, people living in what is now Alaska still spent time withand feda bizarre mix of dogs, wolves, dog-wolf hybrids, and even some coyotes.We just cant stop feeding the wildlifeUniversity of Arizona archaeologist Franois Lano and his colleagues studied 111 sets of bones from dogs and wolves from archaeological sites across the Alaskan interior. The oldest bones came from wolves that roamed whats now Alaska long before people set foot there, and the most recent came from modern, wild Alaskan wolves. In between, the researchers worked with the remains of both wolves and dogs (and even a couple of coyotes) that spanning a swath of time from about 1,000 to around 14,000 years ago. And it turns out that even the wolves were tangled up in the lives of nearby humans.The terminal Pleistocene in interior Alaska may have been a time of experimentation in terms of human-canid relationships, write Lano and his colleagues. People may have domesticated canids that left no trace in later dog lineages. Alternatively, some wild canids may have been kept as pets and others hunted.The researchers compared the animals DNA to that of modern dogs and wolves, as well as much older wolf populations from Siberia. They also measured the ratio of nitrogen isotopes in the canids bones and teeth, which can suggest whether an animal mostly hunted other animals that grazed on land or ate a diet high in fish. Since wolves arent much for fishing, the presence of fish in a wolfs diet usually suggests that its being fed by, or scavenging from, humans.The story that data reveals is complicatedbut somehow very human.Until about 13,600 years ago, any wolf living in what is now Alaska would have lived on the usual wolf diet: rabbits, moose, and a whole range of other land animals. But starting around 13,600 years ago, the nitrogen isotopes locked in ancient wolves bones suggest that something changed. Some wolves still made their living solely by hunting wild game, but others started living almost entirely on fish. Since its unlikely that Alaskan wolves had suddenly taken up fly fishing, the sudden change probably suggests that some wolves had started getting food from people.Theyre good dogs, BrentThe fact that we kept trying to befriend wolves is starkly clear at a site called Hollembaek Hill, where archaeologists unearthed the 8,100-year-old remains of four canines. Their diets (according to the nitrogen isotopes locked in their bones) consisted mostly of salmon, so its tempting to assume these were domesticated dogs. But their DNA reveals that all fourincluding a newborn puppyare most closely related to modern wolves.On the other hand, the Hollembaek Hill canines didnt all look like wild wolves. At least one of them had the large stature of a modern wolf, but others were smaller, like early dogs. And some of their DNA suggests that they may be at least part dog but not actually related to modern dogs. Lano and his colleagues suggest that people at Hollembaek Hill 8,000 years ago were living alongside a mix of pet wolves (do not try this at home) and wolf-dog hybrids.All modern dogs trace their roots to a single group of wolves (now extinct) that lived in Siberia around 23,000 years ago. But sometime between 11,300 and 12,800 years ago, the canines from Hollembaek Hill and another Alaskan site called Swan Point had dog DNA that doesnt seem related to modern dogs at all. That may suggest that dog domestication was a process that happened several times in different places, creating several branches of a dog family tree, but only one stuck around in the long run.In other words, long after humans invented dogs, it seems that people just kept repeating the process, doing the things that created dogs in the first place: allowing the friendliest, least aggressive wild canids to live near their villages and maybe adopting and feeding them.Kiona N. SmithScience correspondentKiona N. SmithScience correspondent Kiona is a freelance science journalist and resident archaeology nerd at Ars Technica. 47 Comments

This brain implant contains tens of thousands of lab-engineered neuronsScience CorporationAn experimental brain implant containing tens of thousands of living neurons can form cell connections with the brains of mice. Such a device could eventually enable sophisticated control over millions of neurons on the level of individual cells but without relying on surgically implanted electrodes that penetrate and destroy brain tissue.The biohybrid implant, developed by California-based start-up Science Corporation, differs from many other brain-computer interface devices, which usually contain arrays of electrodes that penetrate the brain and sometimes damage cells. In comparison, Science Corporations implant is

An artists reconstruction of the toddler with his mother consuming mammoth meatEric Carlson/Ben Potter (UAF)/Jim Chatters (McMaster University)An analysis of the bones of a boy who died in what is now Montana 12,800 years ago shows that nearly half of his diet came from mammoth meat.To have it turn out to be 40 per cent, its just like, wow! says James Chatters at McMaster University in Canada. In fact, when compared with other animals alive at this time, the boys diet was more similar to that of the carnivorous scimitar-toothed cat than that of

At the start of 2024, OpenAIs rules for how armed forces might use its technology were unambiguous. The company prohibited anyone from using its models for weapons development or military and warfare. That changed on January 10, when The Intercept reported that OpenAI had softened those restrictions, forbidding anyone from using the technology to harm yourself or others by developing or using weapons, injuring others, or destroying property. OpenAI said soon after that it would work with the Pentagon on cybersecurity software, but not on weapons. Then, in a blog post published in October, the company shared that it is working in the national security space, arguing that in the right hands, AI could help protect people, deter adversaries, and even prevent future conflict. Today, OpenAI is announcing that its technology will be deployed directly on the battlefield. The company says it will partner with the defense-tech company Anduril, a maker of AI-powered drones, radar systems, and missiles, to help US and allied forces defend against drone attacks. OpenAI will help build AI models that rapidly synthesize time-sensitive data, reduce the burden on human operators, and improve situational awareness to take down enemy drones, according to the announcement. Specifics have not been released, but the program will be narrowly focused on defending US personnel and facilities from unmanned aerial threats, according to Liz Bourgeois, an OpenAI spokesperson. This partnership is consistent with our policies and does not involve leveraging our technology to develop systems designed to harm others, she said. An Anduril spokesperson did not provide specifics on the bases around the world where the models will be deployed but said the technology will help spot and track drones and reduce the time service members spend on dull tasks. OpenAIs policies banning military use of its technology unraveled in less than a year. When the company softened its once-clear rule earlier this year, it was to allow for working with the military in limited contexts, like cybersecurity, suicide prevention, and disaster relief, according to an OpenAI spokesperson. Now, OpenAI is openly embracing its work on national security. If working with militaries or defense-tech companies can help ensure that democratic countries dominate the AI race, the company has written, then doing so will not contradict OpenAIs mission of ensuring that AIs benefits are widely shared. In fact, it argues, it will help serve that mission. But make no mistake: This is a big shift from its position just a year ago. In understanding how rapidly this pivot unfolded, its worth noting that while the company wavered in its approach to the national security space, others in tech were racing toward it. Venture capital firms more than doubled their investment in defense tech in 2021, to $40 billion, after firms like Anduril and Palantir proved that with some persuasion (and litigation), the Pentagon would pay handsomely for new technologies. Employee opposition to working in warfare (most palpable during walkouts at Google in 2018) softened for some when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 (several executives in defense tech told me that the unambiguity of that war has helped them attract both investment and talent). So in some ways, by embracing defense OpenAI is just catching up. The difference is that defense-tech companies own that theyre in the business of warfare and havent had to rapidly disown a legacy as a nonprofit AI research company. From its founding charter, OpenAI has positioned itself as an organization on a mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. It had publicly vowed that working with the military would contradict that mission. Its October 24 blog post charted a new path, attempting to square OpenAIs willingness to work in defense with its stated values. Titled OpenAIs approach to AI and national security, it was released the same day the White House issued its National Security Memorandum on AI, which ordered the Pentagon and other agencies to ramp up their use of AI, in part to thwart competition from China. We believe a democratic vision for AI is essential to unlocking its full potential and ensuring its benefits are broadly shared, OpenAI wrote, echoing similar language in the White House memo. We believe democracies should continue to take the lead in AI development, guided by values like freedom, fairness, and respect for human rights. It offered a number of ways OpenAI could help pursue that goal, including efforts to streamline translation and summarization tasks, and study and mitigate civilian harm, while still prohibiting its technology from being used to harm people, destroy property, or develop weapons. Above all, it was a message from OpenAI that it is on board with national security work. The new policies emphasize flexibility and compliance with the law, says Heidy Khlaaf, a chief AI scientist at the AI Now Institute and a safety researcher who authored a paper with OpenAI in 2022 about the possible hazards of its technology in contexts including the military. The companys pivot ultimately signals an acceptability in carrying out activities related to military and warfare as the Pentagon and US military see fit, she says. Amazon, Google, and OpenAIs partner and investor Microsoft have competed for the Pentagons cloud computing contracts for years. Those companies have learned that working with defense can be incredibly lucrative, and OpenAIs pivot, which comes as the company expects $5 billion in losses and is reportedly exploring new revenue streams like advertising, could signal that it wants a piece of those contracts. Big Techs relationships with the military also no longer elicit the outrage and scrutiny that they once did. But OpenAI is not a cloud provider, and the technology its building stands to do much more than simply store and retrieve data. With this new partnership, OpenAI promises to help sort through data on the battlefield, provide insights about threats, and help make the decision-making process in war faster and more efficient. OpenAIs statements on national security perhaps raise more questions than they answer. The company wants to mitigate civilian harm, but for which civilians? Does contributing AI models to a program that takes down drones not count as developing weapons that could harm people? Defensive weapons are still indeed weapons, Khlaaf says. They can often be positioned offensively subject to the locale and aim of a mission. Beyond those questions, working in defense means that the worlds foremost AI company, which has had an incredible amount of leverage in the industry and has long pontificated about how to steward AI responsibly, will now work in a defense-tech industry that plays by an entirely different set of rules. In that system, when your customer is the US military, tech companies do not get to decide how their products are used.

A company best known for sucking up industrial waste gases is turning its attention to food. LanzaTech, a rising star in the fuel and chemical industries, is joining a growing group of businesses producing microbe-based food as an alternative to plant and animal products. Using microbes to make food is hardly newbeer, yogurt, cheese, and tempeh all rely on microbes to transform raw ingredients into beloved dishes. But some companies are hoping to create a new category of food, one that relies on microbes themselves as a primary ingredient in our meals. The global food system is responsible for roughly 25% to 35% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions today (depending on how you tally them up), and much of that comes from animal agriculture. Alternative food sources could help feed the world while cutting climate pollution. As climate change pushes weather conditions to new extremes, its going to be harder to grow food, says LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren. The companys current specialty, sucking up waste gases and transforming them into ethanol, is mostly used today in places like steel mills and landfills. The process the company uses to make ethanol relies on a bacterium that can be found in the guts of rabbits. LanzaTech grows the microbes in reactors, on a diet consisting of gases including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. As they grow, they produce ethanol, which can then be funneled into processes that transform the ethanol into chemicals like ethylene or fuels. A by-product of that process is tons of excess microbes. In LanzaTechs existing plants where ethanol is the primary product, operators generally need to harvest bacteria from the reactors, since they multiply over time. When the excess bacteria are harvested and dried, the resulting powder is high in protein. Some plants using LanzaTechs technology in China are already selling the protein product to feed fish, poultry, and pigs. Now, LanzaTech is expanding its efforts. The company has identified a new microbe, one they hope to make the star of future plants. Cupriavidus necator can be found in soil and water, and its something of a protein machine. The company says that after growing, harvesting, and drying the microbes, the resulting powder is more than 85% protein and could be added to all sorts of food products, for either humans or animals. Roughly 80 companies around the world are making food products using biomass fermentation (meaning the microbes themselves make up the bulk of the product, rather than being used to transform ingredients, as they do in beer or cheesemaking), according to a report from the Good Food Institute, a think tank that focuses on alternative proteins. The most established efforts in this space have been around since the 1980s. They use mycelial fungi, says Adam Leman, principal scientist for fermentation at the Good Food Institute. Other startups are starting to grow other options for food products, including Air Protein and Calysta in the US and Solar Foods in Europe, Leman says. LanzaTech, which has significant experience raising microbes and running reactors, hopping into this space is a really good sign for the industry, he adds. Many alternative protein companies have struggled in recent yearssales of plant-based meat products have dropped, especially in the US. Prices have gone up, and consumers say that alternatives arent up to par on taste and texture yet. Making food with microbes would use less land and water and produce fewer emissions than many protein sources we rely on today, particularly high-impact ones like beef, Holmgren says. While its still early days for bacteria-based foods, one recent review found that mycoprotein-based foods (products like Quorn, made from mycelial fungi) generally have emissions lower than or similar to those of planet-friendly plant-based protein products, like those produced from corn and soy. LanzaTech is currently developing prototype products with Mattson, a company that specializes in food development. In one such trial, Mattson made bread using the protein product as a sort of flour, Holmgren says. As for whether the bread tastes good, she says she hasnt tried it yet, as the company is still working on getting the necessary certification from the US Food and Drug Administration. So far, LanzaTechs efforts have been relatively small-scalethe company is operating a pilot facility in Illinois that can produce around one kilogram of protein product each day. The company is working to start up a pre-commercial plant by 2026 that could produce half a metric ton of product per day, enough to supply the protein requirements of roughly 10,000 people, Holmgren says. A full-scale commercial plant would produce about 45,000 metric tons of protein product each year. I just want to make sure that theres enough protein for the world, Holmgren says.