What just happened? A coalition of news organizations led by The New York Times faced off against OpenAI in federal court on Tuesday, continuing a legal battle that could shape the future of AI and journalism. The hearing, centered on OpenAI's motion to dismiss, marks a critical juncture in a high-stakes copyright infringement case that asks a fundamental question: Can AI companies use copyrighted news articles to train their language models without consent or compensation? The case has merged lawsuits from three publishers: The New York Times, The New York Daily News, and the Center for Investigative Reporting. The publishers argue that OpenAI's practices amount to copyright infringement on a massive scale, potentially threatening the future of journalism.The publishers' legal team contends that OpenAI and its financial backer, Microsoft, have profited from journalistic work that was scanned, processed, and recreated without proper authorization or payment. Jennifer Maisel, a lawyer for The New York Times, drew a parallel to criminal investigations, stating in court, "We have to follow the data."Ian Crosby, another attorney representing the Times, emphasized the substitutional nature of ChatGPT and Microsoft's Bing search engine, arguing that these AI-powered tools have become alternatives to the publishers' original work for some users. This point is crucial in establishing copyright infringement.OpenAI's defense rests on the doctrine of fair use, a principle in US law that allows copyrighted material to be used for purposes such as education, research, or commentary. Joseph Gratz, representing OpenAI, argued that the company's AI models are not designed to regurgitate entire articles but rather to recognize patterns in data.The hearing delved into the technical aspects of large language models, with OpenAI and Microsoft's legal team explaining to Judge Sidney Stein how ChatGPT processes and analyzes data. They described a system that breaks down text into "tokens" and learns to recognize patterns rather than simply retrieving and reproducing copyrighted content. // Related StoriesHowever, the publishers raised concerns about a feature called "retrieval augmented generation," which allows ChatGPT to incorporate up-to-date information from the web into its responses. Steven Lieberman, attorney for The New York Daily News, characterized this as "free riding," suggesting that readers might turn to AI-generated content instead of visiting publishers' websites.The stakes in this case are extraordinarily high. The New York Times is seeking billions of dollars in damages and calling for the destruction of ChatGPT's dataset. Such an outcome could be catastrophic for OpenAI, potentially forcing the company to rebuild its AI models using only authorized works. "If you're copying millions of works, you can see how that becomes a number that becomes potentially fatal for a company," Daniel Gervais, co-director of the intellectual property program at Vanderbilt University, told NPR.The tech and publishing worlds now await Judge Stein's decision on whether to dismiss the case or allow it to proceed to trial.

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" Table of ContentsTable of ContentsSurprisingly good hardwareComprehensive parental controlsOther important safety featuresThe Pinwheel Watchs best featureAt CES 2025, Pinwheel, a company renowned for its kid-friendly smartphones, unveiled its first wearable device, the Pinwheel Watch.Set to hit the market in the first quarter of 2025, this smartwatch is specifically designed for children ages 7 to 14. With a sleek design reminiscent of modern smartwatches like the Apple Watch, the Pinwheel Watch incorporates essential features that cater to both children and their parents.Recommended VideosAs a parent of two children who have used the Gizmo Watch 3 in years past, I was impressed by the forward-thinking vision of the Pinwheel smartwatch and only wish it had existed when my children were young enough to wear one. While I was unable to test out the software at CES, I did get some time with the hardware itself.RelatedJason Howell / Digital TrendsI was struck by how much it looks like any other smartwatch instead of a kids smartwatch. It was surprisingly light, which will make smaller wrists happy. Its IP67 rated, keeping it relatively protected from dirt and splashes, which will make parents happy. Kids can also customize the hardware by swapping out the straps. Overall, the watch felt durable and well-designed.Unlike many childrens wearables, the Pinwheel Watch includes a key feature that sets it apart: PinwheelGPT, a voice- and text-driven AI chatbot tailored for younger audiences. This chatbot allows kids to engage in conversations on various topics with unlimited access while ensuring that responses are age-appropriate and safe.Dane Witbeck, CEO of Pinwheel, highlighted the importance of this feature, stating: It opts out of anything controversial, meaning anything religious, political, or sexual in nature. It simply says, Hey, why dont you talk to a trusted adult about that?' This approach ensures that children can explore their curiosity without encountering inappropriate content.Witbeck expressed excitement about this aspect of the watch: The main thing that were excited about with the watch is that its AI-first. He emphasized how integrating AI into childrens devices opens up opportunities for learning while maintaining safety.Pinwheel / PinwheelThe design of the Pinwheel Watch prioritizes parental control and monitoring. Parents can access a dedicated dashboard that collects all interactions between their children and the AI chatbot.Witbeck explained: We pipe all the questions and answers into the parents dashboard. So on their iPhone, Android phone, or on the web, they can pull up all the conversations that their kids have been having with the AI and they can stay in the loop. This feature allows parents to understand their childrens interests and concerns while relieving them of the burden of sifting through extensive text chains.Moreover, the watch is equipped with robust safety measures. Children will not have access to the open web or social media platforms; instead, they can communicate only with whitelisted contacts approved by their parents. As children mature and demonstrate responsibility, parents can gradually ease these restrictions through the parent portal.Jason Howell / Digital TrendsThe Pinwheel Watch also includes geofencing and GPS tracking capabilities. Parents can monitor their childs location in real time and set up safe zones that trigger notifications if their child leaves those areas. This feature is particularly useful in the context of separated households, according to Witbeck, so parents can ensure their child arrives safely at their other home during custody transitions.The smartwatch includes a cluster of sensors underneath that allow for fitness-tracking features like step counting and activity monitoring.Additionally, the watch features not one, but two cameras for taking pictures a functionality designed to mimic what children see their parents doing with similar devices. Parents also retain control over this feature; they can choose to disable camera functionality if they feel uncomfortable with it. While video calling wont be available at launch, Witbeck confirmed that it is in development for a future update.Jason Howell / Digital TrendsWhat makes the Pinwheel Watch particularly appealing is its capability as a standalone device. Unlike many smartwatches that require a paired smartphone, this watch operates on a 4G LTE network with its own phone number. This means children can make calls and send texts independently of an attached device. The watch costs $160, plus an additional monthly cellular plan fee of around $15.As digital parenting becomes increasingly challenging, products like the Pinwheel Watch aim to simplify these complexities by offering tools that promote the safe exploration of technology.With its combination of innovative features and strong safety measures, the Pinwheel Watch represents a significant advancement in child-friendly technology. It addresses parental concerns while providing children with a sophisticated device that grows alongside them as they transition from elementary to middle school. Pinwheel has crafted a smartwatch that not only meets modern childrens needs, but also gives parents peace of mind as they navigate this digital age together.The Pinwheel Watch is coming soon, and you can join the wait list now.Editors Recommendations

You hear this mantra in cybersecurity over and over again: Its not if, its when. Data breaches, ransomware attacks, and all manner of incidents abound, it seems like disaster lurks around every corner. The prevalence of these incidents has shifted the CISOs emphasis from prevention to resilience. Yes, even the most prepared enterprises can still get hit. What matters is how they bounce back.Todays CISO role has disaster recovery baked into the job description. How can they cultivate that skillset and use it to guide their organizations through the fallout of a major cybersecurity incident?Defining Critical Disaster Recovery SkillsDisaster recovery has become an essential part of the CISO role. In cybersecurity, we live in the world of incidents, whether it's someone clicking on a phish or someone plugging in a USB drive, or someone who's conducted fraud against your company, Ross Young, CISO in residence atventure capital fund Team8, tells InformationWeek.Incident response and disaster recovery go hand in hand. Some of the best CISOs are some of the best understanders of disaster recovery efforts and apply those in their own security response plans, says Matt Hillary, CISO at compliance automation platform Drata.Effective disaster recovery requires both technical skills and human skills.Related:On the technical side, CISOs must understand how each part of the technology stack is used in their organizations and how that technology impacts the CIA triad: confidentiality, integrity, and availability.A lot of that technical work is going to be driven down to the engineering level. Ideally, the CISO will have done the right work to bring in the right talent and drive the technical remediation, says Marshall Erwin, CISO at Fastly, a cloud computing services company.CISOs also need to be able to put themselves in the mindset of attackers to understand their goals and what they could be doing once inside the network. You can say, Team, here's where we need to be looking, here's where we need to point our lens and our forensic skills to identify what an attacker did to be able to make sure that we kicked them out and have cleaned up our internal network, says Erwin.But human skills are equally important. CISOs need to be able to communicate effectively across multiple teams and with C-suite peers to lead an effective response.What you feel you need to do from a security investigative perspective might be the opposite from [what] business resilience folks want to take, says Mandy Andress, CISO at Elastic, an AI search company. How do you navigate, communicate, and find the compromises.Related:A lot of that work is best done in advance of an actual incident. CISOs can add their voice to disaster recovery plans to ensure the security perspective is in place before an attacker gets inside.In the heat of a cybersecurity disaster, CISOs also have a responsibility to their team. They need skills to get them through the incident response process.It seems like every incident I've ever seen, it always happens on a Saturday when everybody's at their kids baseball game or something else. It's the most inconvenient time possible. How do you keep the positive moral? says Young.Remaining calm and decisive in the midst of a stressful situation that can last days, weeks, or even months is necessary and not without its challenges. I think there is a lot of bravado sometimes in the security community, says Hillary. I don't know if it's a mask or if it's something else that leads us to not being as human as we need to be. And so just to continue to be humble, teachable, and learn throughout that incident.Cultivating Disaster Recovery SkillsWhile people may have different career paths that lead them to the CISO role, theyve most likely worked through cybersecurity incidents along the way.Related:Incidents are frequent enough that you're going to have that experience at some point in your career and develop that expertise organically, says Erwin.While trial by fire is an excellent teacher, there are other ways that CISOs can shore up their disaster response and recovery toolboxes. Industry conferences, for example, can offer valuable training.When I was the CISO of Caterpillar Financial, I went to FS-ISAC [Financial Services-Information Sharing and Analysis Center], and they had a CISO conference where they did tabletop exercises simulating an insider threat, Young shares.CISOs can lead their own tabletop exercises at their enterprises to better understand the holes in their incident response plans and areas where they need to strengthen their own skills.Other leaders within an organization can be valuable resources for CISOs looking to cultivate these skills. One of my closest peers that I usually go to is someone who's over on the infrastructure team, says Hillary. Any kind of disaster impact or availability incident that they experience on their end, they have a plan for, they have a really good, well-exercised muscle within the organization to recover.CISOs can also look outside of their organizations for ways to sharpen their skills. Hillary shares that he always looks at other breaches and outages. I usually ask myself two questions. How do I know that this same vector isn't being used against my company right now? How do I know this same incident that this other company is experiencing can't happen to us? he says. So, it helps drive a lot of preventative measures.Navigating DisasterIn a world of third-party risk, human error, and motivated threat actors, even the best prepared CISOs cannot always shield their enterprises from all cybersecurity incidents. When disaster strikes, how can they put their skills to work?It is an opportunity for the CISO to step in and lead, says Erwin. That's the most critical thing a CISO is going to do in those incidents, and if the CISO isn't capable doing that or doesn't show up and shape the response, well, that's an indication of a problem.CISOs, naturally, want to guide their enterprises through a cybersecurity incident. But disaster recovery skills also apply to their own careers.I don't see a world where CISOs don't get some blame when an incident happens, says Young.There is plenty of concern over personal liability in this role. CISOs must consider the possibility of being replaced in the wake of an incident and potentially being held personally responsible.Do you have parachute packages like CEOs do in their corporate agreements for employability when they're hired? Young asks. I also see this big push of not only CISOs on the D&O insurance, but they're also starting to acquire private liability insurance for themselves directly.Andress shares that she is seeing CISOs be replaced less often. More often it's a recognition of underinvestment. And so, what I see more of is an increasing investment in the security program after an event or incident occurs, she says.After each incident, CISOs have the opportunity to learn about the strengths and weaknesses in the enterprises security and incident response plan, as well as in their own skillsets.For Andress, one of the biggest lessons has been to focus on the people involved in incident response. Everyone's looking at the technology. Everyone's looking at communication plans, but there're people working a lot of hours. How do we make sure that they're taking breaks? Getting rest. Getting fed, she says. If you want to have a strong and successful response making sure that you're focusing on not just the technology and the process aspects but really focusing on the people as well.

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. China wants to restore the sea with high-tech marine ranches A short ferry ride from the port city of Yantai, on the northeast coast of China, sits Genghai No. 1, a 12,000-metric-ton ring of oil-rig-style steel platforms, advertised as a hotel and entertainment complex. Genghai is in fact an unusual tourist destination, one that breeds 200,000 high-quality marine fish each year. The vast majority are released into the ocean as part of a process known as marine ranching.The Chinese government sees this work as an urgent and necessary response to the bleak reality that fisheries are collapsing both in China and worldwide. But just how much of a difference can it make? Read the full story.Matthew Ponsford This story is from the latest print edition of MIT Technology Reviewits all about the exciting breakthroughs happening in the world right now. If you dont already, subscribe to receive future copies. Fast-learning robots: 10 Breakthrough Technologies 2025 Generative AI is causing a paradigm shift in how robots are trained. Its now clear how we might finally build the sort of truly capable robots that have for decades remained the stuff of science fiction. A few years ago, roboticists began marveling at the progress being made in large language models. Makers of those models could feed them massive amounts of textbooks, poems, manualsand then fine-tune them to generate text based on prompts. Its one thing to use AI to create sentences on a screen, but another thing entirely to use it to coach a physical robot in how to move about and do useful things. Now, roboticists have made major breakthroughs in that pursuit. Read the full story. James O'Donnell Fast-learning robots is one of our 10 Breakthrough Technologies for 2025, MIT Technology Reviews annual list of tech to watch. Check out the rest of the list, and cast your vote for the honorary 11th breakthrough. The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 US regulators are suing Elon Musk| For allegedly violating securities law when he bought Twitter in 2022. (NYT $)+ The case claims that Musk continued to buy shares at artificially low prices. (FT $)+ Musk is unlikely to take it lying down. (Politico)2 SpaceX has launched two private missions to the moon Falling debris from the rockets has forced Qantas to delay flights. (The Guardian)+ The airline has asked for more precise warnings around future launches. (Semafor)+ Space startups are on course for a funding windfall. (Reuters)+ Whats next for NASAs giant moon rocket? (MIT Technology Review)3 Home security cameras are capturing homes burning down in LA Residents have remotely tuned into live footage of their own homes burning. (WP $)+ Californias water scarcity is only going to get worse. (Vox)+ How Los Angeles can rebuild in the wake of the devastation. (The Atlantic $) 4 ChatGPT is about to get much more personal Including reminding you about walking the dog. (Bloomberg $)5 Inside the $30 million campaign to liberate social media from billionaires Free Our Feeds wants to restructure platforms around open-source tech. (Insider $)6 How to avoid getting sick right now The Atlantic $) + But coughs and sneezes could be the least of our problems. (The Guardian)7 The US and China are still collaborating on AI researchDespite rising tensions between the countries. (Rest of World) 8 These startups think they have the solution to lonelinessMaking friends isnt always easy, but these companies have some ideas. (NY Mag $) 9 Here are just some of the ways the universe could end Dont say I didnt warn you. (Ars Technica)+ But at least Earth is probably safe from a killer asteroid for 1,000 years. (MIT Technology Review)10 AI is inventing impossible languages They could help us learn more about how humans learn. (Quanta Magazine)+ These impossible instruments could change the future of music. (MIT Technology Review) Quote of the day If you can get away with it when its front-page news, why bother to comply at all? Marc Fagel, a former director of the SECs San Francisco office, suggests the agencys decision to sue Elon Musk is intended as a deterrent to others, the Wall Street Journal reports. The big story I took an international trip with my frozen eggs to learn about the fertility industry September 2022Anna Louie Sussman Like me, my eggs were flying economy class. They were ensconced in a cryogenic storage flask packed into a metal suitcase next to Paolo, the courier overseeing their passage from a fertility clinic in Bologna, Italy, to the clinic in Madrid, Spain, where I would be undergoing in vitro fertilization.The shipping of gametes and embryos around the world is a growing part of a booming global fertility sector. As people have children later in life, the need for fertility treatment increases each year.After paying for storage costs for six and four years, respectively, at 40 I was ready to try to get pregnant. Transporting the Bolognese batch served to literally put all my eggs in one basket. Read the full story.We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.) + We need to save the worlds largest sea star!+ Maybe our little corner of the universe is more special than weve been led to believe after all.+ How the worlds leading anti-anxiety coach overcame her own anxiety.+ Heres how to keep your eyes on the prize in 2025and beyond!

Donald Trump champions the working class but his policies are bad news for them, Paul Krugman says.The Nobel-winning economist says tariffs and deportations will hurt instead of help the poor."A lot of people are going to get brutally scammed," Krugman said.Donald Trump rode to victory in the US presidential race by pledging to put America first and fight for blue-collar workers. Paul Krugman says he'll only make their lives harder.The economist, who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2008, criticized the president-elect's plans to raise tariffs and cut taxes during Tuesday's episode of "The Daily Blast with Greg Sargent" podcast.He told The New Republic show that those and other policies would lead to the working class paying higher prices while high earners keep more of their money."Even more than usual for a Republican, he appears to have an extremely regressive economic program in mind, one that really will effectively redistribute income away from working-class voters to the top," Krugman said.American households are already being pinched by inflation, which spiked to a 40-year high of more than 9% in the summer of 2022 and remains above the Federal Reserve's 2% target.On top of higher prices for food, fuel, rent, and other basics, many consumers are also paying more toward their credit cards, car loans, and mortgages.That's because the Fed, in a bid to curb inflation, increased its benchmark rate from zero to north of 5.25% in under 17 months, and has kept it as high as 4.5% for now.The battle over groceriesKrugman, a former MIT and Princeton University professor and New York Times columnist, zeroed in on grocery prices. Trump said during his campaign that he would reduce them, but he's walked that claim back in recent weeks.Yet recent surveys show that his supporters still expect him to do so, Krugman said, despite the fact that broader prices are still rising and deflation is almost universally regarded as undesirable for an economy.A CBS News/YouGov survey, conducted in late December with a nationally representative group of 2,244 US adults, found that 40% of Americans expect Trump to make food and grocery prices go down, exceeding the 36% who expect him to make them increase."A lot of people are going to get brutally scammed," Krugman said. Trump isn't just misleading people by saying they'll be better off once he's in office, he also doesn't appear to know how he'll deliver on his promises, Krugman continued. "So the scam is there is no plan."Trump said last year that lowering grocery prices would be tricky, but improving supply chains and boosting domestic energy production could lower costs for farmers, who could then pass those savings onto consumers.Tariffs and immigrationSeparately, Krugman nodded to the fact that tariffs are a tax on imports, and businesses usually pass on their increased costs by charging higher prices to consumers.He described their impact as "really bad," and said the fallout from Trump's proposed mass deportations would be "much, much worse." They'd be hugely disruptive and drive up prices in industries like agriculture, food processing, and construction, Krugman said, leaving the US with a shortage of workers for large-scale programs like rebuilding Florida after a hurricane.The author and blogger also rang the alarm on Trump and his allies' fierce criticism of colleges and skepticism of higher education."We've been pulling ahead on technology, but an administration that's extremely hostile to universities and education is going to undermine that source of advantage as well," Krugman said."Trump wants to turn the clock back to 1896, and that's not good for the US economy."

Democrats and Republicans generally dont agree about science. The vast majority of Democrats believe climate change is a major threat, for example, while less than a quarter of Republicans say the same.But people across the political spectrum agree on animal testing. Or, more accurately, no one knows what to think: About half of each party supports the use of animals in scientific research, while the other half opposes it.Increasingly, everyone from crunchy moms to right-wing tech bros also agrees that we should Make America Healthy Again. Distrust of health care systems, federal science agencies, and pharmaceutical companies crosses party lines and runs deep.Acting on this distrust, Trump 2.0 is promising to deprioritize research on infectious diseases and overhaul the nations science agencies. Trump has picked a handful of anti-establishment leaders such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Jay Bhattacharya, who aim to slash federal science funding, for health positions in his administration. Given the widespread use of lab animals in biomedical research, animal testing could get caught in the crosshairs of these changes, Emily Trunnell, director of science advancement and outreach at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), told me. This story was first featured in the Future Perfect newsletter.Sign up here to explore the big, complicated problems the world faces and the most efficient ways to solve them. Sent twice a week.Less federal science funding could, as a side effect, mean less animal testing. Animal advocates I spoke to welcome these potential changes. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world, so the lives of millions of animals depend on what happens to it. In the long run, forcing scientists to shift away from animal models by drying up existing funding sources could not just benefit animals used in experiments, but also make science better. Replacing animals with human-centered tools will provide better insight into human biology, speeding up the development of much-needed treatments for diseases like cancer and Alzheimers disease.Trumps war on science, however, has little to do with improving human or animal lives. He famously loves meat especially if its well done and, with a handful of exceptions, doesnt seem concerned with animal welfare. In fact, his first term saw a significant drop in penalizing animal welfare violations. Rather, the Trump administrations plans to defund animal testing while deregulating animal welfare are two sides of the same coin, and its attacks on science could worsen already-lax protections for lab animals and drive some scientists out of the field altogether.What did Trump 1.0 mean for lab animals?Looking back at Trumps first four years gives us some sense of what his next term could look like for animal experimentation.In 2019, Trump-appointed Environmental Protection Agency head Andrew Wheeler announced ambitious plans to cut the number of EPA-funded mammal studies by 30 percent by 2025, and to completely eliminate them by 2035. The initiative, lauded by animal rights groups alongside Trump loyalists like former Rep. Matt Gaetz, awarded grants to research teams developing human-based methods that can replace animals in studies of environmental toxins. Then, just two years later, President Joe Bidens EPA quietly removed that self-imposed timeline from a report on the plan to develop non-animal-based technologies, and have since abandoned the 2035 deadline altogether. The Biden administration loosened the plan in response to concerned environmentalists and scientists, who feared that new methods werent ready to replace animals in tests that determine whether potentially dangerous chemicals get cleared for use in consumer products.Meanwhile, during the first Trump administration, White Coat Waste, a bipartisan anti-animal testing nonprofit, gained traction by harnessing the tension between left-leaning researchers and anti-establishment conservatives that had been growing during the Covid pandemic. Their strategy: appeal to conservatives by framing animal testing as a waste of taxpayer money, while still engaging more liberal activists motivated by compassion for animals. Its proven to be remarkably effective, and theyve successfully shut down over 114 labs and experiments, including the FDAs largest primate lab.Based on our success with the first Trump administration, were very excited to make even more progress under Trump 2.0, Justin Goodman, senior vice president of advocacy and public policy at White Coat Waste, told me.While some lab animals benefitted from the shutdowns, the vast majority did not. Enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, which sets basic standards for the treatment and housing of certain lab and farm animals, fell sharply during Trumps first term as federal officers were reportedly directed to emphasize education for violators rather than enforcement, allowing animal suffering to go largely unchecked. Just two weeks after Trumps first inauguration, the USDA suddenly deleted inspection reports and records of enforcement actions against violators of the Animal Welfare Act crucial documents for journalists and animal welfare advocates. While the reports were restored three years later in response to pressure from lawmakers and animal welfare groups, their removal serves as a powerful reminder that unchecked abuse is a common side effect of deregulation.Trump 2.0 poses a double-edged sword for lab animalsStill, groups like White Coat Waste believe they can convince the Trump administration to get animals out of labs, and arent concerned that their agenda is also supported by, say, pharmaceutical corporations that want a fast track to market approval, or hardline MAGA science skeptics. In the world of lab animal welfare, the converging interests of progressive animal rights activists and conservative government skeptics make policy reform possible. Across the political spectrum, the goal is the same: get animals out of labs. Organizations like White Coat Waste are embracing it. Im not particularly concerned with why people oppose animal testing or want to cut it, Goodman told me. Im just concerned that it will happen at all.From this perspective, whether Trump truly cares about animals or not is irrelevant, as long as he commits to defunding and deregulating science. Thats where the interests of animal advocates and the incoming administration align, said Delcianna Winders, director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at Vermont Law and Graduate School. They both care about excessive government spending on animal experimentation.Some of Trumps appointees including nominated heads of the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, Bhattacharya and Marty Makary have spoken out against animal testing, with Bhattacharya calling White Coat Waste absolute heroes. RFK Jr., chosen to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has a strange relationship with animals that includes leaving a dead bear in Central Park for laughs and keeping a pet emu. Regardless, his track record of confronting bastions of biomedical research makes animal advocates hopeful.We are extremely excited that an administration that is skeptical of science and also skeptical of federal spending is coming into power, Goodman said. Winders is also optimistic that cutting funding for animal experimentation will save animal lives in the long run. Without grant money from federal funding agencies, scientists who currently rely on animal methods will be forced to figure something else out. Optimistically, this could give the biomedical research industry a much-needed kick in the pants to innovate human-centered replacements for animal models. Scientists are unlikely to change their tried-and-true research methods unless theres an exceptionally strong incentive like sweeping shifts in government funding the pull of inertia, and the fear of invalidating their existing body of work, are too powerful.This week, White Coat Waste published a Trump 2.0 wish list, asking the new administration to defund dog and cat experiments, cut off NIH-funded labs in China, phase animal testing out of the EPA, and axe the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose funded projects include gain-of-function experiments on animals, entirely. The plan, they hope, would cut billions in wasteful government spending annually and Make America Greater for Animals. With support from key Trump allies, their wishes could be granted.But there will likely be consequences. Cutting federal support for biomedical research could trigger a mass exodus from academic science, a kind of domestic brain drain that could hinder the development of new drugs and vaccines for a generation. And because neither Trumps administration nor White Coat Waste targets private corporations, scientists who move from universities to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies will likely be able to continue experimenting on animals there. While some private companies receive federal grants for projects involving lab animals, theyre often more lightly monitored than academic and government labs.And in the short term, while defunded research groups wrap up their existing projects, the mistreatment of lab animals could actually increase if the Trump administration continues its past pattern of lax enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act. While research facilities currently face only minor fines or just a slap on the wrist for animal welfare violations, Winders fears that Trumps Justice Department could eliminate even these minor penalties, leaving labs with no consequences for mistreating animals. Its a double-edged sword, Winders said. Her concern is that, under Trump 2.0, the Department of Justice will gut this authority, announcing that agencies will no longer be able to assess civil penalties on their own. This would effectively mean that research facilities could violate the Animal Welfare Act with total license, without any fear of repercussions.Over the last month, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a proposed advisory organization led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, has taken to X to memeify absurd-sounding science studies: $1,513,299 to analyze motion sickness in kittens, or $419,470 to see whether lonely rats use cocaine more than happy rats. Musk and his allies point to these studies as examples of wasted taxpayer dollars, and its not wrong to claim that the federal government funds some relatively low-impact studies that harm animals they do. But Stuart Buck, the executive director of the Good Science Project, fears that tearing apart experiments for not having direct real-world applications risks devaluing the entire scientific enterprise.There are so many cases in science, he told me, where truly groundbreaking discoveries were not appreciated at the time, or they went unfunded, or people thought they were kind of ridiculous. Ozempic, for example, would not exist today unless some scientists shot Gila monster venom into guinea pig cells 40-odd years ago. In fact, Buck thinks, we need more frivolous studies.To be clear: Whatever Trumps ambitions, no one is going to announce that all animal research is banned, unlock cage doors at the NIH, and set all the monkeys free.If biomedical research funding is scaled back, change will come slowly. Scientists will be able to finish projects funded by existing grants but might not be able to apply for new ones. If done carefully, this could be good for both animals and science. Theres a genuine need to incentivize a transition to better methods where animal models are currently falling short. PETAs latest research modernization plan, for example, which will be published later this month, proposes specifically ending animal use in research areas where evidence suggests animals are poor models of human biology like psychiatric conditions and inflammatory disease and doing more research to see whether animals can be effectively replaced elsewhere. Americans, including scientists, overwhelmingly agree that we should phase out animal experiments. Animals shouldnt have to die to save human lives. But forcing this change through defunding and deregulation, rather than careful scientific advancement, risks creating a system where both human and animal welfare lose out.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Nintendo is likely to announce its next console this week, the follow-up to the 150m-selling Nintendo Switch, which came out in March 2017. Theres just one problem: we already know almost everything about it. At this point theres very little that Nintendo could announce that would be a surprise to anyone who has been following the rumours closely.The trickle of Nintendo Switch 2 leaks began last summer, and built to a flood this month. Last week at the CES tech trade show in Vegas, accessory maker Genki arrived with a full-on model of Nintendos next console, which it happily showed off behind closed doors to illustrate its forthcoming products. You can even look at a detailed render of the thing on Genkis website. It is a slightly larger, more powerful version of the Switch console we all know and love, with controllers that attach magnetically rather than sliding on and off the sides of the screen. It can still be played docked on your TV or on the go.This is a very un-Nintendo way to do things. Apart from the NES/SNES, every single Nintendo console has been a form-factor revolution. There was the N64, with its pioneering analogue stick and three-pronged controller; the squat, toylike GameCube; the Wii, with its motion control remotes; its follow-up, the Wii U, added a screen in the middle of its controller. This is the first time that Nintendo has ever made two successive consoles that look the same and work the same, with the possible exception of the dual-screened DS and its successor the 3DS, which added stereoscopic 3D to the consoles features. They even share a name, and a logo: the current most credible information indicates that it will be called the Nintendo Switch 2.I wont repeat more leaked details about the Switch 2; they are easy to search out, and well know for sure whats true and what isnt within the next day or so. Nintendo has confirmed that the Switch 2 will share a back-catalogue with the Switch, so that every player can enjoy all the games they bought over the past eight years on the new console. We also know that it wont launch before April, as it is due to come out in Nintendos next financial year (my money is on June). But this is an extraordinary situation we know pretty much everything about a console from gamings most secretive company before it has been officially announced. How has it happened?Getting your hands on a release-day PS5 was a challenge. Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty ImagesWhen the PlayStation 5 launched in 2020, the biggest story at the time was that people could not get hold of one. Some customers who had pre-ordered a PS5 instead received packages containing bags of rice, swapped out by a neer do well in the delivery chain. On eBay and other resale platforms, the consoles were going for two or three times their retail price. The supply-and-demand gap, caused partly by manufacturing challenges during the pandemic, dogged the console for at least the first two years of its life. Nintendo will have wanted to avoid a similar situation.We know that Nintendos manufacturing partners have been making parts for this console for a long time over a year. The company is aiming to have huge amounts of stock in reserve for when the thing launches. This is one reason why so much information has leaked in advance: many different companies have already been involved in Switch 2 manufacturing, and units/parts of units have been out there for some time.Nintendo also hasnt gone after the leakers in the way that you might expect, or shut anything down legally. Its sole response to this flood of unauthorised information, given to Japanese outlet Sankei last week, is these images and videos are not official. This suggests that Nintendo itself considered that this might be inevitable; that it has delayed the announcement of its next console as much as it can, to eke out the life of the phenomenally successful Switch, and that it reckons these leaks wont do much to damage sales prospects.The Switch 2s announcement will contain few surprises. What is surprising is the rather un-Nintendo nature of this iterative console, and the piecemeal way were finding out about it. Watch out for more on the official announcement very soon.What to playIts Literally Just Mowing: just mowing, literally. Photograph: ProtostarA low-effort dad game for a quiet January, for anyone missing their time in the garden: Its Literally Just Mowing is exactly what it says it is. You swipe, and your little ride-on mower soothingly passes across swathes of unruly grass in the increasingly large gardens of your neighbours until the whole street has been brought into order. You mow, you collect hats, you tap on different species of butterfly to admire them. My attention was drawn to this by my friend Patrick Klepek of parent-gamer newsletter Crossplay (we do a podcast together about navigating games with your kids), and I was surprised to find myself playing it for a full half hour straight. Am I getting old?Available on: iOS/AndroidEstimated playtime: 5 mins, an hour, whatever you wantWhat to readDreams on a Pillow has been a decade in the making. Photograph: Rasheed AbueidehDreams on a Pillow, a game about the 1948 Nakba from Palestinian developer Rasheed Abueideh, has hit its funding goal. I spoke to Abueideh about the many obstacles he has faced in trying to tell a Palestinian story through a video game hardships that nobody should have to face down.Square Enix has announced a new policy that aims to protect its staff from harassment by toxic fans, and will not stop short of restricting the games and services of players who abuse its support staff or developers.The latest Awesome Games Done Quick speedrunning event raised over $2.5m for charity this past weekend. Personal highlight: the Crazy Taxi player accompanied by a live pop-punk band.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Pushing ButtonsFree weekly newsletterKeza MacDonald's weekly look at the world of gamingPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionWhat to clickQuestion BlockScissor Sisters Jake Shears selected Immortality in his On my radar column. Photograph: Half Mermaid ProductionsThis weeks question is from reader Tom:The Guardian has a regular On my radar column for interviewees to suggest what theyve been enjoying recently, and Ive always been surprised by the lack of games on there. Why do you think this is? Do people not think games are highbrow enough to mention? Profile/age of the people profiled? Or are we trained to think of games as not culture in that way?As someone who writes about games for the culture section of a newspaper, I come up against version of this question all the time: why arent games talked about in the same places, and in the same ways, that other art and entertainment is talked about? Games are culture, incontrovertibly, but they are also technology, and thats how a lot of people still think of them, as techy toys. I am very used to a certain level of condescension when it comes to games, and I suspect most people my age who grew up when games were scoffed at or considered potentially dangerous fear that reaction when they talk about them.So perhaps, when asked to pick out their cultural highlights, people do keep their gaming tastes to themselves, and foreground other things. But I do think this is changing with time. We are long past the time when games were considered nebulously shameful, and I notice that nowadays, even when I am speaking to someone who doesnt understand games very well, eg when Im guesting on a radio show, they nonetheless ask with respect and curiosity rather than condescension and dismissiveness. As more of us age into power this will only continue to change.If youve got a question for Question Block or anything else to say about the newsletter hit reply or email us on pushingbuttons@theguardian.com.

Ubisoft could be split up as Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag remake details leakAdam StarkeyPublished January 15, 2025 1:37pmUpdated January 15, 2025 1:37pm Black Flag looks to set sail once again (Ubisoft)Ubisofts future could involve a new venture with Tencent, as it looks to support the Nintendo Switch 2 in a big way.While 2024 was a pretty bleak year for the games industry at large, Ubisoft was one of the companies which suffered the most financially.The delay for Assassins Creed Shadows meant Ubisofts biggest money-maker missed the Christmas season, which came after a string of underperforming titles like Star Wars Outlaws, XDefiant, Skull And Bones, and Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown. As a result, Ubisofts share price dropped to its lowest point in almost 11 years.The future of Ubisoft is now a big question for this year, and after claims it was considering a buyout via Tencent, a new report suggests the founders of Ubisoft are debating teaming up with the Chinese media conglomerate to form a new subsidiary company.As reported by Bloomberg, Ubisofts founding Guillemot family and Tencent, which together own 29.6% of the voting rights over Ubisoft, are said to be considering creating a new venture that would include certain Ubisoft assets in a bid to boost the French companys value.While the specifics on the proposed deal arent exactly clear, the report claims it would allow Tencent to own a stake in the venture and gain more control over some of Ubisofts intellectual properties, as it looks to boost its video game business outside of China.Its said the two companies are evaluating which assets would be included in this new venture. Ubisofts biggest franchise by some distance is Assassins Creed, followed by the likes of Just Dance, Far Cry, and the Tom Clancy games. Can Assassins Creed Shadows turn the tide? (Ubisoft)According to the report, these deliberations are ongoing and no final decisions have been made, but this is said to be one potential route under consideration, along with the buyout reported in October last year.While its unclear how these deals would change the company moving forward, both deals suggest the Guillemot family will have to relinquish some control over Ubisoft. A minority investor, AJ Investments, previously called for current CEO Yves Guillemot to step down.What are Ubisofts new games for 2025?Aside from Assassins Creed Shadows, which launches on March 20, Ubisoft has a bunch of other Assassins Creed titles in development. These 10 games are reportedly set to release over the next five years, with the next one expected to be a remake of Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag, which still hasnt been officially announced.According to a report on Mp1st, this remake will be more than just a visual upgrade, with gameplay mechanics and elements also being improved. The Black Flag remake was previously rumoured to launch in November 2025, although nothing has been officially announced. A Fall Guys-inspired Assassins Creed multiplayer game codenamed Invictus was also said to be coming out around the same time, but its unclear if the delay to Assassins Creed Shadows has impacted these dates.As for Ubisofts other plans in 2025, reliable leaker NateTheHate has claimed the company has more than half a dozen games for the Switch 2 planned, and a lot of them are going to be late ports.On the ports specifically, he lists franchises like The Division and Tom Clancys Rainbow Six Siege, along with Assassins Creed Mirage. To my understanding, Assassins Creed Shadows is one of those in development ports, it just wont be ready for launch, and probably wont be ready for the launch window, he added.The leaker also claims theres some discussion and consideration of doing a Mario + Rabbids collection, although its unclear if this will include any new extras beyond the two games.Ubisoft was one of the few third party companies to support the original Switch at launch in 2017, with Just Dance, so its very likely it will have even more planned for Nintendos next console, especially as the two companies have collaborated in the past.More TrendingAs for what other third party games are expected for the console, rumours suggest Red Dead Redemption 2 might be on the way, along with Tekken 8. Ubisoft is expected to support Nintendos next console in a big way (Nintendo)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralExclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

By Passant Rabie Published January 15, 2025 | Comments (1) | Firefly's Blue Ghost spacecraft shortly after reaching Earth orbit. Image: SpaceX Update: Wednesday, January 15, 9:10 a.m. ET: SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket, carrying Firefly Aerospaces Blue Ghost lander and ispaces Resilience lander, successfully blasted off earlier this morning at 1:11 a.m. ET from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Firefly says it managed to acquire signal and complete on-orbit commissioning, so the mission appears to be off to a good start. Original article follows. The Moon is about to get busy. A pair of landers are riding on board a SpaceX rocket this week, aiming to touchdown on the lunar surface and unpack a host of science instruments. The two missions are part of a commercial push to explore the Moon, marking the start of a new era for private spaceflight. Firefly Aerospaces Blue Ghost lander and ispaces Resilience lander are set for launch on Wednesday, January 15 at 1:11 a.m. ET. The missions will liftoff from Launch Complex-39B at NASAs Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, riding aboard SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket. NASA will livestream the launch on its website and NASA+, with the broadcast beginning at 12:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday. You can also tune in to the live feed below.Journey to the Moon Although both landers will launch together, they will each follow a different trajectory toward the Moon. Fireflys mission, named Ghost Riders in the Sky, will take 45 days to reach the Moon. For the first 25 days following launch, the Blue Ghost lander will orbit Earth before performing an engine burn to place it on a trajectory toward the Moon. Blue Ghost will spend four days en route to the Moon, and another 16 orbiting Earths satellite before attempting a soft touchdown on its dusty surface. The Resilience lander, on the other hand, will follow a much slower route to the Moon.After operating in an elliptical transfer orbit, the lander will conduct a lunar flyby, shifting into a low-energy trajectory for a planned soft landing on the Moon.The Japanese startups first mission to the Moon, launched in April 2023, took about four and a half months to reach lunar orbit, but the lander ultimately failed to stick its landing on the surface; the Hakuto-R Mission 1 (M1) Lunar Lander, as it was named, plummeted towards the Moon and crashed on its surface. Hakuto-R M1 had been carrying both commercial and government-owned payloads, including a tiny, two-wheeled transformable robot from the Japanese space agency.Clear for landing Following their journey to the Moon, both landers will be targeting lunar maresflat, dark plains formed by ancient impacts that were later flooded with lava and other material. More specifically, Blue Ghost is targeting Mare Crisium, the site of an ancient asteroid impact site once filled with basaltic lava. The basalts in Mare Crisium are between 2.5 and 3.3 billion years old, according to NASA.As for ispaces Resilience, the lander is set to explore Mare Frigoris, located in the Moons far northern regions. The location name translates to sea of cold, as it stretches along the northern part of the Moons disc for nearly 900 miles (1,400 kilometers). Whats inside the Blue Ghost lander? Texas-based Fireflys first mission to the Moon is a collaboration with NASA as part of the space agencys Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which aims to develop commercial delivery services to the Moon. NASA works with its partners in the industry to build landers that can pack its science and technology payloads and deliver them to the lunar surface.Blue Ghost is carrying 10 scientific instruments to study the lunar surface and gather data to support future human missions to the Moon, according to NASA. The instruments include: LEXI (or Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager), which will capture a series of X-ray images to study the interaction of solar wind and Earths magnetic field; the Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder, designed to measure electric and magnetic fields to characterize the structure and composition of the Moons mantle; and the Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies, which will capture how the landers plume disturbs lunar regolith as Blue Ghost touches down on the Moons surface. The mission is set to operate for a full lunar daythe equivalent of 14 days on Earth. During this time, Blue Ghost will also capture images of a lunar sunset, and collect data on how regolith on the Moon reacts to solar influences during lunar dusk. What did ispace pack into its Moon mission? Tokyo-based ispace is transporting privately owned customer payloads to the Moon aboard its lander, including a food production experiment, a deep space radiation probe, and a commemorative alloy plate.The Resilience lander is also carrying a small rover, named Tenacious, to explore the landing site, collect lunar regolith, and relay data back to the lander, according to ispace. Tenacious is equipped with a high-definition camera and a shovel. A model house by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg will be mounted on the rover, which were assuming is for decorative purposes. This launch is just the tip of the iceberg, with more landers scheduled to follow in the coming months and years. Intuitive Machines, which became the first private company to land on the Moon in February 2024, is gearing up to launch its second lunar lander toward the Moon. Its second mission is scheduled for launch sometime in February and will target the Moons south polar region. Astrobotic, which failed in its first attempt to land on the Moon in January 2024, is hoping for better luck this year. The Pittsburgh-based company is planning to launch its Griffin Mission One lunar lander sometime in 2025 under NASAs CLPS initiative. As the private space industry continues to grow, lunar drop-offs will likely become a regular occurrence as companies work to develop their delivery services to the Moon. What were about to witness this week is only just the beginning.Additional reporting by George Dvorsky.Daily NewsletterYou May Also Like By Margherita Bassi Published January 14, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published January 13, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published January 9, 2025 By Isaac Schultz Published January 8, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published January 7, 2025 By Passant Rabie Published January 6, 2025

The preservation of the environment and the harmonious integration of the built and natural elements are fundamental principles in contemporary architecture. Various design strategies are employed to achieve this balance, ranging from the revival of vernacular techniques to the use of advanced technologies. However, this concern goes beyond the choice of specific construction systems or innovative materials; it also manifests in the design approach that ensures the preservation of the site's natural elements. In this context, we present 15 homes designed to protect local trees, showcasing how architectural decisions can adapt to nature rather than impose on it.