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Suborbital space tourism finally arrives | FCC prepares to run public C-band auction | The big four in the U.S. launch industry — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — hope to be one of two providers that will receive five-year contracts later this year to launch national security payloads starting in 2022. | China’s launch rate stays high | The International Space Station is the largest ever crewed object in space.

Before Flowers Existed, Ancient Cycad Plants Lured...

December 11, 2025 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm New research on strange cycad plants offers a glimpse into the prehistoric origins of pollination By Cody Cottier edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier A thermal image of two male cones of the cycad Zamia furfuracea. The cones heat up during pollen release. Some areas of the cones can heat differentially, and these patterns serve as pollination guides. Wendy Valencia-Montoya The words “pollination” and “flower” may seem inseparable, but……

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U.S. Sunscreens Aren’t Great. The FDA Could...

December 11, 2025 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm The U.S. is considering allowing bemotrizinol, a highly effective UV filter used throughout Europe and Asia, in its sunscreen products for the first time By Lauren J. Young edited by Claire Cameron iStock/Getty Images Plus Sunscreens in the U.S. could be in line for a long overdue update. On Thursday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a proposal to permit the use of bemotrizinol, a broad-spectrum ultraviolet……

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How the Mariachi Rams band turned the...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Crystal Hernández steadies her violin and scans the crowd from the sixth floor of SoFi Stadium as 70,000 fans stream into a Los Angeles Rams home game. Below her, blue-and-gold jerseys mix with charro suits and sombreros, and the low rumble of pregame noise swells into the opening notes of the late Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” reimagined through trumpets, guitarrón and vihuela. On Hernández’s right, rock guitarist Nita Strauss cuts through with an electric solo…

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Lisa Su ’90, SM ’91, PhD ’94...

Lisa Su ’90, SM ’91, PhD ’94, a leading executive in the semiconductor industry and head of the company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), will deliver the address at the OneMIT Commencement Ceremony on Thursday, May 28. As chair and CEO of AMD, Su has transformed the company, which is now a global leader in high-performance and AI computing. In addition to designing industry-leading CPUs and the specialized GPUs that enable AI applications, AMD technology is the foundation of many……

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The journey of Juice – episode 2

Video: 00:12:24 ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) is on an epic eight-year journey to Jupiter. It left Earth in April 2023 and is due to arrive at the gas giant in 2031.  2025 has been another big year for Juice. It made its closest approach to the Sun and flew close by Venus for a gravity boost to help it on its way. This second episode of ‘The journey of Juice’ takes us on a journey of our own, discovering what Juice – and…

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People Are Using TikTok to Sell Endangered...

December 11, 2025 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm TikTok is rapidly growing in Africa and is being used to sell bushmeat, underscoring the role of social media in the global illegal wildlife trade By Sam Meadows edited by Andrea Thompson A pangolin released back into the wild in Indonesia after being seized from smugglers. NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images Content warning: This article reports on violence against endangered animals. Critically endangered animals are being advertised for sale……

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Beeple’s Art Basel Robot Dogs Satirize Musk,...

December 11, 2025 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Billionaire-headed machines lampoon tech power and the way our images quietly become fuel for AI By Deni Ellis Béchard edited by Eric Sullivan A wax head of Elon Musk is seen on a robot dog as a part of an art installation called “Regular Animals” by digital artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, during Art Basel 2025 at Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida, December……

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Payments modernisation: How PSPs and acquirers are...

What do global merchants expect from their PSP, acquirer and fintech partners?  Which local or alternative payment methods are most in demand?  What are the key challenges around market penetration?  How can payments orchestration, data intelligence, and platform connectivity drive conversion and customer trust?  For payment service providers (PSPs), acquirers and fintechs, helping merchants expand into new markets is one of the most powerful growth strategies. But success requires more than transaction processing – it demands a connected ecosystem……

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PREDICT: Asia’s Fintech Stack: Engineering Impact Amid...

What financial crime trends are emerging across Asia, and how are they impacting fintech infrastructure? How are APIs, AI, and blockchain being deployed to detect and prevent scams such as pig butchering and hostage-driven fraud operations? What role does hyperlocal tech design play in closing regulatory gaps and reducing cross-border vulnerabilities? How can hybrid ecosystems—traditional and decentralised—be fortified against exploitation by criminal networks? What frameworks and metrics are evolving to measure resilience, security, and consumer protection in next-gen financial……

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PKG Center and the MIT Club of...

On Nov. 8, the MIT Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center (MIT PKG Center) collaborated with the MIT Club of Princeton, New Jersey, and the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) to prototype tech-driven interventions to the growing challenge of food insecurity in the Trenton, New Jersey region.   Twelve undergraduates traveled to Trenton for a one-day social impact hackathon, working in teams with alumni active in the MIT Club of Princeton to address technical challenges posed by TASK. These included……

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Visa demo day spotlights 22 high-growth fintechs...

Visa, a global leader in digital payments, convened founders, investors, corporate partners, and industry leaders in Cape Town for the Visa Africa Fintech Accelerator program Cohort 4 Demo Day. External This content is provided by an external author without editing by Finextra. It expresses the views and opinions of the author. The event spotlighted 22 high‑growth fintech startups from across the continent, marking the culmination of an intensive three‑month journey to develop and scale innovative digital commerce solutions. Cohort……

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The Latest: Hegseth tells congressional leaders he...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing intensifying demands from Congress to release the full video of an attack on an alleged drug boat that killed two survivors in what Democrats and legal experts said may have been a war crime or murder. Hegseth provided a classified briefing for congressional leaders Tuesday alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe at the Capitol. He said he’s still weighing whether to release the video. The situation has awakened…

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MIT takes manufacturing education across the country

MIT has long bolstered U.S. manufacturing by developing key innovations and production technologies, and training entrepreneurs. This fall, the Institute introduced a new tool for U.S. manufacturing: an education program for workers, held at collaborating institutions, which teaches core principles of production, helping employees and firms alike. The new effort, the Technologist Advanced Manufacturing Program, or TechAMP, developed with U.S. Department of Defense funding, features a mix of in-person lab instruction at participating institutions, online lectures by MIT faculty and……

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Jennifer Lewis ScD ’91: “Can we make...

“Can we make tissues that are made from you, for you?” asked Jennifer Lewis ScD ’91 at the 2025 Mildred S. Dresselhaus Lecture, organized by MIT.nano, on Nov. 3. “The grand challenge goal is to create these tissues for therapeutic use and, ultimately, at the whole organ scale.” Lewis, the Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, is pursuing that challenge through advances in 3D printing. In her talk presented to a combined in-person and virtual……

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OpenAI Is in Trouble

For nearly three years, Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, was a ChatGPT devotee. Then, late last month, he abruptly converted to Google’s chatbot, Gemini. “Holy shit,” he wrote on X. “I’ve used ChatGPT every day for 3 years. Just spent 2 hours on Gemini 3. I’m not going back. The leap is insane.” When Gemini 3 was released in mid-November, it appeared to crush OpenAI’s top model on a suite of evaluations shared by Google. The bot has……

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