The distance between a world-changing innovation and its funding often comes down to four minutes—the average time a human reviewer tends to spend on an initial grant application. In those four minutes, reviewers must assess alignment, eligibility, innovation potential, and team capacity, all while maintaining consistency across thousands of applications. It’s an impossible ask that…
When we say that NordVPN is a good VPN that’s not quite great, it’s important to put that in perspective. Building a good VPN is hard, as evidenced by all the shovelware VPNs flooding the market. NordVPN may not be perfect, but it’s easily top-five caliber and excels in certain use cases. First, the bad:…
A farmer spraying pesticides on a cotton field Tao Weiming/VCG via Getty Images More than 60 years after Rachel Carson warned of the dangers of pesticides in her book Silent Spring, the harm they are doing to wildlife may be greater than ever. “In more or less all countries, the trend is towards increasing applied…
Tech workers have been worried for years now about the AI tidal wave coming for their jobs, but their bosses are starting to worry too. Stocks plunged this week as fears escalated that AI advancements will take a bite out of business for many software and services companies. The market losses are tied to updates…
X is experimenting with a new way for AI to write Community Notes. The company is testing a new “collaborative notes” feature that allows human writers to request an AI-written Community Note. It’s not the first time the platform has experimented with AI in Community Notes. The company started a pilot program last year to…
Ross Gudgeon’s winning image, Fractal Forest Ross Gudgeon/CUPOTY Sometimes beauty is found with a shift in perspective. These gorgeous images are among the winners of the latest Close-up Photographer of Year contest, an international photography competition dedicated to unveiling nature’s hidden wonders. Peer through the delicate pink branches of a cauliflower soft coral in the main…
The federal agency that enforces anti-discrimination laws in the workplace made an unexpected disclosure this week: Nike was under investigation for its approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion, due to claims that the company had discriminated against white employees and job applicants. The investigation suggests that Nike’s diversity goals and other DEI initiatives led the…
The Steam Machine is back from the dead. Not as a Valve-supported program for manufacturers to create living room PCs, but instead a home console sibling to the Steam Deck. Valve introduced its second attempt at ruling the living room in a surprise hardware announcement in November 2025, and paired the new Steam Machine with…
“Space travel is the setting but not the heart of the Star Trek franchise” … A scene from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Everett Collection Inc/Alamy To live in the US at this moment is to live through a series of strange juxtapositions. I prepare myself for how to respond if the construction workers at…
In special education in the U.S., funding is scarce and personnel shortages are pervasive, leaving many school districts struggling to hire qualified and willing practitioners. Amid these long-standing challenges, there is rising interest in using artificial intelligence tools to help close some of the gaps that districts currently face and lower labor costs. Over 7…
