Science Tech News.

Creative Assembly released a trailer for Alien: Isolation 2 showing a moon or planet setting. Japanese dialogue with English subtitles reveals Weyland-Yutani corporate threats. Shots include a crashed module, blood, a bifurcated Working Joe android, and a xenomorph. The module is likely the one Amanda jettisoned in the first game. The game is published by Sega and 20th Century Games.

COBALT is a smartphone-based system developed by researchers at Georgia Tech that allows users to remotely control robot arms using just a phone and an internet connection. Users move their phones in different directions, and the robot mirrors those movements in real time. Basic tasks such as grabbing and releasing objects can be performed through simple on-screen controls. The system was designed to make robotics accessible to beginners rather than experts.

Tesla's Full Self Driving system has been scrutinized by hundreds of workers in a Utah office, who review video clips of the cars hitting animals and failing to brake before impact. Former staff members say the system is not good enough for broad deployment and requires labor-intensive training on specific routes. This contradicts Elon Musk's claim that Tesla's self-driving technology will work anywhere globally without local mapping.

A new study by Surfshark finds 90% of top iOS messaging apps include AI tools that could expose private data. Signal uses quantum-secure cryptography and collects only phone numbers. Meta's Messenger and LINE collect vast user data for advertising and tracking. Nine out of ten apps offer end-to-end encryption but AI features undermine privacy protections. The study analyzed 35 specific data types from Apple's privacy framework.

Formula One teams are deploying artificial intelligence in engineering rooms, strategy calls, and fan platforms, with eight new AI partnerships signed in six months. Atlassian Williams Racing is working with Anthropic to use Claude in race strategy and team operations. Red Bull Racing has embedded Oracle technology across team operations, shifting from search to decision-support. F1 team spending on technology led categories last season, reaching an estimated $769 million, up 41% from the prior year.

SpaceX's IPO now allows retail investors to buy shares directly, bypassing traditional bank syndicates. This change gives more people access to the offering. Retail buyers can purchase shares before the stock starts trading, potentially at a lower price. The shift aims to make the IPO process more inclusive.

Aquark Technologies is developing hardware designed to be used outside of the lab for quantum sensing, a potential alternative to Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Quantum sensing uses cold-atom technology to measure time, gravity, acceleration, and magnetic fields with high precision. This technology has the potential to provide reliable navigation in environments where GNSS does not work, such as underwater, underground, and at the poles. Aquark Technologies aims to reduce reliance on single tech vendors and technology sources.

Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman says the company was 'set free' from its partnership with OpenAI to pursue superintelligence, ending a three-year relationship that catapulted Copilot products into the enterprise mainstream and added hundreds of billions of dollars to its market capitalization.

Microsoft is doubling down on its quantum computing plans, releasing a new quantum chip called Majorana 2. The company is now targeting 2029 for a useful quantum computer, a year earlier than previously planned. This is due to improved qubits that stay together for an average of 20 seconds, 1,000 times longer than the first-generation chip. Microsoft's topological qubit approach offers hardware-based protection against qubit fragility.

The White House plans to regulate artificial intelligence before it is widely used. The US government previously adopted a hands-off approach, allowing AI development to proceed without oversight. This shift in policy aims to address concerns about AI's potential impact. The government's new stance prioritizes safety and security over concerns about slowing down American companies.

Bitcoin trades below $60,000 for first time since Trump's reelection in late 2024. The drop marks more than half of Bitcoin's all-time peak of $126,000 in October 2025. Geopolitical tensions and quantum computing advances are cited as key factors. The decline signals growing investor skepticism amid strong U.S. executive branch support for crypto.

IBM Z mainframe growth accelerates as enterprises seek trusted AI infrastructure. Ric Lewis, senior vice president of IBM Infrastructure Division, noted boardrooms now routinely discuss AI plans and underlying infrastructure. The industry conversation has shifted dramatically in 18 months with agentic AI reshaping workflows. AI initiatives move from experimentation to production amid growing demand for reliable enterprise systems.

Lam Research earns a Buy rating with a 12-month price target of $360, $380, driven by industry leadership and AI-fueled chip complexity tailwinds. The company boasts a majority share in global etch and a robust deposition position, underpinned by high recurring service revenues. Lam Research's earnings normalization and secular growth justify a premium multiple, despite a trailing P/E of 63x and insider selling.

Jiro Yamada, a Japanese illustrator, died at 65. He was known for detailed cutaways of cars and machines. Yamada's subjects included motorsport legends, passenger cars, helicopters, and rocket engines. His work was commissioned by automakers and enthusiast media. Yamada's website features a collection of his automotive works, organized by makes and models.

Experian has launched the Experian Loans ChatGPT application, combining conversational AI with its lending network and financial services infrastructure. Consumers can explore personal loan offers from Experian's partners while interacting with ChatGPT. The application is available directly within ChatGPT, allowing consumers to instantly explore personal loan options. Experian's AI strategy includes the Experian Insurance ChatGPT application and integration into Snapchat's AI Sponsored Snaps. Experian aims to make financial opportunities more transparent and accessible through AI at scale.

Helion Energy closed a $465 million funding round valuing the company at $15.5 billion. The Series G round was led by Thrive Capital and included SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Lightspeed, and over half a dozen other investors. Helion's Polaris fusion reactor uses deuterium and helium-3 fuel to create plasma, accelerates plasma donuts to 100 million miles per hour, and generates electricity via magnetic field changes. The reactor design aims to produce net energy from fusion reactions in a cylindrical structure.

The MIT Schwarzman College of Computing's Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing initiative hosted a research symposium on AI's impact on society. The event featured research talks, panels, and a keynote address by Jon Kleinberg, the Tisch University Professor of Computer Science and Information Science at Cornell University. Student researchers showcased their projects as SERC Scholars. The symposium examined AI's implications for society and its potential to benefit humanity.

NASA ordered astronauts on the International Space Station to shelter in their spacecraft and prepare for possible evacuation after a worsening air leak in the Russian Zvezda service module's transfer tunnel. The four astronauts on Crew-12 received orders at 9.04am ET to enter their Crew Dragon spacecraft and don spacesuits. The leak is in the transfer tunnel of the Zvezda service module. This action ensures crew safety in case of emergency evacuation.

Bumblebees can use tools to solve problems in experiments adapted from chimpanzee studies. The bees were shown to roll objects to retrieve food from out of reach. This behavior demonstrates advanced cognitive abilities in non-primate species. The finding expands the list of animals known to exhibit spontaneous problem solving.

Antares achieved criticality in a test reactor at Idaho National Laboratory. The milestone marks the first time a small modular nuclear reactor design has reached self-sustaining nuclear reactions. The reactor uses TRISO fuel with uranium oxide pellets encased in carbon and ceramic layers. The design contains fuel pellets within a graphite sheath to limit neutron escape and isotope formation.

Amazon Bedrock releases a new console experience optimized for Anthropic and OpenAI-compatible APIs. The console supports GPT, Claude, and open-weight models via bedrock-mantle endpoint with OpenAI Responses, Chat Completions, and Anthropic Messages APIs. Users can compare up to three models side by side and view token usage, inference requests, and pricing per model. The project dashboard shows real-time inference metrics and model distribution by date and usage.