Trump names Mark Zuckerberg, Jensen Huang, Larry Ellison to tech council that will weigh in on AI

President Trump appointed Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to a council that will weigh in on AI policy and other issues, the White House said Wednesday. Google co-founder Sergey Brin and AMD CEO Lisa Su are also part of the initial batch of 13 members from the industry named to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). Trump has made securing US leadership in artificial intelligence a central priority of his second term, framing the technology as a defining arena of strategic competition with China. Within days of taking office in January last…

Inside the Waldorf Astoria’s posh new Guerlain spa and boutique

Park Avenue’s grandest hotel has the splendid spa it deserves — along with a brand-new beauty boutique in its iconic lobby. The Waldorf Astoria New York reopened last summer after a dazzling eight-year, multibillion-dollar renovation; several months later, the Guerlain Wellness Spa debuted on the fifth floor — and it’s…

Trump raising global tariffs to 15% after Supreme Court defeat

President Donald Trump is raising global tariffs to 15% after his Supreme Court defeat, he said Saturday. Trump had previously announced a 10% global tariff during an angry news conference in response to the decision knocking down his signature tariffs. “Please let this statement serve to represent that I, as President of the United States…

‘Thermodynamic computer’ can mimic AI neural networks — using orders of magnitude less energy to generate images

Scientists have built a “thermodynamic computer” that can produce images from random disturbances in data, that is, noise. In doing so, they have mimicked the generative artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities of neural networks — collections of machine learning algorithms modelled on the brain.Above absolute zero temperatures, the world buzzes with…

Emerging embryo-selection technologies are currently ‘little more than snake oil.’ But someday, they could widen social inequities.

The technology sounds like it’s been plucked from a science-fiction film — but it’s all too real.A number of companies now offer prospective parents the chance to “score” embryos fertilized through in vitro fertilization (IVF), based on the embryos’ genetic profiles. This technology, called polygenic embryo selection, uses genetics to…

Science news this week: China’s AI kung fu robots, physicists’ re-creation of the Big Bang soup, and a teenager buried with her father’s bones on her chest

This week’s science news was filled with some astonishing — and creepy — displays of technology’s accelerating progress.Top of the bill was a stunning demonstration of Chinese company Unitree Robotics’ humanoid robots, which somersaulted, flipped and kicked in a kung fu performance at this year’s Lunar New Year festival. The…

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