Children in a small Japanese town are obsessively collecting trading cards featuring local elderly men rather than popular fantasy creatures, helping bridge generational gaps in an aging rural community. In Kawara, Fukuoka Prefecture, the "Ojisan TCG" (Middle-aged Man Trading Card Game) features 28 local men with assigned elemental types and battle stats. The collection includes a former fire brigade chief and a prison officer-turned-volunteer whose card has become so sought-after that children request his autograph. Created by Eri Miyahara of the Saidosho Community Council, the initiative has doubled participation in town events. "We wanted to strengthen the connection between children and older generations," Miyahara told Fuji News Network. "So many kids are starting to look up to these men as heroic figures."

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China is moving fast to dominate biotechnology, and the U.S. risks falling behind permanently unless it takes action over the next three years, a congressional commission said. WSJ: Congress should invest at least $15 billion to support biotech research over the next five years and take other steps to bolster manufacturing in the U.S., while barring companies from working with Chinese biotech suppliers, the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology said in a report Tuesday. To achieve its goals, the federal government and U.S.-based researchers will also need to work with allies and partners around the world. "China is quickly ascending to biotechnology dominance, having made biotechnology a strategic priority for 20 years," the commission said. Without prompt action, the U.S. risks "falling behind, a setback from which we may never recover." The findings convey the depth of worry in Washington that China's rapid biotechnology advances jeopardize U.S. national security. Yet translating the concern into tangible actions could prove challenging. [...] China plays a large role supplying drug ingredients and even some generic medicines to the U.S. For years, it produced copycat versions of drugs developed in the West. Recent years have seen it become a formidable hub of biotechnology innovation, after the Chinese government gave priority to the field as a critical sector in China's efforts to become a scientific superpower.

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Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke is changing his company's approach to hiring in the age of AI. Employees will be expected to prove why they "cannot get what they want done using AI" before asking for more headcount and resources, Lutke wrote in a memo to staffers that he posted to X. From a report: "What would this area look like if autonomous AI agents were already part of the team?" Lutke wrote in the memo, which was sent to employees late last month. "This question can lead to really fun discussions and projects." Lutke also said there's a "fundamental expectation" across Shopify that employees embrace AI in their daily work, saying it has been a "multiplier" of productivity for those who have used it. "I've seen many of these people approach implausible tasks, ones we wouldn't even have chosen to tackle before, with reflexive and brilliant usage of AI to get 100X the work done," Lutke wrote. The company, which sells web-based software that helps online retailers manage sales and run their operations, will factor AI usage into performance reviews, he added.

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Micron has informed US customers it will implement surcharges on memory modules and solid-state drives starting Wednesday to offset President Trump's new tariffs, according to Reuters. While semiconductors received exemptions in Trump's recent trade action, memory storage products didn't escape the new duties. Micron, which manufactures primarily in Asian countries including China and Taiwan, had previously signaled during a March earnings call that tariff costs would be passed to customers.

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Meta released two new Llama 4 models over the weekend -- Scout and Maverick -- with claims that Maverick outperforms GPT-4o and Gemini 2.0 Flash on benchmarks. Maverick quickly secured the number-two spot on LMArena, behind only Gemini 2.5 Pro. Researchers have since discovered that Meta used an "experimental chat version" of Maverick for LMArena testing that was "optimized for conversationality" rather than the publicly available version. In response, LMArena said "Meta's interpretation of our policy did not match what we expect from model providers" and announced policy updates to prevent similar issues.

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In Delhi's Nehru Place and Mumbai's Lamington Road, technicians are creating functional laptops from salvaged parts of multiple discarded devices. These "Frankenstein" machines sell for approximately $110 USD -- a fraction of the $800 price tag for new models. Technicians extract usable components -- motherboards, capacitors, screens, and batteries -- from e-waste sourced locally and from countries like Dubai and China. "Most people don't care about having the latest model; they just want something that works and won't break the bank," a technician told Verge. This repair ecosystem operates within a larger battle against tech giants pushing planned obsolescence through proprietary designs and restricted parts access. Many technicians source components from Seelampur, India's largest e-waste hub processing 30,000 tonnes daily, though workers there handle toxic materials with minimal protection. "India has always had a repair culture," says Satish Sinha of Toxics Link, "but companies are pushing planned obsolescence, making repairs harder and forcing people to buy new devices."

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On Bluesky, the joke's on you if you don't get the joke. The social network has become a "refuge" for those fleeing X and Threads, but its growing pains include a serious case of humor-impairment. When Amy Brown jokingly posted she was "screaming, crying, and throwing up" about price differences between Ohio and California Walgreens, literal-minded users scolded her for exaggerating. Brown, a former Wendy's social media manager who got banned from X after impersonating Elon Musk, puts it simply: "We're both speaking English, but I'm speaking internet." This clash stems from Bluesky's oddly mixed population: irony-steeped Twitter refugees mingling with earnest Facebook transplants and MSNBC viewers who took the plunge after seeing the platform mentioned on shows like Morning Joe. "It's riff collapse," says cartoonist Mattie Lubchansky, describing how her obviously absurd Oscar post triggered sincere movie recommendations.

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The U.S. is still the global leader in state-of-the-art AI, but China has closed the gap considerably, according to a new report from Stanford. Axios: Institutions based in the U.S. produced 40 AI models of note in 2024, compared with 15 from China and three from Europe, according to the eighth edition of Stanford's Artificial Intelligence Index, released on Monday. However, the report found that Chinese models have rapidly caught up in quality, noting that Chinese models reached near parity on two key benchmarks after being behind leading U.S. models by double digit percentages a year earlier. Plus, it said, China is now leading the U.S. in AI publications and patents.

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Colossal Biosciences has claimed it "successfully restored" the extinct dire wolf after a "10,000+ year absence," but scientists clarify these are actually genetically modified grey wolves. The U.S. company announced three pups -- males Remus and Romulus born in October, and female Khaleesi born in January -- as dire wolves, but made only 20 genetic edits to grey wolves. Beth Shapiro of Colossal told New Scientist that just 15 modifications were based on dire wolf DNA, primarily targeting size, musculature and ear shape. Five other changes involve mutations known to produce light coats in grey wolves. A 2021 DNA study revealed dire wolves and grey wolves last shared a common ancestor about 6 million years ago, with jackals and African wild dogs more closely related to grey wolves.

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New Mexico's legislature passed bills last week that would ban consumer products containing PFAS, joining a small but growing number of states taking action against these persistent "forever chemicals." If signed by the governor, the legislation would prohibit the sale of many products with added per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in New Mexico, making it the third state after Maine and Minnesota to enact such comprehensive restrictions. At least 29 states have PFAS-related bills before state legislatures this year, according to Safer States, a network of advocacy organizations. Research shows PFAS accumulate in the environment and human bodies, potentially causing health problems from high cholesterol to cancer. EPA figures indicate almost half of Americans are exposed to PFAS in their drinking water. Wired reports that chemical and consumer products industries are aggressively fighting state-level bans on "forever chemicals" through lobbying and legal action as regulations spread across the United States. The Cookware Sustainability Alliance, formed in 2024 by major cookware manufacturers, has testified in 10 statehouses against PFAS restrictions and sued Minnesota in January, claiming its ban is unconstitutional. (The New Mexico bills include notable exemptions, particularly for fluoropolymers used in nonstick cookware, following successful lobbying by industry groups.) Industry groups are also targeting federal regulators, with the American Chemistry Council and others recommending the EPA adopt a narrower definition of PFAS. "The federal regulatory approach is preferable to a patchwork of different and potentially conflicting state approaches," said Erich Shea from the American Chemistry Council.

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Framework -- a company that makes upgradeable and repairable laptops -- will pause sales on several versions of one of its models in America thanks to Trump's tariffs, it said. From a report: "Due to the new tariffs that came into effect on April 5th, we're temporarily pausing US sales on a few base Framework Laptop 13 systems (Ultra 5 125H and Ryzen 5 7640U). For now, these models will be removed from our US site. We will continue to provide updates as we have them," Framework said in a post on X. A spokesperson for Framework told 404 Media in an email that the company was pausing sales on their six lowest priced units in the U.S. They clarified that those models are still available to customers that are ordering the machines outside of America.

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AmiMoJo writes: The Shenzhen 8K UHD Video Industry Cooperation Alliance, a group made up of more than 50 Chinese companies, just released a new wired media communication standard called the General Purpose Media Interface or GPMI. This standard was developed to support 8K and reduce the number of cables required to stream data and power from one device to another. According to HKEPC, the GPMI cable comes in two flavors -- a Type-B that seems to have a proprietary connector and a Type-C that is compatible with the USB-C standard. Because 8K has four times the number of pixels of 4K and 16 times more pixels than 1080p resolution, it means that GPMI is built to carry a lot more data than other current standards. There are other variables that can impact required bandwidth, of course, such as color depth and refresh rate. The GPMI Type-C connector is set to have a maximum bandwidth of 96 Gbps and deliver 240 watts of power. This is more than double the 40 Gbps data limit of USB4 and Thunderbolt 4, allowing you to transmit more data on the cable. However, it has the same power limit as that of the latest USB Type-C connector using the Extended Power Range (EPR) standard. GPMI Type-B beats all other cables, though, with its maximum bandwidth of 192 Gbps and power delivery of up to 480 watts.

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An anonymous reader shares a report: Waymo is preparing to use data from its robotaxis, including video from interior cameras tied to rider identities, to train generative AI models, according to an unreleased version of its privacy policy found by researcher Jane Manchun Wong. The draft language reveals Waymo may also share this data to personalize ads, raising fresh questions about how much of a rider's behavior inside autonomous vehicles could be repurposed for AI training and marketing. The privacy page states: "Waymo may share data to improve and analyze its functionality and to tailor products, services, ads, and offers to your interests. You can opt out of sharing your information with third parties, unless it's necessary to the functioning of the service."

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The United Kingdom has banned "outrageous fake reviews and sneaky hidden fees" to make life easier for online shoppers. From a report: New measures under the Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumer Act 2024 came into force on Sunday that require online platforms to transparently include all mandatory fees within a product's advertised price, including booking or admin charges. The law targets so-called "dripped pricing," in which additional fees -- like platform service charges -- are dripped in during a customer's checkout process to dupe them into paying a higher price than expected. The ban "aims to bring to an end the shock that online shoppers get when they reach the end of their shopping experience only to find a raft of extra fees lumped on top," according to Justin Madders, the UK's Minister for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets.

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The internet's physical mass remains contested among scientists, with estimates ranging from a strawberry to something almost unimaginably small. In 2006, Harvard physicist Russell Seitz calculated the internet weighed roughly 50 grams based on server energy, a figure that would now equate to potato-weight given internet growth. Christopher White, president of NEC Laboratories America, has dismissed this calculation as "just wrong." White suggests a more accurate method that accounts for the energy needed to encode all internet data in one place, yielding approximately 53 quadrillionths of a gram at room temperature. Alternatively, if the internet's projected 175 zettabytes of data were stored in DNA -- a storage medium scientists are actively exploring -- it would weigh 960,947 grams, equivalent to 10.6 American males. Though scientists debate measurement methods, White asserts the web's true complexity makes it "essentially unknowable."

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Apple rushed five planeloads of iPhones from India to the U.S. in just three days to beat new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, Times of India reported Monday, citing sources. The urgent shipments during the final week of March aimed to avoid the 10% reciprocal tariff that took effect on April 5. The stockpiling will allow Apple to maintain current pricing temporarily. "The reserves that arrived at lower duty will temporarily insulate the company from the higher prices that it will need to pay for new shipments," the Indian daily cited a source as saying. The Trump administration also announced a 26% reciprocal tariff to be implemented on April 9, potentially accelerating Apple's manufacturing shift away from China. India offers a significant tariff advantage, with Indian exports facing a 26% tariff to the U.S. compared to 54% on Chinese goods. Further reading: India's Economic Chess Against Twin US Economic Threats.

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President Donald Trump signaled a potential diplomatic opening amid his aggressive tariff strategy on Monday, threatening China with an additional 50% tariff while simultaneously offering other nations a path to negotiate lower trade barriers. The ultimatum to Beijing demands China withdraw a 34% increase by April 8, 2025, or face supplementary tariffs effective April 9, which would push total levies on Chinese goods to 104% or higher. Trump has already imposed a 20% tariff over fentanyl concerns and a 34% tariff related to trade issues. "Negotiations with other countries, which have requested meetings, will begin taking place immediately," Trump wrote on social media, marking a shift from the administration's previously unyielding stance.

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A court has blocked a British government attempt to keep secret a legal case over its demand to access Apple user data. From a report: The UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal, a special court that handles cases related to government surveillance, said the authorities' efforts were a "fundamental interference with the principle of open justice" in a ruling issued on Monday. The development comes after it emerged in January that the British government had served Apple with a demand to circumvent encryption that the company uses to secure user data stored in its cloud services. Apple challenged the request, while taking the unprecedented step of removing its advanced data protection feature for its British users. The government had sought to keep details about the demand -- and Apple's challenge of it -- from being publicly disclosed. Apple has regularly clashed with governments over encryption features that can make it difficult for law enforcement to access devices produced by the company. The world's most valuable company last year criticized UK surveillance powers as "unprecedented overreach" by the government.

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Microsoft's AI chief Mustafa Suleyman says the company has deliberately chosen to build AI models "three or six months behind" cutting-edge developments, citing cost savings and more focused implementation. "It's cheaper to give a specific answer once you've waited for the first three or six months for the frontier to go first. We call that off-frontier," Suleyman told CNBC. "That's actually our strategy, is to really play a very tight second, given the capital-intensiveness of these models." Microsoft owns substantial Nvidia GPU capacity but sees no need to develop "the absolute frontier, the best model in the world first," as it would be "very, very expensive" and create unnecessary duplication, Suleyman said. Despite its $13.75 billion investment in OpenAI, Microsoft added the startup to its list of competitors in July 2024. OpenAI subsequently announced a partnership with Oracle on its $500 billion Stargate project, departing from exclusive reliance on Microsoft's Azure cloud. "Look, it's absolutely mission-critical that long-term, we are able to do AI self-sufficiently at Microsoft," Suleyman said, while stressing the partnership with OpenAI would continue "until 2030 at least."

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Scientists "demonstrated a promising step toward using a person's own immune cells to fight gastrointestinal cancers" at America's National Institutes of Health (or NIH), reports the Washington Post. But the results were published in Nature Medicine on Tuesday — "the same day the agency was hit with devastating layoffs..." The treatment approach is still early in its development; the personalized immunotherapy regimen shrank tumors in only about a quarter of the patients with colon, rectal and other GI cancers enrolled in a clinical trial. But a researcher who was not involved in the study called the results "remarkable" because they highlight a path to a frustratingly elusive goal in medicine — harnessing a person's own immune defenses to target common solid tumor cancers. Until now, cell-based immunotherapy has worked mainly on blood cancers, such as leukemia, but not the solid cancers that seed tumors in the breast, brain, lungs, pancreas and GI tract... But the progress arrives at a sad time for science — and for patients, said the leader of the work, NIH immunotherapy pioneer Steven Rosenberg. Two patients' treatments using the experimental therapy had to be delayed because NIH's capacity to make personalized cell therapies has been slowed by the firing of highly skilled staff and by purchasing slowdowns. Those occurred even before major layoffs took place Tuesday... The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) responded to an email asking about clinical trial delays with a statement: "NIH and HHS are complying with President Trump's executive order." It's "a very exciting study," said Patrick Hwu, president of the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. Finding ways to tailor this cell-based immunotherapy approach to common solid tumors that cause the vast majority of cancer deaths has remained a major scientific challenge... Rosenberg and colleagues first tried to create tumor infiltrating lymphocytes [or "TILs"] using the method that worked in melanoma for 18 patients with GI cancers that had spread. It failed completely. In a second iteration, his team sequenced the mutations present in each patient's tumor and used that information to sift out and expand the TILs that could home in on that patient's specific tumor cells. The results were far from a triumph, but provided a clue — this time, three of 39 patients' tumors shrank. In the last stage of the trial, the scientists added a drug called pembrolizumab that takes the brakes off immune cells. This time, eight of the 34 patients responded. "Right now, only a few labs in the country can do what they just did," Hwu said. While Rosenberg is already working "to refine and improve upon the results," he told the Post that two scientists involved in the specialized process of preparing the cells to treat patients were fired in the probationary purge. "We've had to slow down our work and delay the treatment of some patients...." And there's also dramatically fewer people now who can purchase research materials, which the Post says it "making it slower and more difficult to obtain supplies."

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