Nearly two years ago, during the COP28 climate summit in the heart of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, nations committed to begin “transitioning our energy systems away from fossil fuels” to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. However, the global share of energy sourced from fossil fuels has stubbornly remained over 80 percent, consistent with trends from previous decades.
Due to our inability to decarbonize, researchers now believe we have set off Earth’s first “tipping point,” a significant shift in climate that cannot be easily reversed. Current ocean temperatures are alarmingly high, putting coral reefs at risk of widespread death (see page 9).
What obstacles are impeding the energy transition? While there isn’t a straightforward answer, it is often noted that a select few companies, predominantly fossil fuel corporations, are responsible for the majority of emissions. Criticism of such statements is easy, as they deflect responsibility away from consumers who utilize this energy.
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Major tech companies are minimizing earlier promises to achieve net zero “
However, it is reasonable to critique oil and gas firms that tout their ecological initiatives yet fail to follow through. Many of these companies promote their renewable energy investments, but in reality, their contributions to future energy production remain minimal (see page 16).
Regrettably, the situation appears poised to worsen before it improves. Encouraged by the Trump administration, numerous oil and gas companies have vowed to boost production, while significant players in other sectors, like tech, are downplaying their net-zero commitments.
Next month, governments are set to convene once more to deliberate on climate policy at COP30 in Brazil. While military action is unlikely from the United States, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has yet to confirm his participation. At this juncture, it’s reasonable to question whether any politicians or business leaders genuinely regard the climate change threat seriously. If they do, they must start demonstrating that urgency through action.
James Watson, a Nobel Prize-winning co-discussor of the DNA double helix, remarked in 1974, “All hell is unleashed politically and morally around the globe” regarding the potential of human in vitro fertilization.
Today, more than 12 million individuals are expecting through IVF, and the world seems relatively calm. Many of us may not have fully grasped this procedure.
Yet, what about our perceptions of future reproductive technologies? This question is sparked by the recent birth of a fertile mouse with two genetic fathers. While similar experiments have previously led to the creation of both motherless and fatherless mice, this new method is notable as it does not involve genetic alterations. Typically, this could also be applicable for human use.
Various obstacles, including low success rates and the removal of DNA from numerous human eggs, explain why such advancements aren’t imminent. Nonetheless, it is essential to begin contemplating the societal implications.
For some, the notion of a child having two genetic fathers may never be accepted, just as there remains criticism towards gay couples expanding their families. Changing such perspectives may prove challenging, if not impossible.
Like IVF, what used to be front-page news could eventually become routine.
However, one can expect a broader public to exhibit a strict moral opposition to this idea, along with a general sense of unease. The inaugural child born from this method is, in many ways, distinct from all previous human beings. IVF-born children come into existence through a process unimaginable to our ancestors but continue to carry the genetic lineage from one male and one female ancestor.
Is this significant? Just like IVF, what was once front-page news may soon be commonplace. In a time when reproductive and trans rights are being restricted in the U.S., engaging in objective discourse about emerging technologies presents a greater challenge. Fortunately, these questions do not require immediate answers.
Scenario crafted in Hollywood now reflects a genuine threat: the potential for hackers to seize control of vessels remotely and instigate crashes. Yet, in the security operations hub in Oslo, maritime cyber specialists situated mere meters from the luminous fjords and their tourist boats, floating saunas, and wet bathers assert that such occurrences are not only feasible, but imminent.
“We’re certain this will eventually happen, hence our vigilance,” states Øystein Brekke-Sanderud, Senior Analyst at the Nordic Maritime Cyber Resilience Centre (Norma Cyber). Behind him, a dynamic map displays the fleet they monitor, accompanied by a screen brimming with graphs and codes. Two small rubber ducks observe the passing minutes.
In an unstable global landscape, transportation networks, ports, and terminals have garnered heightened strategic significance as potential targets for infrastructure disruption and espionage—especially pertinent in Scandinavian nations that share maritime boundaries with Russia.
Finland and Sweden are NATO members now, with all countries enhancing their defensive postures amid escalating concerns over hybrid threats and warfare.
A digital map that tracks ship locations globally via Norma Cyber. Photo: Sara Aarøen Lien/The Guardian
As ships become increasingly digitalized, the opportunities for cyber breaches expand, indicating an urgent need to mitigate the complexities of AI tools and intricate systems.
Oslo Harbor serves as the command center where maritime cyber specialists assess global ship threats. Photo: Carl Hendon/Getty Images
“These vessel systems are incredibly intricate, making them tough to manipulate. However, AI accelerates everything,” explains Brekke-Sanderud. “How does this part function? Can I locate a password amidst this dense manual?”
Stationed at the Norwegian Shipowner Association’s headquarters along the quay of the Norwegian capital, Norma Cyber collaborates with the Norwegian Shipowner’s Risk Insurance Association (DNK).
Two years ago, these organizations united to create a Maritime Security and Resilience Centre, which surveys global threats ranging from warfare and terrorism to intellectual property violations—both physical and digital. They also conduct this work on behalf of the Norwegian government.
Norma Cyber Staff, featuring Managing Director Lars Benjamin Vold, Analyst Øystein Brekke-Sanderud, and Chief Technology Officer Øyvind Berget. Photo: Sara Aarøen Lien/The Guardian
While it is technically feasible to crash a vessel from afar, hackers aiming to sow chaos don’t necessarily need such extreme measures. According to Norma Cyber Managing Director Lars Benjamin Vold, merely halting the vessel’s operations could result in significant system failures.
Emerging evidence suggests that nations may exploit these vulnerabilities against maritime adversaries.
Oil tanker discharging ballast water is one of the vulnerabilities targeted in cyber attacks. Photo: Island Stock/Aramie
Reports indicate that Iran is investigating methods to deploy cyber assaults to disrupt ballast systems—a threat to both ships and satellite networks. An unprecedented hack occurred in April, targeting 116 Iranian VSAT modems used for satellite communications across vessels.
“When discussing nation-states, it is about their willingness to act,” Vold states. Potential “threat actors” such as Russia and China possess substantial capabilities, though these depend on their strategic objectives, which may shift rapidly.
Consequently, while threat levels remain relatively stable, maritime vulnerabilities are on the rise. “The avenues for potential exploitation are multiplying as the sector grows more digital,” Vold remarks.
Norma Cyber has also pinpointed civilian vessels, including fishing boats, research ships, and cargo carriers, used for espionage within the Baltic, North Atlantic, and Arctic regions. China-linked threat actors are reportedly using USB devices to infiltrate maritime systems, such as those from Mustang Panda.
Last year, Norma Cyber documented 239 significant cyber attacks within the maritime sector, attributing the majority to the pro-Russian group NonAME057 (16).
Svein Ringbakken, managing director of DNK’s Oslo office. Photo: Sara Aarøen Lien/The Guardian
Curiously, the rising dependence on digital technology creates a greater demand for traditional navigation skills. Following disruptions to the Baltic satellite navigation system, Finland accused Russia of being the instigator. “An experienced sailor serves as the best protection,” Vold asserts.
Yet, alongside the unseen threats of the digital realm, the maritime industry grapples with unprecedented physical challenges. Vladimir Putin’s shadow fleet, comprised of hundreds of unregulated vessels, poses a growing risk to environmental safety and the global shipping framework as it transports sanctioned crude oil primarily to China and India.
This Shadow Fleet consists of aging oil tankers obscuring their identities to evade Western sanctions. Estimates of its size range between 600 to 900 vessels according to various sources.
Finnish authorities scrutinized the Russian Shadow Fleet Oil Tanker Eagle in December 2024 due to suspected interference with power cables. Photo: Finland Border Guard/AFP/Getty
Internal threats to ships can also arise from within. Engines, elevators, and water purification systems are all vulnerable targets on board vessels. Moreover, 15% of the global crew consist of either Ukrainian or Russian members. The composition of both crews has taken on new significance since the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The presence of a Russian captain on a ship delivering aid to Ukraine certainly raises concerns,” says Svein Ringbakken, managing director of DNK. “These are sensitive issues that the industry is currently addressing.”
Rhine Falkenberg Orstad, an advisor to the Norwegian Shipowner Association and an expert on the Russian Shadow Fleet. Photo: Sara Aarøen Lien/The Guardian
Rhine Falkenberg Orstad expresses concern that the increasing presence of the Shadow Fleet could foster a “parallel fleet” comprised of crew members uninformed about the intentions at sea.
If one of these vessels experiences an environmental mishap, it poses a risk to Norway’s coastline, she warns. Some ships noted as sanctioned by the US remain operational, with many being at least 15 years old. “Our apprehension is that the situation is deteriorating.”
Another significant query remains: has the entire situation permanently shifted?
“Is the shadow fleet operating outside of Western jurisdiction a new norm? Or can this trend be reversed?” Ollestad ponders. “The answer remains elusive.”
The rubber ducks maintain a vigilant watch over the security operations room at Norma Cyber. Photo: Sara Aarøen Lien/The Guardian
Medical professionals have created an artificial intelligence tool capable of predicting which men diagnosed with prostate cancer are likely to benefit from treatment, potentially lowering the risk of mortality.
Abiraterone is regarded as a revolutionary treatment for the condition, which is the most prevalent cancer among men in over 100 countries. It has already enabled countless individuals with advanced prostate cancer to enjoy extended lifespans.
Nonetheless, some nations, including the UK, have ceased offering this “remarkable” medication to men whose cancer has not metastasized.
Currently, teams from the US, UK, and Switzerland are developing AI assessments that determine which men are likely to gain from Abiraterone. This “promising” advancement enhances the healthcare system to allocate medications more effectively to suitable candidates while allowing others to avoid unnecessary treatments.
The AI test was unveiled in Chicago at the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the largest cancer conference globally.
Nick James, a professor specializing in prostate and bladder cancer research at the London Cancer Institute, serves as a consultant clinical oncologist at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, where he leads the development team.
“Abiraterone has already greatly enhanced the prognosis for hundreds of thousands of men with advanced prostate cancer,” James stated. “We recognize that for many men whose cancer hasn’t spread yet, it can have significant implications.
“However, the treatment comes with side effects and necessitates additional monitoring for potential issues such as hypertension or liver abnormalities. It is extremely valuable to identify those most likely to truly benefit, as it may slightly elevate the risks of diabetes and heart complications.
“This research indicates that those who respond optimally to abiraterone, as well as those who fare well with standard treatments alone, can decide between hormone therapy and radiation therapy.”
The AI tool examines tumor images and identifies features that may not be discernible to the naked eye. Prostate Cancer UK, the Medical Research Council, and arterial funded teams analyzed biopsy images from over 1,000 men exhibiting high-risk prostate cancer that had not metastasized.
AI analysis pinpointed 25% of the men in the study who were most likely to gain from Abiraterone. For these individuals, the medication halved the risk of mortality.
In the study, patients received a score indicating a positive or negative biomarker. This was then compared with outcomes. Among those with biomarker-positive tumors, the risk of death was reduced from 17% to 9% after five years for one in four men.
For patients with biomarker-negative tumors, Abiraterone decreased the risk of death from 7% to 4%. The research team indicated this result was neither statistically nor clinically significant, meaning these men are better off with standard treatment alone and can avoid unnecessary therapies.
Professor Gert Attard, the research co-leader at UCL Cancer Institute, noted, “This study highlights that, within a sizable cohort of patients, new algorithms can be utilized to glean information from routinely available pathology slides to customize treatments to individual patients, thereby minimizing unnecessary interventions while maximizing the effectiveness of treatment.”
James mentioned that fewer men may require the medication than previously believed, suggesting that health services should contemplate administering it to men whose cancer hasn’t spread.
While it has been sanctioned for use within the NHS for advanced prostate cancer in England, it has yet to receive approval for newly diagnosed high-risk cases that have not metastasized. However, men with indications of high-risk cancer have had access to treatment in Scotland and Wales for two years.
“Abiraterone costs just £77 per pack compared to thousands for new treatments,” James remarked. “We sincerely hope this new research will clarify who truly benefits from this drug, especially given NHS England’s decision not to fund it for high-risk non-metastatic prostate cancer cases.”
Dr. Matthew Hobbs, research director at Prostate Cancer UK, termed the AI test as “promising.” He further elaborated:
A humanoid robot can predict one second in advance whether someone will smile and match the smile on its own face. The creators hope this technology will make interactions with robots more realistic.
Artificial intelligence is now able to imitate human language to an impressive degree, but interacting with physical robots often falls into the “uncanny valley.” One reason for this is that robots cannot reproduce the complex nonverbal cues and mannerisms that are essential to communication.
now, Hod Lipson Researchers at Columbia University in New York have developed a robot called Emo that uses AI models and high-resolution cameras to predict and attempt to reproduce people's facial expressions. It predicts whether someone will smile about 0.9 seconds in advance and smiles accordingly. “I'm a jaded roboticist, but when I see this robot, I smile back,” Lipson says.
Emo consists of a face with a camera in its eyeball and a flexible plastic skin with 23 individual motors attached by magnets. This robot uses her two neural networks. One looks at people's faces and predicts their expressions, and her other one figures out how to create expressions on her own face.
The first network was trained on YouTube videos of people making faces, while the second network was trained by watching the robot itself make faces on a live camera feed. “You learn what your face looks like when you pull all your muscles,” Lipson says. “It's like being in front of a mirror. Even if you close your eyes and smile, you know what your face looks like.”
Lipson and his team hope Emo's technology will improve human-robot interaction, but first they need to expand the range of expressions robots can perform. Lipson also wants to train his children to express themselves in response to what people say, rather than simply imitating others.
hurdle Series A funding has increased significantly compared to a year ago, and investors in seed-stage companies are having to react.
If they want their startup to survive, they don’t have many options. When the market suddenly changed in the spring of 2022, late-stage companies were the first to feel the pain. But that downward financial pressure has also recently affected newer companies, resulting in lower valuations in subsequent rounds, up from 1.6x in the second quarter to 2013, according to Pitchbook data. This is the lowest value since the third quarter, making selection difficult. Series A investors with plenty of options.
There are countless ways VCs can get creative on this front. European venture firm Breega touts a “scaling team” to back many of its seed investments. Pear VC, a Bay Area-based seed-stage venture firm, continues to roll out new programs to support and educate the early teams it supports.
Even larger, more agnostic companies are doing more to show they’re responsive to today’s market. For example, in October, investment firm Greylock launched Edge, a three-month company-building program “aimed at taking selected pre-idea, pre-seed, and seed founders from launch to product-market fit.” It started.
VC powerhouse Lightspeed Venture Partners is also stepping up its efforts. The company has long written early (and in some cases first) checks to startups, including the messaging app Snapchat. application performance management company AppDynamics (acquired by Cisco just before his IPO); and publicly traded cloud computing company Nutanix (current market cap: $11.2 billion).
The company says it has long focused on polishing these rough diamonds. Still, given the rising standards for Series A investors overall, Lightspeed told TechCrunch that some of the mentorship the company has provided to portfolio companies for years will be extended to company-building for founders. He said that he decided to make it official through the program. launch.
The idea, led by partner Luke Betheda, is not to attract more founders to Lightspeed, but to pave the way for already-funded startups to advance to Series A rounds. It is said that Betheda explains that almost everyone faces the same questions and obstacles. “They need to know: How do I get a business up and running? How do I hire and build a core team? Build product strategy through customer interviews and build partnerships. How can we design and drive revenue?”
Going forward, Lightspeed hopes to answer these questions more systematically through expert-led workshops, seed “playbooks,” and other toolkits Lightspeed offers through new programs.
Certainly, any help, no matter how small, is greatly appreciated at this time.
While many startups simply disband, at least 3,200 According to data compiled by Pitchbook for the New York Times, venture-backed U.S. companies are expected to go out of business in 2023, but companies that focus on year-over-year growth and annual recurring revenue are realistic. Some companies think they won’t go out of business any time soon.
At this time, it also includes a Series A stage.
“In 2020, 2021 and towards the end of 2022, we went through a period of tremendous market excitement, where there was a sense that gravity was non-existent,” Benchmark VC Sarah Tavel said at TC told. At an event earlier this month, she spoke about the changing landscape of Series A funding.
“Now we’re back to the point where everyone realizes that the job of building a company is really hard. You have to have great direction for your customers. You have to have incredible direction to the fundamentals of the business you are in.”
Mr Tavel said: “It’s not just the cosmetic metrics, the top-line numbers, that get a lot of people confused. [succeed] It is what generates profits and cash flow. ”
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