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US federal funds awarded to spur SMR deployment

In October 2024, the US Department of Energy (DOE) — under the Joe Biden administration — opened applications for funding to support the initial domestic deployment of Generation III+ small modular reactor (SMR) technologies, with up to USD800 million to go to two “first-mover” teams, with an additional USD100 million to address so-called gaps that have hindered plant deployments. According to the solicitation documentation, a Gen III+ SMR is defined as a nuclear fission reactor that uses light water as a coolant and low-enriched uranium fuel, with a single-unit net electrical power output of 50–350 MWe, that maximises factory fabrication approaches, and the same or improved safety, security, and environmental benefits compared with current large nuclear power plant designs.

The solicitation was re-issued by the DOE in March 2025 to better align with President Donald Trump’s agenda on unleashing American energy and AI dominance.

In December last year, the DOE selected Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Holtec Government Services to each receive USD400 million in federal cost-shared funding to support early deployments of advanced light-water small modular reactors in the USA. TVA’s application was selected for funding to accelerate the deployment of a GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 at its Clinch River site in East Tennessee. Holtec plans to deploy two SMR-300 reactors — named Pioneer 1 and 2 — at the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station site in Michigan.

INTERPOL Operation Ramz Disrupts MENA Cybercrime Networks with 201 Arrests

Group-IB, which was one of the private sector companies that participated in the effort, said it provided “actionable intelligence” on over 5,000 compromised accounts, including those that were associated with government infrastructure, and shared details about active phishing infrastructure across the region.

“Cybercrime is borderless, and the only effective response is one that is equally borderless,” Joe Sander, CEO of Team Cymru, said. “Operation Ramz is exactly that kind of response, law enforcement and trusted private-sector partners pooling intelligence, moving in concert, and dismantling the infrastructure that criminals depend on.”

Countries that took part in Operation Ramz included Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Tunisia, and the U.A.E.

The DOJ Is Demanding Apple And Google Identify Over 100,000 Users Of This Car App

In the letter, EZ Lynk lawyers wrote that Apple and Google are planning to fight the subpoenas. Walmart declined to comment. None of the other companies subpoenaed responded to a comment request.

“These requests for potentially hundreds of thousands of people’s PII go well beyond the needs of this case and create serious privacy concerns,” wrote EZ Lynk’s lawyers in the letter. “Investigating this claim does not require identifying each person who has used the product.”

The government said in the letter its request for data was fair and appropriate, and it had “consistently sought customer information” because its lawyers want to interview witnesses about their use of EZ Lynk’s technology. It has already presented evidence to the court of people using the company’s tools to remove emissions controls on their cars, including Facebook and EZ Lynk forum posts outlining that use of the product.

Signal adds security warnings for social engineering, phishing attacks

Signal has introduced new in-app confirmations and warning messages as additional safeguards against phishing and social engineering attempts that could lead to various forms of fraud.

The purpose is to introduce enough friction that users get the time to evaluate the safety of an external request.

Recently, there have been attacks targeting high-profile users with bogus ‘Signal Support’ alerts, as highlighted by the FBI, the Dutch government, and the German authorities.

Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE)

At the direction of President Donald J. Trump, the Department of War is overseeing a multiagency effort to expeditiously find, review, identify, declassify and publicly release unresolved Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena-related records and historical documents in the federal government’s possession./ meta name=.

Quantum Entangles the Heavens

As the United States, Europe, and China compete to shape the future of the Earth-Moon corridor, strategic advantage will depend not only on launch capacity or lunar infrastructure, but also on advances in quantum technologies. Just as secure systems are critical on Earth, satellites and space-based systems underpin high-value, high-impact operations from financial transactions and navigation to scientific discovery and classified military missions.

Quantum technologies, which enable new levels of speed, sensitivity, and security, are emerging as critical tools to improve existing extraterrestrial systems. Modern digital communications are secured by encryption built on math problems that are extremely difficult for regular computers to solve, but that sufficiently advanced quantum computers could eventually crack. Quantum communications technologies could add a new layer of protection by making it easier to detect when someone is trying to intercept sensitive information. Quantum sensors can measure position and time with an accuracy that GPS only approximates. Lastly, quantum computers could unlock new capabilities beyond current computational limits, from designing advanced materials to optimizing increasingly complex satellite networks.

Countries are racing to match their space and quantum ambitions with national strategies. The White House is reportedly drafting an executive order to strengthen US competitiveness in quantum technologies. The rumored draft directs multiple US government bodies, including NASA, to develop a five-year roadmap to expand quantum sensing and networking capabilities. The EU’s 2025 Quantum Europe Strategy highlights “Space and Dual-Use Quantum Technologies” as one of its five strategic focuses, and China’s 15th Five-Year Plan has called for expanding the country’s ground-to-space quantum communications network.

SpaceX files for $55 billion semiconductor fab in rural Texas for Musk’s Terafab — total chipmaking fab investment could reach $119 billion

SpaceX has filed a property tax abatement application in Grimes County, Texas, for a semiconductor fab that would cost $55 billion in its initial phases and up to $119 billion if all planned expansions are completed.

The filing, posted on the county government’s website ahead of a public hearing scheduled for June 3, describes the project as a “multi-phase, next-generation, vertically integrated semiconductor manufacturing and advanced computing fabrication facility” to be built at the Gibbons Creek Reservoir site, roughly 90 miles northeast of Austin.

The capital figures in this filing far exceed what was disclosed when Elon Musk announced Terafab in March, where the project carried a $20 billion price tag. Musk later confirmed during Tesla’s earnings call that SpaceX would handle high-volume chip manufacturing while Tesla operates a smaller R&D pilot line at its Austin campus. The Grimes County filing appears to be SpaceX’s first formal step toward securing a site for that production facility.

What is “gravitic propulsion” and could the US government hide it?

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The Cybertruck bomber’s mention of a “gravitic device” ignited rumours that the U.S. government might be trying to hide developments in physics, similar to what it did when the country was developing the nuclear bomb. Would that even be possible? Here’s what I think.

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A Billionaire-Backed Startup Wants to Grow ‘Organ Sacks’ to Replace Animal Testing

As the Trump administration phases out the use of animal experimentation across the federal government, a biotech startup has a bold idea for an alternative to animal testing: nonsentient “organ sacks.”

Bay Area-based R3 Bio has been quietly pitching the idea to investors and in industry publications as a way to replace lab animals without the ethical issues that come with living organisms. That’s because these structures would contain all of the typical organs—except a brain, rendering them unable to think or feel pain. The company’s long-term goal, cofounder Alice Gilman says, is to make human versions that could be used as a source of tissues and organs for people who need them.

For Immortal Dragons, a Singapore-based longevity fund that’s invested in R3, the idea of replacement is a core strategy for human longevity. “We think replacement is probably better than repair when it comes to treating diseases or regulating the aging process in the human body,” says CEO Boyang Wang. “If we can create a nonsentient, headless bodyoid for a human being, that will be a great source of organs.”

Firehorse superstition helps uncover why women’s education may not drive Japan’s fertility decline

The rapidly declining marriage and fertility rates across developed East Asian societies strain pension and health care systems, threaten economic growth, and reshape entire societies. To tackle this issue, governments in Japan and across East Asia have invested heavily in pronatalist measures, but often with limited success. For instance, Japan’s government has repeatedly expanded childcare subsidies and parental leave provisions, yet the total fertility rate hit a record low of 1.20 in 2024.

A common narrative in media commentary, policy circles, and even within families is that women are “too educated” or “too career-focused” to marry and have children. However, the exact causal relationship between women’s education level and family formation is not well understood.

To fill this knowledge gap, a team of researchers from Japan and Singapore, led by Associate Professor Rong Fu from the Faculty of Commerce, Waseda University, Japan, used a novel quasi-experimental approach to understand the relationship between education, fertility, and marriage in Japan.

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