⤴⤵ Up Wing/Down Wing #37

A curated selection of pro-progress and anti-progress news items from the week that was

In case you missed it .. .

🧠 Have we really passed Peak Brain Power? (Monday)

🌎📈 Humanity's capacity to grow and thrive: A Quick Q&A with … research analyst Ben Landau-Taylor (Tuesday)

✨ The Age of AI: Today? Tomorrow? When? (Thursday)

🚀 Mars or bust! My chat (+transcript) with aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin (Friday)

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Up Wing Things

🚀 NASA astronauts return after nine-month space mission. NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore are back on Earth after an unexpected nine-month stay aboard the International Space Station. Originally set for just eight days, their mission was extended due to propulsion issues with Boeing’s Starliner. On Tuesday, SpaceX’s Crew Dragon safely brought them home, capping 286 days in orbit and 4,576 Earth orbits. Despite the delay, they conducted crucial research, including microbial studies and spacewalks. Their journey underscores SpaceX’s reliability in human spaceflight while highlighting the challenges of developing new crewed spacecraft. Williams now holds the record for most spacewalking hours by a woman at 62 hours in total. (NYT)

🛰️ Hera photographs Mars and its moon during flyby. The European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft successfully completed a flyby of Mars, capturing high-resolution images of the planet and its small moon, Deimos, from 600 miles away.

Deimos is tidally locked, meaning one hemisphere permanently faces Mars. This near side is the one most commonly seen by spacecraft orbiting the planet, or by rovers driving across its surface. Hera managed to fly behind Deimos, meaning it caught a rare sight.

This maneuver was part of a gravity assist to adjust Hera’s course toward Dimorphos, the asteroid impacted by NASA’s DART mission in 2022. Scientists aim to study how the asteroid responded to the impact, improving planetary defense strategies. The spacecraft remains on schedule to reach its target by late 2026, where it will provide detailed observations to refine future asteroid deflection techniques. (NYT)

💉 Once-a-year shot could prevent HIV. A new annual injection could change the future of HIV prevention. Lenacapavir, already approved for treatment, showed 100 percent efficacy in preventing infections in women and girls in a clinical trial. Now, a phase I study finds that a single yearly dose maintains protective drug levels in the blood for 12 months. With phase III trials planned and regulatory approval pending, this breakthrough could make HIV prevention easier and more accessible. Licensing deals with six generic manufacturers aim to expand availability in 120 low- and middle-income countries, offering hope for a future where HIV infections are a thing of the past. (MIT)

🤖 AI unlocks the secrets of the Nazca lines. Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing archaeology, shedding new light on the Nazca Lines, massive geoglyphs carved into Peru’s desert over 1,500 years ago. Using machine learning, researchers from Yamagata University and IBM analyzed aerial imagery, identifying 303 previously undiscovered figures in just six months—nearly doubling the known total. The newfound geoglyphs, depicting humans, animals, and abstract patterns, suggest a broader cultural significance. AI’s ability to rapidly scan hundreds of kilometers of desert terrain is accelerating discoveries, making it easier to study ancient civilizations at scale. Archaeologists are now closer than ever to understanding the purpose of these vast, enigmatic artworks. (Science Focus)

🌐 Satellites are empowering the AI revolution. Satellite internet is fast becoming the backbone of tomorrow’s always-on AI ecosystem. With over 4.5 million Starlink users already connected and competitors like Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Europe’s IRIS² program following suit, the planet is being wrapped in global coverage. AI and IoT devices are poised to benefit enormously:

IoT tech like free-roaming robot vacuums, road-tripping luggage trackers, and security cameras at the edge of your property will no longer struggle to stay connected while they transfer videos, photos, commands, and location data... If you have satellites blanketing the entire planet... that offers up a massive feast of information for AI to gobble up.

Analysts say this “space internet” will soon be standard on phones, enabling everything from AI-assisted logistics to smart emergency alerts. (Wired)

♥️ Titanium heart keeps man alive for a record 100 days. An innovative artificial heart has given new hope to patients awaiting transplants. An Australian man has now become the first person in the world to leave the hospital with BiVACOR, a titanium total heart replacement. The device kept him alive for over three months before he successfully received a donor's heart. Unlike previous recipients, he lived outside a hospital setting, marking a major milestone. The magnetically suspended rotor inside BiVACOR continuously pumps blood, offering a potential long-term alternative for those who can’t receive a transplant. With further trials ahead, this innovation could reshape the future of heart failure treatment. (Nature)

😊 Have we passed peak teen depression and anxiety? After years of rising mental health concerns, young Americans are showing signs of recovery. College students and teenagers appear to be feeling better, according to new data:

In 2022, when more than 95,000 students at 373 universities were surveyed, a staggering 44% displayed symptoms of depression. Then, curiously, the trend reversed. In 2023 41% of students seemed depressed; in 2024, the figure fell again to 38%... In 2023 the share of 15- and 16-year-olds who said they don’t enjoy life was 24.7%, down from 28.8% in 2021.

While experts debate the causes, ranging from social media’s role to changing definitions of mental health, it is clear that after more than a decade of decline, youth well-being is on the rise. (Economist)

🎨 AI joins the art detective squad. AI is proving its worth in the art world by spotting fakes that can be difficult to distinguish with the naked eye. A recent case involved a flea-market painting some falsely hoped was a lost Van Gogh. Zurich-based authentication service Art Recognition ran the image through its AI model, trained on over 800 verified Van Goghs, and found a 97 percent chance it wasn’t a true Van Gogh. That kind of objectivity is reshaping how experts validate artworks. AI can now detect imperceptible features like brushstroke patterns and color composition from a digital photo, helping curators and scholars confirm what the eye suspects. (Wired)

🦠 Bacteria engineered to produce biodegradable plastics. Scientists have made a major breakthrough in sustainable manufacturing by engineering bacteria to produce biodegradable plastics from simple sugars. Researchers in South Korea modified E. coli to generate polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), naturally occurring polymers that store energy in bacteria. Through enzyme modification, they achieved remarkable efficiency:

By adding a few additional enzymes to the E. coli strain, they managed to boost the yield of the polymer by weight to over 50 percent. They also showed that you could introduce mutations to the enzyme that does the polymerization, and it would selectively incorporate more of a specific amino acid into the resulting polymer.

This bio-based plastic offers a potential alternative to fossil fuel-derived plastics, paving the way for more sustainable and degradable materials in the future. (Ars)

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On sale everywhere ⏩ The Conservative Futurist: How To Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised

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Down Wing Things

🛑 Measles cases surge as vaccination rates drop. Measles is making a dangerous comeback in the US, with over 300 cases reported in just three months, surpassing yearly totals since 2019. The largest outbreak, centered in West Texas, has spread to New Mexico and Oklahoma, causing two deaths and dozens of hospitalizations. With kindergarten vaccination rates down to 92.7 percent, health officials warn that the country risks losing its measles elimination status. Globally, cases are also surging, with Europe seeing its highest numbers since 1997. Experts stress that raising vaccination rates is critical to stopping outbreaks and ensuring lasting protection, though the exact threshold needed to restore herd immunity remains uncertain. (Ars)

🖥️ AI generates questions around programmers’ career prospects. The rise of AI is hitting programmers hard. In just two years, over a quarter of programming jobs have vanished, marking the steepest decline in the field’s history. Meanwhile, software developers, who focus on designing solutions rather than just writing code, have seen far less impact. AI tools like ChatGPT are increasingly handling routine coding tasks, making programmers the first to feel automation’s effects. While tech industry slowdowns and high interest rates have contributed, AI's growing role in coding is undeniable. The profession that once powered the digital revolution may be one of the first casualties of AI’s rise. (Wapo)

💉 NIH shifts away from mRNA vaccine research. The NIH has advised scientists to remove mRNA vaccine references from grant applications, raising concerns that funding for the technology—used in COVID-19 vaccines and studied for flu, HIV, and cancer—may be cut. Researchers fear political pressure is influencing this shift:

A scientist at a biomedical research center in Philadelphia wrote to a colleague, in an email reviewed by KFF Health News, that a project officer at NIH had 'flagged our pending grant as having an mRNA vaccine component.' 'It’s still unclear whether mRNA vaccine grants will be canceled,' the scientist added.

The Trump administration is reviewing $590 million in mRNA-related contracts, and state lawmakers are pushing bans on the technology. Scientists worry this move could stall promising medical advances, leaving key vaccine research in uncertain territory. (KFF)

🗂️ Public science is vanishing fast. Since January, hundreds of terabytes of US climate and environmental data have disappeared from federal websites, including tools like CEJST and EJScreen, which were wiped without warning. Scientists and coders are now scrambling to recover what they can before it’s lost for good. While open-source tools can be rebuilt quickly, many others, like EJScreen, require weeks of trial and error. The stakes are high as these datasets help identify environmental injustice, secure climate grants, and guide urban planning. “This is a campaign to remove public access,” one expert warned. Without urgent action, future researchers, policymakers, and communities could lose access to essential tools that track climate change, environmental health, and social vulnerability. (NYT)

🖥️ Critical internet access program faces shutdown. Critical internet access program faces shutdown. Trump’s shutdown of the Open Technology Fund (OTF) could cut off six million users in China and 18 million in Iran from secure internet tools like Signal, Tor, and VPNs. Lawmakers from both parties are sounding the alarm over the decision’s national security and human rights implications:

The Open Technology Fund provides a lifeline for people living under oppressive regimes, including citizens of China, Hong Kong, and Iran, by allowing them to safely communicate with the outside world and each other,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said in a 2020 statement. “Every once in a while a government program acts exactly as intended,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) said in a 2021 video post on X.​

With services already going offline, human rights advocates warn that dissidents relying on these tools could soon face surveillance or persecution. (Wapo)

🧠 Top US grads look eastward. In a striking reversal, Stanford and Harvard grads are now applying to Chinese AI startups like Manycore Tech. Just months ago, recruiting top engineers — even from Chinese universities — was tough, says Manycore co-founder Victor Huang. But since being named one of Hangzhou’s “Six Dragons” alongside DeepSeek, resumes have been pouring in. The company plans to hire nearly 100 AI engineers as it prepares for a Hong Kong IPO. Some applicants are seasoned Silicon Valley engineers returning to China amid U.S. immigration uncertainty. For Huang, a former Nvidia engineer himself, the shift is clear, saying, “It’s totally changed.” (Bberg)