⤴⤵ Up Wing/Down Wing #42

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

In case you missed it .. .

✨☠ We can do better than merely surviving AI 'extinction' (Tuesday)

💥 ☢ An explosive climate solution: A Quick Q&A with … software engineer Andy Haverly on geoengineering with nuclear bombs (Wednesday)

🏙🔎 America’s missing megalopolis mystery (Throwback Thursday) (Thursday)

🎇 Yikes! What if AGI isn't possible with LLMs? (Friday)

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⤴ Up Wing Things

🌐 Trump may walk back China tariffs in an effort to cool tensions. The Trump administration is weighing a significant cut to tariffs on Chinese imports — potentially reducing some by over half — in a move aimed at easing tensions and reviving trade talks with Beijing. While no final decision has been made, officials are considering a tiered approach, with lower tariffs on non-strategic goods and higher rates on items tied to national security. Trump has signaled openness to a deal but insists China must make concessions:

Trump said Tuesday that he was willing to cut tariffs on Chinese goods and that the 145% tariffs he imposed on China during his second term would come down. “But it won’t be zero,” he said. The development was welcome news to investors who had been spooked by the White House’s aggressive moves in recent weeks.

The news has calmed investors and sparked cautious optimism, though formal negotiations between US and Chinese leaders have yet to resume. (WSJ)

☢️ Finland completes the first underground radioactive waste storage. Since the 1950s, over 430,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel have been produced globally — most of it still awaiting permanent storage. Now, Finland is set to make history with Onkalo, the world’s first deep geological repository. Located 430 meters underground and backed by €900 million in construction to date, Onkalo will store fuel from Finland’s five reactors in sealed copper canisters surrounded by protective clay. As nuclear power gains momentum — with AI and decarbonization driving demand — similar projects are underway in Sweden, Canada, France, and Switzerland, offering a hopeful path toward safe, long-term nuclear waste management. (Wired)

🌀 AI came up with gravitational wave detectors that even scientists don’t get. Scientists are teaming up with artificial intelligence to rethink how we detect gravitational waves — those tiny ripples in space-time first predicted by Einstein. A new AI called Urania, developed by Dr. Mario Krenn and his team at the Max Planck Institute, has come up with a whole range of creative new detector designs. Some are so advanced, they could outperform even the best human-made versions. The team has shared their top 50 designs in an online “Detector Zoo,” opening the door to exciting discoveries—and showing how AI might help unlock the universe’s biggest mysteries. (The Debrief)

💉 Shingles vax might guard against dementia. New research suggests shingles vaccines may do more than prevent painful rashes — they could also help protect the brain. Studies from Australia, the UK, and the US found that people vaccinated with Zostavax or Shingrix were less likely to be diagnosed with dementia in the following years. One study found a 20 percent lower dementia risk in vaccinated individuals:

Theories about the role of the vaccines in dementia fall in two buckets. It might be that they hold off the virus, whose activation and infection has been linked to dementia. Another possibility is that the vaccines train the broader immune system in some way that allows it to stave off the disabling neurological condition.

While the exact reasons aren’t yet clear, it’s an exciting step towards a greater understanding of dementia and an encouraging potential bonus to getting vaccinated. (WSJ)