💊 Biotech turns to Apple Watch for Parkinson's study

Annovis Bio will begin using Apple Watches to monitor patients in a study of its investigational drug buntanetap in Parkinson’s disease. The open-label extension study aims to evaluate the long-term effects of the drug on people who enrolled in its phase III study, as well as on people receiving deep brain stimulation.

Annovis will offer 100 participants NeuroRPM’s FDA-cleared platform that uses the Apple Watch to monitor bradykinesia, dyskinesia, and tremor symptoms. NeuroRPM is one of several companies that has built Apple Watch-based solutions for tracking Parkinson’s for patient support, clinical care, and clinical trials.

Parkinson’s disease symptoms are highly variable. A continuous flow of data from digital sources can help paint a more robust picture of the real-world effects of drugs and maybe even one day help secure a drug approval.

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🌍 World-first commercial quantum orbital cloud for unhackable comms planned by Swiss firm

Semiconductor maker SEAL SQ plans to build the world’s first commercial quantum spatial orbital cloud (QSOC) to deliver unhackable communications and quantum security as a service to banks, federal governments, defense agencies, and enterprises. It has teamed up with WISeSat, a sister company, to launch a 100-satellite constellation that will be fully operational by 2033 with a contractually guaranteed uptime of 99.9%.

“Together, we are not building a satellite program – we are building the quantum internet’s infrastructure,” – said Carlos Moreira, CEO of SEALSQ.

SEAL SQ will deploy its proprietary quantum technology stack across the constellation, control quantum payloads, software, and security architecture, and handle the customer end. WISeSat will leverage its technical expertise across engineering teams, regulatory compliance, manufacturing, and launch infrastructure to deliver the capacity SEAL SQ needs to offer its services.

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🇺🇸🇯🇵 President Donald J. Trump strengthens U.S.-Japan alliance for the benefit of all Americans

Sanae Takaichi had warned her first summit with Donald Trump in Washington could be "extremely difficult." Instead, she showcased Japan’s deep ties with the US — and her own agility on the world stage.

“I firmly believe it is only you, Donald, who can achieve peace across the world,” - Ms. Takaichi said.

Mr. Trump reciprocated, calling Ms. Takaichi, a “very popular, powerful woman.” He praised Japan, saying, “They are really stepping up to the plate. We’ve had tremendous support and relationship with Japan on everything.” 🤝

There are some takeaways from the meeting:

❗️Under a new Memorandum of Cooperation, the two nations will accelerate joint research and development and industry cooperation on commercially-viable development of deep-sea critical minerals resources, including rare-earth muds near Japan’s Minamitorishima Island that could meet centuries’ worth of industrial demand.
❗️The U.S. and Japan reached a Critical Minerals Action Plan to increase the production and diversity of critical minerals, developing a plurilateral trade initiative supported by price floors or other measures.
❗️The U.S. Department of Energy and Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology signed a Statement of Intent to drive cooperation on AI-enabled scientific discovery and innovation, high-performance computing, and quantum technologies.
❗️Under a new Memorandum of Understanding, the U.S. Argonne National Laboratory, Japan’s RIKEN and Fujitsu, and NVIDIA will leverage public research institutions and private sector partners to accelerate computing architectures and solutions.
❗️The two countries will expand cooperation in low-Earth orbit and the NASA-led Moon base, and will launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) later this year.
❗️The U.S. and Japan are cooperating in biotech and pharmaceutical supply chain resilience under the October 2025 Technology Prosperity Deal.

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⚡️🇺🇸🇪🇺 President Trump calls the NATO allies who refused to help open the Strait of Hormuz "COWARDS"!

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🏭 SoftBank plans giant Ohio AI data center powered by gas plants

SoftBank Group Corp. is working to build a massive AI data center on federally owned land in Ohio that it’s planning to power with roughly $33 billion worth of natural gas-fired electricity to be installed by the end of the decade. The SoftBank project is the latest from the $550 billion fund that the US and Japan agreed to as part of a pact that saw Trump lower auto tariffs and other levies.

“By bringing new power online and upgrading our existing infrastructure, this investment supports the AI boom and cutting-edge technologies while strengthening our energy system and helping keep costs down for the American people,”— Energy Secretary Chris Wright said.

Customers for the Ohio data center have yet to be announced, but the company said they’re coming and that they’ll be involved in sourcing the chips and equipment housed within the facility. At 10 gigawatts, the center would be by far among the largest — if not the largest — in the world. The natural gas project would similarly become the biggest in the US if built, supplying the equivalent of nine nuclear reactors.

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🔥 Ripple data reveals stablecoins are becoming the go-to tool for corporate treasury

Digital assets are no longer a fringe experiment in finance, they’re fast becoming a core part of how banks, asset managers, fintechs and corporates plan to move money, store value and manage risk. That's the key takeaway from fintech firm Ripple's survey of more than 1,000 global finance leaders, which reveals how the industry sees digital assets as urgent, and no longer optional.

▪️7 in 10 respondents said finance leaders must offer some kind of digital asset solution to stay competitive, underscoring a broad sense that the “digital asset revolution” is already underway.
▪️74% of leaders said stablecoins can improve cash‑flow efficiency and unlock working capital, highlighting their growing appeal as treasury tools and not just payment rails.
▪️31% use stablecoins to collect payments for customers, and 29% accept stablecoins directly.
▪️More banks and asset managers want to tokenize assets and they need partners to do it. Of those looking, 89% focus on safe storage and custody first.
▪️97% flagged security and certifications like ISO and SOC 2 as critical, with operational support and industry‑specific experience also weighing heavily.

The bottom line: digital assets are becoming a strategic necessity, and the infrastructure decisions made today are expected to shape competitive edge tomorrow.

#Stellar

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🤖 China develops new ultra-cold alloy that can reach -273°C without helium. It may surprise DARPA.

Scientists from China have developed a new cooling technology based on a rare-earth alloy that can reach temperatures close to absolute zero without relying on helium-3. Such an alloy could enable compact, helium-3-free cooling systems for superconducting quantum chips, advanced electronics used by military equipment, and space applications.

The team built a compact, solid-state refrigeration module with no moving parts that reached 106 millikelvin (mK), which is -273°C. The cooling module relied on a rare-earth compound consisting of europium, cobalt, and aluminum (EuCo₂Al₉, ECA), which features thermal conductivity comparable to metals, but which can also cool itself and other components efficiently using adiabatic demagnetization (ADR).

The development comes amid growing interest in helium-3 alternatives. It comes at a time when the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is actively hunting for exactly such a technology.

#BRICS

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❗️Senators say they've reached compromise on yield to advance crypto market bill

The two U.S. senators negotiating a controversial provision in the crypto industry's market structure bill — Republican Thom Tillis and Democrat Angela Alsobrooks — have reportedly agreed on a compromise that could advance the industry's top priority to the next stage in the Senate.

"Sen. Tillis and I do have an agreement in principle,” — Alsobrooks told on Friday. “We’ve come a long way. And I think what it will do is to allow us to protect innovation, but also gives us the opportunity to prevent widespread deposit flight.”

They have agreed in principle on an approach to stablecoin yield in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, and that potentially knocks down one of the top unresolved issues in the wide-ranging bill. The White House was reviewing updated legislative text on Thursday. Alsobrooks said the new language will seek to bar yield payments “on a passive balance,” but the details remain unclear.

“In working with the White House, I think we have an agreement,” Tillis said. “Now we have to vet it with industry, because they are a party to an ultimate deal.”

Though the stablecoin question was at the forefront of the Clarity Act negotiations, there remain a number of other points to iron out, including the bill's treatment of decentralized finance (DeFi). Lawmakers have suggested in recent days that the Clarity Act could get a Senate Banking Committee hearing late next month. If it's approved there, it advances toward the Senate floor.

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🆕 Microsoft rolls back some of its Copilot AI bloat on Windows

Microsoft announced a series of changes focused on improving the quality of its Windows 11 operating system, which notably includes dialing back the number of entry points to its AI assistant, Copilot. The company said it will reduce Copilot AI integrations in some apps, starting with Photos, Widgets, Notepad, and its Snipping Tool.

Under the heading of “integrating AI where it’s most meaningful,” Pavan Davuluri, EVP of Windows and Devices, wrote that Microsoft is becoming more intentional about “how and where Copilot integrates across Windows.” Its goal, he explained, is to focus on AI experiences that are “genuinely useful.”

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🤖 Scientists develop brain-inspired chip for more efficient AI hardware, cut energy use by 70%

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a high-performance memristor using a specialized hafnium oxide. A memristor is a low-energy component that mimics how our brain cells connect, helping conserve energy. This nanoelectronic device could potentially reduce AI energy consumption by up to 70%.

“Filamentary devices suffer from random behaviour,” said Dr Babak Bakhit. “But because our devices switch at the interface, they show outstanding uniformity from cycle to cycle and from device to device.”

Our brains process and store information in the same place: the synapse. The neuromorphic (brain-inspired) chip using a stable, low-energy memristor that handles both tasks in a single chip, using a hafnium-based thin film. It swaps out erratic, high-voltage filaments — which physically grow and snap inside older devices — for a smooth, reliable switching interface.

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🚫 Pinterest CEO calls for ban on social media for youth under 16

Pinterest CEO ​Bill Ready called on world leaders to ban social media ‌for youth under 16. Ready posted his statement while a trial is under way in Los Angeles about youth social ​media use. Google and Meta face allegations that their ​apps are fueling a youth mental health crisis. The ⁠jury is deliberating on a verdict.

"We need a clear standard: ​no social media for teens under 16, backed by real enforcement, ​and accountability for mobile phone operating systems and the apps that run on them," — Ready wrote in an essay posted on his LinkedIn account.

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🏢 Lego to build massive 80-acre solar park for its $1.5b carbon-neutral US factory

The LEGO Group is doubling down on clean energy as it builds out its first U.S. manufacturing hub in Chesterfield County, Virginia, pairing large-scale solar generation with a carbon-conscious factory design. The installation will span nearly 80 acres and include more than 30,700 ground-mounted panels. Together, they will deliver a peak capacity of 22 megawatts.

The company plans to install a massive ground-mounted solar array alongside its upcoming LEGO Manufacturing Virginia site this summer, signaling a broader push to align industrial operations with renewable energy targets in the U.S.

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🌍 Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin enters the space data center game

Blue Origin, the space conglomerate founded by Amazon chair Jeff Bezos, has asked the U.S. government for permission to launch a network of more than 50,000 satellites that will act as a data center in orbit. Shifting massive compute to space is attractive because solar energy is free to harvest and, once in orbit, there are fewer regulations restricting corporate activities.

Blue Origin’s attorneys described “Project Sunrise” as a network of spacecraft that will perform advanced computation in orbit to “ease mounting pressure on U.S. communities and natural resources by shifting energy — and water-intensive compute away from terrestrial data centers.”

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💊 China clears world’s first commercial brain implant to restore hand movement in paralysis

China has approved a brain-computer interface (BCI) device designed to restore hand movement in people with paralysis, marking what regulators say is the world’s first commercial clearance for such technology. The approval was granted by the National Medical Products Administration, China’s drug regulator, allowing the system to be sold for clinical use. The device was developed by Borui Kang Medical Technology in Shanghai.

It is designed to help patients with quadriplegia caused by cervical spinal cord injuries regain the ability to grasp objects using a robotic glove. BCIs, connect neural signals in the brain to external devices. In this case, brain signals are translated into commands that activate the assistive glove, enabling patients to perform basic hand movements.

Clinical trial data showed significant improvements in hand grasping ability among participants. The agency said the gains helped improve patients’ quality of life.

#BRICS

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