Author: GT

OLKILUOTO, Finland (AP) — With the push of a button, the elevator descends hundreds of meters in seconds into the dark depths of Onkalo.“We are now at about minus 430 meters (1,411 feet),” muttered geologist Tuomas Pere as he steered a car through a labyrinth of man-made tunnels. “We are driving through 1.9-billion year old bedrock.”After decades of construction, the world’s first facility for permanently disposing spent nuclear fuel is set to begin operations in Finland, becoming a final resting place for tons of dangerous radioactive waste. Construction of Onkalo — which means “cave” in Finnish — began on the…

The electricity to an island goes out. To find the break in the underwater power cable, a ship pulls up the entire line or deploys remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to traverse the line. But what if an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) could map the line and pinpoint the location of the fault for a diver to fix?Such underwater human-robot teaming is the focus of an MIT Lincoln Laboratory project funded through an internally administered R&D portfolio on autonomous systems and carried out by the Advanced Undersea Systems and Technology Group. The project seeks to leverage the respective strengths of humans and…

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., wears a pair of Meta Oakley Vanguard AI glasses during the Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, California, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAlmost 10 months after Meta spent billions of dollars to bring in Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang as the centerpiece of Mark Zuckerberg’s AI overhaul, the company finally revealed Muse Spark on Wednesday, its first new model since the transition. One big question is — will users pay for it?While rivals like OpenAI, Anthropic and Google have spearheaded the artificial intelligence boom…

SpaceX launched its IPO on the same day the U.S. sent astronauts to the moon for the first time in 54 years. And the timing is appropriate: This is likely the last time NASA will try to send people to deep space without major assistance from a company that emerged from the venture-backed tech scene. The origins of NASA’s current lunar campaign trace a complicated path back to the second Bush administration, which began developing an enormous rocket and a spacecraft called Orion to return to the moon. By 2010, the project had grown over budget and was pared back…

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece became the latest European Union country to unveil plans for a total social media ban for kids 15 and under in a move the country’s prime minister said aims to pressure the 27-member bloc into formalizing EU-wide age restrictions.The new law will target social media platforms that enable the user to create profiles, interact with others and share content, such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.Once the legislation is enacted, social media platforms will be responsible for reverifying the ages of all users in the country to exclude those who are 15 years or under. Authorities…

Saudi Arabia’s critical pipeline to the Red Sea suffered a recent attack from Iran, cutting throughput by 700,000 barrels per day.The attack hit a pumping station on the East-West pipeline, according to a state news agency report. This pipeline brings crude oil from processing facilities near the Persian Gulf to an export terminal on the Red Sea called Yanbu. The Saudis have relied on the pipeline, which has a capacity of 7 million bpd, as their main way to export crude oil during the Iran war. Riyadh cannot export through the Strait of Hormuz due to Iranian attacks. Attacks on…

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Thursday released his annual shareholder letter and once again made the case to Wall Street investors that the company’s huge investments in artificial intelligence are worthwhile. “We’re not going to be conservative in how we play this — we’re investing to be the meaningful leader, and our future business, operating income, and [free cash flow] will be much larger because of it,” Jassy wrote.The company disclosed in February that it expects to spend roughly $200 billion this year on capital expenditures, with the lion’s share going toward AI infrastructure, including data centers, chips and networking…

Hims & Hers, the telehealth company that sells weight-loss drugs and sexual health prescriptions, has confirmed a data breach affecting its third-party customer service platform. The healthcare company said in a data breach notice filed with the California attorney general’s office on Thursday that the hackers stole data about user requests sent to the company’s customer support team. The company said hackers broke into its third-party ticketing system between February 4 and February 7 and stole reams of support tickets, which contained personal information submitted by customers. The data breach notice said the hackers took customer names and contact information,…

Several dozen people lined up outside a presidential administration building on a sunny spring weekend in central Moscow as police stood nearby and watched them closely.The people were lodging complaints about the government’s intensifying crackdown on the internet that has seen regular shutdowns of cellphone internet connections, blocked popular messaging apps and cut access to thousands of other websites and digital services.It was the latest sign of the growing anger and frustration over the restrictions that have disrupted the daily lives of Russians, hurt businesses and drawn criticism even from Kremlin supporters.Knowing that any unauthorized demonstrations are harshly suppressed, activists…

A maze of crude oil pipes and valves is pictured during a tour by the Department of Energy at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in Freeport, Texas.Richard Carson | ReutersOil prices slipped below the $100 threshold on Friday amid persistent tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, with the vital shipping lane still largely closed despite a ceasefire deal between the U.S. and Iran.U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for May delivery traded 0.8% higher to $98.62 per barrel after passing $100 earlier in the session. International benchmark Brent crude futures for June delivery gained 1% to $96.85 per barrel.President Donald Trump has warned Iran…