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Category: surveillance

Moisture-driven tech can power green batteries—and destroy spy gear

Researchers from North Carolina State University and Rice University have created a nontoxic, stretchable battery that operates by extracting moisture from the ambient environment—even in climates as dry as the desert. The batteries could be useful in Internet of Things (IoT) applications ranging from wearables to advanced surveillance monitors with built-in kill switches. The study is published in the journal Science Advances.

Emerging technologies like wearable monitors, miniature robotics and other IoT devices require lightweight, flexible power sources. Conventional batteries, which represent the best power source options, are often too rigid and heavy to be useful, and they contain toxic materials that can leak. Energy harvesters, so called because they capture energy from the surrounding environment and convert it into electrical power, are lighter, but their performance is limited.

Running on moisture and salt The new moisture-activated battery (MAB) includes a magnesium anode and a silver/silver chloride cathode, with a cellulose membrane loaded with lithium chloride salts that serves as a separator. The separator harvests moisture from ambient air, which dissolves the salts and creates the electrolyte, allowing charge to flow through the battery.

Iridium folds Aireon aviation safety service into Rocket Lab-bound business

TAMPA, Fla. — Iridium Communications has completed its takeover of Aireon, bringing the aircraft-tracking venture fully in-house ahead of the satellite operator’s planned $8 billion sale to Rocket Lab.

McLean, Virginia-based Iridium said July 6 it had bought the remaining 61% of Aireon it did not already own from air navigation service providers in Canada, England, Denmark, Ireland and Italy.

Aireon, which has provided an aviation safety service since 2019 using Iridium satellites and the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) signals aircraft broadcast, will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary following the $367 million deal.

Innovative algorithm makes genomic surveillance faster and more affordable for global disease outbreaks

Genomic surveillance—the process of monitoring and sequencing pathogens—is one of the most important tools for detecting emerging viral threats. But global surveillance systems remain costly, unevenly distributed and often are too slow to identify dangerous variants before they spread internationally, amplifying future disease outbreak threats.

A recently published research paper in Nature Communications, co-authored by Dr. Patricia Ning, assistant statistics professor, and Jifan Li, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Statistics, along with collaborators from multiple international institutions, introduces a new framework to address these issues while using fewer resources, making genomic surveillance rapid and cost-effective in preparation for new strains of COVID-19.

Ning’s algorithm works to strengthen local, community-based surveillance capacity in all regions in anticipation of future pandemics.

Cory Doctorow on AI: The Singularity Is A Progressive Apocalypse

Fourteen years ago, Cory Doctorow told me the #Singularity is a progressive apocalypse.

I have not stopped thinking about that phrase since.

We like to imagine the future as one clean break. A line crossed. A god booted up in a server farm. Cory saw something stranger. The end of the world, sold to us as the perfection of the world. Rapture for the people who swapped faith for code.

His sharpest point was about stories. Good #ScienceFiction does not predict the future. It predicts the present. The genre is not a telescope. It is a mirror.

Re-listening in 2026, the reflection is uncomfortable.

The surveillance he warned about is now infrastructure. The platforms he distrusted now mediate almost everything we do. We still treat the internet as a glorified video-on-demand service, and we still pour everything we are onto it anyway.

Continue reading “Cory Doctorow on AI: The Singularity Is A Progressive Apocalypse” | >

Explosive cytotoxicity of ruptoblasts bridges hormone surveillance and immune defense

Ruptoblasts are a cytotoxic glandular cell type that undergoes explosive cell death, ruptosis, releasing potent, broad-spectrum agents capable of killing nearby cells. Ruptosis is triggered by the hormone and cytokine activin and driven by ER-derived calcium release amplified by the actomyosin cytoskeleton.

Chris Hables Gray on AI and the Singularity: We Need Strong Citizenship!

In 2013, I interviewed a man who studies cyborgs and war for a living.

Somewhere in that conversation, Prof. Chris Hables Gray predicted a global pandemic. I chimed in that it would most likely stem from a bird flu outbreak.

We were both right. Neither of us wanted to be.

That was six years before COVID. And here we are in 2026, watching H5N1 headlines pile up again.

The point was never the prediction. The point was what he said we should do about it.

Chris did not pitch a gadget. He did not sell a forecast. He argued that surviving the century is not a technology problem; it is a citizenship problem.

Continue reading “Chris Hables Gray on AI and the Singularity: We Need Strong Citizenship!” | >

Google’s Willow Chip Found Something Watching Us—The Implications Are Profound

A chilling wave of online theories erupted after viral posts claimed Google’s experimental Willow quantum chip may have detected “something watching us.” The internet quickly exploded with speculation involving parallel universes, hidden dimensions, cosmic observers, simulation theory, and artificial intelligence uncovering realities beyond human understanding. But what’s actually true behind the headlines?

Google’s quantum computing research focuses on developing advanced processors capable of solving highly specialized problems using qubits, superposition, and quantum entanglement. These systems operate according to the strange laws of quantum mechanics, where particles can behave in ways that often sound almost impossible from a normal human perspective.

The viral controversy appears to have grown from misunderstandings surrounding discussions of quantum interference, error correction behavior, and theoretical interpretations of quantum physics such as the “many-worlds interpretation.” Some internet users exaggerated these highly technical concepts into claims that quantum computers were interacting with external intelligences or hidden observers.

In reality, there is currently no scientific evidence that Google’s Willow chip discovered conscious entities, surveillance from another dimension, or anything literally “watching humanity.” Physicists say many sensational headlines confuse legitimate quantum phenomena with speculative science fiction ideas that become distorted across social media.

However, the science itself is still fascinating. Quantum experiments often reveal behaviors that challenge ordinary intuition, including entanglement, probabilistic outcomes, observer effects, and interference patterns that remain deeply debated even among physicists. Some interpretations of quantum mechanics suggest reality may operate in ways far stranger than classical physics once imagined — though none prove supernatural observation or cosmic consciousness.

In this video, we break down what the Willow quantum chip is actually designed to do, how quantum computers really work, and why modern quantum physics often gets misrepresented online. We’ll also explore qubits, superposition, observer effects, many-worlds theory, simulation hypotheses, AI-assisted physics research, and the growing race to build next-generation quantum systems.

Continue reading “Google’s Willow Chip Found Something Watching Us—The Implications Are Profound” | >

Ann Cavoukian: We have to protect privacy globally or we protect it nowhere!

I recorded this interview 13 years ago.

It should feel dated by now. It doesn’t. It feels like a prophecy.

Back in 2013, Dr. Ann Cavoukian sat down with me as the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario and the mind behind Privacy by Design. She told me privacy was not dead. She told me security and freedom were not a trade-off. She told me metadata reveals more about you than the content ever could.

Then she said something I have never been able to shake:

“We have to protect privacy globally, or we protect it nowhere.”

Think about where we are now. Surveillance is the business model. Your data trains systems you will never see. The “nothing to hide” crowd got louder, and the borders she warned about got thinner. She saw all of it coming.

Continue reading “Ann Cavoukian: We have to protect privacy globally or we protect it nowhere!” | >

Optogenetic mediated contractility enables reversible control of microglial morphology and migration in vivo

Biermeier et al. use live imaging in zebrafish to show that microglia alternate between distinct morphological states that support brain surveillance and phagocytosis. By optogenetically controlling cytoskeletal contractility, they demonstrate programmable, reversible control of microglial behavior in the living brain.

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