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Microsoft Flight Simulator isn’t just for nerdy dads anymore: Boeing will start using its tech to train actual pilots

The most recent incarnation of Microsoft’s long-running flight simulator series is a genuine marvel, whether you fancy yourself an ace pilot or just want to crash spectacularly into the Eiffel Tower. Speaking more to the former instinct, Microsoft is teaming up with Boeing to put that high-fidelity simulation to work in a virtual training program for novice pilots.

As noted in a press release from Boeing, the Virtual Airplane Procedures Trainer was announced last Thursday at the European Aviation Training Summit in Portugal. The release notes the new program is “powered by Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Flight Simulator,” and is “designed to empower pilots and flight training teams with immersive, accessible and customizable tools that elevate pilot learning and readiness.”

NVIDIA’s Next-Gen Rubin GPUs Have Reportedly Entered Production, Also Secures HBM4 Samples From All Major DRAM Manufacturers

NVIDIA’s next-generation Rubin GPUs have entered production, and the company has also secured samples of HBM4 memory from all major suppliers.

A few weeks ago, NVIDIA’s CEO, Jensen Huang, showcased the next-gen Vera Rubin Superchip for the first time at GTC 2025 in Washington. We got to see two super massive GPUs stacked together with the next-generation Vera CPU, and loads of LPDDR memory on the outskirts. The Vera Rubin Superchip will lay the framework for the next wave of AI computing in data centers, and it looks like there are some good reports regarding the production timeline.

Nano-bio interfaces for electrical and biochemical signal transduction

Nano-bio interfaces enable communication between synthetic materials and biological systems at the nanoscale, with their functionality shaped by material properties, surface chemistry and topography. This Review discusses the key considerations and methods for engineering nano-bio interfaces for bioelectrical signal detection and biochemical signal transduction.

Mutations Lurking in Alternative Proteins May Cause Disease

Although the genetic cause of many diseases have been identified, it’s estimated that as many as 70% of patients with a rare disorder do not know what causes their disease. Millions of people live with rare diseases, and scientists are still searching for the answers to these medical mysteries. Now researchers have developed a different method for analyzing patient genetic data, which may provide clues. These findings, which were reported in Molecular Cell, have highlighted that multiple proteins can often be produced from one gene; the cell can simply interpret the sequence in different ways.

In a basic genetics lesson, a student will learn that proteins are encoded by genes, and that different genes make different proteins. But in reality, the same gene sequence may encode for multiple proteins, and it can be up to the molecular machinery of the cell to decide which of those gene sequences ends up transcribed into a protein. In fact, most genes can code for more than one protein.

Iconic Andean monument may have been used for Indigenous accounting

Sediment analysis and drone photography of the iconic South American monument of Monte Sierpe (aka “Band of Holes”) support a new interpretation of this mysterious landscape feature as part of an Indigenous system of accounting and exchange.

Stretching 1.5 km across the Pisco Valley of the southern Peruvian Andes, Monte Sierpe (meaning serpent mountain) is a large row of approximately 5,200 precisely aligned holes (1–2 m wide and 0.5–1 m deep), organized into sections or blocks.

It first gained modern attention in 1933, when aerial photographs of the holes were published in National Geographic, but the monument’s purpose is still uncertain.

Thin resistor routinely used in photonic devices can also act as a thermometer

Integrated photonics has become a multi-billion-dollar industry, but it is feeling the heat—literally.

An increasingly important component in data centers, photonic devices move and process data using light instead of electricity. The physical nature of light gives this approach several advantages, including higher bandwidth and lower latency.

One limitation on even wider adoption has been the hardware’s sensitivity to temperature. If photonic devices become a little too hot or a little too cold, their exquisitely tuned photonic properties can be disrupted.

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