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Quantum Entangles the Heavens

As the United States, Europe, and China compete to shape the future of the Earth-Moon corridor, strategic advantage will depend not only on launch capacity or lunar infrastructure, but also on advances in quantum technologies. Just as secure systems are critical on Earth, satellites and space-based systems underpin high-value, high-impact operations from financial transactions and navigation to scientific discovery and classified military missions.

Quantum technologies, which enable new levels of speed, sensitivity, and security, are emerging as critical tools to improve existing extraterrestrial systems. Modern digital communications are secured by encryption built on math problems that are extremely difficult for regular computers to solve, but that sufficiently advanced quantum computers could eventually crack. Quantum communications technologies could add a new layer of protection by making it easier to detect when someone is trying to intercept sensitive information. Quantum sensors can measure position and time with an accuracy that GPS only approximates. Lastly, quantum computers could unlock new capabilities beyond current computational limits, from designing advanced materials to optimizing increasingly complex satellite networks.

Countries are racing to match their space and quantum ambitions with national strategies. The White House is reportedly drafting an executive order to strengthen US competitiveness in quantum technologies. The rumored draft directs multiple US government bodies, including NASA, to develop a five-year roadmap to expand quantum sensing and networking capabilities. The EU’s 2025 Quantum Europe Strategy highlights “Space and Dual-Use Quantum Technologies” as one of its five strategic focuses, and China’s 15th Five-Year Plan has called for expanding the country’s ground-to-space quantum communications network.

Beyond Paradox | Iain McGilchrist

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
— Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2

The two hemispheres of our brain collaborate to produce a coherent understanding of the world—at least, that’s what they’re supposed to do. In his groundbreaking book, The Master and His Emissary, neuro-philosopher and psychiatrist, Iain McGilchrist, proposed that our culture has been captured by the left hemisphere, whose dogmatic, technical and irrational way of processing information leads it to manifestly dangerous conclusions about the way the world works. Importantly, the left hemisphere never changes its mind.

In one of the widest conversations on Planet: Critical to date, Iain explains how we came to lose sight of the bigger picture by forsaking the intuition, creativity and intelligence of the right hemisphere. We discuss how our relationship to language makes and unmakes the world, the search for meaning, human agency, relationality, morality, art and the divine, with Iain clearly spelling out a path to human fulfilment—which may very well be the only thing which can save Earth from the worst of us.

🔴 The Master and His Emissary: https://channelmcgilchrist.com/master… Platformed: Charles Foster 🌎 Support Planet: Critical: / planetcritical 🌎 Subscribe: https://planetcritical.com/ 🌎 BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/racheldonald…

🗣️ Platformed: Charles Foster

Gene Therapy Pioneers Win 2026 Breakthrough Prize

Genetic diseases impact almost 70–80 million people worldwide. Oftentimes, there are limited treatments that doctors can provide, leaving patients with few interventions to manage symptoms.

Recently, though, gene therapy has completely shifted the potential to care for many diseases. Advances in knowledge of responsible genes and nucleic acid technology have revolutionized the ability to specifically edit regions of the genome to correct mutations.

Today (April 18), the Breakthrough Prize Foundation awarded the Life Sciences prize to two teams of five researchers who pioneered gene therapies for two different types of genetic diseases. Physician scientist Jean Bennett, retinal surgeon Albert Maguire, and physician scientist Katherine High from the University of Pennsylvania developed a treatment to cure retinal blindness that is currently in use in the US, Canada, Australia, and Switzerland. Separately, clinical investigator Swee Lay Thein, now at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, tracked down the gene responsible for continued production of fetal hemoglobin in beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease and, with the help of physician scientist Stuart Orkin at Harvard University, brought this finding from the bench to the bedside.

A brain reward circuit inhibited by next-generation weight-loss drugs in mice

New research using humanized mouse models has finally pulled back the curtain on how these small-molecule drugs work in the brain, revealing that they don’t just tell the body it’s full—they actually change how we perceive “treats.”

1. The Homeostatic Circuit: This is the body’s fuel gauge. It involves the hypothalamus and hindbrain, which manage basic hunger and energy levels. It’s the circuit that tells you, “I’ve had enough calories for today.”

These new weight-loss pills do more than just settle your stomach; they speak directly to the brain’s reward center to help quiet the “food noise” that leads to overeating.

This is a “proof of concept” study. It proves the mechanism exists, but it doesn’t yet guarantee that a pill will be a side-effect-free “cure” for overeating in humans.

Humanized glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP1R) mouse models are used to investigate the neural circuitry through which small-molecule GLP1R agonists modulate feeding, with implications for how these orally delivered weight-loss drugs engage brain reward circuits.

Nanotechnology-Driven Therapeutic Innovations in Neurodegenerative Disorders: A Focus on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease

Neurodegenerative disorders entail a progressive loss of neurons in cerebral and peripheral tissues, coupled with the aggregation of proteins exhibiting altered physicochemical properties. Crucial to these conditions is the gradual degradation of the central nervous system, manifesting as impairments in mobility, aberrant behaviors, and cognitive deficits. Mechanisms such as proteotoxic stress, neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and programmed cell death contribute to the ongoing dysfunction and demise of neurons. Presently, neurodegenerative diseases lack definitive cures, and available therapies primarily offer palliative relief. The integration of nanotechnology into medical practices has significantly augmented both treatment efficacy and diagnostic capabilities.

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