Lifeboat Foundation

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s sun-skimming spacecraft, the Parker Solar Probe, is surprising scientists with its unprecedented close views of our star.

Scientists released the first results from the mission Wednesday. They observed bursts of energetic particles never seen before on such a small scale as well as switchback-like reversals in the out-flowing solar magnetic field that seem to whip up the solar wind.

NASA’s Nicola Fox compared this unexpected switchback phenomenon to the cracking of a whip.

SAN FRANCISCO — Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the Stanford graduate students who founded Google over two decades ago, are stepping down from executive roles at Google’s parent company, Alphabet, they announced on Tuesday.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, will become the chief of both Google and Alphabet.

The move is an end of an era for Google. Mr. Page and Mr. Brin have personified the company since its founding and have been two of the technology industry’s most influential figures, on a par with the founders of Apple and Microsoft, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in 1996 on the back of an algorithm, turned it into one of the most valuable companies in the world, and have now given up their leadership roles three times — even though they’ve always retained a controlling interest in the company behind the scenes. Here’s a timeline of their most important moments in Google and Alphabet history.

Jerome Pesenti is encouraged by progress in artificial intelligence, but sees the limits of the current approach to deep learning.

Iranian hackers have again attacked strategic industrial targets in the region, with a new strain of malware designed to cause widespread chaos.

He Jiankui’s original research, published for the first time, could have failed, scientists say.

Bacterial biofilms that develop around golden staph infections make treatment difficult and prolonged, but researchers have shown in laboratory work that the hybrid antibiotics they have developed can destroy staph biofilms.

Eradicating deadly staph using a new breed of antibiotics has revealed promising results in research released by QUT, to help overcome one of the biggest modern medical challenges.

The bacteria attach to medical devices including catheters, artificial joints, implants and patients’ burns and wounds, establishing bacterial biofilms, a leading cause of failing antibiotic therapies and chronic infections.

Knowing how dietary fibre nourishes gut microorganisms might suggest ways to boost health-promoting bacteria. A method developed to pinpoint bacteria that consume particular types of dietary fibre could advance such efforts. Method pinpoints bacteria that consume particular types of dietary fibre.