Large-scale satellite constellations, such as Starlink and Kuiper, exchange information at incredible speed through new laser-interlink technologies, but each satellite is an island in terms of power and propulsion.

In many parts of the world, staple crops such as maize and wheat are dependent on rainfall recycled from land rather than oceans, making them more vulnerable to drought. Researchers at Stanford and the University of California San Diego identified a critical threshold in atmospheric moisture sources that could help predict and prevent future crop failures.

Answer ALS today announced the full release of its comprehensive ALS clinical and multi-omics dataset, marking the culmination of a multi-year research program and a groundbreaking collaboration with the ALS Therapy Development Institute. For the first time, the complete data from over 1,100 individuals who participated in the Answer ALS study, along with ALS TDI’s ALS Research Collaborative study data, are available in a unified, cloud-based platform. This milestone builds upon the already unprecedented resource to scientists worldwide, integrating two of the largest ALS datasets into the Neuromine Data Portal. Researchers can now interrogate over 150 terabytes of harmonized data spanning more than 2,500 ALS patient profiles to accelerate the quest for new therapies and insights into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

A new report proposes a range of initiatives to substantially reduce the harm caused by firearm violence in the United States over the next 15 years. The report, to be published Nov. 3 in the journal JAMA, proposes a range of initiatives. These include using artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies to detect concealed weapons, and expanding programs that address poverty, social distrust and other factors behind violence in American communities. Since 2000, more than 800,000 Americans have been killed and more than 2 million injured by firearms. The report summarizes discussions of 60 experts in public health, criminology, sociology, social work, public policy and other fields. “We really tried to step back and think about what innovations are needed to address the firearm problem in a new way — realizing we live in a country with a Second Amendment and somewhere around 400 million firearms in private hands,” said Dr. Frederick P. Rivara, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He chaired the summit.